Meyer’s Chuck: “The Quintessential Alaska Day”

June 28,2023

It was bound to happen, sooner or later. For us, it happened today.

For years we have been hearing from our boating friends that it rains “all the time in Alaska”. One fellow tugger woman told me that she never saw a single day without rain the entire time she and her husband were in Alaska for 3 months. This has not been our experience. It has been sunny almost every day. In fact, yesterday I was walking around Ketchikan in shorts. Today was different.

Marlene and I had been watching the weather for the past week planning our cruise north to Wrangell and Petersburg. We had two glorious days in the Misty Fjords and decided to double back to Ketchikan for a shorter cruise to Meyers Chuck, and to take advantage of a “weather window” this morning that would allow us to continue our journey North. Predict Wind was showing expected wind of 8 knots, gust around 9, and wave height less than a foot. When I got up early this morning around 5:30 the conditions had changed a bit. It was more like 8 to 12 knots coming in earlier then expected with the wind building in the morning to a full on roar later in the afternoon. The prediction was for trailing winds (this is good) with the tide going in the same direction, which is also good. So we decided to take off earlier than planned and push through to Meyers Chuck.

Getting out of Ketchikan for the first hour and a half was calm but as soon as we came out into Clarence Strait we were immediately hit with rolling, lumpy waves, of at least a foot. The winds were on our back but we were taking the waves on our beam. And, oh yes, as predicted, the rain started and it was pouring. If you remember from previous blog postings Marlene has a meter: zero to three, easy, four to six, comfortable but one needs to stay focused at the helm, seven to eight, uncomfortable, find a place to stand and hunker down, and then nine and ten, dangerous. We were in an 8 day. I like to call it cruising in a washing machine. The boat can take it, we were not in danger, but, man it is uncomfortable. And the “fear factor” going through your head is will it get worse; did we read the prediction wrong, etc. Bottom line: it was a nasty 3 hour cruise of wind, rolling waves, and rain. Marlene, disagrees with me and says I am being way too dramatic. During the worst of it she was driving the boat and found that by doing some tacking we were able to get through the worst of it. Once we were across the wider body of water we got protection from the islands and were able to sit down for the remainder of the journey. However the wind and waves did build up again just before we came into Meyers Chuck and we were glad we didn’t have to go any further.

(Late update: it actually was as bad as we were experiencing. Marlene went back and read the buoy report from Etolin Island where the reported gusts that we went through were wind at 25 knots, gusts to 36. Predict Wind was unable to predict this weather change. Note to self, always, always, check the actual vs. the predicted and read the weather buoys).

We both agree that we were almost thrown into Meyers Chuck. But once in the harbor it was calm. Time to take a deep breath.

Meyers Chuck is a small village of about 20 people tucked inside a well-protected harbor. Moorage is available on a 325–first come, first serve—public dock. No power or water but a nice place to tie up. We enjoyed exploring the small village taking the 2 mile hike around the island.

With pelting rain Marlene and I were able to take advantage of our slicker gear and XtraTuf boots. This afternoon will be spent looking a the predictions for weather conditions north. We also ran into our friends Rob and Barb Hylton, “Harmony Bay,” another 37 Nordic Tug. We are going to join them for fresh halibut and crab dinner on their boat. We will bring the wine and bread, and for those of you who now us well this could be symbolic. We will make a call on cruising tomorrow in the morning.

Final note, I found a “fixer-upper” on the island. Needs a lot of work but it’s on the beach. If you are interested contact me and I can give you more details:).