Not much of a sea story, Bill.

It was dead calm at the marina in Astoria in the dark at 0415 when we pushed back, but during the 8 or so miles to the bar we heard on Channel 16 that the coasties were progressively closing the bar, first closed to 22 ft and under, then closed to 30 ft and under. We were hoping they didn't close it to 36 ft and under. Once we got to Buoy 14 or so, we began to understand the reason...not a lot of NW wind, but the sea state was not nice. We crossed shortly after dawn at slack before ebb and got a thorough bashing, motoring into the seas and 15 kts wind.

It was a dark moon, thus maximum tide ranges. And slack before ebb is not the optimum crossing...it would have been much better at slack before flood.

The Columbia River Bar, for those that haven't been there, isn't a small "point" on the chart, but rather is a several mile-long area (say, from Buoy 1 through Buoy 14 or so), that can be as ugly as anything on the planet. This particular morning it wasn't Really Ugly, otherwise we would have been home before our fireplaces. I have actually crossed the Columbia Bar at max ebb, quite reasonably, but all other factors were perfect. And several times I have crossed at slack before flood and had glassy conditions all the way.

My quotable quote came at the end of the trip. While the bar crossing was interesting, the remainder of the 180 NM to Neah Bay was in large part cold, miserable, boring, noisy motoring dead into 15 kts or less, with beam swells. Did I say boring? Yes, boring, except for a few surprises, like the occasionaly grey whale and Dall's porpoise, and the final four or five hours rounding Cape Flattery when the sun came gloriously out.

And then there's the payback: The weather and scenery from Neah Bay to Bremerton, via Port Angeles and Seattle, was absolutely stunning! But alas, no wind.

I like keeping the boat here in PDX, where I can keep an eye on it. And I usually enjoy the trip around the outside twice a year. The river water kills off the barnacles, and the salt water kills off the garden that grows under it over the off-season. Most importantly, having it here in Oregon saves about $10k in Washington tax. But after trips like this last one, I seriously consider ante'ing up the $10k and keeping the boat in Puget Sound all the time. Olympia is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from home.

Here's another quotation I just came up with in an online discussion about whether X-band radar waves were radio-waves or micro-waves, the issue being a semantic one. I offered this analogy from philosophy to apply to the physics question...

"Is there an exact point at which a girl becomes a woman? Those of us who have watched them grow become suddenly aware that it must have been some time ago."