Boat Trip Day 5 - The Tempest

The calm after the storm

As the fourth day at sea came to a close the Brenchley clan huddles around the table centered in the main quarters of the "Free Winds". A tiring day exploring the island of Sucia has taxed the energy of the crew enough to make them ready to call it a night. Before they disband to their bunks for the night, Captin Jack announces his intention to take an early start the next morning and informs the crew they might leave before everyone is awake. The night was not as restful for some as it was for others. A few mere hours after lying in his bunk, Captain Jack is suddenly startled awake and once he realizes what hit him he wipes the drip of water from his forehead. Jumping up he hears the rain on the deck and the howl of the wind and thus promptly goes to cover the hatches that have the tendency to drip when rained upon. After a few restless hours, both Captain Jack and First Mate Gail notice in the pitch dark that the ship's lights surrounding them have moved. To their shock, they become aware of the fact that they had drug anchor. Quickly kicking into gear, they start the engine but navigating in the dark during a windstorm is easier said than done. Sending one of the skippers to watch and call out the distances between the ships, they manage to find a location in the thrall of ships that won't endanger the crew of their vessel nor anyone else and anchor down. Waiting for another hour, daylight finally displays its shining rays which pierce through the otherwise dark sky. This is the tale of how we departed at the early hour of 5:30. But as one learns when around the Brenchleys, more excitement is yet to come.

The mist setting in

A sign of hope during the tribulation.

With the early start, we made fantastic time and arrived at the Swinomish Channel well before we anticipated. While one might assume that being ahead of schedule is always a net positive, in the case of boating, where tides, currents, and winds make or break a journey. This was an example of exactly that. We made it to the channel just in time for low tide, which means that many parts of the channel were far shallower than the hull of our ship. This is not hard when one has a 7 1/2 foot hull. This led to the mind-numbing challenge of watching the radar and depth finder constantly to verify we weren't going to run aground. We were in this nightmare for about an hour and a half, and there were plenty of moments where the depth meter said 7 1/2 and the whole crew held their breath. We eventually turned the final corner and saw the final stretch, which happened to be the most treacherous. With a rocky barrier to our starboard and a sand bar to our port, there was no room for error. During the trek, we even crossed a spot where our keel ran through the sand and the crew put up a sail to try tipping the boat to unstick it. After successfully getting through the sand trap, the rest of the day was smooth sailing!