Coast Guard to make changes to Tillamook Bar

- TILLAMOOK, Ore. - The U.S. Coast Guard wants boaters to chart a different course as they cross the Tillmook Bay bar, where 14 people have died in recent years.

It's considered one of the most treacherous crossings on the Oregon Coast.

The Coast Guard wants to realign entrance buoys to direct boaters to approach the bar from the southwest instead of directly from the west.

Three men died in February when the crab boat Catherine M tried to cross the bar during rough seas.

It's not known how much experience skipper Craig Larsen had in crossing the Tillamook bar.

A state medical examiner said all three crew members had methamphetamine in their systems.

Eleven people died in June 2003 when the Garibaldi-based Taki Tooo capsized while crossing the bar.

Skipper Douglas Davis had 17 years' experience piloting boats on Tillamook Bay and nearby seas. The National Transportation Safety Board faulted Davis for not turning back in the hazardous conditions.

The Coast Guard learned in meetings with the local boaters that they're already using the southerly approach, said Matthew Walker, chief of navigational aids for the Coast Guard district in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

"We decided, 'Well, let's use what the local mariners are using,' " he said. "Obviously, it is a dangerous waterway no matter how you mark it."

Charter operator Jon Brown, owner of the Kerri Lin and a skipper of 37 years, said those who know the bay favor the southerly course.

"That's the only way we come," he said. "If it's nice, we might come from the north. Only if it's beautiful do we come down the middle."

Tim Marshall, an area charter fisherman for 20 years, said the bay's jetty arms used to extend much farther, but winter storms have washed away the rock from their tops. And, he said, sand and silt have built up in the center of the bar.

"The jetties need to be rebuilt, and it also needs to be re-dredged," he said. "That's the fix."

Two other changes would include a new light on a marker inside the jetty and changing the channel marker from a multi-colored "sector" light to a steady "leading" light, which local mariners said would make it easier to determine their position in the channel.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)