The Pacific Ocean Tides in June 2018
A few weeks ago, Scott and I headed out to Poulsbo for a quick overnight. As you might remember, this was a last minute trip. Being an avid weather watcher, I checked the National Weather Service and saw they were predicting high winds and small craft advisory.
The National Weather Service is a great resource for boaters. It will tell you what is forecasted for the coastal region and for Puget Sound. For our trip on June 16th, it was looking rough.
We kept a good eye on the weather and luckily the forecast for us, stayed out in the ocean. However, that was NOT good for any boats out on the Pacific Ocean, especially near Washington & Oregon.
Tragically, a local couple who had circumnavigated the world over 17 years on their sailboat S/V Kelaerin hit horrible weather and lost everything. They were fortunate to be alive. Here’s a link to her terrifying story and Coast Guard video below. It’s another reminder, that even the best sailors can run into bad weather. What I would take away from this tragic event, are the lessons she shared with us.
Some of those include, keep your wallet, I.D., (important documents) in your ditch bag and easily accessible. Upload your photos & videos to a cloud. Make sure everything is tightly secured to prevent injury. And most important, stay on top of the weather.
“Epic Boat Loss” – Read the story HERE
Video of the boat as they abandoned it HERE
Extreme Tides
What added to the tragedy above, was the extreme tides on June 17, 2008. In our blog about Poulsbo, we told a story about a 58′ yacht that came down the fairway to get gas, only to find out they were in only 4′ of water. Not a good idea. While we could certainly see the bottom of the marina, it didn’t really occur to us, how low the tide was.
Scott and I headed back to the marina on Sunday, June 17, 2018. We washed the boat and headed home. It wasn’t until we were about halfway down the dock, that we realized how LOW the tide was. At 7:25am the tides were at 10′ 2″ and by 2:20pm the tides were at -2′ 2″! Here’s a quick video below of the footage we took:
The lesson here is pay attention to the weather before heading out anywhere on a vessel. You might not be dealing with winds, but instead the tides. Stay tuned for our next blog as we are heading up to Camano Island for the July 4th celebration.
Cheers, Scott and Ally
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