The Inside Scoop

Tag: adventure

  • The (near) Wreck of the Trawler Persistence

    The first sighting of fog we saw as we left Hope Island for Deception Pass in the early morning of Day 2 of our boat trip. The fog bank would be a harbinger of things to come.
    The fog bank loomed larger as we got closer to the entrance to Deception Pass.
    The fog was so thick through Deception Pass we barely saw the bridge.

    Our good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
    when the thick fog of Whidbey comes early.

    Shades of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?”
    Most definitely. That song kept playing in my head in the days after my brother-in-law Kent Oldenburger, longtime friend Bob Swenson and I had a white-knuckle experience the morning of August 18 while navigating Deception Pass between Whidbey and Fidalgo islands. (For background, see my last post).

    We encountered blinding fog entering the pass, and five-foot swells just west of the bridge, much to our surprise. Bob and I were on the bow deck when we were pounded by those big waves. When water came over the bow, Bob and I knew we were in trouble. Kent screamed for us to get back into the cabin.

    After the trip, I sat down and wrote some lyrics to a song. Yes, I took some liberties. Kent’s wife, Kimberly, technically isn’t a part-owner of the boat. But I needed a rhyme! (she is proud of Kent!) And for the record, Kent was really worried, to a point of obsessiveness, about the lasagne, even if we ate it the previous evening!

    Anyway, I digress. I emailed the lyrics to Bob. A day later, he replied with a url to this song. Bob had sent the lyrics to a website that, with the help of AI, turns text into studio-quality music. The tune doesn’t sound anything like Gord’s 1976 smash hit. But I have to admit it’s a pretty catchy melody.

    Click below to listen to the song ..

    https://www.mureka.ai/song-detail/4LfUW1RthMT3mFAqH8DcKm?is_from_share=1

    Here are the full lyrics:

    The (near) Wreck of the Trawler Persistence

    The legend lives on from the Swinomish on down,

    of the passage they call Lushootseed;

    Deception, it’s said, delivers fear and pure dread,

    when the morning fog travels with light speed.

    The boat, well cared for, weighing 1,000 pounds more

    than the trawler Persistence weighed empty;

    Our good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed

    when the thick fog of Whidbey comes early.

    The ship was the pride of Chuck, Kent and his bride,

    Coming up from the locks in Seattle;

    As trawlers will go, it’s a bit older we know,

    with a good captain and a crew easily rattled.

    Concluding some plans with a forecast in hand

    when we left fully loaded for Roche Harbor;

    But early that morn, when the ship was seaborne,

    Could it be the fog feared on the doppler?

    When lunch prep came, Kent came on deck sayin’

    “Bob, will you please check on the lasagne”;

    At 11 a.m., as the 5-foot swells came in, he said,

    “Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya.”

    The captain exclaimed we had water comin’ in,

    yelling “Bob, Rick, get back in the cabin;”

    Fog so thick we could not see, our knees were wobbly,

    Could it be the boat wreck we’d be fearin’?

    Does anyone know, why we had to just go,

    and test Deception Pass’ superpowers;

    We look back and say we’d have made Bowman’s Bay,

    in the p.m. well under an hour.

    We might have cracked up, we might have capsized

    We might have been thrown in the water;

    But all we can say, we’re still alive today

    We went home to our wives, sons and daughters.

    This was the display screen on the sonar Kent was looking at while trying to steer Persistence through Deception Pass. We were able to make it to the safety of Bowman’s Bay, which you can see near the top of the screen.
    Captain Kent in the cabin
    The last video Bob shot before things really got nasty, and it was clear neither Bob nor I were safe outside the cabin of the boat.

  • Boys in the Boat redux

    “Lund, Sven and Ole” on the fly bridge of Kent’s trawler Persistence in Roche Harbor.

    I could get used to the lifestyle of a boater. Owning a boat and cruising on the water means trading human schedules for the more laid-back rhythms of nature. Days are measured by tides, sunrises, water currents and wind instead of clocks. It offers quiet anchorages, endless horizons, and a deep sense of freedom.

    In the photo above, anchored in idyllic, sun-kissed Roche Harbor on the upper deck of my brother-law Kent’s 34-foot trawler, we had just devoured a meal of barbecued steaks, rice and salad. Then we piled into the dingy and motored into Roche Harbor Resort for some ice cream, a little window-shopping and a lot of gawking at multi-million-dollar super yachts parked at the dock.

    In the end, however, I would be a poor boater. I would be the one who would do something stupid, similar to what we heard on the marine scanner a night earlier while moored at Hope Island. A boat had run aground near the mouth of the La Conner Channel. Kent had warned us beforehand that the entrance to La Conner and the Swinomish Channel was dangerously shallow at low tide. The boater placed a distress call to the Coast Guard, asking for a tow. I hope he had good insurance.

    Fortunately, we leave the boat driving – at least the high-level navigation portions – to our trusty captain Kent. Bob Swenson and I are merely deckhands. We follow Kent’s orders – or try to anyway – whether it be securing mooring lines or deploying fenders the moment the captain gives the orders to dock.

    This was our “second annual” boat trip. Last August, we cruised central Puget Sound, with visits to Blake Island and Poulsbo. This time, we ventured north, all the way to the upper reaches of the San Juan Islands. To reach our destination of Roche Harbor on Day 2, it meant a 9 1/2-hour trip to Hope Island near La Conner. That put us in a good spot to navigate Deception Pass by 9 a.m. the next morning at “slack tide,” a brief period before the tidal current changes direction from incoming to outgoing.

    The fog was so thick through Deception Pass we barely saw the bridge.

    Nevertheless, “passing” Deception Pass would be a harrowing experience, largely due to blinding fog and five-foot swells that threatened to swamp our boat. Kent did well to steer our boat with the aid of sonar to the shelter of Bowman’s Bay, where we hung out for a couple hours while waiting for the fog to lift.

    From there, we crossed Rosario Strait to Lopez Island, and past Center, Decatur, Blakely, Shaw and Orcas islands, and finally San Juan Island and Roche Harbor. I must say the San Juan Islands are magical this time of year. I am thankful I could take part, as there was a time during my recovery from kidney cancer surgery where the prospects looked bleak.

    Below is a map of our boat trip. Hope you enjoy the photos.

    Bob and “Captain Kent” on Day 1, as we approach the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry and Whidbey Island.
    We cruised the Saratoga Passage between familiar Camano and Whidbey islands on our way north. Here, we are about to enter Skagit Bay, where we noticed a different current. The water color also took on a aqua blue hue. As one who was raised in the Skagit Valley, it was interesting for me to see familiar landmarks from the water, as opposed to on land.
    Our boat joined other boats moored off the shore of Hope Island, a marine state park, near La Conner.
    A heron sits atop a buoy marker near the entrance to Lopez Pass.
    Kent and I on the bow of Persistence.
    I barbecued New York steaks for dinner at Roche Harbor. Microwaved jasmine rice, a green salad prepared by Bob and non-alcoholic IPA beer rounded out the meal. It was glorious.
    Kent drives the dingy from our boat to Roche Harbor Resort after dinner.
    Historic Hotel de Haro, built in 1886, at Roche Harbor. Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft, and actor John Wayne are among its most famous guests.
    A “Colors” ceremony has been a sunset tradition at Roche Harbor since 1957. Resort dock staff members lower the flags of Roche Harbor, Washington state, Great Britain, Canada and the United States. Before the American flag comes down a cannon shot booms through the harbor.
    Roche Harbor at sunset, as we prepare to head back on the dingy to Persistence.
    We visited the Mausoleum at Roche Harbor where the pioneer McMillan family is entombed.
    Our “home on the water,” Persistence, moored in Roche Harbor.
    The wake behind “Persistence.”
    Bob and I are dropped off at Friday Harbor on Day 3 for our ferry ride back to Anacortes. Taking our place for the next adventure were boat co-owner Chuck and Kent’s friend John.