THE SEA JOURNEY

Two days after the sea trial, the big day arrived. At last, three weeks after the signing of the offer to purchase, it was ready to head north.

I needed a knowledgeable local person to help me. Someone who knew boats, knew the area and knew boating and navigating. I took on the services of Dave, a retired school teacher, who owns a beautiful 40 foot trawler and is a member at the marina.

We met at 8 a.m. and it was pouring rain. An hour later, after replacing out of date flares (the law being that new ones are required after four years from purchase), filling up the water tanks, then finally the gas tank. The gauge indicated the tank was half full thankfully, so we added 250 litres, at $1.28 a litre for a total of $320.00. This here cruising gig is expensive!!

Shortly after leaving port we headed into mist which, combined with the rain and grey skies, made visibility difficult. As the seas were beginning to get quite choppy, we didn’t want to slow down too much, although we were forced to do so, and had to keep active vigilant watch as we were approaching the shipping lanes. These actives routes included B.C. Ferries heading over to Vancouver Island, barges carrying large loads, and tow boats and their long cargo of logs.

Thankfully, after some time it cleared a little and we relaxed some. Just then, we ran into very rough waters. There are shallow sand banks caused, I believe by the silt coming from the Fraser River. That, combined with high winds (there had been a high winds alert broadcast earlier) had us literally crashing through troughs and waves sending items flying throughout the lower deck, items which I felt were securely tethered. A lesson learned. At one point the dingy attached to the transom became loose and I crawled out to the aft deck, holding on with one hand for dear life and attempting to tighten up the lines which held the dingy to the boat. If ever there was a need to wear a lifejacket, that was it, but foolishly I didn’t.

The rain eventually stopped, the clouds thinned out and the huge waves became just big ones. We had headed directly west at one point instead of north in an attempt to escape the rough conditions and, after 2 hours and 45 minutes had traveled only as far as off Lulu Island (Vancouver’s Airport) and were way behind schedule.

Suddenly, a very strange noise came from the engine! Plus an acrid burning smell. I opened up the hatch to the bilge and could hardly see the engine for steam and burning rubber. Dave immediately shut down the engine. Thankfully there were no flames, but no sounds either, only the waves hitting the sides of my sadly disabled non functional, but still floating, boat.

What to do? We were being buffeted by large waves, had no power and were drifting rather helplessly. But this is why we have VHF radio, a high frequency radio, which through a microphone and on channel 16, we were in direct contact with the Canadian Coast Guard. They asked if it was an emergency situation or were we in distress and we replied that it wasn’t but that we were drifting about two and a half miles off Point Grey, the closest landmark. Under these circumstances the Coast Guard won’t come to the rescue but would contact a commercial marine towing/rescue company and have them call us on the VHF radio. Meantime they indicated that a Coast Guard hovercraft was not too far away and if our circumstances changed we could notify them immediately and they would respond. So, after much “over” this and “roger” that, we arranged a tow, at $195 an hour no less, from this private company.

Well, I had been a boater for 3 hours, had traveled in fog like conditions, was beaten up by aggressive waves and now I’m stranded, bobbing and weaving in the middle of nowhere, it costing a small fortune to get saved, and not knowing what the boat needed in time and money before this journey could continue. And I’m thinking, are we having fun yet? I wanted adventure, but jeez, so soon?!

My earlier comments about that shiny GPS were becoming all too real, but it certainly helped as we were able to immediately give our exact location in latitude and longitude. An hour later our man arrived in a rather small vessel, I thought, but I was certainly very glad to see him and his boat.

You see, crashing through waves for a couple of hours, I had as Dave observed, no problem with seasickness. However an hour and a half of being tossed around in rough seas, and going nowhere, is quite different. Once hooked up it took at least another hour of bobbing along, but at least we were moving and eventually arrived at his marina, near the Point Grey Golf Club on the North Arm of the Fraser River. At this point I was feeling as rough as the waters and disheartened a bit by the turn of events. Then a thought struck me…..this sure as hell beats selling real estate in Toronto! (sorry, fellow agents)

The rescue man was a mechanic and would be able to tell me what the problem was, but could not fix the problem himself as he was not set up to do so. Just then he received a call advising him of another boat, a much larger one, that was in dire need of help out there and he had to leave immediately. By this time it was 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and the boat would probably sit there until Monday at the earliest before the problem and solution would be analysed.

Meanwhile, my nephew Stuart, wife Gina and baby Callum had set off from the mainland by ferry from Horseshoe Bay at 9 a.m. planning to welcome me at Madeira Park when I arrived in the afternoon at my berth. Having them waving madly as I arrived would have meant more than all the flotillas and pipe bands the Sunshine Coast could muster. But alas. They had booked in to a pre arranged B. and B., were making a weekend of it, and checking out the area when I called and informed them that I wouldn’t be able to join them.

Lessons learned. Many, including that, when cruising along, and everything is in order, I will not take it simply for granted!

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