Another Boating Story

Another boating story; In late October 2018 I went to Juneau and bought a 13’ skiff to return to Wrangell on the inside passage. I had taken a 2.5 h.p. motor with me on the ferry to power the vessel homeward. There were a million things to buy and get done before I set off. First thing that occurred when I pushed the used boat away from the boat ramp was that the drain plug was gone and water started rushing in the stern. So I returned to the ramp, pulled the boat out of the water and got a drain plug. Later in the day I finally took off motoring down Gastineau channel toward Taku Inlet. It is few miles and the water was calm, the sky overcast and somewhat dark with a wind forecast of 15 to 20 mph. A little strong for safety yet within theoretically acceptable limits. The temperature was in the 30s F for a low.

Waves increased a little as I ventured toward more open water. It was slow going with the 2 and a half- maybe 5 m.p.h. It is perhaps 15 miles to the far side of Taku Inlet from Gastineau Channel approximately. About 4 miles southward the Channel ends and the confluence of water from four directions occurs; water from the bay known as Taku Inlet with famous Taku winds from the Taku Glacier and Taku River, Frederick Sound and Stephens passage all with different tidal flow directions and volumes. The wind and waves continued to increase yet when I reached the point of no return the waves that had not been too visible increased to be quite a bit larger. They tended toward rolling down from the Inlet in the direction of Doty Cove on Admiralty Island. I had to go parallel to the prevailing wave direction to reach the far side, and the waves became at least six feet high and quite irregular as water from other directions entered in. Wind increases notably when one reaches the Taku Inlet wind funnel.

I was in a survival situation with no place to go beside forward. I should have felt some emotion yet I realized that if the boat capsized- and that was even likely, I would drown and die of hypothermia and the boat would end up several miles downwind on the shore of Admiralty Island. The waves were too high and tightly spaced to risk running with them. The bow would have buried itself in a wave trough or pitch-poled most likely, and going against them was an idiot’s choice. Instead I tried to surf them a little angling somewhat forward, speeding in troughs and sometimes surfing along crests while trying to let them pass beneath as I continued toward Slocum Bay on the south side of Taku Inlet.

The experience was surreal as my survival was in a state of suspense for an hour. There was no or little emotion for that was obviously without purpose. The experience was like watching a movie. To remain alive required constant attention to motion from several directions- wind, waves and prayer without ceasing. Even though I got a little water splashed into the gas tank when I ran out of gas three times and had to refuel, eventually I drew closer to the Slocum Bay. John Slocum incidentally was the first solo sailor to sail around the world- he was lost at sea on a different solo voyage.

When I made it to Slocum Bay I continued south along the mainland into Frederick Sound and spent the night at Limestone Inlet. I anchored and the rain began to pour. I anchored in the water instead of letting the boat rest on the mudflats because the area is strong brown bear turf. A pair of teenagers were killed by a brown bear years before while they were dressing a deer they’d shot at Taku Harbor a couple of miles away. In the middle of the night a very strong wind from the north flew down a mountain and slammed my boat into the rocks downwind were it bounced and dent the boat in the dark. Eventually I got my collapsed tent over the boat out of the way and started the motor to run to the other side of the bay where a crabber had left his pots in the only deep place suitable for anchoring out of the wind in Limestone Inlet. I put the boat on the mudflats and watched uneasily through the night for the approach of brown bear. That was the start of the journey.