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Trawler surfing; Oz style...

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by olderboater, Nov 5, 2013.

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  1. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Mod Note: Location corrected.

    There was some recent discussion here of boating in the Pacific Northwest. Well, I just saw a video of some activity at the Columbia Bar, which is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. There are about 10 deaths a year in this area. The boats in this video are self righting fishing boats with everything sealed and as bullet proof as possible Apparently the Coast Guard closed this entrance due to 35 to 45 foot waves. All I can say is "wow" and I don't care what boat it is, I'll pass on that ride.

    Incredible video - fishing boats in rough sea - YouTube
  2. Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

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    To begin with ... that video was not made on the Columbia River Bar. It was made in NZ.

    Secondly, if you can find a single "self-righting" fishing boat in the Washington/Oregon commercial fishing fleet, I will donate $50 to Carl's favorite charity. There might be a lot of dead fishermen alive today if such a thing existed.

    Thirdly, the Bar and most of the other river bars in the PNW are relatively calm probably 90 percent of the time. There is a huge recreational salmon fishery at Bouy 10 on the Columbia River Bar and hundreds of little outboard fishing boats with a couple of shoe salesmen go out there every day during the season.

    I spent an entire Summer working on a dredge in the shipping channel crossing the Bar several times a day to the spoil area and most of the time the seas were calm enough that we didn't have any problem dredging.
  3. Laurence

    Laurence Senior Member

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    Timing

    I've crossed the bar several time at 5 knots in my 29' Gulf pilothouse sailboat. It's all a matter of timing for weather and tides. Never had any issues.
  4. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Thanks for the correction. Might I ask how you recognized it? I'm sorry for posting anything erroneous as I picked this up from a normally very reliable cruising site, although that site normally covers the southeast US. I will certainly report your comment to them. I certainly don't like misinformation and like forwarding it even less. I'm hoping one of the moderators will perhaps change the title of this thread or delete it now.
  5. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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  6. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Glad you said "on the anniversary", as I was about to get worried that you were there when it happened 150 years ago.

    Even though my initial information was wrong, the videos are still astonishing to me.
  7. genealogy

    genealogy New Member

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    Kiwi is correct that is the Greymouth bar on the west coast of South Island filmed last year this is a notoruios bar which has claimed its share of fisherman and should be taken lightly in any conditions, these baots are extremely sea worthy and well built and as you can see are built to handle the Tasma Sea
  8. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

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    And THAT is why New Zealand produces some of the greatest boats and seamen in the world.

    Take into account the population of this small country and then compare the proportion of great names in the industry to that and I doubt there is another country that can compare. Except the mainland, Australia :D

    It is a mixture of the Dutch, Scots, Maori and good beer in the genes.
  9. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    You better get a new Atlas, you are on the West Island over there not the Mainland.:D
  10. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

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    Size matters!;)