I went on a boat trip and experienced a whole new level of rough and dangerous water.
I’ve seen some bad water in my time. I’ve been in and out of Morro Bay when swells made it truly dangerous, and boats were advised not to transit the entrance.
Our Santa Barbara Channel is ranked as one of the deadliest patches of water in the world because we get powerful winds, big seas and currents that make those waves do strange and scary things.
Here on our channel, I’ve seen a rogue wave — generated by fast and opposing currents — climb right up out of a fairly calm sea and break over my boat.
Out by San Miguel Island, even on a calm day the water looks jittery and nervous. Heavy seas and powerful currents do dangerous things around that wild isle.
This week I visited Willapa Bay on the gorgeous coast of Washington State, situated between the mouth of the great Columbia River to the south and Westport, Washington, to the north.
Over eons, sand and silt from the Columbia River has been carried northward by the inshore currents and created a very long spit of sand that protects portions of Willapa Bay.
Between the northern end of that long spit and Cape Shoalwater is the most rugged, wind and wave-swept patch of water I have encountered. To give you an idea of how treacherous this water is, the map shows the name Graveyard Spit on one part of it.
Locals tell me the tidal current achieves an amazing 12 knots and where that current passes over shallow sand and meets the force of the north Pacific swells and wind waves, all hell breaks loose.
I visited this water with a crusty old captain who had grown up on those scary waters and made the passage out to sea and back in more times than one could count.
When we first got out to the rough water, that old skipper expected me to get seasick and scared. Most folks do get that way, so first he cruised along the edge of the bad water.
My background on our own roughest waters prepared me well, and soon he determined I was worthy, so into the shoal water we went.
He followed his chart-plotter track plots and knew where the deeper spots were. Still, there was only a few feet of water under our hull and angry 15-foot waves breaking all around us.
The skilled skipper maneuvered deftly to keep huge waves from breaking over the boat. They broke and sprayed sheets of water all around us and we got doused liberally with salt spray.
The sturdy boat pitched and yawed, riding up huge waves and rushing down the backside, heeling way over first on our port side, then on our starboard side, before righting itself.
Truth is, I live for this stuff! The old skipper realized that about me and the two of us stood there grinning like kids together, even though were grizzled old sea captains.
I saw what I needed to see and had the experience I wanted, so he timed the waves, made the turn and returned to his dock.
We shook hands and I walked away whistling an old sea chanty. Did I mention that I love this stuff?
