Sucia Island Fun --gctid386219

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Last Saturday night in Echo Bay we saw a Trophy on the Rocks and a Coast Guard Boat end up in the same position while trying to help them. I found a slide show on You-tube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkBixej37FE

Then on the hike to Fossil Bay, We came across a curious predicament with The Sea-Lark in Shallow Bay -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ_Tb_cxcJ4

Though we rocked and rolled all night - we still maintained our four boat raft and made it through with no damage.

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Yikes! Glad we decided to stay home. It wasn't that windy down south.

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

Did these boats drag anchor or other. Darn shame in any case. For the USCG to also do so, is very unusual.

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Not surprised by the weather...in Everett Marina, was cleaning the boat yesterday, and by 3:30-4:00 pm the wind was howling out of the NNW at a good 20 kts. Glad I was tied to the dock.

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

We were in South Puget Sound all weekend. Saw no significant wind except late one afternoon of 25-30 knot gusts for maybe 15 minutes.

[Go Aweigh2452 Founding Member Find all posts View Profile Close Go Aweigh2452]

10 boaters in our group enjoyed Bremerton Marina all weekend. It was windy at times. Glad we stayed close to home... er, Bremerton...

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How many feet does the tide come in and go out in this area? I'm going to be in this area this summer for the first time and do not want this to happen to me.

Looks like the Trophy and the CG were shallow to start with and the tide went out leaving them high and dry.

Thanks in advance,

Mark & Audrey

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

The difference between highest high and lowest low is about 14 feet. I thought these boats ended up on the rocks because their anchor dragged with a bit of wind. I don't think most folks would anchor that close to shore regardless.

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The best place at Sucia...is tied to the dock when a storm hits! None of the bays at Sucia offer very much protection in big storms. Plus, all of the bays are over crowded with boats that you are most likely to hit if your anchor drags. I find Sucia to be tied with Clark Island as one of the worst places to be in a storm. There may be others, but these two are the ones I have been at multiple times when freak storms hit and you feel like you may lose your boat.

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We were at Bowman's Bay Friday night and it was wonderful. Spent the day Saturday and around 8pm the rollers came in. Checked the wind and it was 31kts coming up the Straight. Untied and was going to go through the pass...as soon as we came around the head we were sideways to the wind in 3-4 swells and was very happy when we got inside deception pass. Went to La Conner for the night.

Lesson: Don't spend so much time looking at the weather forecast and a little more looking at the wind forecast.

Sucia has no solid anchorage. It is a rock bottom and doesn't even have much kelp and is very exposed. For us, it is either the dock, buoy, or move on to somewhere else.

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We were south of Sucia at Jones Is when this happened. Luckily we were tied to the dock on the North (lee) side of Jones. It was breezy that Saturday night for sure.

That's tough to see.

[mmichellich in memorium Find all posts View Profile Close mmichellich]

jwishart wrote:
The best place at Sucia...is tied to the dock when a storm hits! None of the bays at Sucia offer very much protection in big storms. Plus, all of the bays are over crowded with boats that you are most likely to hit if your anchor drags. I find Sucia to be tied with Clark Island as one of the worst places to be in a storm. There may be others, but these two are the ones I have been at multiple times when freak storms hit and you feel like you may lose your boat.

Matia ranks in that list, from one who has had experience there.

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I spent the week end in Gig Harbor. No issues. I was slopy as usual when we returned to Everett

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We were in Fossil bay on the hook. 9.7' of water when we anchored. Put out 125' of chain and a 44# delta plow. (yes I knew it wasa a lot but wind was in the forecast) We did drag a couple of times and ended up about 50' west of where we started.

I watched the sailboat raft fall apart at 3 am. I also watched the trawler cruise around trying to help. I am still trying to figure out why the trawler was runing around in the pitch dark with his inside lights on and he was running from the lower helm. I am sure he couldn't see a thing. But hey we could see him.

I don't ever want to see that kind of fun again.

Rick

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We were rafted to an other 33 bayliner at a buoy and it was rough. We hardly slept from the boats banging each other, but we were extremely thankfull for the buoy. I checked from time to time that we were not dragging the buoy with us.

Cheers

Jacques