Friday Funny 11-19/2021 (Wind, and Waves, and Williwaws, Oh My!)

 

What if you're at sea?

When we left Glacier Bay, we transited to Hoonah for a quick grocery shop, topped up the fuel, and water, then spent the night at the transient dock.  There were a few large cruise ships left in SE Alaska, and Hoonah is a prime stop for them.

To give you a perspective, that "little" blue boat in front of the cruise ship is an Alaskan ferry with the Alaska Marine Highway. This is the Le Conte, and it's 235 feet long, 57 feet wide, and it looks like a toy next to the large ship.

Denali Rose in Hoonah

We left Hoonah knowing that a large storm was rolling in that evening, we were trying to make it to either Takatz Bay, or Warm Springs to weather the winds. Gus, and I shared our Bonine, and with the sea state, we were glad that I'd taken the precaution. 

Takatz Bay would mean we would be at anchor, and if we went to Warm Springs, we would be tied to a dock. Our concern was that the dock would be full, and then we would have to either anchor in one of the small bays within the main bay, or go back out into Chatham Straits to back track to Takatz. 

We saw on the AIS*, that the sailing vessel BOB had joined us in Chatham Strait, and we talked to them over the radio. They had guests onboard, so we decided to go into Takatz, and let BOB have any openings on the dock at Warm Springs. We figured that the commercial fishing vessels, and anyone else out in Chatham would be headed for the dock at Warm Springs, and we didn't want to take the chance it would be full. As it turned out, BOB sent us a message from his InReach, and said that there was one more spot open. But by the time we saw their kind message, we had anchored and Bill had done all of the storm preparations/ reinforcements to our anchor, chain, and bridle [with back-up.]

We were in for a wild time. 

We found that even though we were well protected from the wind and waves in Chatham Strait, the wind would build up and spill over the tall hills, and we were constantly broadsided by williwaws* from every direction. The bow of the boat couldn't recover and point into the wind, so we were being heeled over. I sat on the settee, and watched out the window, as the wind put the toerail in the water.  There's a small cell signal in that bay, and I was texting with my friend Robin, who was reminding me of how well equipped we were, and how stout our boat was, and how Bill was  knowledgable, and capable. Bill was his usual calm self, secure with his efforts to help Denali Rose withstand the storm. Gus, and I took our cue from him, and we were calm also, (mostly). 

Since we had a cell signal, Bill was watching [and trending...] the live reports from all Wx reporting resources within 100 miles of our position- paying special attention to the closest; Point Gardner. 

Below is the final report for the records that evening: 

Here's a screen shot from Windy, there were quite a few memes made about the fact that our storm, was so much larger than that puny named one in the Atlantic. 

That's hurricane Sam, compared to Friday in the Gulf of Alaska. 

We found out later that the vessels at the dock in Warm Springs, didn't fare much better, they were hit with the williwaws also. I think this is the largest storm I've been in since we moved onboard Denali Rose.

Terms: 

AIS: (The automatic identification system, or AIS, transmits a ship's position so that other ships are aware of its position.)

Williwaws: a sudden violent gust of cold land air common along mountainous coasts of high latitudes. A type of katabatic wind caused when frigid air drops from a mountaintop to sea level. 

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