Beaching in the San Juans

[Doug Faigel]

Planning on revisiting the San Juans (Washington) this summer.

Anyone ever beach their boat in the San Juans?

Most of the beaches look rocky.

Shallow Bay on Sucia looks sandy, anyone beach there?

Looking for suggestions!



Doug
"Little Princess"

[Nelson G. Thomas]

Howdy,

Only problem with beaching in the San Juans is the tide of course. Just make sure you don't beach at an unusually high spring tide or you may be there for a couple of weeks!

Personally I would avoid beaching on a rocky shore. There are certainly some sandy beaches and some small gravel beaches that might be suitable but I would just anchor out. Blind bay on Shaw is nice. Sucia is nice for anchoring. And of course there is always Friday Harbor which is lots of fun and you can take in a movie or visit lots of great restaurants and bars, or Roche Harbor where they really treat guests nice. You can catch a bus from there to Friday Harbor as I recall. Fishermans Bay on Lopez is nice or go around the Island and tie up to a moorage bouy at Spencer Spit State Park (but expect to be rocked pretty good by the Ferry wakes as they head around the other side of little Frost Is. Deer Harbor on Orcha is also nice. Although I have had my Mac 26X up there in the last couple of years, its been almost 40 years (Sea Scouts) since I have sailed into East bay or West bay on Orcas but I recall that being a nice area also.

Let us all know how your trip to the San Juans goes. My only problem was finding places to dump a porta-potty. Friday Harbor has a dump but some of the other places did not!

Regards,
Nelson G. Thomas

[Chip Hindes]

You may be interested in this: Click here

Five Macs beached bow to, Honeymoon Harbor, Bimini, the Bahamas taken June last year. For some reason, it doesn't work as an |img|

I have beached my boat at least twenty times, seen others do it a bunch and have never seen anyone beach stern to.

Head straight in at idle power, pull the rudders up. When it gets shallow, kill the motor and tilt it up, and coast in the rest of the way. The CB folds up on its own; once beached pull and cleat the CB pendent or the CB will dig in and you'll never be able to back off.

When it's time to go, tilt the motor down for shallow running, fire it up and back off. If all goes right, nothing could be easier. If you need a little push off the bow, hopefully you can get someone else to do it, as it can be damn hard to climb onto the bow after pushing off yourself, but that's the worst of it and it's doable ina pinch.

I would not beach the boat at all on rocks. I also noticed that even the "soft" sand seems to be pretty hard on the bottom paint. Even a tiny amount of rock and roll wave action and you could see the bottom paint being abraded off and washed away.

[Don T]

Hello:
I usually anchor out in the San Juans if I am not in a slip. The best sand would be Spencer spit or maybe the eastern point of Waldron Is. I know the kids like to run around and board the boat easily but the rocks and barnacles at low tide, even at Shallow Bay Sucia, make it ill advised to beach in my opinion. Tides run 6 to 10 feet so a constant vigilance would be required. I don't like beaching my inflatable at low tide cuz it gets holed by barnacles.
Don T.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

What is the problem with beaching stern-to? I do it all the time as do most of the power boaters down here. This is one of the main reasons I traded a keel boat for a Mac! Granted, its not the San Juans and I'm spoiled with Florida sand and mud, but as long as weather and beach are favorable, I find it much more convenient to anchor stern-to. That way, you are using your primary anchor off the bow (where it usually resides) and a secondary off the stern. Much easier for the kids to get in the boat with 18-24 inches of water versus 3-4 feet. If there were waves or it was a rocky shore, that would be a lot different. I've done a lot of boating in Greece and there most beaches are rocky and you have to anchor bow-to in water over your head most of the time. I'll try a little stern-to photo story:

Oops, it didn't work. Guess Yahoo Geocities doesn't want you to show pictures on another web site. Here is a link that I hope works soon.

http://www.geocities.com/dimitr1us/stern-to.html

[Don T]

Hi Doug:
When are you thinking about going up? Lynn and I are planning a trip to the San Juans in July. Probably right after the 4th. I haven't done the math yet so I don't know which day and time exactly. I should know next week.
On another note, I am making a repair on the centerboard and I found the tip was filled with river silt. More drain holes, maybe in the leading edge so water will drain better on the trailer me thinks.
Don T.

[Norm]

"When are you thinking about going up? We're planning to go too"

Uh oh, as I recall thats how it all got started last year:) Next thing you know there will be another 20 boat flotilla

[Wayne]

Dimitri,
Do you have any tricks to beaching stern to? Do you go in reverse with your motor, then quickly shut down and tilt it up? Do you paddle it somehow? It's a bit tricky isn't it?
Thanks.
Wayne

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Beaching anywhere in Puget Sound will be a challenge due to the tides. I have nosed into beaches a few times just to pick up and drop off people. I have a rope ladder with red plastic rungs that clips on the bow pulpit and makes it easy to get on and off.

You will however find that if you stay more than 10-15 minutes you will either be beached hard and most likely stuck there for hours or you will be floating and drifting away depending on how you hit the tides. A typical low low to high high tide swing here is 12' of water. The change from high low to low high is usually about 6'.

The other problem is protecting the bottom. For one, the San Juans are mostly rocky, there are a few sand/gravel beachs here and there. Even on these you will be challenged to find a 26' completely clear strip to park the boat in. While it may look smooth at the beach we don't have the big bare open sandy beaches of florida. There are usually scattered rocks and lot's of sea life, particularly oysters which can gouge the bottom pretty bad. I'd want to see the beach at low tide before I picked a spot to beach high and dry. You'd also need to plan the tides carefully.

This is why I put a dingy on the list of necessary items for last summer's San Juans Rendezvous. Add boots as well, there is a lot of mud up here at the lower tides.

[Mark Prouty]

Hey Duane,

Where did you get the rope ladder? Did you make it yourself?

Mark

[Frank C]

What is the problem with beaching stern-to?

Main problem for most might be the transponders hanging off the transom. Otherwise, yes I'd just get a little aft-inertia goin' and raise the motor. An anchor on the beach can help you to snug onto the sand.

I've beached only a couple of times, bow-to. It always causes an involuntary cringe when I think of that shiny gelcoat. Somebody sells a beach-blanket that one could suspend under bow (or stern) to ease the landing.

[Doug Faigel]

Don T: I haven't decided when to go yet. I usually go in August. My "crew" (primarily the first-and-only-mate-for-life) prefers to sleep on shore so we will probably rent a condo our house somewhere. Might stay at Smugglers Villa Resort as they have a marina and a pool and the condo's are big enough for the 5 of us.

www.smuggler.com

Stern to beaching: I only beach stern to. I approach the shore at an angle then turn away from the shore. (board and rudders are up) Put the motor in reverse and back in to the shore. Set an anchor on the beach then shove off and drop the bow anchor. Adjust the rodes to get me stable just off shore (I like to stay afloat!). Makes it very convenient for coming on and off of the boat (particularly for the kids).

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

It is a standard West Marine Item. Stores compactly in one of the aft berth holds.

Collapsible Ladder

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Dimitri,
Do you have any tricks to beaching stern to? Do you go in reverse with your motor, then quickly shut down and tilt it up? Do you paddle it somehow? It's a bit tricky isn't it?
Thanks.
Wayne

Wayne, on a boat with such high freeboard as the Mac (Freeboard is several inches higher than my former larger sailboat) I would consider bow-to beaching to be trickier. Its much easier IMO to back-up and see exactly what you are getting into over the open transom. The possible danger I see is if you are in an onshore wind and your bow anchor doesn't set...but you should have enough time to put it in forward and get out of there if that happens (retrieving your bow line so it doesn't go into the prop obviously).

Keep in mind that you should only do it when conditions permit. Bottom type, waves, tide, and wind all play a factor and there is probably nothing worse for a transom than letting it slam repeatedly against the ground in waves. Its an interesting concept getting the exact right tides that would allow you to float up onto a (no-wake) sandbar in an evening ebb tide, stay on the dry all night for a nice comfortable sleep, and then float off in the morning ready for departure. Seems like our Aussie guy (maybe Pilrim?) had some pictures like this and I've read some bahamas cruise logs where the captains did this in the shallow waters also. Another Mac advantage with the flat bottom!

But as far as how I do it for my daytime anchoring routine (lunch hook), first I make sure all my boards are up (you can have a tiny bit of CB down for tracking but you don't even need that when reversing usually as your boat will track properly in reverse due to the weathervane effect) I run slowly parallel to the coast in about 3-5 feet of water until I find where I want to stop and then turn the bow out to sea and eyeball where I want to drop the anchor. The length of your scope depends on the water depth. You are supposed to use at least 5:1 scope which would be 5 units of length for every 1 unit of depth but if there are a lot of boats nearby, sometimes you have to use less so that people won't chop-up your anchor line. It always amazes me how many (either stupid or arrogant) weekend warriors there are who are about to cut your anchor line as they pass in front of your boat. Anyway, for the shallow Florida waters, I usually drop the anchor about 100 feet from shore and hope that it sets by the time it reaches 75 (50 feet of rode when you subtract the boat length) which is usually adequate. There is another whole thread on here recently with lots of useful information about anchors.

I usually drop the anchor from the front hatch then go back to the helm while the first mate tends the line. My stern is probably now in 5-7 foot deep water typically. To do it single handedly, you would want to run the line through a bow roller (which I don't have) or the bow pulpit and then back to the cockpit over the deck so that it will keep the bow pointed offshore while you tend to everything from the cockpit.

Now you back-up very slowly while paying out the bow anchor, you should have your stern anchor right next to you on the cockpit seat (with the bitter end tied to a cleat) ready to throw. I use a pretty small anchor (with a small chain) for the stern and can easily throw it 15 feet. When you are about halfway to shore (now back in 4-5 feet of water) you (or your mate) sets the bow anchor by holding the line tight so it drags right and buries itself. You will feel the right resistance as it sets properly. Then you keep backing up very slowly as you pay out more of the bow line.

At this point, the depth is down to about 3 feet and you need to be tilting up your motor as you are backing and keeping an eye on the ground. You obviously don't want to hit your prop on the ground so when you get into about 2 feet of water, you can see the ground start swirling around and its time to kill the motor and tilt it up some more. If there is no wind, you will have plenty of inertia built up, if it is an onshore wind, you will want to stop the motor sooner and if it is an offshore wind, you may want to try to get as close as you can. In idle, I don't mind tilting the engine right until the cavitation plate is at the surface. In this configuration, you can probably back into less than 18 inches of water without hitting your prop although I will stop usually by 24 inches at the latest and then do the rest with the stern anchor.

You (or the mate) then does a quick secure to the bow anchor (to stop any movement) and then quickly chuck the stern anchor towards the shore. These three movements (stop/tilt motor, secure bow line, throw stern anchor) may need to be done fairly quickly if there is a strong offshore wind. Usually at this point, I just jump off of the back and go grab the anchor and set it by hand. But if you found that you have drifted offshore a bit, you can always drag the stern anchor in some...even throw it out again to get closer if you have to.

When setting the stern anchor on the beach, you will want to pull it upwind/upcurrent enough so that the boat stays perpendicular to the shoreline. You may have to take in or let out some bow line to get it in the exact depth of water you want to be at. If there is no chance of big wake/waves, I'll leave the stern in about 18 inches of water and then may have to later adjust again for the tides.

Of course, if you are overnighting, you would want to throw at least 2 anchors off the bow for peace of mind. There are several different strategies on that and I don't presently do much overnighting and need a bigger primary anchor.

Hope this helps.

[Jack O'Brien]

I find it much easier to get on and off the boat if I anchor stern to the beach, especially if the bottom drops off quickly. Otherwise, I have to leave the trailer strapped to the boat when I go out so I can use the front boarding ladder.

Boaters' World sells an "Anchor Buddy" for $29.99 - see link below or page 219 in their 2003 catalog.

It is a 14 foot anchor line that stretches to 50 feet long. You can use it on whichever anchor you set farthest from shore and it will pull your boat out deeper until you haul in the shore line. Helps prevent damage to the bottom of your boat but makes it easy to get off and on near shore.

http://www.boatersworld.com/webapp/wcs/ ... tId=720687