Always Put Your Dinghy Up

Saturday August 12^th – Leaving Ladysmith today we decided a relaxing anchorage at Wallace island would be perfect.  The weather was good, wind calm and we only had about 10nm to our destination so we decided to just tow our dinghy.  Instead of using the crane to lift the dinghy on the upper deck we often just tow it behind the big boat when the weather is good.  Its makes it much easier when you get to your destination, especially when anchoring and stern tying like we planned on doing at Wallace.

Half way there the wind started to pick up.  Not too bad 10-15 knots with 1-2’ of chop.  Then things started to increase 15-20, then 20-25.  As we rounded the northern most tip of Salt Spring Island the wind whipped up to a sustained 32 knots and the water turned white with very short steep waves. Not too big of a deal except that we were towing a 13’ dinghy 75’ behind us.

Julie said “I don’t know about this, maybe you should turn around”.  I kind of ignored.  A few minutes later Julie said “Chris, turn around” in stern voice but I had foolishly gotten too far into it and turning around was not an option.

Our destination anchorage was only about 1 mile away and I thought we may be able to get some protection in there to either turn around or get anchored.  As we sloshed through heading into the wind there was nothing we could do about the dinghy.  At times, you couldn’t even see it except for the fishing poles sticking up, as it went down in the trough of a wave.

We made it to the anchorage but it was so windy there was no way we were going to get anchored in the small, narrow bay that was already full of boats.  It did however provide enough relief to get the boat turned around.  There was no way in this wind to get the dinghy put back up on the upper deck, our only option was to keep towing it.  As I struggled to get the boat pointed in the opposite direction, I told Julie and Skylar to get the dinghy pulled up “short” on the tow line so it was only 25’ or so behind the boat not 75’.  After I got the boat turned around I looked back and the dinghy was gone!  “Where’s the dinghy” I asked.  “Right where you told us to put it, tied up on the “port” side.  There was obviously some confusion between the words “short” and “port”.

After they got the dinghy back on the tow line we made our way back through the rough stuff.  The dinghy, now surfing down the waves, would take on water at the bottom of the trough then pop back up.  The fishing lures on one of the poles came loose, flying all over the place we were worried it was going to put a hole in the dinghy.

After all the excitement, we made it back to Thetis Island’s Telegraph Harbor Marina where the wind was calm.  They were able to get us on the dock where we promptly cracked open a couple beers after getting tied up, then relaxed on the boat the rest of the day.

The moral of the story is – “Be prepared for anything. Always put your dinghy up”.

Sunday August 13^th – The wind seemed to have died down so we packed lunches and hoped in the dinghy for a ride to Clam Bay.  We love the beach at Clam Bay and we were excited to get over there.  Once again all was good until we rounded a corner and got hit with strong winds again.  There was no way we were getting the dinghy safely to the beach and tied up.  The waves were pounding the shore so we turned around defeated once again by the wind.  We decided it was a project day and spent the whole afternoon getting little projects done on the boat.

After a nice dinner onboard we tried Clam Bay again to find the wind died down and calm seas.  We played on the beach as the sun went down then explored the bay in the dinghy.  A fun but somewhat stressful last few days!