Weather: Overcast and cool. Winds: SE 25+. Seas 3-4ft.
A pleasant morning in the marina. Kelly was fascinated watching 3 otters monkeying around on the covered pier while we had breakfast.
On departure, winds in Obstruction Pass were workable, out of the south and full main and genoa were deployed. Exiting the pass and into the north end of Rosario was another story. 2-3ft chop greeted us and we headed straight across to get into the lee of Cypress Island. Turned south in the lee and enjoyed a nice, 8kt sail! Then, upon exiting the lee, the ugly, brutal conditions really hit us. 3-4ft waves in the face, 30+kts apparent winds. Furled the genoa and reefed the main. Still needed the engine to give us steerage. A very fine balancing point between going into irons, keeping the boat moving and not succumbing to excessive list/bashing by falling off a little.
UGLY and JUST NOT FUN.
Finally made the channel between Burrows and Fidalgo Islands. Managed to get the sails down in the calm of the Burrows lee. Looking ahead, I could see the 2-3ft chop in Burrows Bay leading to our marina entrance. It was not over and we splashed our way into the marina. Needed a lot of helm and judicious use of throttle to turn us into the marina and keep us in the channel.
The wind was still strong in the relative calm of the marina and I knew fighting the weather vaning, the natural tendency for the bow to swing away from the wind, putting the wind at our backs, would be insane. We got into the basin and I let the bow swing downwind bringing the stern into the wind. Using reverse engine, we could hover. Kelly took over and did a great job hovering while I brought in the amas and placed the fenders.
Once set, we needed to get to our slip, which was to the left of our position. A left turn was not going to get there without hitting a dock or putting us into an awkward position for a crappy turn in, so we made a 270 degree turn to the right, putting us in a pretty good position. The strong winds would push us off our dock. Kelly had the spring line and was ready to go. I got us to the dock and Kelly's leg seized. Oh shit. With the boat drifting away from the dock, I jumped out of the cockpit, grabbed the line and lept to the dock securing the line to the cleat.
Safe and sound...except the boat was hanging on to the spring line and 7ft from the dock! Fortunately, our neighbor's boat was absent, on the hard, so we did not have to worry about potential damage there. I muscled the boat to the dock, in between gusts. It was tough. Since then, I've figured out an easier way, using the spring line as usual but in conjunction with the bow line and engine to work the boat back into position.
Once properly moored and we were sitting there having a post event beer, we heard a voice, "You aren't Steve!" No we aren't. Steve is my Dragonfly mentor and lives on Whidbey Island with his DF 1000 'Flexible Flyer'. This gentleman on the dock talking to us has a condo near the marina entrance, saw us 'splashing' in an thinking we were Steve and Janet, came by to say hello. He introduced himself and in our exhausted state, I missed his name but I do remember he has a DF 820 stored nearby but had not used it for a while, which is unfortunate.
In retrospect, what could have been done differently? Many things. Leave the night before. Stay an extra day. Go north of Cypress etc: This last option would have made for a longer day, but could have avoided all the rough water except for the last bit at the marina entrance. Perhaps go west out of Blakely Island and sailed south through the islands and the shelter they provided.
Lesson Learned: Strong winds and opposing current can be very ugly.
Lesson Learned: Use the mooring lines for more than holding a boat to the dock. We had used the spring line to bring the boat to the dock before using forward engine, but other lines, like the bow line could be used with the engine in reverse. Could have walked the boat to the dock.
Lesson Learned: DF hovers/holds-position very well with the stern into the wind.
Lesson Learned: Reef early, reef often.
Lesson Learned: The stern is really responsive to rudder and throttle pivoting around the centerboard!
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