Run for your life!
Just the title alone brings anxiety and fear doesn’t it? Let’s start at the beginning.
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood where we anchored, just off the marina, in the middle of the bay. There were calm winds, sunny blue skies and flat water. What a beautiful morning to zip over to Cowichan in the Trophy and enjoy the best bakery around. There are several stories of how the winds can come up quickly in Cowichan Bay and 2 of our boating friends found their boats floating towards shore while visiting the town. Both had a happy ending, but we didn’t want a similar experience, so we found a dock that allowed 2 hours of free moorage while shopping.
After visiting the interesting shops and stocking up on yummy bread (and a few pasteries), we headed back to the big boat for our lunch date at 1:00. The wind was picking up a little and I checked the weather to learn a wind event was coming in later in the afternoon. Our anchor scope was out 5:1 and I was confident we would be back from lunch before it arrived.
Forty five minutes later, we were sitting at a window seat, enjoying our appetizers and I notice our boat appeared to be moving. Oh no! It WAS moving, and fast, to the back of the bay, into the rocks. Oh Dear Jesus!!!
We leave everything, race down the dock, jump in the dingy and head the 1/2 mile to the other end of the bay to try and catch the boat. We were running for the life of our boat! We get past the docks and find white caps and fiercely blowing winds. I could hardly breath - I was so frightened and praying over every wave we would make it on time. We arrive as the boat is about 20 feet from the rocks and still drifting.
I scramble to get the engines started but can’t easily turn the boat around as the water is shallow, the area is now too narrow, and the wind is pushing too hard. I also don’t want to drive over the anchor and hit it with the propellers. Keith runs to the front and starts to bring up the anchor as I’m frantically trying to keep the boat off the rocks. (Can you feel how hard my heart was, and is, pounding?)
We finally get control and move back out in the open bay but the wind is kicking the snot out of us. I was shaking so hard I could hardly move. The wind storm arrived 2 hours early and gusts were 30-35 mph. We finally got the anchor down again with a 7:1 scope and the boat appeared to be safe.
We have no idea why the boat pulled loose but we weren’t going to take any chances, I wasn’t leaving the boat again. When the wind settled a little bit later in the evening, Keith took the dingy back to get my phone and reorder the meals. After all that, we were disappointed, our meals weren’t quite as good as we had hoped!
The good news, the winds continued until later in the evening and the anchor didn’t budge but 2 other boats pulled up their anchor and left. I’m not sure if they were afraid of the wind or of us. Also, there was a small sailboat in the path and it was the hand of God that kept our boat from hitting it. Thank you Jesus!
Follow the breadcrumbs to see the path of the boat. The green circle is our second anchor spot and for reference, the mouth of the bay is at the bottom and the green area around the bay is rocks. It still makes me shake to think about it. We cried out to God and He heard us!!!
