No, this is THE story about when we brought the boat back from the park to Gig Harbor.
We had been given notice by the park ranger that we were not welcome there anymore so we had to the move the boat. It was too far away to keep an eye on it if we just anchored it there, and really there wasn't much room for that. So, we had decided it was time to bring her back.
I was really looking forward to making the trip, and we will see how over-zealousness can be one's undoing. I'd had trouble starting the motor during a previous visit, but figured I just didn't know what I was doing. When my partner and I arrived for our big trip, he was unable to start it as well. I convinced him that we could just sail her to Gig Harbor. At first, he was doubtful, but in the end he wasn't too hard to convince. So, with nothing but the wind for our help, we set sail. Oh what fools... This is how prepared we were
- No radio, cell phone or walkie-talkie (or semaphores, mirrors, horns or whistles)
- One life jacket
- No warm clothes (we were dressed only for the warmth of the day
- No rain gear
- Only a light snack for food (we only expected 3-4 hours)
- No charts or tide tables
For reference, here is a picture of where we travelled, and the path we took.
We left with a nice breeze, and had an enjoyable sail until we reached the southern tip of Fox Island. There is a reef near this point, that is shallow enough to be bare at low tide. It would have been nice to know where it was. We were lucky we didn't hit it. The wind had been blowing from a northerly direction so we expected (or I did anyway) to have even beeter wind as we rounded Fox Island. I was thinking the wind would be channelled through the Tacoma Narrows. Nothing doing.
My geography was wrong. You can see in the picture how the narrows is twisted. In addition, the island, and the other coastlines are high cliff's (50-100'). So, instead of getting more wind as we rounded the point, the wind died altogether.
We couldn't have picked a worse place, or time for this to happen. The point where the narrows and Carr inlet meet, can get some pretty interesting rip tides. Our hope had been to pass through here and the narrows before the tide came in. The tidal currents in the narrows can get very strong, and we needed to get through before the currents turned against us.
We were in the doldrums, with nothing left to do but twirl and swirl around in the gentle tides. We tried to maximize our use of every little puff of wind, and to my partners credit he managed to get us just past point B (on the picture) before the currents began to push us back. We didn't want to lose ground so we edged over near the western coastline and dropped anchor. By this time it was late afternoon/early evening. The temperature was dropping, and we were hungry.
We both took our turns at the motor desperately trying to get it to start, but we had no luck. We said a prayer or too, and then decided to try pulling the boat along the coast. I being the more agile one of the group, jumped ashore with a rope in hand and began to pull the boat towards Gig Harbor. It was slow work, and dicey at times. The most alarming event was seeing the boat slam up and down on the the rocky sea floor when some wake waves suprised us. We made it to point C and thought we were home free.
At point C, we thought we were out of the currents influence and decided to try sailing in. There was still no wind, but our hypothesis was that the current coming through the narrows would make a large eddy there and actually swirl us right into the harbor. Yes, that was our thinking. But, that's not how it works. As soon as I got back into the boat (somewhat wet now), we began to drift back towards the bridge. The currents were slacking again because an hour or so had passed, so our progress wasn't extreme. Still, we ended up at point D.
At this point, it was dark, and the water was like glass. It was cold, and we were hungry and tired. It had been thirteen hours since we left. My wife, was wondering if we were dead or not and had called the Coast Guard. It was a good thing she did, because in the end, that's how we got picked up. It was late enough, that we were hopeful someone would come looking for us. As we scanned the city lights, we noticed some car lights blinking in our direction. Hoping it was someone looking for us, I started turning our navigation lights on and off. This went on for a bit and then the blinking stopped. We continued to wait a while more and then saw the lights of a power boat leave the harbor. We started signalling again, and were relieved to see the boat move towards us.
Thirteen hours and 18 miles later, we were saved. It was the Gig Harbor police. They towed us in and saw us safely docked. It was 11:00pm at night. It was a beautiful night. A slight mist had moved in, and the air and water were very calm. I was glad to be home. And, I learned some valuable lessons that have stuck with me on every trip I've taken. Here they are:
- Always leave a travel plan with someone: routes, arrival, departure times, etc...
- Study tide tables and charts before hand and take them with you in case plans change.
- Make sure you have enought flotation devices and wear them.
- Take extra food and water
- Dress warmly (warm enough for an overnighter)
- Dress for inclimate weather (we'd have been in trouble had it started raining on us which it's likely to do in these parts)
- Be sure to have flares, a horn, first aid equipment, etc...
- Arrange communication. Take a radio, cell phone or walkie talkie. Work it out ahead of time.
- Have tools and extra parts for fixing things (like engines).
- Make sure the engine works if you have one. Otherwise, plan on long voyages.
This has turned into quite the novel. Sorry about that.
Woody
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