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Northwest
Yachting Bookshelf
It
seems that for as long as you boat in the Pacific Northwest,
you always hear the same question: What is the best
way to go up (or down) the coast?
For those of us who started boating and navigating offshore
using only a sextant or an RDF, the prudent way to transit
the "Graveyard of the Pacific" was always
to head offshore until the water got blue or about 150
miles, whichever came first. Luckily our friends Don
and Réanne Hemingway- Douglass decided there
had to be a better way.
Over the years, Don and Réanne have racked up
over 150,000 miles of cruising experience and that alone
should get your attention. Not only that, they have
compiled this knowledge in a series of fascinating and
extremely detailed and informative cruising guides.
. . . exhaustively researched right down to doing their
own soundings and creating their own diagrams of less
used passages and anchorages. In addition, Don and Réanne
provide the reader with their own insights developed
from their years of experience that make reading these
guides a treat and the main reason I keep a set at home,
in addition to on the boat. You can never remember it
all and they are just plain fun to have at your fingertips
when cruising questions come up at dinner or over cocktails.
As with all the Douglass' books, Exploring the Pacific
Coast - San Diego to Seattle is thoughtfully laid out
and gives the mariner detailed instructions on the best
way to use the book, as well as what assumptions have
been made by the authors when it comes to the charts
and equipment you should have aboard for a trip like
this. And this is just for starters.
This is the first book of its type that provides not
only detailed harbor information but routing options
as well. The harbor diagrams are neatly laid out in
successive layers of information, starting with Route
diagrams, through Approach and Entrance diagrams, ending
with Harbor diagrams. Plus each harbor is nicely detailed
right down to a description of the expected holding
power of the bottom you're likely to encounter when
you anchor.
Included on these charts are waypoints labeled in shorthand
with the Lat/Lon for each point on the page. In addition,
you have arrows indicating the directions to various
destinations with their GPS waypoints—1200 of them.
This means that if you have plotting software on your
home computer, you can easily map out your route with
ETAs, time in route and much, much more, all adapted
to your vessel. And all in the comfort of your home
so you won't have to waste time on the boat figuring
all that stuff out when a million other things are begging
for your attention.
The best part of this great new book is that the Douglass'
have taken what used to be a dreaded sea voyage and
broken it down into a series of easily doable day trips.
Gone are days when the trip from Seattle to San Francisco
was an endurance run with long watches. In this modern
era with this book, the proper equipment, and proper
planning, the voyage becomes one of fun and adventure.
Plus you get to see some great little harbors that,
for the most part, we used to just skip over preferring
instead to stand long watches, eat in shifts, and forget
about showers if the weather was bad. Not any more.
This trip just got much more enjoyable.
Suffice it to say, the Douglass' have done it again.
This is the perfect book to add to your mariners' bookshelf
this holiday season. Better yet, you'd better buy two—one
for the boat and one for the coffee table. If you're
thinking about going up or down our coast this is a
must-have item.
Guide
Review
September - October, 2002
When
it comes to cruising, there’s no such thing as
having too much information. So for anyone thinking
of cruising the Pacific Coast, this guide is a must-have.
It’s based on three years of on the- water research
by veteran cruisers Don Douglass and Réanne Hemingway-
Douglass, together with Kevin Monahan.
There’s no question that the Douglass’ know
their stuff. They have over 150,000 miles of cruising
experience and have authored best selling mariner’s
guide books from Southeast Alaska through British Columbia
and Puget Sound.
The result of all this experience is the most comprehensive
guidebook available covering the U.S. western coastline.
According to the cover, there are 1,200 anchor sites,
2,500 GPS waypoints, hundreds of detailed diagrams and
photos, plus expert local knowledge. We didn’t
count them, but it definitely includes every port, cove
and anchorage, providing great charts, advice, descriptions
of approaches and what you’ll encounter there.
All this is backed up with pictures and aerial views.
There’s also plenty of historical information and
personal anecdotes both by the authors and others, to
make it an interesting read and get you fired up about
visiting every spot mentioned in the guide. In fact,
it makes a very favorable argument for making the trip
up or down the coast in day-long hops, and provides
all the routes and Lat/Long waypoints.
For those in more of a hurry, this guide also provides
two more routes, offshore and the express route, which
is crab pot free and favored by delivery and tugboat
captains.
Whichever route you choose, or perhaps a portion of
each, this guide will provide you with all the information
you need to plan and execute your cruise of the Pacific
Coast as safely and comfortably as possible. And unlike
some guides, they don’t scare you to death in the
process. For example, when they cover Pt. Conception,
known as the “Cape Horn of the Pacific,” they
conclude that its reputation is highly exaggerated.
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