Sunday, September 1, 2013

Sailing Cat LIBELLULE's blog continues with wonderful NW Passage content to share


Pearce Point Harbour

PC
01/09/2013, Pearce Point Harbour Amundsen Gulf



Decided to stop in a beautiful bay named Pearce Point Harbour, 420 nm west of Cambridge Bay. We will stay for 1-2 days to wait for a depression to pass through (W Announced gusts up to 40 kts) before procédure around Cape Bathurst. 


Clearly We can feel the effects of Being further south again: The nights are getting longer, we HAD 6 hours of darkness last night. And it is very warm (air temperature 8-10 C, water temperature 4-6 C).


Anchor drag

PC
01/09/2013, Pearce Point Harbour
The last 24 hours Were not our Favoured: 
- We Almost lost our first dinghy in the open seas When one of the rolls of the davit broke and started dragging the dinghy behind the boat, with 2 m waves crashing over it
- then here in oz the bay and our anchor dragged the alarm Did not go off, so we only Realized Effective A couple of hundred meters ...
- then we reanchored about 5 times and the anchor is still dragging, the ground in this bay Seems to be gravel, in nor we nor any box Traversay are holding, so we continue to re-anchor, be dragged for 200 meters, re-anchor, be dragged for 200 meters with engine running, etc. etc.. And all this in heavy winds of 35 kn, with max gusts 45 kn
-. now and it even started snowing horizontally
fortunately, the wind should start decreasing to 25 kn in the next couples of hours, lets hope ...



So how does the ice at Cape Bathurst look? Much better than days ago...


and the weather forecast?

Baillie: Forecast

Tonight and SundayGale warning in effect.Wind west 20 knots increasing to southwest 35 late overnight then diminishing to northwest 30 Sunday morning. Wind diminishing to northwest 20 Sunday evening.Tonight and SundaySeas 2 metres building to 3 early Sunday morning then subsiding to 2 Sunday evening.

Extended Forecast

Issued 07:00 PM MDT 31 August 2013
MondayWind northwest 20 knots diminishing to light late in the day.
TuesdayWind light increasing to east 25 knots late in the day.
WednesdayWind east 25 knots diminishing to southwest 20.

Recommendation: This is nothing compared to what you face in the Bering Sea so every day you delay now means one less day of margin in the Pacific. I'm not one to push into 999mb weather but... with warm weather icing is not a problem.


The bigger weather picture: (OUCH! a 976mb low in the Bering Sea... do you get the picture of what can be ahead?)

FZAK62 PAFC 011153
OFFALU

OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ANCHORAGE AK
400 AM AKDT SUN SEP 1 2013

OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST FOR THE BERING SEA

WIND FORECASTS REFLECT THE PREDOMINANT SPEED AND DIRECTION
EXPECTED. SEA FORECASTS REPRESENT AN AVERAGE OF THE HIGHEST
ONE-THIRD OF THE COMBINED WIND WAVE AND SWELL HEIGHT.

PKZ499-020300-
400 AM AKDT SUN SEP 1 2013

SYNOPSIS FOR CENTRAL BERING SEA

A 975 MB LOW NEAR 54N 174E WILL MOVE TO NEAR 53N 175W AT 978 MB EARLY
MON MORNING AND THEN MOVE TO NEAR 56N 167W AT 980 MB TUE MORNING. A
983 MB LOW WILL FORM NEAR 58N 172W THIS EVENING AND MOVE TO NEAR 60N
172W AT 982 MB EARLY TUE MORNING.

PKZ411-020300-
BERING SEA OFFSHORE WEST OF 180 AND EAST OF THE INTERNATIONAL
DATELINE
400 AM AKDT SUN SEP 1 2013

STORM WARNING MONDAY

TODAY
N OF 56N...NE WIND 25 TO 35 KT. S OF 56N...SE WIND 25 KT
BECOMING NE 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 10 TO 14 FT. RAIN SHOWERS

TONIGHT
N WIND 35 TO 45 KT. SEAS 15 TO 20 FT. RAIN.

MON
N WIND 40 TO 50 KT. SEAS 20 TO 25 FT. RAIN.

MON NIGHT
NW WIND 40 KT. SEAS 21 FT.

TUE
NW WIND 30 KT. SEAS 14 FT.

WED
NW WIND 20 KT. SEAS 10 FT.

THU
NW WIND 15 KT. SEAS 7 FT.


PKZ412-020300-
BERING SEA OFFSHORE 171W TO 180 AND NORTH OF 56N
400 AM AKDT SUN SEP 1 2013

GALE WARNING TONIGHT AND MONDAY

TODAY
SE WIND 30 KT. S OF 58N...VARIABLE WIND 15 KT. SEAS 9 FT.
PATCHY FOG. RAIN.

TONIGHT
N WIND 30 TO 45 KT. E OF 175W...VARIABLE WIND 20 KT. SEAS
9 FT BUILDING TO 14 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. PATCHY FOG. RAIN.

MON
N WIND 40 KT. SEAS 18 FT. RAIN.

MON NIGHT
N WIND 35 KT. SEAS 17 FT.

TUE
NW WIND 35 KT. SEAS 15 FT.

WED
NW WIND 25 KT. SEAS 12 FT.

THU
NW WIND 20 KT. SEAS 8 FT.


PKZ413-020300-
BERING SEA OFFSHORE 171W TO 180 AND SOUTH OF 56N
400 AM AKDT SUN SEP 1 2013

GALE WARNING MONDAY


TODAY
S WIND 20 KT. SEAS 8 FT. PATCHY FOG. RAIN.

TONIGHT
VARIABLE WIND 20 KT. SEAS 8 FT. PATCHY FOG. RAIN.

MON
NW WIND 35 KT...EXCEPT VARIABLE 15 KT E OF 175W. SEAS 11 FT
BUILDING TO 17 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN.

MON NIGHT
NW WIND 40 KT. SEAS 18 FT.

TUE
NW WIND 35 KT. SEAS 16 FT.

WED AND THU
NW WIND 20 KT. SEAS 10 FT.


PKZ414-020300-
BERING SEA OFFSHORE EAST OF 171W
400 AM AKDT SUN SEP 1 2013

GALE WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT

TODAY
S WIND 25 TO 35 KT. SEAS 6 TO 10 FT. AREAS OF FOG. RAIN.

TONIGHT
S WIND 25 TO 35 KT. SEAS 10 FT. AREAS OF FOG. RAIN.

MON
S WIND 25 KT. SEAS 8 FT. PATCHY FOG. RAIN.

MON NIGHT
S WIND 25 KT. SEAS 8 FT.

TUE
W WIND 25 KT. SEAS 11 FT.

WED
SW WIND 25 KT. SEAS 10 FT.

THU
SW WIND 20 KT. SEAS 7 FT.

1 comment:

Juergenuie said...

Hi Doug, just checked the MS Hanseatic and it's in the Amundsen Gulf. Did a bit zig-zag at the end of the 1-3/10 ice. Going north along the coast line.
The CCGS LOUIS S.ST LAURENT is too far away heading for Dolphin and Union Strait.

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