Capt. Linda Lewis - www.privateboatinginstruction.com and Capt. David Parker
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9 – Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg (June 20, 2011)I have to start with this because it is a first for us. We saw a bergy bit (chunk of glacier) floating in Wrangell Narrows about three miles south of Petersburg. We usually don’t see these until we are north of the town of Petersburg – up in Frederick Sound or Stephens Passage. None of the veteran cruising folks we spoke to in Petersburg have ever seen the bergy bits so far south, but the Harbormaster has. When there is a big Spring Tide, LeConte Glacier spits these out.
We did hear that last week some cruisers were able to make it up Tracy Arm all the way to the face of Sawyer Glacier. I usually steer people away from going up Tracy until mid-July because they risk the disappointment of not being able to get all the way up to see the glacier. Too many bergy bits in the water. Maybe the ice has drifted out earlier this year. ???
Flowers in Alaska
As you recall, we left our anchorage in Exchange Cove with Dave busily processing crab. Here is what we found.
As we turned into Sumner Strait, the chart screenshot shows the need to make a bearing that was at 354 (M). However we had about a 1.6k current on our port beam (Landlubber note: left side). This is when an autopilot in Navigation Mode really pays off. Right: The autopilot is linked to the activated route on the charting program. Putting the autopilot into Nav Mode keeps us on track. In this case, it does so by steering the boat to a 345 (M) heading in order to make good our intended route. What matters is not where we’re heading, but where the boat is going.
Wrangell Narrows does not need to be taken at Slack, but it can run hard. In some places it can get up to 6 K.
So we timed our entrance to start up with the Flood, then arrive at the location where the currents meet, then take the second half running with the ebb. When we started in at the south end, the current was flooding about 2-3 K. So we reduced our RPMs and just took an easy ride up. Saves on fuel costs, too.
There are about 60 aids to navigation (buoys, markers, and range markers) in the approximately 18-mile stretch of Wrangell Narrows.
Left photo: The many markers seem confusing at first, but this is a place where you must learn to take life one step at a time. This traffic may look like a problem, but they are just about to take a curve in the road and we will pass port to port. Right photo: The trick in Wrangell Narrows is to not get ahead of yourself. Proceed from one marker to the next and let the subsequent ones reveal themselves. Of course, everyone has electronic charting these days, so following the laid-in route is good. But nothing beats looking outside the window. Living in the real, not the electronic charting screen.
Left: Using the range markers also helps keep you in the center of the channel. We had remarkably little traffic on this passage so that made things very easy. Right: Here’s what a 3 K current looks like as it runs past a marker.
Some boaters call this Christmas Tree Lane. It’s easy to see why.
The Green Devil looks good in this country.
Petersburg Waterfront:
The North Harbor is our favorite. Petersburg is a real fishing town and we like to be where the action is. We love to watch all the activity.
We looked across the dock and were amazed to see a smaller version of ourselves.
It turns out the owners of this boat, M/V Chapter 45, had attended the seminars I (Linda) gave on Crusing the Inside Passage and Southeast Alaska at the Seattle Boat Show this year, sponsored by Fine Edge (
http://www.fineedge.com). It’s good to know they were finding the information useful.
I looked across the water to another dock and there was a boat I recognized: M/V Cosmo Place! I waved across the water and we went over to visit.
We knew the former owners of this beautiful boat and had met the current owners when they too attended the seminars at the Seattle Boat Show.
Above: How do you like the imaginative dock cleat they had to use? You do what you have to given the circumstances that you find.
M/V Intrepid was making their exit after a very quick visit. We met these folks last year at Lagoon Cove in the Broughton Islands. They are delightful people and they’re on their way to try to make it up Tracy Arm to see the Sawyer Glacier.
I love looking at boat names. This is a really good one.
We love Petersburg. Its Norwegian heritage and active fishing fleet make it a special place. The large cruise ships cannot come in here; it’s not deep enough. So we get a taste of real Southeast Alaska. We spent three nights here and spotted this rainbow.
There is so much to show you and tell you about being in Petersburg that it will take another installment. So this one ends now, but Petersburg will continue in the next. I won’t be able to send it until we arrive in Juneau. But hopefully the pictures and stories will be worth the wait.
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