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 ![Coastal research landscape used as the Northmoor University hero image.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/camilo-botia-k4vFDPJoDZk-unsplash.1600x1200.jpg.avif?itok=ujHvC8nC)

 

 



R/V *Cascadia Strait* is a 94-foot steel-hulled coastal research vessel, cruising at 10 knots with a range of about 2,000 nautical miles. She carries eight crew and up to twelve scientists, with berths for a full teaching group on shorter legs.

## What she carries

A hydraulic A-frame and two winches aft, a CTD rosette with twelve bottles, a multibeam echo sounder, a wet laboratory and a dry laboratory amidships, and deck space that has held everything from a sediment corer to a student-built glider. The dynamic positioning system holds station well enough to work a single site through a tide cycle.

Endurance is fourteen days. In practice, most cruises run five to eight.

## Who sails

Every undergraduate in Oceanography and Marine Geoscience spends time aboard. First-year students get a day trip; by the third year a student may be running their own sampling station. Graduate work and faculty research take the longer legs, including the annual Arctic transit, which is the only cruise of the year that leaves regional waters.

She is also chartered by other institutions when our own schedule allows, which is a meaningful part of how she is paid for.

## Seeing her

*Cascadia Strait* berths at the university dock when she is not at sea. Community tours run several times a year; watch the events listing. Ship time for research is arranged through Oliver Brandt, vessel operations manager.

Expect cold water and early starts. Nobody has ever described a departure as convenient.