Your trickiest/most challenging/most aggravating port to navigate

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

YIKES is right! What if he's hungover and can't get out of bed? Does he direct you in from there!?!?!

Harboumasters are never hungover in Australia!!!

LittleWing77

[Scorpius]

Try taking a barge through the Skookumchuk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dXcu1wsn5Q

This is tidal flow, not a river. Six hours later it is running just as strong in the opposite direction.

Squitty Bay on Lasquiti Island has got to be the tightest spot to get in and out of. The picture is pretty benign. At low tide the channel is about half this width with lots of rocks in it and when it is blowing it is so, so easy to get twisted sideways and into REAL trouble.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Try taking a barge through the Skookumchuk:

This is tidal flow, not a river. Six hours later it is running just as strong in the opposite direction.

Squitty Bay on Lasquiti Island has got to be the tightest spot to get in and out of. The picture is pretty benign. At low tide the channel is about half this width with lots of rocks in it and when it is blowing it is so, so easy to get twisted sideways and into REAL trouble.

Yep, been through there. Timed it better than that guy though! Man, that's a pretty small boat for that barge!

[svfinlandia]

My only experience is East Coast USA. Some fairly tricky inlets from Chesapeake down through Florida.
Worst time was forced to go in to Ocracoke Inlet in a fog against the current. Pretty tricky.
Another time I got knocked down to the mast going into Oregon Inlet against the tide. My fault. Proud of my boat though. She jumped back on her feet before I could say Ah S**t!

Al, S/V Finlandia

[seandepagnier]

I sailed woods hole a few times, the channel markers were at 45 degrees from the current.

There was also a 60ft powerboat going 25 knots the opposite direction and they passed within 20ft of me. Is this even legal? I think it was dangerous and I don't understand why this is not a no-wake zone. I was close hauled on a light wind, and they knocked the wind from my sail which is a rude thing. I should have thrown debris in the water in front of them to attempt to to foul their propeller and it would be the same level of consideration they had of me.

Their wake buried my bow under waves at a time when I was about 10ft from rocks in a 5knot current.



The conditions wer nothing compared to other places I've sailed with wind against current such as lombok strait, and even georgetown, but it is the most dangerous only because of the other boaters in this country.

[PirateGuy]

I don’t like entering San Diego at night - even though nuke aircraft carriers go in and out.

All the city lights, aircraft landing and taking off at the harbor side airport, and young men (and women) tooling in and out in high powered military patrol boats make it visually disorienting and disconcerting.

[Mickeyrouse]

No doubt most of these mentioned are pretty hairy. Been Brownsville Texas to Roque, Maine and back, and my two most unfavorite are Destin Fl and Barnegat NJ. At Destin, the bottom comes up pretty quickly to about a quarter mile offshore, where it’s not much more than shoal draft. Then, inside the jetties, the channel (8 ft at best) is usually outside the marked buoys, though not consistently east or west.
Barnegat Bay is fairly large for the short and narrow jetty passage at Barnegat Light. We were doing an indicated hull speed entering on an outgoing tide, while just creeping over the bottom. Channels are more aspirational than indicative there as well.
Both places have large bays with tidal egress through constricted passes. One would do well to afford an entry co-ordinated with the tides.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Harboumasters are never hungover in Australia!!!

LittleWing77

This is a country I must visit

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Try taking a barge through the Skookumchuk:

This is tidal flow, not a river. Six hours later it is running just as strong in the opposite direction.

Squitty Bay on Lasquiti Island has got to be the tightest spot to get in and out of. The picture is pretty benign. At low tide the channel is about half this width with lots of rocks in it and when it is blowing it is so, so easy to get twisted sideways and into REAL trouble.

In. Sane.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

I sailed woods hole a few times, the channel markers were at 45 degrees from the current.

There was also a 60ft powerboat going 25 knots the opposite direction and they passed within 20ft of me. Is this even legal? I think it was dangerous and I don't understand why this is not a no-wake zone. I was close hauled on a light wind, and they knocked the wind from my sail which is a rude thing. I should have thrown debris in the water in front of them to attempt to to foul their propeller and it would be the same level of consideration they had of me.

Their wake buried my bow under waves at a time when I was about 10ft from rocks in a 5knot current.



The conditions wer nothing compared to other places I've sailed with wind against current such as lombok strait, and even georgetown, but it is the most dangerous only because of the other boaters in this country.

For those who haven't been, here's Woods Hole not quite at full flood. You try to time it but it is so tricky!! And Sean is right, some boaters there are just plain Massholes

[Flod]

The entrance to Harbour at Ursholmen lighthouse in the Swedish west coast is kind of tricky. The approach is like slalom and the only sailable channel is narrow. Not recommended in bad weather or darkness

[Dsanduril]

Mostly for its name, Ford's Terror in Endicott Arm, SE Alaska. At slack tide it's a pussy cat, but get that wrong by even a few minutes and it's a different story. And the trek through 12 miles of ice floes to get there, and 12 miles back if things go pear-shaped... Still, one of our favorite places.

At slack tide it's just a narrow channel with a few rocks and reefs:



The exact same channel about 45 minutes after slack:

[StuM]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

> Harboumasters are never hungover in Australia!!!

This is a country I must visit

Yep, you only get hungover if you sober up

[Benz]

Entering the Bocana at Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. Pilot comes out in a jet-ski, times the breakers, and guides you in between sets. You have to wait till the tide is right--some heave-to overnight outside waiting their chance. Channel is unmarked and changes often. We were stuck inside for a couple weeks waiting for things to quiet down enough to depart.
Cruisers already inside line the beach to catch the show. There are times when the pilot refuses to bring in fin-keelers because they get squirrely and tend to broach.

Next worst is the entrance to the river going to Pedregal, Panama. Huge tides, sharp rocks, indifferent guidebook info.....hair raising.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Benz

Entering the Bocana at Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. Pilot comes out in a jet-ski, times the breakers, and guides you in between sets. You have to wait till the tide is right--some heave-to overnight outside waiting their chance. Channel is unmarked and changes often. We were stuck inside for a couple weeks waiting for things to quiet down enough to depart.
Cruisers already inside line the beach to catch the show. There are times when the pilot refuses to bring in fin-keelers because they get squirrely and tend to broach.

Next worst is the entrance to the river going to Pedregal, Panama. Huge tides, sharp rocks, indifferent guidebook info.....hair raising.

holy moly

that takes the cake

is this pilot ever hungover?