Messenger Sails Sailing Adventures

 

Sea Trials • Two nights, three days, $435 per person, plus food. Add $145 for ASA 104. • Prerequisite for ASA: Basic Keelboat and Basic Coastal. • Prerequisite for non-ASA: Venturesome spirit (see "Prerequisites" in FAQs). Sea Trials combines two hundred miles of intense river piloting with a dose of ocean sailing in the middle and, of course, crossing the famous Columbia River Bar. These are about fifty very busy hours, eating and sleeping on the boat, stopping only for rest and tide schedules. Night operation is a must and introduces a particular set of skills, tactics, and understanding of aids to navigation. Day one is all about river piloting: one crew at the helm, one or more on the charts, and all watching for ships and other hazards. As darkness falls methods adjust, but objectives are the same: know your location at every instant, stay in the deep water, and identify hazards. Day two's objective is to cross the bar and sail on the Pacific Ocean. Favorable weather and seas are required. If conditions are contrary (not common in summer) we don't go out. Either way this should be a day to remember, and day's end should find us back on the river logging miles--sometimes with following wind and tide!-- to set up a good run for home. Day three is river piloting again, but now with a desire to avoid the swiftest currents and hasten our home leg. Our route is dotted with scenery, bucolic and industrial, primitive and new, and "back sides" of river towns that cannot be seen except by boat. This is an exceptional and unique northwest adventure.

 

Off Shore • Four to six days, $685 per person, plus food. Add $145.00 for ASA 104 or 106 certification. • All participants in this voyage must have completed Sea Trials or have equivalent sea-sailing experience, regardless of ASA standing. Off Shore has all the intensity of Sea Trials and more. Where Sea Trials turns around, this boat keeps going, depending upon the wind, south perhaps Garibaldi or Newport, or north to Grays Harbor. Newport is an especially long haul, and requires sailing through the night, watch on watch. Round trip from Portland is four to six days. This is a challenging voyage. Motion sickness is to be expected, disappointing winds are common, and cancellation or delay due to unfavorable conditions is possible. This venture exceeds ASA requirements for Intermediate or Advanced Coastal Cruising. Prerequisites for ASA Intermediate Coastal Crusing (ASA 104)are: Basic Keelboat and Basic Coastal; for ASA Advanced Coastal (ASA 106) prerequisites are: Basic Keelboat, Basic Coastal, Coastal Nav., Intermediate Coastal.

 

Bonneville • $175 overnight round-trip. • Prerequisite: Interest in sailing (see "Prerequisites" in FAQs). This is a scenic adventure and introduction to river piloting aboard Messenger. We'll leave Portland Sailing Center's dock on a Saturday morning, make Boneville Locks in six or seven hours, lock through, pass under Bridge of the Gods and tie up at the Port of Cascade Locks Marine park before dark. Walk to town for supper, or eat your own meal on the boat. Sleep on the boat. Next day we hope for time for some sailing before heading down river and through the locks again: back to PSC, arrival varies from noon to 9PM. This is a low stress venture with some excellent "wow!" moments.

Though licensed for six passengers, we limit Sea Trials, Off Shore, and Bonneville to four participants, plus the captain, unless special arrangements are made for a particular excursion. Contact Cliff Mason at 503-252-6755 or cliff@messengersails.com.