It was a dark and stormy night, with rain that made you think the heavens had turned on a firehose and forgotten it. A gullywasher, the downpour filled the waterfalls past capacity while creating smaller rivulets that sent all manner of branches, logs and debris into the waterways. Fortunately we were tucked away at Toba Wilderness Marina for the night, attending the Offshore Rendezvous. We may have done a wee bit too much celebrating Thursday night with other Offshore boaters, which made for headaches in the morning. All vessels made an early Friday departure for Prideaux Haven, to position for the Saturday farewell dingy concert that has been a northwest boater’s highlight for the last so-many-summers. It promised to draw a huge crowd. As much as we wanted to attend the concert, in our seemingly endless hunt for good moorage in Prideaux Haven, we were no match competing with concert veterans familiar with prime anchor spots or with friends holding places for them. We found nothing we were confident claiming and finally made the tough call to leave.

Heading to the much touted Pendrell Sound we hit our first “deadhead” on the cruise up the channel (no damage!). This body of water, a narrow, deep passageway reputed to have many anchorages, was also crowded and after an hour poking around and searching, we finally decided on a small cove we could claim as our own. At low tide, and thinking we were well positioned, we dropped anchor and planned to add a stern tie to keep us from swinging into shallow rocks. What should have taken 20 minutes took 45, fighting all the way – fighting tide, current, wind and the razor edged oyster shells covering the beach at low tide. The jagged edges of the shells stuck to the stern tie line every place they touched, like a piece of packing tape sticks to any surface of a cardboard box it gets near. Shell edges fouled the line, snagged the line and made for all manner of chaos. After much heaving, sweating, and a few four letter words, we finally got the stern secured. Then Bob realized we should pick a better spot on shore for the stern tie given where our anchor lie, and we undid the process so we could re-do it properly. The stern tie procedure has the pressure of a relay race, where every moment counts in an effort to keep the boat away from hazards. As we finished cinching up the final stern tie, thunder clapped in the distance and more rain hit.