**** Jim, Now you are headed to my old stomping grounds. I grew up in SE AK and have made the trip to and from Seattle many times  mostly on boats 50 to 150 feet of one flavor or another, and finally on my own bottom  so to speak. It can be a wonderful and magical trip. Chances are that you will experience some rain but dont let that deter your enjoyment of the country. It keeps everything clean and green. And there is no smog. Northern British Columbia and Southeastern Alaska are markedly different from any other cruising area  except Southern Chile. You owe it to yourself to take all the time you can possibly manage to enjoy every inch and every minute of the trip. I have seen some excellent hints and advice sent your way and I would like to offer a just few additional thoughts. As someone said  if you dont like the weather now  wait five minutes. It can, and does, change rapidly. Listen carefully to the weather reports for your immediate area, that area to which you are headed that day and for weather that might impact that area. Sharpen your own abilities to read and predict weather. Having transited from CA to WA you may think that you have experienced the worst of the Pacific. However, you just may get your comeuppance in Dixon Entrance. There are several large waterways and wind channels that converge and dump into the Entrance. In a flash, a windstorm in the BC interior or a hundred miles north in the Stikine River can make the water stand on end  and when the wind opposes the tide  it is a sight to behold. Incidentally, if need be, you can chart a course way to the east of Dixon Entrance, clear up into the mouth of Portland Canal and lessen your exposure to raucous waters. An old fisherman once told me if it looks calm  watch out! My personal rule is to not cross it after September 15th. I urge you not to make a rigid time schedule and then try to stick to it. The country from Seattle to Juneau is so incredibly vast, so beautiful and so wonderful you need far more time than is available to any of us to assimilate and appreciate it. I believe that someone suggested over wintering your boat somewhere in the area so you could start fresh the following year. That is really a great suggestion! Do acquire and take along the appropriate books. Id like to recommend a few that we consider especially worthwhile. Some of the following are quite old and may no longer be in print but a search should lead you to others that are even more useful. United States Coast Pilot #8, Pacific Coast Alaska: Dixon Entrance top Cape Spencer, published by the U.S, Department of Commerce, NOAA. You likely will want volume #7 for your trip LA to BC. We especially like the cruising books by Douglas and Douglas. Not only are they are good authors - they are good navigators and they give good guidelines. Besides that - they are nice folks  you may meet them along the way. Follow their lead  and you should stay out of trouble. Although the Douglas quote appropriate passages from the USCG Coast Pilot you may feel that you do not need to purchase a copy  but it never hurts to have one. The two Douglas books that we recommend are  Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia  Blunden Harbour to Dixon Entrance and Exploring Southeast Alaska - Dixon Entrance to Skagway. Both are published by Fine Edge in Anacortes, WA. I believe the Douglas have also written a guide that covers the WA, OR and CA coasts. Complimenting the Douglas books and the USCG Coast Pilot are  Sailing Directions  Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance etc etc etc published by the Canadian Hydrographic Service. Check them out at  http://www.charts.gc.ca The Radar Book  Effective Navigation and Collision Avoidance by Kevin Monahan and published by Fine Edge in Anacortes, WA, is an excellent reference and guide You can expect that the tides and currents will be a tad different that what you may be accustomed to in the general Channel Islands area. On whichever route you may choose from Seattle to Icy Straits you will likely experience some fast water. Play it smart and negotiate those passages at slack  preferably at high slack. Read Monahan. Incidentally, I would advise you not to attempt a transit of Keku Pass. It aint for cheechakos. I recommend three publications  the first two I consider a must buy. Canadian Tide and Current Tables published by the Canadian Hydrographic Service. Check them out at  http://www.charts.gc.ca Southeast Alaska Current Atlas  Grenville Channel to Skagway, by Randel Washburne and published by Weatherly Press in Bellevue, WA Local Knowledge  A Skippers Reference - Tacoma to Ketchikan by Kevin Monahan and published by Fine Edge in Anacortes, WA, is an excellent reference and guide. In addition to a wealth of basic boat stuff that we should all know, you should find his explanation of Managing Tidal Rapids very worthwhile. Another very good tide and current book is  Ports and Passages  Tides, Current & Charts  Olympia, WA to Prince Rupert. BC, published by Chyna Sea Ventures, Ltd. Check them out at  www.portsandpasses.com For both fun and serious reading, get a copy of  Charlies Charts North to Alaska  Victoria, BC to Glacier Bay, Alaska, by Charles E. Wood and revised by Margo Wood. ISBN 0-9697265-9-7. Charlie passed away several years ago and his widow, Margo, has taken over the business. She is a delightful person who single hands her approx. 35 sailboat up and down the north coast. We have the above book and it is delightful and very informative. I believe that she has also written a cruising guide for the CA, OR & WA coast. Alaskas Southeast  Touring the Inside Passage by Sara Eppenbach and published by Pacific Search Press, Seattle is a great overview of the Panhandle. Not for navigation, but for traveler basics, history, sights, flora, fauna, towns and villages. There are any number of books that focus on marine life, land animals and birds. I like - Seabirds of Eastern North Pacific and Artic Waters edited by Delphine Haley and published by Pacific Search Press, Seattle. Fieldbook of Pacific Northwest Sea Creatures by Dan H McLachlan and Jak Ayres and published by Naturegraph Publishers of Happy Camp, CA Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell and published by Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, BC, Canada Guide to Marine Life of British Columbia, by G. Clifford Carl and published by Province of British Columbia, Department of Recreation and Conservation. I dont have a recommendation, but a book on PNW geology would be nice to have along. You will see some fantastic geological formations and features. Enuf already! That should keep you out of the taverns for a little while. Hope you have a great trip. Give me a shout if you have any questions. Oh  you should remember that the Alaska State Bird is - - - the mosquito. Best, John Peters Winship  a 49 Sunnfjord

John Peters <jbpeters1@gmail.com> writes: >Local Knowledge A Skippers Reference - Tacoma to Ketchikan by Kevin >Monahan I can't recommend this book enough. He has detailed recommendations for how to transit the rapids around Johnstone Straight, including calculations on exactly how to calculate departure times and slack water for each set of rapids. When I took Island Eagle north from Campbell River to Alert Bay for the first time (summer 2007) I followed his calculations to the minute. We had a completely uneventful passage, leaving Campbell River about 0700 and arriving at Alert Bay about 1530. Coming back we overnighted in Kelsey Bay and again used his calculations to ensure we transited at the best water. If you have the time, you can arrange your trip so that you do it on a day when the slack water is in the early morning (in my case it was a fluke). Also, the marina in Campbell River is very convenient, you can take a shopping card from the big-box stores right to your boat. Here's a link to the book: http://www.shipwrite.bc.ca/localknowledge.htm Scott Welch Product Manager, Open Text Collaboration Solutions Group www.opentext.com 905 762 6101 "Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden

The US Coast Pilots are available for download at the following link: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/cpdownload.htm These are PDF files and an be saved or printed. Tide and current tables can be downloaded from this link: http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/ John Peters wrote: > > Do acquire and take along the appropriate books. > > > United States Coast Pilot #8, Pacific Coast Alaska: Dixon Entrance top Cape > Spencer, published by the U.S, Department of Commerce, NOAA. > You likely will want volume #7 for your trip LA to BC.

>Tide and current tables can be downloaded from this link: > >http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/ Or better yet, compute or display your own tide and current tables, using the excellent, free wxTides program: www.wxtide32.com This also works for British Columbia stations. Best, Steve

On Mar 23, 2009, at 1:58 PM, Scott H.E. Welch wrote: > John Peters <jbpeters1@gmail.com> writes: >> Local Knowledge A Skippers Reference - Tacoma to Ketchikan by Kevin >> Monahan > > I can't recommend this book enough. He has detailed recommendations > for how > to transit the rapids around Johnstone Straight, including > calculations on > exactly how to calculate departure times and slack water for each > set of > rapids. I'm not familiar with the Monahan book, so can't comment on it, but there's something about Johnstone Strait that doesn't appear in many guides, at least as far as I'm aware. Because of the huge volume of fresh water that is added to the complex of passages, straits and sounds inside Vancouver Island by the many rivers and streams that constitute the runoff from the Coast Range (and from northern Vancouver Island), the much larger volume of water that ebbs and flows through Johnstone Strait is augmented at times of high runoff to such an extent that the surface currents don't actually change from ebb to flow for days at a time. In other words, although the tables show two ebb periods and two flow periods each day, don't be surprised if the flows are very weak or completely absent. (The ebb is Northwest in Johnstone Strait.) These peculiarities can't be shown in the current tables because they're dependent on erratic conditions such as rainfall and the temperature above snow level on the mountains. The point is that Johnstone Strait, with its long fetch, is often a funnel for strong winds; from the Southeast in foul weather and from the Northwest in fine weather. Knowing current direction will allow you to avoid the rotten 'wind against tide' scenario - BUT - be aware that the Northwest ebb might continue right through the period when it is supposed to be in the opposite direction. Depending on wind direction this can be either a curse or a blessing. A good bit of the Strait can be avoided by proceeding further East through the various rapids - Yuculta, Gillard, Dent, Whirlpool, etc. but there is no way to completely avoid it. Be prepared for conditions that can be much worse or much better than you might otherwise anticipate. Terry Tamarack