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Post by EGfleet on May 1, 2006 7:47:16 GMT -8
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Post by Electric Thunderbird on May 1, 2006 8:00:46 GMT -8
Wow, cool pics, thanks. Looks like a lot of salt water went onto the front row cars.
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Post by SS San Mateo on May 1, 2006 8:08:40 GMT -8
Yowzas!!!  The weather was wacky on Saturday. The Bainbridge Island route experienced delays due to rough weather (according to the service bulletin). Some areas in east King County got snow . I noticed 2 large areas of rust on the front end (one around the 1'st 2 portholes, one around the 5'th one). I'm assuming one of those areas was where she was damaged in a 1999 storm. Was the other area also repaired from storm damage? -- LB |
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Post by EGfleet on May 1, 2006 8:38:09 GMT -8
Rust around 1&2 portholes is from the storm damage a few years back. As for # 5...dunno. The boats are *all* in need paint jobs--well, a good deal of them anyway. With the budget restrictions, painting is taking a lower priority than it once was.  |
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Post by Retrovision on May 1, 2006 8:52:58 GMT -8
Great shots of a venerable old 'gal' ...Nice to see her put to such a test for one of the last times; Thanks.
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Koastal Karl
Voyager 
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on May 1, 2006 9:32:35 GMT -8
Those are some cool photos! I hear it can get pretty rough through there. On the topic of salt water I remember waiting in line at Tsawwassen for the ferry during a really stormy, windy day and the spray from the waves crashing on the beach was reaching the holding lanes and I remember having to wash the salt water off the car when I got home. Not good for the cars.
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Post by northwesterner on May 1, 2006 11:16:11 GMT -8
Great photos... Are you sure that is Keystone? I haven't been up on that route in 7-8 years or so (mostly because there is a high probability of riding the Klickitat, my least favorite ferry to ride) ... Looks to me more like the Port Townsend terminal, but I certainly could be mistaken.
Of the routes the Steel Electrics have run over the last 10-15 years or so, Port Townsend - Keystone probably has the highest probability for poor weather. Of course, when the Hiyu still did Inter-Island service in the winter, the Nisqually would shift over and do mostly direct Anacortes-Friday Harbor service (w/ Elwha/Kaleetan doing Lopez,Shaw,Orcas and the Evergreen State doing international service)... I know the weather can get rough in Rosario Strait and through Thatcher Pass.
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Post by hergfest on May 1, 2006 11:58:40 GMT -8
I remember a number of years ago being in rough weather crossing the Rosario Strait. I think it was in a Steel Electric too, so it was probably the Nisqually.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on May 1, 2006 15:01:53 GMT -8
I think that is from Keystone is what evergreenfleet meant. I have never seen such rough conditions around here.
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Post by EGfleet on May 1, 2006 16:18:49 GMT -8
What always surprises me and other "European" ferry people is the open ended ferries that WSF run, as given in your pictures of the water coming on the deck. Surely that can at some point damage the cars with the "wrong" wave...just a though.. Most of the time there is ample warning from the weather service to plan on loading cars farther back from the open end. Rarely are cars damaged...I can't honestly think of any specific cases where cars were damages by waves...mostly it is a case of the boat smacking into something (inclimate weather or not) that has damaged cars. I'll check into it though. And yes, I do believe my friend said these were taken from the Keystone side of the route.  I have a photo of the Elwha smashing into a wave in Haro Strait (which, for my money, is worse than Rosario) where you can see nothing but green water smashing over the bow and just a bit of sky. |
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Post by Mike C on May 1, 2006 16:32:33 GMT -8
oooh. Up here, north of the border, we've got heavy winds right now, I'm sure there's a few ferries cancelled today...
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Post by northwesterner on May 1, 2006 18:31:00 GMT -8
I have a photo of the Elwha smashing into a wave in Haro Strait (which, for my money, is worse than Rosario) where you can see nothing but green water smashing over the bow and just a bit of sky. For sure Haro Strait can be way worse than Rosario Strait. Of course, when was the last time a Steel Electric went to Sidney? The plaque on the Illahee dating to the remodel (20yrs ago) explaining her history said the Klickitat is a Solas-certified vessel. |
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Post by EGfleet on May 1, 2006 19:55:35 GMT -8
Would have been about 1982. She was only on the run briefly, then reassigned to Port Townsend-Keystone where she's been pretty much ever since. |
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Post by Mike C on May 2, 2006 10:52:44 GMT -8
BC Ferries has the option to tie down their vehicles ON NORTHERN VESSELS ONLY. They CANNOT tie down vehicles on other routes (I think?).
So, I don't think WSF can tie down vehicles (at least not on the Steel Electrics and Issaquas). They might on the Supers and Mark II's.
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Post by hergfest on May 2, 2006 11:17:30 GMT -8
As far as I know WSF doesn't. They do usually chalk the end cars, but if the weather is that rough they just don't run the boats.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
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Post by Neil on May 2, 2006 14:15:20 GMT -8
Must be kind of hairy entering that little harbour at Keystone when things are that rough. The only time I ever took that ferry, I was a bit dubious about driving off at Port Townsend, the way the Rhododendron was rolling around at the dock.
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Post by northwesterner on May 2, 2006 14:38:27 GMT -8
Must be kind of hairy entering that little harbour at Keystone when things are that rough. The only time I ever took that ferry, I was a bit dubious about driving off at Port Townsend, the way the Rhododendron was rolling around at the dock. That must have been ages ago ... when was the last time the Rhody ran that route? Early 80s? |
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
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Post by Neil on May 2, 2006 14:59:37 GMT -8
Might have been late '70s. I fully admit to being rather ancient.
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Post by northwesterner on May 2, 2006 20:31:57 GMT -8
Might have been late '70s. I fully admit to being rather ancient. So I'm assuming that the Klickitat was assigned to PT-Keystone and sent the Rhody into mothballs... Olympic ran along side her for much of the 80s before being sent to Point Defiance. I never rode the Olympic (or even saw her on that route) ... I remember as a kid (I'm in my early 20s now) seeing lots of postcards in PT of her approaching the dock - plus I believe there was a Ferry Poster one year of Olympic pulling into PT. As far as I remember, its always been two steel electrics. |
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Neil
Voyager
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Post by Neil on May 2, 2006 21:21:12 GMT -8
When is WSF planning to retire the last of the ancients? I think its wonderful that there's still a connection to the old San Francisco days, even if the boats are very much on borrowed time.
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Post by SS San Mateo on May 3, 2006 7:49:21 GMT -8
When is WSF planning to retire the last of the ancients? I think its wonderful that there's still a connection to the old San Francisco days, even if the boats are very much on borrowed time. Probably early next decade at the earliest. The 1'st of the new ferries won't be in service until 2009. Depending on how they deal with Keystone Harbor, they could be in service even longer. -- LB |
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Post by SS San Mateo on May 3, 2006 7:52:40 GMT -8
The Rhody was still on the run as late as 1984. I remember riding her to Keystone and coming back on the Klickitat.
The current Pt. Townsend terminal hadn't opened yet back then (it looked like it was fairly close to being completed).
-- LB
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Post by EGfleet on May 3, 2006 17:28:53 GMT -8
The Rhody was still on the run as late as 1984. I remember riding her to Keystone and coming back on the Klickitat. The current Pt. Townsend terminal hadn't opened yet back then (it looked like it was fairly close to being completed). -- LB 84 would have been about it for the Rhody. The Oly would pop in at Defiance or Keystone until 1987. The Coast Guard ordered her off the Keystone run permanently after she lost power and went adrift and had to be towed into the dock. (The Oly has only one engine.) After that she worked at Point Defiance mainly, but did do at least one summer as the inter-island boat in the San Juans (which I wish I had photos of!). Once the Rhody came out from her refurb in 1991, that was it for the Oly. She had originally be scheduled to be rebuilt like the Rhody, but the Rhody went so over budget (some 6 million over to be exact) the state quickly shelved plans to refurb the Olympic. |
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Post by northwesterner on May 3, 2006 22:17:38 GMT -8
84 would have been about it for the Rhody. The Oly would pop in at Defiance or Keystone until 1987. The Coast Guard ordered her off the Keystone run permanently after she lost power and went adrift and had to be towed into the dock. (The Oly has only one engine.) After that she worked at Point Defiance mainly, but did do at least one summer as the inter-island boat in the San Juans (which I wish I had photos of!). Once the Rhody came out from her refurb in 1991, that was it for the Oly. She had originally be scheduled to be rebuilt like the Rhody, but the Rhody went so over budget (some 6 million over to be exact) the state quickly shelved plans to refurb the Olympic. I thought the Rhody came out from refurb a few years later - like 1993 or so... I thought there was a year or two in there where the Rhody was completed but stuff didn't work right - prolonging the service of the Olympic. |
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Post by SS San Mateo on May 4, 2006 4:09:21 GMT -8
The rebuilding was completed in 1991, but problems with the propulsion system (mainly the engines kept stalling because they were too powerful for the propellers, something that was described as like puting a V8 engine in a Model A Ford) delayed her return to service until mid-1992.
-- LB
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