Just before the storm in Montegue Harbor
July 25, 2009
Yesterday was quite a day. Did I tell you that the night before, Chris and I took an evening walk down to Conover cove from Princess cove. The wind had been blowing a bit but we were holding fine with our stern tie so I thought nothing of leaving. As we approached the dinghy dock a young fellow approached us and asked if we had a sailboat. We told him know and asked why and he said a sailboat anchor had broke loose and he was being blown against the rocks and no one could find the owners. They too had taken a hike.
I thought, good, not me at least. We casually continued to our dinghy and motored back to our boat only to discover that the sailboat that had broken loose had blown into the sailboat next to him and thus pushed that sailboat into us and our anchor had drug to within five feet of being on the rocks with all the added weight. It turned into a goat rope in the dark as the two sailboats re achored in the middle of the bay and after two tries I was able to set the hook and get a stern tie to shore without wrapping anytning around my props and managing to avoid the other boats in the close quarters of the bay. I slept up in the fly bridge just to be sure everything held. After the wind died down I went below only to be woken about two hours later by the flags flapping in the wind and now it was coming from the NW which was completely opposite for which I had set the anchor. Luckily it all held and the wind eventually died completely and I got back to sleep.
We were not sure if we were staying or going until I called Fran to check on their status and she said they would be leaving Vancouver by noon for Porlier pass and Poets cove. I said great, we will hang around and meet you at Porlier Pass and go south with you.
We departed Princess cove and went up to Clam bay for the afternoon, dropped a crab pot, should have known something was wrong cause there was not another pot in the entire bay. Yep empty when I pulled it a few hours later.
I rescued a 40 foot sailboat that ran aground on the Reef at the mouth of the bay. Ran right up into the kelp bed marked by the red bouy at full speed. Sounded pretty bad from a mile away. I ran out in the dingy and was able to pull him off by pulling on the halyard from the mast and Kedging him over on his side. He said thanks and motored off as if nothing serious had happened. I did make him verify that he was not taking on water before I pulled him off.
Fran called and they decided to head for Active Pass since they would arrive at Porlier at max flood of 8 knots and they had a top speed of 8.1. they opted for the longer route to Active and I suggested they stop at Montegue where Don and Jane Janice and Sandy and Dave Hertz were hanging out. They agreed since it was getting a bit later in the day and it would still be several hours of cruising before we saw them.
I se the anchor in Montague in 40 feet of water in the South end of the bay out of the wind or so I thought. When Jeff and Fran arrived I helped them anchor nearby but the first attempt at that ended up with them too close to another boat so we pulled the anchor with highly exciting high speed windlass. Ever see a 40 lb bruce full of mud slingshot out of the water, It is a sight to behold if your nearby and close enough to be showered by the mud as it rains back down on the bow..
We decided that since there was no wind that we would raft together, I though my 160 feet of chain out would be adequate for the two of us. We had a grand dinner that Chris prepared to celebrate the new boat. The sunset was amazing as a large thunder storm built over us and as the rain came down hard, the lightening lit up the bay and the sun turned the clouds blood red the winds came. 30 knots for about 15 minutes made things pretty exciting. The anchor held fine, but we were stretched out the full length of that 200 feet and you could have played a tune on it as it was very tight.
A few boats did drag anchor in the tempest including the bakery boat which had to up anchor and reset in the middle of the channel.
We woke the next morning to fog in the bay and sun overhead,
Fran and Jeff with their friend Pete left about 0800 to try and get across the boarder with their new boat. It is a beautiful 40 foot Catalina Sailing boat, way to go and congratulations on being owners of a great vessel. We look forward to many more fun evenings together.
Were off to Annette inlet on Prevost to meet Glen and Liz who are hopefully crossing the boarder today. We shall see if we can fit four of us in there.
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