Gofirstclass
Well-Known Member
This past week I had the pleasure of helping a friend bring a new (to them) boat up the Columbia from Portland to the Tri Cities, WA. He and his wife bought a 1997 McKinna 48' Pilothouse in CA and had it delivered from CA to Portland by a professional skipper and crew.
We picked the boat up at Salpar Marina in Portland and, after putting our stuff on board headed next door to Columbia River Yacht Club to fill it with fuel and spend the night. It was cold, raining, heavily overcast, and pretty typical Portland fall weather.
Here's a shot of the boat sitting at the dock at CRYC.
We headed out Wednesday morning and the weather was the same...cold, wet, gloomy.
By the time we got in the area of Bonneville Dam the clouds started to break up and things looked brigher.
The trip through the dam was uneventful but we did get to talk with a group of fifth and sixth graders from a school north of Vancouver, WA.
As we continued east the clouds disappeared, the water was like glass and the temps came up in the the 60's. A perfect day for a fall cruise.
There was a lot of barge traffic but they weren't a problem.
I don't know as I've ever seen the Columbia this calm. It was a big change from what we encountered when we brought Beachcomber upriver in August.
People who have never gone through any of the Corps of Engineers locks on the Snake and Columbia often have questions about how they work. Here's 2 photos of the Bollard we tie up to when we go into the lock. It's essentially a big hollow can that floats up and down as the water rises and falls. There are 8 bollards in each lock (4 on each side) and each bollard has two places to tie up. The tall one for bigger boats, the lower one for smaller boats.
The bollard has wheels that run up and down in tracks as shown in this picture.
We spent the first night at Hood River, OR. The next day was as pretty as the first afternoon. We couldn't believe how calm it was.
We spent the second night at Arlington, OR. The third morning we encountered a little low fog but it did'nt present any problems for us. We ended up the trip around 4:30 p.m. Friday after a third near perfect day of calm waters, no winds, no clouds and nice warm temps.
All things considered it was a great trip. The boat ran well, the weather could not have been better, and three friends got to spend three days together on the water. Does it get any better?
We picked the boat up at Salpar Marina in Portland and, after putting our stuff on board headed next door to Columbia River Yacht Club to fill it with fuel and spend the night. It was cold, raining, heavily overcast, and pretty typical Portland fall weather.
Here's a shot of the boat sitting at the dock at CRYC.
We headed out Wednesday morning and the weather was the same...cold, wet, gloomy.
By the time we got in the area of Bonneville Dam the clouds started to break up and things looked brigher.
The trip through the dam was uneventful but we did get to talk with a group of fifth and sixth graders from a school north of Vancouver, WA.
As we continued east the clouds disappeared, the water was like glass and the temps came up in the the 60's. A perfect day for a fall cruise.
There was a lot of barge traffic but they weren't a problem.
I don't know as I've ever seen the Columbia this calm. It was a big change from what we encountered when we brought Beachcomber upriver in August.
People who have never gone through any of the Corps of Engineers locks on the Snake and Columbia often have questions about how they work. Here's 2 photos of the Bollard we tie up to when we go into the lock. It's essentially a big hollow can that floats up and down as the water rises and falls. There are 8 bollards in each lock (4 on each side) and each bollard has two places to tie up. The tall one for bigger boats, the lower one for smaller boats.
The bollard has wheels that run up and down in tracks as shown in this picture.
We spent the first night at Hood River, OR. The next day was as pretty as the first afternoon. We couldn't believe how calm it was.
We spent the second night at Arlington, OR. The third morning we encountered a little low fog but it did'nt present any problems for us. We ended up the trip around 4:30 p.m. Friday after a third near perfect day of calm waters, no winds, no clouds and nice warm temps.
All things considered it was a great trip. The boat ran well, the weather could not have been better, and three friends got to spend three days together on the water. Does it get any better?
