Of course you still have to keep a sharp lookout – it only takes one log in your prop(s) to ruin the day. But we had seen so few major pieces of timber that we were starting to think about a passage between Alaska and the top of Vancouver Island, inside of the Queen Charlotte Islands, without stopping. This meant at least eight hours running in the dark.

In the end we decided not to risk this. But it was a close decision. A quick visit to Prince Rupert to clear Canadian customs was in order, and then we headed south down the northern section of the Inside Passage.

Here is a screen shot of the tides for August 8, 2006. Notice that this is a full moon date, so tides will be at their highest – something in the range of plus 22 feet (7 meters).

The photos which follow were all shot during the first six hours after we left Prince Rupert.

We’ll start with this picture of a log barely aground, just below the high tide mark. The breeze here was light, but offshore. As the tide rises, this log will end up in the channel. The smooth, rounded shape makes this harder to see with the naked eye, and difficult for the radar to pick out.

This is "good" debris, a tree with the root ball still attached. It is easy to spot with the naked eye, and gives a good radar return, as long as there is not too much sea running (in which case it may be lost in sea clutter).

The knob on the end of this tree trunk will make it easier to see, and it will give a better radar return than if that knob were missing.

We don’t want to bore you, but it might be interesting to see the rest of what we noticed during this six-hour run.

This does not include a lot of smaller pieces that we did not bother to photograph.

We try to keep a sharp eye ahead, but we do lapse now and then. In the course of four months of cruising in this part of the world, we have hit debris three times. In each case it was a small- to medium-sized log, with no root balls or other distinguishing features. We would hear the thump of the log hitting our bow before seeing it. This gives us four seconds (at 11 knots boat speed) in which to get the engines into neutral (which reduces the damage to the props should they hit). In each collision we were able to get the engines out of gear before the logs popped up aft. Since we do not have any vibration, we’re assuming we did not get any of this debris into our propellers.

One last caveat. Occasionally we would see clumps of sea weed or kelp, often at current shear lines. This is usually a soft material, and whereas it might do harm to a speedometer impeller, it would not damage props or hull. However, on occasion we’d see a large piece of timber tied up in the kelp or weed, almost hidden. So, we try to stay away from the seemingly soft debris as well as the hard stuff.