Lake Washington to Puget Sound Memorial Day weekend

[RJG 26S]

I would like to find a good place to launch on Lake Washington for the Memorial Day Weekend and get some tips to motor over to the Puget Sound.

Where is the best place to launch and park for a few days, would it be Magnuson Park? Is it a safe place to leave a vehicle overnight? How quickly does this fill up on busy weekends? For Memorial Day weekend, would I be better off launching earlier on Friday or is there a chance of finding a spot on Saturday?

Motoring from Lake Washington to the Puget Sound: Is just the Fremont Bridge the only one you need to get raised for a 26X? Going through the Chittenden Locks, how challenging is that?

Thanks,

Bob

[Chinook]

We've enjoyed sailing on Lake Washington and transiting the locks onto Puget Sound several times. Launching onto Lake Washington poses some problems. The excellent multiple launch ramps at Gene Coulon Park in Renton don't allow overnight parking. The launch ramp in Kirkland doesn't allow boats over 24 feet in length. The only place I'm familiar with, which allows parking of tow vehicle and trailer for several days is Magnuson Park, at Sand Point (the old Naval Air Station). As I recall, there are just two launch ramps, and they can get quite busy. There is a lot of room for rigging the boat, and the parking lot is quite spacious. I've left tow vehicle there overnight without problems. I think the PD patrols it quite regularly. I can't say whether the parking fills on busy weekends or not. I think it would be a good idea to get a jump on things with an early Friday launch if possible. You should have your charts handy for the cruise into Lake Union and through Portage Bay/Fisherman's Terminal and into the locks. It's a great cruise, going through the Montlake Cut, past the U of W. Lots of interesting things to see. You go right by the floating house on Lake Union where Tom Hanks filmed scenes from Sleepless in Seattle. The Fremont Bridge is the only one which is too low for the Mac's mast. It operates on scheduled openings (I'm guessing on the half hour, but not sure). When we do this trip, we wait for the opening on our way out, but coming back, before reentering the locks, I rig up my mast raising pole and I lower the mast part way while underway, which allows us to cruise right on past the sailboat fleet and under the bridge. Since I'm going to take the mast down at the ramp anyway, it just makes sense. Regarding the locks, before we went through the first time, I drove down there one afternoon and just watched the boats going through. Seeing the drill gave me confidence for the first time with the boat. They usually try to put boats like our Macs in the small lock, which allows you to moor to a floating dock, which makes things very simple. You do need to have a pair of 50 foot dock lines, with 12 inch loops on the ends you pass up to the lock tenders, rigged bow and stern, in the event that you get directed into the large lock, which doesn't have floating tie ups. The long lines are needed for passing up to the lock tenders. They will tell you to not cleat the ends off, in case something hangs up during locking. Usually, if you get directed into the large lock, you'll be in there among much larger boats. The large boats generally get positioned along the wall, and smaller boats like ours raft up to the bigger boats. Be prepared for squirrely currents during the filling and emptying process. Also, be prepared for substantial delays on busy weekends, especially on the return trip, when lots of boats are trying to get back to Lake Washington. One nice fringe benefit of this trip: You don't need to do a fresh water flush of your engine, since the short run on Lakes Union and Washington while heading back to the ramp will do the job for you. One other tip. If you want to cruise around on Lake Washington, and pass under the I-90 bridge, the clearance under the west riser just barely accomodates the 26X mast height, if you go close to the bridge piling. You'll have about 2 or 3 feet of clearance, and it looks really scary from the cockpit, looking up. I don't know the mast height of your boat. If you're taller than an X, you'll want to approach that bridge very carefully.

[RJG 26S]

Chinook,

With my mast top VHF antenna, I am about 36' above the water so I don't think I will try going under the I-90 bridge. The rest sounds great. Thanks for the information!

Bob

[mastreb]

Chinook,

With my mast top VHF antenna, I am about 36' above the water so I don't think I will try going under the I-90 bridge. The rest sounds great. Thanks for the information!

Bob

Just leave your mast raising wench rigged and take the mast up and down. It only takes a few minutes total. I sail with my gin pole attached and slacked--it doesn't get in the way of my genoa 150 at all. Will rub the deck a bit though unless you leave a towel wrapped around the winch.

[Bill McClure]

Hi RJG,

The lake and the sound are both great places for boating, but expect to take several hours to transit the locks each way on a weekend, especially a holiday weekend. If you want to go some place on the sound, the ramp at nearby Shilshole marina is on the salt and has overnight parking. Expect it to be busy and crowded, too. The only anchorage on Lake Washington is just north of Seward Park. Expect lots of boats there as well. Although you can get in much closer to shore than most in a Mac. You'll have to pass under the center of the I-90 bridge to clear and go down and around Mercer Island before coming back up the lake to anchor. Have fun what ever you do.

Bill

Seattle