Re: Inside Passage (was Stays)

Ron Force (rforce@uidaho.edu)
Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:48:38 -0700


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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David Omick did Seattle to Ketchikan in a P15 in 90 days. Of course, he
was washed overboard twice in the Dixon Entrance, but the next wave
dropped him back in the boat each time. (sounds like fun, right?--55
degree water). I've done the trip from Juneau to Seattle in an 85'
cruise boat, and have a friend who's done a couple of sailboat delivery
trips.

Most of the Inside Passage is doable in a small boat if you watch the
tides and currents, but it's almost all motoring, little or no sailing.
Some of the tidal currents can run 10-12 knots. The swells coming into
the Dixon Entrance can be really big (see above), so you'd have to watch
the weather there. It's 35 miles of open water from Hope Island to
Calvert Island. The problem is the speed of the Potter: bad weather
could catch you out on an open water passage.

Juneau to Seward across the Gulf of Alaska would not be safe in a Potter
. Load the boat on the ferry to Valdez and stay behind the islands in
Prince William Sound. Once outside the Seward harbor, you're in the open
ocean and the weather can turn cold and nasty at any time of the year.
On another trip, we took a 50' cruise boat from Seward out to the Kenai
Fjords and hit a front on the way back. Things got very rough, with 8'
waves and driving rain.

The thing that's impressive about Alaska is the sheer size of things, as
well as the distances. The mind boggles...

Bill Blohm wrote:
>
> Doug,
>
> Your post below got me dreaming...
>

> about the inside passage up to Seward. Anyone done that
> in a P-19, or researched doing it? I've often dreamed of
> sailing up there from Seattle or Vancouver, B.C.. Maybe
> in a couple years a couple P-19s could try it?
>
> Bill B.
> P-19 #454, "Dream Catcher"
> Nampa, ID

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Ron Force				rforce@uidaho.edu
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