Wind, Waves and Rain

August 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The weather forecast for tomorrow is concerning enough for us to pull anchor on our boats to move them to more protected areas. Here’s what we’re looking at that’s causing us to take this action:

We have a gale warning in effect through Sunday evening.

This is from the Puget Sound Marine Forecast:

 SAT  SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 KT…BECOMING S 25 TO 35 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT…BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT IN THE  AFTERNOON. RAIN.  

SAT NIGHT  S WIND 10 TO 20 KT…EASING TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.  WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT…SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS AFTER MIDNIGHT.  SHOWERS IN THE EVENING…THEN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 5 PM PDT SATURDAY. * TIMING…MIDDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON. * WINDS…SOUTH WIND 15 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH. * IMPACTS…DOWNED LIMBS AND LOCAL POWER OUTAGES. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WINDS OF 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT…ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

 

 

Saturday
Rain. High near 68. Breezy, with a northeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming south 18 to 28 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Saturday Night
Showers, mainly before 11pm. Low around 56. South wind 16 to 21 mph decreasing to 9 to 14 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Backed up by the City of Seattle forecast:
SATURDAY…WINDY…RAIN. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH POSSIBLE. HIGHS IN THE MID 60S TO LOWER 70S. SOUTH WIND AROUND 10 MPH INCREASING TO 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

SATURDAY NIGHT…BREEZY. SHOWERS IN THE EVENING…THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE IN THE EVENING. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A HALF INCH TO ONE INCH POSSIBLE. LOWS IN THE 50S. SOUTH WIND 15 TO 25 MPH DECREASING TO AROUND 10 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Tides will be rising from a -1.02 at 11:05 am tomorrow to an 11.73 at 5:47 pm tomorrow – just in time for the wind! From NOAA:

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Filed Under: Safety, Uncategorized, Weather

Deflated birthday balloons causes massive response off Emma Schmitz memorial park

June 14, 2015 by 3 Comments

A rescue response of about two dozen vehicles and several coastguard/police boats converged along the shores of Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook at around 10:00PM tonight. A witness called in what they thought was a parachuter dropping into the sound about 200 yards off the beach. After 40 minutes of searching, divers and boats at the scene radioed in a large bouquet of mylar balloons floating in the water. Surprise! Close to a hundred or so spectators lined the street to witness the non-event unfold.

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A rescue diver assesses the theater…

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It was actually nice to see a false alarm for once on this stretch a beach that’s witnessed it’s share of tragedies.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Parks, Puget Sound, Uncategorized

Beach Drive home slips out at high tide last night

June 13, 2015 by 3 Comments

At about 2:35 AM this morning, 6021 Beach Drive SW was on it’s way to a new lot on Orcas Island in the San Juans. We spotted the tug with the circa 1926 home riding the out going tide past Alki just after 3:15AM. The previous owner was featured last night on the King 5 Evening News  explaining why she and her husband decided to wade through all the permitting hoopla to donate the 1040 square foot home to Opal Community Land Trust , a charitable organization that provides affordable housing on Orcas.

I wasn’t able to get any decent pictures of the home floating by but thought I could just make out Ringo fishing from the second floor window. Here’s some photos of the home via King County’s website…

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Fair winds and following seas!

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Tacoma & Samish ferries testing off Beach Drive

March 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Notice all the unusual ferry traffic off of the drive lately? WSDOT is putting two boats through the paces prior to Coast Guard safety inspections.

The Samish is the latest 144 car Olympic class boat that will join the San Juan Island fleet this summer. She’s the second of three new boats designed to replace some of the aging Evergreen State Class ferries that were built in the 1950’s.

The MV Tacoma is the infamous jumbo that blew a few fuses in late July and left hundreds stranded. An employee from WSDOT (West Seattle resident & a BDB reader!) told me she was very excited to see this ferry rejoin the Bainbridge route starting in April.

IMG_3986Unusual sight to see a couple Washington State ferries drag racing while hiking through Mee-Kwa-Mooks park.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Routine maintenance on Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook sea wall

February 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment

A Seattle Park & Rec crew performed some routine and temporary repairs today along the aging sea wall.

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Winter storms and runoff has caused erosion in several areas behind the 1927 wall… and in front of the 54″ sewer main where the crew will back-fill with gravel.

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The permanent fix is still in the paper stage with the Seattle division of Army Corp of Engineers.  I’m waiting for a response regarding any progress and will report on any new developments.

UPDATE: 1:32 PM

Melissa Leslie of the US Army Corps of Engineers informed me that there are no updates at this time.

The feasibility report is still under review at our Division office. Once the project is approved we will then start the design phase to reach 100% design. Seattle Parks is probably just be conducting maintenance at this time.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Bulkheads, Parks, Puget Sound, Uncategorized

Woman identified as Carolyn Arnold

January 11, 2015 by 1 Comment

The deceased woman who was found Thursday morning off the shores of Emma Schmitz View Point has been identified as Carolyn Arnold. She was 69 years old. The cause of death is still under investigation.

Our condolences to Carolyn Arnold’s family and friends. May she rest in peace.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

M/V Puget fetching debris off Beach Drive

December 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The US Army Corp of Engineers are busy hauling off one the largest flotillas of debris I’ve seen off our shores. As a frequent boater out here, I can’t imagine trying to maneuver around these half sunken hazards at night. Rudolph the Radar better be extra bright when he leads the Christmas ships on the 13th!

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Port of Manchester in the background…

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The M/V Puget has been dedicated for this type of debris removal in the Seattle District…

The Corps has continuing authority to study and undertake projects to remove and dispose of derelict objects such as sunken vessels, waterfront debris and derelict structures, and other sources of drift that may damage vessels or threaten public health, recreation, or the environment at publicly maintained commercial boat harbors. The harbor need not be, but usually is a Corps project. Congressional authorization is required for projects with Federal costs of $400,000 or more. (USACE Engineering Regulation 1105-2-100)

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Boats, Puget Sound, Uncategorized

Voyage of the sv Hot Potato

August 9, 2014 by 1 Comment

Making headlines for the second straight day on BDB, folks on the 5000 block of Beach Drive woke up to the un-named/registered 26 foot sailing vessel anchored out in front of their views.

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You ask how you could be so blessed to have this blue tarped boat swaying near your buoys?? Seems it was towed there by what looked like the Seattle Harbor Patrol! We first noticed the sailboat several days ago anchored out front of Weather Watch Park but recently noticed it was leap frogging south about a hundred yards or so during every flood tide. Here’s how it unfolded yesterday…

1:00 PM – The head honcho of BDB makes a call to the Coast Guard to alert them of an unsecured vessel. They pass her onto Seattle Harbor Patrol which in turn passes the buck to King County which in turn tells her to contact the Coast Guard… well, see a pattern here? Nobody wants responsibility to tow or secure the boat.

6:15 PM – The 26′ “Hot Potato” floats off it’s anchor heading out towards the shipping channel

8:00 PM – Near miss! A container ship heading north almost sends Hot Potato down to Davy Jone’s locker for good.

Approx 9:15 PM – A patrol boat with blue lights flashing is seen towing said vessel southward towards which we thought might be Des Moines or Tacoma.

Some good news for our Beach Drive neighbors is that 2 notices have been neatly taped to the aft cabin of Hot Potato. One of which reads Notice of Intent to Obtain Custody. It’s one of the first steps in disposing derelict vessels in an environmentally responsible way and, not to mention, allows time for the rightful owner to step forward.

(b) Before taking temporary possession of the vessel, the authorized public entity must make reasonable attempts to consult with the department or the United States coast guard to ensure that other remedies are not available. The basis for taking temporary possession of the vessel must be set out in writing by the authorized public entity within seven days of taking action and be submitted to the owner, if known, as soon thereafter as is reasonable. If the authorized public entity has not already provided the required notice, immediately after taking possession of the vessel, the authorized public entity must initiate the notice provisions in subsection (1) of this section. The authorized public entity must complete the notice requirements of subsection (1) of this section before using or disposing of the vessel as authorized in RCW 79.100.050.

 

In other news, wouldn’t you think they could find a more visible location for this sign?

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Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Beach Drive Homes, Boats, Puget Sound, Uncategorized

Can you hear me now on Beach Drive??

August 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment

If you you were wondering why someone was holding a pole along Beach Drive in 90+ heat…

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I’m thinking she drew the short straw while her co-worker is driving all air-conditioned around the Beach Drive vicinity taking reception readings for Verizon Cellular.

Poor cell reception comes up pretty often in conversatio…tion… arou…nd here. Good to see Verizon taking action!

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

 

 

Filed Under: Misc., Uncategorized, Web/Tech Tagged With:

Eve of the Seahawk’s NFC Championship

January 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment

As you can probably tell, we are very excited about tomorrow’s big game and look forward to adding another NFC Championship banner.

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…I must confess – we have our Christmas tree still up… and we are leaving it up until we win the Super Bowl – the ornaments are down (we have a new puppy who was having too much fun them)… it’s only silly if it doesn’t work. Right?

How are you celebrating tomorrow’s big game?

GO HAWKS!!

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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