Messenger Sailing Adventures

 

Sea Trials • Two nights, three days, $429 per person, plus food (each person brings one or two meals for all). • Ten percent discount for groups of four. • Prerequisite: Venturesome spirit. • ASA Bareboat Certification available. 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 (just twice in our first four years) 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. This is an amazing adventure that never fails to impress. It is fun, educational, challenging, and beautiful. The Lower Columbia River is an unhearlded treasure of scenery, much of it unchanged for eons. We'll see landmarks noted by Lewis and Clark, back sides of river towns, and--much in the news recently--Bradwood, the proposed site for a liquified natural gas terminal. ASA 104, Bareboat Certification, is available with Sea Trials to candidates having the ASA prerequisites. Add $160 to the base cost (total $589). This includes a follow-up day to fulfill the on-water requirements for certification.

 

Off Shore • Four to six days, $699 per person, plus food. • Prerequisite: Sea Trials. • ASA 104 or 106 certification available. 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 to 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. ASA 104, Bareboat Certification, or 106, Advanced Coastal Cruising, is available with Off Shore to candidates having the ASA prerequisites. Add $160 to the base cost. In any case, Sea Trials is a prerequisite for Off Shore.

 

Bonneville • $169 per person, overnight round-trip. • Prerequisite: Interest in sailing. 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. On Saturday and/or Sunday we hope to get some sail time on the waters above Bonneville Dam--there is hardly a better place for a sailboat. But we do have to get back to Portland on Sunday, so through the locks again and home we go, swiftly now, with the current. Arrival time varies seasonally. This is a low stress adventure with plenty of "wow!" moments. See video of a trip to Bonneville in 2009 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8gZ7g52roY, or simply search You Tube for "Messenger Sailing Adventures."

Though licensed for six passengers, we limit Sea Trials and Off Shore to three or four participants per boat, plus the captain, unless special arrangements are made for a particular excursion. For Bonneville we often take up to six passengers if couples are involved so that no one need bunk with a stranger. Contact Cliff Mason at 503-252-6755 or cliffatmessengersailingdotcom