Certainly not as interesting as last weekend but it will still offer challenges to boaters this weekend. The big regatta’s are the Sloops Race Your House and then their Fall Regatta on Sunday. Big turn out and it will of course be lots of fun.
This will probably be another case of you should have been here yesterday as we will have near perfect conditions today and not so good for Saturday The Friday morning surface chart shows a nice low off of SE Alaska with another low forming ofåf of the mouth of the Columbia River. This afternoons radar shows a fairly strong band of rain showers moving over the coast and headed our way for this evening. Once this moves through a weak high pressure system will form over central Oregon and move north into southern BC during the day on Saturday. This will probably result in light and variable winds for the afternoon.
Sunday looks to be a better day as another front approaches the coast. As we saw last weekend the speed and strength of this front can vary a great deal as it approaches the coast. Keep your fingers crossed.
Tides at West Point for the weekend
Saturday
0712 Flood .92 knots
1030 Slack
1154 Ebb .33 knots
1606 Slack
1936 Flood .43 knots
Sunday
0818 Flood .88 knots
1136 Slack
1254 Ebb .29 knots
1636 Slack
With the nice southerly we’ve had all day today and certainly plenty of rain this week in addition to the rain we’ll get tonight you can expect the slack water to occur earlier, the ebb to start sooner and run stronger. You’ll also see that band of muddy, freshwater from the Duwamish running around West Point which will be a great indicator of where you’ll find the strongest part of the ebb. It has been so muddy along the north side of Elliott Bay that is has messed up squid jigging at the fishing pier near the grain terminal. Then again I guess when you have seven inches of rain so far in the month of October compared to a normal of about 1.75 inches, it has to go somewhere.
I also included the 96 hour (Tuesday) surface forecast because it’s a very interesting chart with lots of activity headed our way this coming week.
Enjoy the weekend.
Ed. Notes: Sorry I didn’t get this up yesterday afternoon, but I was actually out racing in SYC’s Grand Prix Regatta. Great racing conditions and there are some very close classes, including ORC 1 where Smoke and Glory split races and in Class 3, where I was sailing, which has 3 boats tied at 5 pts after Friday.
Also: Bruce reminds boaters and marine industry folk that next week is the NMTA Marina and Boatyard Conference in Bremerton. “It’s not free but it will definitely be worth it,” he says, and I agree. I’ve been to several and there’s much to learn and many people to meet. -Kurt
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)