I need to run a small boat, a 32’ Nordic Tug, from Whittier to Seward, AK, about 200 miles as the chosen route runs. I intend to have perfect weather and stop along the way to fish for searun Cutthroats as far West and nearly as far North as they run. There are a couple places I have fished for them and intend to return. There will be some very late running salmon in several places and there is a possibility of saltwater lingcod, halibuit, and rockfish, on fly rods too.
Will be looking for bears, both black and brown, Sitka blacktail deer, and ducks, with appropriate tags and tackle available for them.
Being winter in Prince William Sound means there will be lots of ice and it will be chilly, wet, and potentially nasty. I may be hung up by weather along the way. But I will have a good time doing it. A friend from LA, CA is coming with me and possibly a local couple. We should have lots of room and a good time.
The boat is the same one we ran from Juneau to Whittier in '10, a run of about 800 miles.
art
I will have more than a little camera gear along… I like boating in winter when the wind remains reasonable. I have had to live through hurricaine force winds off Kodiak on several occasions over the years and as long as we get none of that I will be happy!
She is red and white, but otherwise looks very much the same. The former owner was a Coast Guard Unlimited Master and named her the Sea Pilot. Rounding the corner into Resurrection Bay is the most likely place to have “fun” on the way as that is open ocean with lots of stuff to start bending waves in bad ways. The katabatic winds coming out of the bays and passes along the way often prove interesting, too…
Hap, I’m sure she’s a pretty thing. I guess your winds at coming from glaciers and mountain tops? If the Sea Pilot is your dry, that might make a “drag free drift” an interesting proposition. It doesn’t take too much thinking to realize that those winds, coming from landward, meeting the sea waves, coming in from the ocean, will tend to cause the waves to merge into taller waves. I’m certainly not boat-savvy, but from what I’ve heard and read, trawler hulls are about the best available for those conditions.
Have a great trip,
Ed, who is navigating a swivel chair in a cubical
If Hap is going to use fancy words about conditions I have not encountered in the states I have lived in I am inclinced to look them up and educate my fellow Southeners who likewise have not encounter Katabatic Winds. After finding out what it is, I am just as happy not encountering this condition.
Katabatic Wind- a flow of cold air down relatively gentle slopes of mountain ranges, caused by the force of gravity (in contrast to the bora, which blows down steep slopes). Such winds are observed primarily at night when the ground layer of air cools. They include glacier winds, which are more intense in the summer when the air above glaciers is especially cool relative to the air above the surrounding area at the same elevation.
[b]PKZ121-011500-
RESURRECTION BAY
400 PM AKDT WED OCT 31 2012
[b]…SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY TONIGHT…
[b].TONIGHT…N WIND 25 KT. SEAS 5 FT. FREEZING SPRAY.
[b].THU…N WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT. FREEZING SPRAY.
[b].THU NIGHT…N WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT. FREEZING SPRAY.
[b].FRI…N WIND 25 KT. SEAS 5 FT.
[b].FRI NIGHT AND SAT…N WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].SUN AND MON…N WIND 15 KT. SEAS 3 FT.
$$
[b]PKZ125-011500-
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND
400 PM AKDT WED OCT 31 2012
[b].TONIGHT…NE WIND 20 KT. GUSTS TO 30 KT OUT OF BAYS AND PASSES.
SEAS 4 FT.
[b].THU…NE WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].THU NIGHT THROUGH SAT…NE WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].SUN AND MON…NE WIND 15 KT. SEAS 3 FT.
$$
[b]PKZ129-011500-
PASSAGE CANAL
400 PM AKDT WED OCT 31 2012
[b].TONIGHT…W WIND 15 KT. GUSTS TO 25 KT NEAR WHITTIER IN THE EVENING.
SEAS 2 FT.
[b].THU AND THU NIGHT…VARIABLE WIND LESS THAN 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
[b].FRI…W WIND 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
[b].FRI NIGHT THROUGH MON…E WIND 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
We intend to run mostly along the western edge of the Sound… Due East of Port Nellie Juan is a a long skinny bay running due E:W. That is the first major planned stop, Eshamy Bay and Lake. It has searun cutthroats in abudance…
Funny thing is how few glaciers and icefields they show on that map. If you take a look at other maps you will see many dozens of glaciers ringing the entire Sound.
art
The definition is in error in some ways… While summer winds TEND to be worse, that does not apply around open water. As the cold winds come down across the water they accelerate evaporation. The evaporating water lightens the air significantly (no, that is not a typo, wet air is lighter than dry air) causing it to rise. The reduced pressure created by the warmed and wetted air rising increases the pressure differential and accelerates the heavy cooled air dropping down the mountainsides, which keeps the whole cycle running.
Fortunately, PWS has little direct contact with open ocean and the storms can get bad but the seas die down rapidly following a storm and there is little in the way of serious big water until turning the corner outside the Sound and heading to Resurresction Bay, and Seward.
art
I admire you folks who chose to live up there because I dislike cold weather so much. When it got to 105 deg. down here the last couple of summers, I refused to fuss about it because it does not dip below the 0 deg. mark very often and then only for short durations. I would love to come up to visit and fish but in July or August.
Years ago I went to Monroe, Louisiana for an alligator hunt while they were experiencing the hottest three days in their history. It was 108, 109, and then 109 and above 100 the whole time I was there. That was worse than a little -30 with a stout wind! Never drank so much water…
July and August are better for some fishing, but my favorite day for fishing was Halloween for many years. Have caught more truly big wild native rainbows on that day than any other… And it was only in the 20s yesterday…
Well, Monroe, that would be dry heat. Humidity probably below 80%. If you don’t drink water or some other liquids you die in that kind of heat. I had a client request I come to Minnesota in January several years ago. I know I can survive in 100+ longer than I can -20, I would love to come visit you in the summer but my blood and my undies are too thin for much of that kind of winter.
Can a tourist come to Alaska and go catch some trout without hiring a guide or being eaten by a bear? The second part of the question is more important that the first.
Yes, someone can come North and catch fish without a guide and even do it without feeding too many bears… Hiring a guide for the first day in an area you would like to fish more is usually worth the money… and certainly so as a function of the total cost of the trip.
But I have to disagree with two points… Monroe is not “dry” heat and 80% is no where near “dry” either!
I just added that for the comic effect. I have spend most of my life in the SE where 80% humidity is the norm much of the year. You have to get somewhere west of Dallas before you encounter dry heat.
The weather forecast for the trip is looking better than we could have hoped for at this point…
[b]KZ125-050300-
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND
400 AM AKST SUN NOV 4 2012
[b].TODAY…NE WIND 15 KT. GUSTS TO 25 KT OUT OF NORTHERN BAYS AND
PASSES. SEAS 3 FT.
[b].TONIGHT AND MON…N WIND 15 KT. GUSTS TO 25 KT OUT OF NORTHERN BAYS
AND PASSES. SEAS 3 FT.
[b].MON NIGHT…N WIND 15 KT. GUSTS TO 30 KT OUT OF NORTHERN BAYS AND
PASSES. SEAS 3 FT.
[b].TUE…N WIND 20 KT. GUSTS TO 35 KT OUT OF NORTHERN BAYS AND PASSES.
SEAS 4 FT.
[b].WED…NE WIND 15 KT. SEAS 3 FT.
[b].THU…VARIABLE WIND LESS THAN 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
$$
[b]PKZ129-050300-
PASSAGE CANAL
740 AM AKST SUN NOV 4 2012
[b]…SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY TONIGHT AND MONDAY…
[b].TODAY…W WIND 15 KT. GUSTS TO 30 KT NEAR WHITTIER IN THE AFTERNOON.
SEAS 2 FT.
[b].TONIGHT…W WIND 25 KT. GUSTS TO 40 KT NEAR WHITTIER. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].MON…W WIND 25 KT. GUSTS TO 40 KT NEAR WHITTIER. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].MON NIGHT…W WIND 25 KT. GUSTS TO 40 KT NEAR WHITTIER. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].TUE…W WIND 25 KT. SEAS 4 FT.
[b].WED…W WIND 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
[b].THU…VARIABLE WIND LESS THAN 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
[/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b][/b]There is an old saying in Whittier about going out: If the wind is blowing in, stay in; if it is blowing out, go out. That is mostly because Whittier is in the NW corner of Prince William Sound, obviously. And we want to skirt the West side, so westerly weather is what we want… if we cannot have flat calm, of course! Whittier is an interesting place… situated in the spot with the greatest protection from Japanese bombers during WWII. They KNEW the weather was never good enough to allow the bombers to find the place. There is supposed to be a submarine grotto a short distance from town blasted into the side of a seaside cliff, but that does not narrow the location down much! The mountains are steep most of the way around.
and stop along the way to fish for searun Cutthroats as far West and nearly as far North as they run. There are a couple places I have fished for them and intend to return. There will be some very late running salmon in several places and there is a possibility of saltwater lingcod, halibuit, and rockfish, on fly rods too.
