A Fall Float Down the Yaquina River

Saturday last was the date set for the annual fall Yaquina River float. For Doryman, this been a Halloween tradition for eight years, on this beautiful coastal Oregon river. For others, (all comers welcome) it depends on the weather.

This year, the prognosticators said a big Pacific front was coming in and there would be rain, wind and more rain. Those of us who live on the coast tend to take the forecasts with a grain of salt. The most reliable prediction method is to look out the window.

The crowd was small and dedicated. As you can see in the photos, everyone was dressed for the worst. Which, of course meant that we were over dressed for a delightfully warm and mostly sunny day. Sorry those slackers less dedicated missed it.

This was the first time on the water for the completed Doryman Melonseed. I've christened her Aria. We left the sailing gear at home and loaded up the oars for the trial run. My good friend Jim Ballou dropped by the Doryman boatyard early Saturday with a smart little skiff needing some attention so, for the river run, he didn't have a ride of his own.

It was an excellent opportunity to see how the melonseed performed with a payload. Jim and I shifted our weight around to test for stability and I'm happy to say the melonseed is a wonderful little boat. She rows like a dream, can't wait to set up a sail rig and see how she flies.....

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Bob, deep in conversation with Chuck and Shalline:

Jim taking it easy while Michael does all the work. (Just teasing you, Jim.)


Thanks to Shalline for the photos of Aria.





And a short video of Jim R, with Lucy the Dog, in the Lazy Duck skiff. Commentary by Jim B.


Fall 2013 on the Yaquina River from doryman on Vimeo.

If you haven't had enough, here's the rest of the pictures.

Yaquina River Halloween

Every year, no matter where I've lived, sometime close to Halloween, I've ridden a tidal or river current in a rowboat to celebrate. This is not a superstition of any kind. For the last few years, the Coots have joined me for this long-standing tradition.

Fall rains combined with spring tides make for strong currents. Which make rowing easy, it's that simple.

How can you have fall rains and spring tides at the same time? Never mind that. The operative word is Rain. (yes, that's an uppercase R)

Which might explain the preponderance of motorized vessels on the river today with warm dry cabins. Some of the Coots are claiming seniority, ie: "I'm getting too old to sit out in the rain all day".

We won't hold it against them.

 It's very hard to predict the weather for this event. Last year, the fall run-off was on a pleasant sunny day. In fact, it was very nice the year before. And the archives tell us the weather was fine for 2009 and 2008 as well.

 Pacific Northwest rainforest.

Look closely, this is not a blurry shot.You can see the atmosphere. (quite literally)

For about ten minutes just after slack tide, as we left the dock, the rain stopped. You will note that as he gets the oars adjusted, Doryman is very happy.





A very short few minutes later, a symphony played on the water. Make no mistake. Doryman is still very happy.

Yaquina Halloween from doryman on Vimeo.

 One thing to watch for this time of year is all the floating debris. Some of those old boom logs lie just below the surface and have big spikes in them!
[When this area was first logged, a century ago, trees were skidded down to the water, where rafts of them were made, to float out to waiting ships. The logs were contained by chaining a perimeter of logs together. These were called boom logs and the chains were attached to them with spikes. Many of those old logs remain today, usually high on a river bank, until high water comes and shuffles them to a new beaching.]

Yaquina River Halloween

The Western Oregon Messabouts, AKA Coots, gathered for a fall run on the Yaquina river in western Oregon this week.









Around Halloween each year, there are spring tides that raise the river to it's maximum level, then ebb to a muddy minus.









Since the Yaquina has a tidal reach twenty six miles inland, this makes for some thrilling currents to ride with an oar or paddle powered boat. The scenery is just beautiful this time of year and late fall sun is a bonus.












Ten boats and fourteen Coots participated this year, which is a drop from last year, likely due to the mid-week tide.











The tide waits for no man.



Lets go to the video...




And the photos can be found on Doryman's Flickr, as usual.



Thanks again to Mary and her fabulous video editing skills!
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Gone Sailin'

Doryman is out sailing on his favorite river, enjoying a lingering summer.


If you're stuck at home or work and need a dory fix, please visit Scottishboating.


"Dories have long been recognized as fine seaboats, but their low initial stability and active response to wave action is apt to be disconcerting to the sailor unaccustomed to dories."

John Gardner

Yaquina River Runoff

As the year wanes and the northern hemisphere tilts away from the sun, the tides become more extreme here at home. Along with dropping temperatures and increasing rain come vital tidal drops on local rivers, which coupled with normal outflow can create currents approaching three knots.












During the millenia that humans lacked the technology to oppose nature there was no question of working upstream against the tide.

I'm not one who thinks we should ignore the potential that machines and technology have allowed us, but if you have somewhere to go in your boat and all you have at your disposal is the 1/4 horsepower you can develop with your own body (oh, Joy!) it's best to use the power of nature to aid your progress, don't you agree?

A metaphor if you like.
More than simple philosophy. A way of life.

In celebration of this philosophy Doryman asked an eclectic group of home boat builders to join him in a run down river on the Yaquina yesterday. Ten boats and sixteen rowers showed up. Some kinda record!




The weather promised to be nasty with a strong Pacific Ocean front coming ashore so we embarked anxiously with the turn of the tide from Elk City.
(Are there elk in Elk City?... Occasionally.)























Six miles downstream is Canyon Quarry launch ramp which was just the right distance. After two hours on the river, the rain and wind picked up so everyone was relieved to see an imminent landing.


Part and parcel with the philosophy of taking the path of least resistance is complacence with the elements as they present themselves.

Rain or shine, it's all the same to me but not all folks think that way so I was relieved to have a pleasant day on the water and the opportunity to retreat for BBQ ribs and burgers when the rain arrived.



Thanks to the exceptional Oregon Coots for coming out even when the weather guy said not to.

More photos by John Kohnen (with his fine Nikon D90)

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River Ramble

Today a strong Pacific Ocean storm system is building outside the window, with lashing wind and rain and a forecast of winds of 50 mph.
But yesterday was sunny, warm and a very pleasant time for a run on my favorite river. Extreme tides provided us with currents up to three knots, which made paddling easy.



Bob brought his home built CLC kayak. Lew has a well equipped, nibble production kayak and Jim paddled his expedition canoe. Doryman rowed his bateau.













Little can be said to expound on the pictures...


















Bob has a GPS mounted on his kayak, so now I know we rowed 6.7KM. He says he was trying for 7 knots at one point, but 6.5 was about the best he could do.

The semi-diurnal tidal range varies in a two week cycle. Around the new and full moon, when the Sun, Moon and Earth are in alignment, is a condition the Greeks called syzygos and which we term syzygial.

Syzygy, then, creates a stronger tidal force due to the Sun's gravitation reinforcing the Moon's. The tide's range is then at its maximum and is called a spring tide, or simply, springs.

Spring tide, coupled with river current equal a fun ride. December and January have the highest tide ranges and the most rain run-off around here, so expect more river running soon.
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