Near Gale Causes Anchor Dragging!

Location: Captain Cove off Petrel Channel
Date: Wednesday, July 25,2007
Last Post (LP): July 21, 2007
Time: 1100
Location: N 53 48 59 W 130 11 87
Dist. Since LP: 21.7 nm
Total Distance: 1,231.4nm
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We woke to hard rain and increasing south easterly winds on Sunday, July 22nd. Our ears glued to the marine weather forecast and our eyes performing a constant scan of our anchorage we appraised our situation carefully. We both believed the anchor was dragging under the force of the winds. We turned on the instruments. We soon had 34 - 35 knot winds and our instruments confirmed we were moving very slowly. We quickly shifted into operation "escape the anchorage" and Jim donned his weather gear to head out into the storm to bring up the anchor. Deb manned the helm and kept the boat heading into the wind. Twice our hydraulic system which operates our windlass failed. Deb reset the hydraulics. We were glad we had put out sufficient scope to adequately cope with this situation. In anticipation of worsening weather we had lifted the dinghy aboard the night before and battened everything down. We left the anchorage at 1130 and headed towards Crab Trap Cove to see if we could safely anchor there but the winds were quite strong (25+ knots) there as well. So we cruised on to "plan C" and sought a quiet refuge in Captain Cove off Petrel Channel. Captain Cove is approximately 2.5 miles long with two streams at its head. Very picturesque. The stream in the northeast corner had large drying flats and invited exploration. We performed our anchoring ritual at 1420 and relaxed in the cosiness of this anchorage nestled beneath the protection of tall mountain peaks. A resident pair of eagles perched nearby was our welcoming committee. Always a good sign.

Once the rain abated, we lowered our dinghy and put out two crab traps filled with fresh fish heads to entice the Dungeness crabs we favoured. We headed to the drying flats and tied up the dinghy securing it with both stern anchor and forward tie to a log. We had a great hike and discovered what appeared to be fresh bear tracks which had passed sometime ahead of us. Jim was able to capture the beauty of the area with his new camera. The drying flats were covered with crunchy sea lettuce laced with barnacle encrusted rocks. We found one small dead Red Rock crab. No fish were spotted in the shallow waters we crossed. Numerous streams threaded their way into the river and all was quiet except for the gentle roar of water crashing over rocks and falling into the delta. A heron rose up suddenly ahead of us and then the quiet of the wild descended upon us again. We returned to the dinghy before the flood was too high and planned to return at high tide to explore by dinghy later that night. Quite a few splashes of fish jumping in the cove encouraged us to try our hand at fishing but no luck. Jim checked our traps and brought back a bonanza catch of 5 large male Dungeness crab. He had already released twelve female and undersized crabs. Hunting and gathering can be hard work especially releasing the crab from the net traps. The traps work well and are compact for storage but a real challenge when 18 crabs each equipped with 10 legs all of which are intent upon grabbing a filament of net!!!Picture that. However the feast that evening was well worth the effort. Deb cooked up the crabs and we elected to explore the river at high tide and dine later. It was 2100 as we slowly plied our way up river in the dinghy. Deb spotted the bear first. A beautiful black bear with a rich glossy coat was foraging on the sedge grass near the riverbank. Jim killed the motor and we drifted delighting in the bear bathed in the magical light of dusk. We returned to the BurntSand at 2230 and Jim mixed up some margaritas to celebrate our day and accompany our crab feast. It was a late night!

The next morning we were elated to find sunshine and more importantly ...no rain. We had a leisurely breakfast and headed out in our kayaks at high tide to visit our bear. Jim brought his camera and he was able to get some excellent shots before our bear disappeared into the woods. A pair of ducks with following train of ducklings were navigating the waters. We returned to the BurntSand and decided to do some maintenance projects and stay another night in the cove. A fleet of three power boats joined us in the anchorage and rafted together. The largest boat was about 100 feet in length and the smallest was 50...they were serious fishermen and had a small fleet of dinghies and a couple of 22 foot fishing boats. It looked like a floating village of condominiums.

We left Captain Cove at 1050 the next morning and headed for Larsen Harbour in warm sunshine. Hurray!

Unfortunately the six mooring buoys in Larsen Harbour are no longer in existence and with southwest winds predicted to be 20-25 knots we have to find another anchorage as Larsen is relatively open.