Our Boat Comes To Life!!!!

Our boat comes to life....... The weekend was lousy. Not much sun but a lot of rain and just plain crappie weather. As all good boaters do, we check the weather channel on the vhf on a regular basis. As we were sitting down after a busy session of selling our baking we turned on the weather. The winds were starting to build and we wanted to see just how much more it was going to build. The words 40-60 knots of wind coming from the S.E. blared out. Any one who has been anchored in Montaque knows that the bay is only partially protected from the S,E. We have been in this bay when the winds have been high, so we though it was best to get while the getting was good. In less than 15 minutes we had put away our signs, stored everything we thought would fly around and lifted anchor for home. We realized that the 3 hour trip home might prove interesting but hopefully we would be ahead of the storm that had been forecasted. As we entered the tricomoli channel we could see the seas building. The chance of a smooth trip home was not to be. Now the Atrevida is built in such a way that if we head directly into the waves or ride the waves from the stern it is not likely that we will even know such a sea is building. But to reach Southy point, (north most point on Saltspring) we have to cross the channel. As we inched our way across the channel the waves were reaching five and six feet in height. As soon as we tried to turn a little sideways to cross the channel Atrevida would start to roll from side to side. Things we thought were put away suddenly found a life of their own. The china cabinet in the upper salon was the first to gain life. We were concentrating on the helm when a crash in the salon alerted us of the cabinet springing to life. Once the cabinet was secured a check of the rest of our possessions was entered upon. As Lee entered the galley, a stainless steel trolley fixed with wheels, I use ~ 42 ~ for baking, chased him around. It came at him from the opposite side of the galley and then rolled back to the wall. It was not finished its taste of freedom. It then came at him once again and rolled into the cupboards that separated the galley from the dinning room.(fancy word for the area we have our table in). The job of harnessing this trolley was comical. After it spewed the contents of the three shelves it waited once more for another wave to give it more movement. Lee took advantage of this lull and captured the errant trolley and wedged our tea towels under the wheels to stop it from moving. As Lee once more joined me on the bridge he explained the incident and said there was a little bit of mess on the floor in the galley, and thought best to leave it there until we reached calmer water. I agree why clean it up right now, there may be more added to it. As the waves and the seas continued to build and the rocking motion of the boat continued Lee made many trips aft to check on everything. We watch with surprise as a sailboat of approx. 40 feet was being lifted on the waves until you could see the keel and then slammed back down in the valley of the next wave. A fishing boat was also beating into the waves., taking a lot of green sea over the bow. The one surprising event that happened was our cat never got sick. Our cat who gets sea-sick on anchor when the wind and waves are up. There she sat sound asleep in a rocking chair in the salon. The motion of the boat was rocking the chair and she slept, like this was a completely nature thing. Ah the innocence of the picture was enough to calm my nerves. The trip to Southy Point was bumpy, and our adrenaline was running high. As we reached southy point and turned into the next channel, the water was calm. Protected in this channel from a SE wind, it gave us time to clean the galley and relax for the time being. The rest of the trip was surprisingly uneventful. The gusts of wind were coming at us up to 50 knots, but because of ~ 43 ~ the protection of Saltspring Island, there was relatively little wave action.
After a successful tie up to our buoy in Maple Bay, we sat down and discussed the trip. We came to the conclusion that next time we will head to the other side of Montaque Harbor and drop anchor. The South side of Montague harbor is well protected from SE winds. I must admit that the trip home was exhilarating, reminding us of our days on the sailboat beating into the wind with the sails up.
There were lots of calls to the coast guard on the V.H.F. radio of boats in distress. I am glad we have the Atrevida. She can handle the weather a lot better than we can. The experience of being in the storm proved to us how sound our boat is. Now if only we were as sound as our boat.......