Can 1 person pilot a 38' motor yacht around Seattle and Puget Sound?

Question

This is a follow-up to my previous question, how long to yacht from Gig Harbor to Seattle to the Pacific. I have already recieved a fantastic answer. This is to clarify some things and ask a couple more little questions. It should be noted that I know next to nothing about yachts and boating. I tried looking at maritime charts, but to me they are indecipherable. The Yacht I speak of is a 38' Royal Commodore motor yacht with twin diesel 310 horsepower Volvo engines (this is not set though...if you have a better suggestion I would love to hear it). I'm assuming an average speed of 20 knots. If it takes about an hour from Gig Harbor to Seattle, does that include taking the yacht from its mooring at it's Marina and docking in Seattle? Can one person do this by himself? As for the trip from Seattle to the Pacific, can one person do this by himself? Is it too dangerous to go it alone? Thanks so much for the fantastic answer. I was astounded by your knowledge and my luck. Thanks!!!!

Answer 1

yes if you are very experienced it could be done. It is not advisable if you do not have a great deal of experience with vessels. You do not know enough or you would not have asked.  Take an experienced skipper with you and bring a good deck hand along to help.  As to the length of time to the Pacific, it depends on your cruising speed, the tides and the weather.  between 12 and 24 hours is reasonable.

Answer 2

If you were actually planning on doing it, I would say absolutely not. Given that you're writing a a fictional story about it...I would say, yes, it could be done, but I myself wouldn't. Assuming everything goes exactly right (no engine problems, no bad weather, etc), from dock to dock one person should be able to do it just fine (certainly from Gig Harbor to Seattle). The bigger issue is docking and undocking. One person doing it solo has to be able to get all the lines off and on, all the fenders down and up (yes, in fact, fenders are supposed to come up once the boat is away from the dock, whatever you see to the contrary!), etc, while also driving the boat off and on the dock. Can it be done solo? Sure, by a very experienced skipper. But it's no fun.

Seattle to Cape Flattery is also possible to solo in a 38' motor yacht, but you then have considerations of, well, biology. Yes, an autopilot can keep the boat running in the right direction while you go below for a head-call or a snack, but I personally would never take that risk. After Cape Flattery, once you're making the ocean passage, you have to consider things like sleep, and storms. All in all, one extra set of hands would make the situation a whole lot more comfortable.

Yes, you'd probably want to tack on another half hour or so for checklisting, warming up the engines, casting off, and obeying the speed limits inside Gig Harbor and Bell Street (5 knots, I think?).

For an ocean passage in a motor yacht, a Regal would certainly not be my first choice, but it would probably do just fine if the weather was good. Motor yachts more traditionally used for ocean crossings might be like a Grand Banks, Monk trawler or even a Nordic Tug, but these are slower yachts built more for endurance and long-distance cruising.