images from an Amberjack summer

[Amberjack]

Summer is already in the rear view mirror and its hard to believe it's already come and gone. Back in March we weren't even sure we'd be able to get the boat out. Since I'm filing my photos from this limited summer I decided to post a few here for those interested in seeing what Pac NW boating is like.

Summer moorage in Elliott Bay (Seattle). Staying in salt water during summer eliminates the couple hour trip through the locks each way.


This is not a lobstah boat, its a crabbah! Dungeness crab season in early summer so we decided to try our hand.


We crab in 100+ feet and weight the pots against current so I rigged a crab puller. It worked pretty well and I'll improve it for next year. We crabbed hard for two days and got two dinners out of it. Yeah, it was a little disappointing.


Time to head north across the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Olympic Mountain range to the right under the cloud cover. Although they are calm today the straits are open to the Pacific Ocean and will kick your butt if you take them for granted. Our route is about 20 miles across.


A favorite landfall heading north, the west side of Speiden Island. Years ago it was called Safari Island and some idiots imported exotic game for wealthy idiots to hunt. Then purchased by some of the investors in Alaska Airline, don't know who owns it now but it is still private and undeveloped. There is a nice lodge in the east side of the island which is treed unlike this barren west side and a small plane landing strip down the spine of the island just hidden behind the trees.


At anchor first night out, Reid Harbor.


At the beginning of the year I wasn't sure we'd be able to do this. Time to celebrate!


Around Turn Point, Stuart Island the northwesternmost point in the Continental US. Pender Island BC in the background. Fathometer reading 864' just a few hundred feet from shore.


Predicted bad weather so we holed up at a Seattle Yacht Club facility near Roche Harbor. We are the smallest (and most attractive) boat at the dock. We frequently have people from 50-60 footers walk by, shake their heads and say this is how they would cruise if they had to do it over again. But they've never tried sleeping overnight on a B31.



Inbound in the Ballard Locks. We came out of the fog in saltwater and lifted into the lake and a spectacularly beautiful fall day.


The Alaska trawler whose tower had been visible way in front of us in the locks being berthed by a Lake Union tug. Its cheaper to use a tug for short trips like this rather than bring in a crew and fire up the engine.


This is one of the most sinister Alaska crab boats I've ever seen. Usually fishermen want to be visible at sea. This whole boat is black and doesn't even have the usual orange floats hanging over the side.


Back in winter digs at SYC Portage Bay. Freshwater & undercover. The Coho salmon run goes through the lake just around the corner from us and the season runs through the end of the month. If we get a decent day I think I'll try my hand.

[Tommy]

Great pice; thanks for sharing!

[MarkD]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

[Tony Meola]

Doug

The Pacific NW is some of the nicest country around. Great shots from a great summer. Do you pull the boat for the winter?

[Yannis]

Beautiful moments, topped with a Spanish sparkling, priceless!

[John F.]

I helped a friend move a boat from Nanaimo to Seattle, where the boat got loaded on a barge to Hawaii. We spent the night in St Johns Harbor. What an incredibly beautiful place to boat. Must be fantastic. Enjoy, thanks for the pics, and for jarring a nice memory.

John

[Amberjack]

Hello Tony--We stay in the water year round. The climate is generally mild enough to keep the boat in commission and being under cover in fresh water makes it work. The constant lake temperature of 50-55 F acts as a nice insulator against freezing. I live nearby and usually skate off to the boat a couple times a week to work on projects or sneak in a nap. The project list for this winter has 9 line items so far this year.

Good eye Yannis, my son is a big fan of Cava and sent us a care package. This was a nice one. Reid Harbor was interesting this year. Typically we arrive late in the day after the 70 mile trip from Seattle and anchor as one of the outermost boats. This year the harbor had the usual number, maybe 30-35 smaller boats inside but then layered out from us was another 40 or so larger boats which would normally be up in BC but were prevented by the border closure this year. Those are the boats visible in the photo.

[PeterPalmieri]

Looks like a great season.

[Amberjack]

I helped a friend move a boat from Nanaimo to Seattle, where the boat got loaded on a barge to Hawaii. We spent the night in St Johns Harbor.

John

St John's Harbour BC is about 2/3 of the way up the inside passage to Alaska! You guys really did take the long scenic route.

[John F.]

Brain fart. It was Friday Harbor. Neat place. I'd really like to get back there.

[Amberjack]

John-So south through Dodd Narrows which is always a thrill the first time especially with any tidal current running. Our B31's have plenty of power to transit even up to 7-8 knots current but the dog leg means you can't see what's coming from the other direction. And they could be wildly out of control running with the current (or you could be the one running a little loose with the current at your back plus the 15 knots you need to maneuver).

Friday Harbor is one of our favorite stops, especially on the way south. Still small enough to be an islands town, it has all the necessities--ice, restaurants, electric heat, showers, beer, wine! It is the resupply/refuel spot for boats heading north, coming back down south, checking in with customs and coming in from the more remote islands to restock, and seaplanes constantly shuttling in and out. Its fun just to watch the activity.

[Carl]

I do not recall seeing my invitation to the crab dinner!

Had my first Dungenous crab not too long ago...I'd put them right up there with my favorite Blue Claws.


Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

[Amberjack]

Carl, I said we caught enough for two dinners and I meant it. Just enough! Those crabs were hard won and I would have fought my own children for them if they had shown up for dinner either night. Still, here is an official invitation to stop by for a drink, a salmon dinner, a steak on the grill, anything should you ever find yourself in Seattle. We'll treat you like a fellow longtime B31 owner should be treated!

BTW, my wife just walked in the door from a trip to Costco. Included in the haul was 1 lb of fresh, shucked Dungeness crab meat for $28! We burned more than that in fuel.

You, on the other hand, have easy access to Russ and Daughters and their wonderful cold smoked salmon.

[Rocket]

Doug, Dodds Narrows when the tide is rocking is fun, but have you ever gone through False Narrows on the other side of Mudge Island? I did it at about 25 Knots in my 25 FBSF keeping the range finders lined up and making the turn was a big challenge, but lots of fun. You just hope not to run into a tug towing logs from Gabriola to the Valdez storage grounds.

[Amberjack]

C'mon Rocket, are you trying to get me in trouble? I looked at False Pass and felt Amberjack was not maneuverable enough for that action. Plus as you said there are a lot of wood chunks drifting around from the booming operations. If you had your camera recording video that would be fun to see on the board.

I have, however, run Hole in the Wall at speed during a heavy tide change. What a thrill, especially when boat speed drops from 22 knots over the bottom to 12 knots. Or when the whole boat rotates 90 degrees toward shore. In retrospect that was a little exuberant. Lots of chunks suspended in the water column there due to the mixing action.

[SteveM]

If you only left the crab traps in for 2 days that's pretty good haul.

We blue-crab and stone-crab down here and usually leave the traps in for 1 week.

Great photos, boat looks real nice. I like the gizmo you created to pull the traps!

[Rocket]

Doug, these were the pre-video days!

Hole in the wall is cool, I have really fun memories of going back and forth through surge narrows in an 18' speedboat while the mothership (a very cool old 53' S&S custom sloop) was anchored in the Octopus Islands. Not only is there 10 Knots of current, the sea water temp goes from 75 to 55 in about 200 yards! A truly incredible part of the world...

[Amberjack]

Steve--that is pot puller version 1.0 and it worked pretty well except it kicked up when the angle of pull varied from straight out from the side of the boat. I will design a hinged piece to drop over the guard when deployed which will hold it in place. The most challenging part was mimicking the curves of the gunwale but the fit is perfect. If you decide to make your own let me know and I can make a paper pattern of that part and mail it, saving you that step.

[JohnV8r]

Love it!

[JohnV8r]

Doug,

Here's a quick tip on pulling the crab pots that I started using here in Northern California. My crab pots are made out of wrapped rebar and are probably 20 - 30 lbs empty. I start the season in 120' of water and go as deep as 180' as the season goes on. I started using an anchor ball to lift the pots straight up and then all I have to do is hand line them in to the boat. It takes maybe 30 seconds to get them up from 100+ feet and it's a lot easier to hand line them in on the surface then pull them up.

I love the puller you made!

Hope that helps. Good luck!

JohnV8r

[Amberjack]

Thanks for the tip John. I think I will start deeper next year. Everyone seems to be fishing the 75-100' contour with lightweight pots so I'll look in the 125-150' range. Probably with the same pots but more heavily weighted at least until we prove the concept.

I have a son down near you living in the city although he's a sailor. My wife and I did let him use the Bertram once to watch the tugboat races with friends while we watched from shore. We happened to look out in the bay to see a Bertram 31 launching from a tugboat wake. Yup, you guessed it!