MARCH 19, 2024 WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

 

MARCH 19, 2024

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

On Monday the harbor published the most recent soundings taken on Sunday.  I was encouraged to see a 7-foot deep “channel” just in front of the East jetty.  As the tide was rising during the afternoon, it should have been deep enough for most boats to get out. The prediction for the swell was not very large either.  As is customary when there is any question about the conditions, I take advantage of my retirement, and took the time to observe the entrance from above the gas dock for over an hour at around 3PM.

 I was not encouraged by what I saw.  About every 10 minutes a two-wave set would roll through and break all the way across the entrance.  If there was a channel, the wave would have backed off in the deeper water.  Adding to the conundrum, the wind seemed to be decreasing, creating a hazard for the boats that sail out with no motor.  Most sailors in the area know to stay close to the East jetty when the harbor is shoaled.  Light wind, with waves crashing into the East jetty and boats sailing out of the harbor in front of the jetty frightened me.

I needed to cancel the race for the evening.  Normally I would post an email to the group, but I did not have my computer and could not send an email to the whole group.  I called some of the more consistent participants to inform them that I was not putting a race on for the evening.  I went back to my boat and observed as boats were leaving the harbor and informed them that we were not racing.

To me, sailing is about learning.  I have found that the largest errors lead to the best learning experiences.  Sounding of the harbor taken within the last 48 hours can normally be relied upon for accurate information, especially with no big swell and the dredge working for  both Monday and Tuesday.  So, what went wrong?

Sailors in Santa Cruz are aware of the idiosyncrasies of the harbor entrance.  During the winter, large swells coming from the north sweep sand down the coast.  Adding to this is the excess rainwater flowing out of the San Lorenzo river adding to this sand.  The position of the harbor is perfect for receiving and catching this excess sand which  blocks  the harbor entrance.   This excess rain and large surf creates one saving grace for the harbor entrance.  The waves sweeping into the harbor adds to the rainwater we all see draining into the harbor through the drainpipes creating a stream of water exiting the harbor.  This water drains by the East Jetty and creates a channel that we can use to get out of the harbor, regardless of how bad the shoaling is by the West jetty.  The sounding showed a small 7-foot deep (at 0 tide) area just in front of the East jetty.  As it turns out, this was the last remnant of the channel.  What was different was that we have had no rain for over a week.  Also there was no large swell pushing water into the harbor.  There was no water exiting the harbor, so the “East jetty channel” was in the process of closing.

Yes, but they were still dredging!  The dredge operates inside the harbor and cannot venture very far out of the harbor when there is a swell.  The sandbar where waves break is just outside the harbor entrance.  The dredge creates a deeper hole just inside the west jetty with the thought that sand sweeping down the coast will fall into this hole, opening the harbor entrance.  This normally works, but when it doesn’t, what could go wrong?

Wouldn’t it be nice to develop a system that uses the rainwater and the energy of the large surf to prevent the harbor from being the receptacle for the sand moving across the harbor entrance?

I hope to see you out sailing next Tuesday: conditions permitting.

Barry Keeler

Sailing Pair A Dice