Weather: Sunny and cool. Winds: Nil. Waves: Flat.
We departed Hope Island just a tad too early to hit the 1042 slack at Deception Pass. Motoring to the pass was uneventful and rounding the west end of Hope Island, we could see the north side buoys were occupied. Glad we chose to anchor on the south side! The day went splendidly, motoring through the islands and peaking into the bays, checking out the available anchorages and marinas. Until the approach to Deception Pass.
Let me state up front: All was in accordance with the rules of the road, it was the lack of courtesy which disturbed me. Victoria Clipper, a Seattle to Victoria or Seattle to Friday Harbor jet-driven ferry approached quickly from astern, initially visible about a mile back. It gave a long blast indicating it intended to pass to our port and it did: Right under the bridge, the narrowest part of the pass. Further, the skipper kicked up the speed along side us, slamming us with his wake, which is substantial from a jet drive. I got really angry, flipped the skipper off and yelled that "The skipper was a dick." VC's pax got a bit of a show.
It would not have killed VC to throttle back after the horn blast and let us get through the pass. We had been fighting a 3kt current and were only making a couple knots. A 1kt decrease in VC's speed would have allowed Strider to get about 400ft further, well beyond the bridge and in a much wider area of the pass. Once again, courtesy and commercial vessels are not synonymous.
The rest of the trip home was an uneventful motor, back in the sunshine.
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