On Tuesday the 21st we had a very wild ride through the middle of a storm. That afternoon David was scheduled to come into Campbell River by float plane, and the next morning the Neunteufels were scheduled to depart for Austria. We were in Gorge Harbor, about an 18 mile trip from Campbell River. Winds were forecast to be blowing from the south at 30-40 knots. Very snotty weather. We had an option to get us (not the boat) to Campbell River by taxi-ferry-taxi-ferry. In retrospect we should have done that. Instead we sailed out into the teeth of the wind, having forgotten a few very important heavy weather sailing rules: don't tow the rubber dinghy; put a stopper in the mushroom ventilator; make sure the engine fuel valves are properly set; make sure the hard dinghy on the foredeck is securely lashed, but most importantly, don't tow the rubber dinghy! So immediately after we got out the entrance of Gorge Harbor, the engine quit and the rubber dinghy turned turtle. I won't bore you with the whole sad saga, but we did recover the rubber dinghy (somewhat damaged), we did re-start the engine, and the only loss was the cushions lashed under the hard dinghy on the foredeck. In the meantime, we took A LOT of water through the mushroom ventilator, all the Neunteufels got seasick, we experienced winds to 45 knots, and waves 20 feet high. The boat sailed like a champ -- it was just the owners who need some work.
We got to Quathiaski Cove, across the channel from Campbell River (where we took the sails down), and Reinhard and Marta elected to take the ferry from there. We motored across, and finally wound up in a very expensive, high class marina, moored on a dock with 85 to 100 foot boats. They all seem to have paid skippers and janitors, and little yippy dogs. |
