Unexplored Waters!

To start, is the title of this post really accurate.  I mean there are very few places on earth that have not seen man’s influence.

I propose the thought that if you ever find yourself in unexplored waters or territories it is because you did not do enough research before you got there.  As humans we think we are the first to do that thing or try that experience even though man has been doing it for a really long time.

Case in point I was on a hike and it was beautiful, in the high desert mountains of Washington (on the dry side of the state).  I walked along thinking “wow I bet nobody has ever been here before!”  Just then I came into a clearing and found the foundation for a trailer home.  A lot of the fun in life can be from doing things that you think nobody has ever done before, I would suggest it from time to time.  Some of the more dangerous events should probably be researched and explored in advance.  be sure you know how they effected the people who did it before you, then decide if the consequences and pain out way your sense of adventure (which my wife calls stupidity).

I have a story for today and a location.  Moses Lake, Washington in the Pacific Northwest.  Moses Lake is named after an Indian is a small city that wraps around and in between a lake with many peninsulas.  In order to get around Moses Lake you need to know where the bridges are to get from one side to another.  Our adventure begins with wanting to take our sailboat out for a day on the water.  We were going to visit family in Moses Lake, but they weren’t going to be there until the evening and we had all day so we thought “Great lets take the boat”.  We were off everything packed and ready for or trip we drove the hour and a bit it would take to get there.

Growing up, in my younger years we always had power boats and they do not usually have much of a draft (sit deep in the water).   So I have water skied in a couple parts of the lake, but the docks and peninsula we were using was new to me and we were putting in a 26 foot sail boat.  Sail boats have more of a draft and they also have a center board.  The center board on my sail boat is an 8 foot long 350 pound monster that swings down under the boat so that you can better sail into the wind.

We pulled into the park and set up the mast and prepared the rest of the boat, then we backed into the water.  Of course, we are always adventurous so we were early in the year for boating and the park did not have the docks installed yet (they remove them in the winter months and put them back in in may).  Getting the boat in was no problem and once the truck was parked we used the motor to get out into the lake.    By the time we got far enough away from the shore that the wind would not blow us back it was lunch so we ate below deck in the cabin.  Once we were done I got the sails up and we were off.  Something that we had heard was that Moses Lake was shallow.  My wife’s dad has many stories of hitting the bottom in his power boat and ruining several props during is frequent visits to the lake.

My logic was that we could not hurt my prop because nothing could hit the motor without hitting the boat first so I thought we were safe… bow was I wrong.  So away we went with sails up and center board all the way down.  I have a depth finder that lets me know if the ground is coming up on us and it was reading 16 feet (in fact it never got deeper than 16 feet in that part of the lake).  We were cruising at about 6 knots in about 30 mile per hour winds and heading for a narrow gap where two peninsulas came together that lead to a bigger part of the lake.  Our depth finder suddenly went from 16 feet to 6 feet and we ran a ground!  Stuck in the mud with the wind beating the boat.  Remember we are in 30 mile per hour winds with full sail so it just about tipped us over.  My wife threw the kids into the center where our feet go and then jumped below deck and started to crank the center board up, while I released the wind from our sails by letting the boom swing out.  This caused the boat to pivot on the stuck center board and we turned so that our sail was full of wind again.  Just then the center board became unstuck and we took off.  Normally this would be cool but our direction was now pointing toward the dry part of the world and only 15 feet away and against a cliff front of Cascade Valley.  I don’t know if everyone is aware of this but sailboats are very allergic to dry ground, they tend to go to pieces over it!

I was ready for what needed to be done so as the center board got un-stuck and the boat began to move I turned it back the way we had come and got ready to haul in the main sail.  To explain, the sail was on the left and full of wind and as the boat moves to that side the wind makes the sail want to go to the other wide of the boat very fast and very hard.  So just as this was happening I was pulling in the rope that holds the sail down and then slowly let it out again.  If I had not done this it might have broke the mast, boom, or torn a hole in the sail.  Now all was well as we sailed back the way we had come.  Smiles all around and nervous laughter but happy none the less.

The kids were great during it all and once done my four year old replied “Let’s do it again daddy!”  Oh to have the adventurous spirit of a child who does not have the concept of danger.

Since we were in a small peninsula not really conducive to sailing with the dangerous shallow places we headed back to the top of the lake and practiced our anchoring while the kids took their naps and my wife read a novel.  When we were done we got ready to trailer the boat again, because there were no docks getting back out was very cold as I stood chest deep pushing on the boat against the wind to get it on the trailer.

The unexplored waters that we were in with only the experience of a power boat did not help us to avoid the situation.  As a result of this experience we have gained new confidence and knowledge about a place we had never been.  Luckily we were able to survive to gain that experience.  Remember as you travel and explore traveling is an adventure and when you find yourself in unexplored waters think on the  age old saying “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”.

Moses Lake, not a deep lake.

Lord out.

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