It's been a long and emotional day.

On the heels of the first gale of the season my mother called me just after 8 this morning to tell me that Trouper II was on the beach at Cadboro Bay. Someone from the yacht club had called her. '#@$%!' was pretty much all I could think of to say.

Trouper II on the beach at Cadboro Bay

I called Tania, Barnucka and 'Sea Tow', in that order. Sea Tow had someone on the beach who told me she was sitting upright and looked OK. They told me they'd be down with their tow boat at high tide, around 1400 hrs. So I hopped on my bike and cycled home to pick up the van and some gum boots. On the way I had a conversation with the insurance guy. The boat is still registered to mom and dad but all they had on her was household insurance. That covers liability and since I didn't hit anyone on the way to the beach, they were prepared to pay for nothing.

Fortunately my $2000 anchor didn't drag. Unfortunately my $20 rope broke.

My first attempt at rope splicing held

Unfortunately my fairlead sliced through my primary mooring line like a knife through spaghetti (despite my anti-chaffing guard)

Same with my secondary line

I couldn't believe how strait she was sitting on the beach. She has a 5 foot keel under her and either it was completely buried in the sand or had snapped off. The rudder was also buried. I climbed aboard and found the bilge full of water but it had not overflowed into the cabin and other than the oven door being open and the roasting pan laying on the port side, nothing appeared to be wrong. I drained the bilge and held my breath waiting for it to fill up again. Meanwhile an examination of the outside of the hull revealed some superficial damage below the water line. She's roughed up a bit but nothing that a little TLC can't take care of. I couldn't see the prop or most of the rudder so didn't know the extent of that damage. My biggest fear was that the keel had somehow been snapped off and that she wasn't sea worthy.

Hard to believe there's 5 feet of keel sticking straight down in the sand!

My neighbor who winters his boat in Victoria Harbour and who had just left Cadboro Bay at the end of September dropped by the beach to see if there were any casualties following the storm. He was genuinely saddened but very supportive as we sat on a log and talked. The same thing had happened to his boat and he managed to get it off ok. He was a great comfort as I was numbingly stumbling around trying to wrap my head around the situation.

The rudder, stuck fast in the sand

Scuffed but not skuttled

This is all the water she took onboard

Presently Tim Johnston from Sea Tow arrived in a zodiac with a couple of monster engines on the back. He shared my concern about the keel. It was hard to believe that it sunk straight down in the sand and she was gently rocking side to side which also wasn't a good sign. He fastened a tow line to the bow to see if he could pivot her on the beach (a sure sign that the keel was not attached) but she didn't budge an inch. That was the first good news of the morning. He suggested that we wait until low tide at 10 tomorrow morning and try to dig a channel for the keel in the sand before they returned at high tide to tow her off. He didn't seem to think there'd be a problem. When I asked how much he thought it would cost he estimated around $500 unless there were complications. My friendly neighborhood insurance adjuster, who also met me on the beach, informed me that he'd seen bills up to $5000 for a job like this. Exactly what I wanted to hear. "Well, have a nice day..."

So resigning myself to the fact that there was nothing more I could do until the next morning, I picked up Tania and we went out for lunch. Before I left however, I left my business card with a couple of the beachfront residents and asked them if they would call me if they noticed anyone on T2. They were more than happy to help. Very nice.

After lunch I took Tania to the beach so she could have a look. I climbed aboard and was greatly relieved to find the bilge had NOT filled up again. It appeared she was not taking on water. Had she been, I had arranged to have her hauled out on the ways at the Yacht Club. And so Tania and I returned home. By this time it was 1500 hrs. Just as I turned into our driveway my phone rang. It was one of the neighbors who informed me there were three or four boats around T2, guys on board and it appeared they were trying to tow her off the beach! I called Sea Tow and it wasn't them.

#@$%&! PIRATES!!!! I screamed. Tania encouraged me to return to the boat, take the sword to the scurvy bastards and then stay on-board overnight until she was off the beach. So I quickly grabbed some bedding and returned to the beach. I couldn't believe my eyes! There she was, off the beach, surrounded by small boats with lines on her. I whistled and gesticulated madly until one of the boats came to shore. "Is that your boat?", asked one of them. "Yes. Who are you?", I replied.

It turns out they were a couple of Royal Victoria Yacht Club Members and some crew members from a company that has been installing new wharves at the club for the past few months. There were three boats on the beach that morning including mine. Two of us belong to yacht club members so these volunteers pulled all three of us off the beach just because it was the right thing to do.

Another shot of T2 with the other two casualties of the storm in the background. The boat leaning over had her hull shattered on a rock, so her sailing days are probably numbered.

I couldn't believe it. They told me they'd tow her to the yacht club for me and after falling all over myself thanking them profusely, I drove to the club and was at the dock when they brought her along side. Her keel is intact (as far as anyone could tell) and other than the lacerations to her hull the only other apparent damage is a bent rudder which will have to be fixed before I can return to my mooring buoy.

The other yacht club member's boat dragged her mooring buoy to the beach

Now here's the kicker. Since my dad is a member of the club, I get 14 days free reciprocal moorage at the club and the use of their ways to hall out. When I asked Dave (one of the volunteers) how much he wanted for the salvage he told me a flat of beer for the boys on the work crew would make us even. Can you believe that?! I guess good things happen to good people. (Yes, I'm taking liberties here...)

So after washing the seaweed off her deck, I lit my Taylors furnace and sponged out some water in a couple of storage cabinets. She's not taking on water and I plan to return to the club with the beer for the boys tomorrow. I will also arrange to haul out and have John Booth from Booth Enterprises (a long time family friend) help me asses and fix the rudder. I may even paint the bottom while I'm out. Something I hadn't planned on doing until next Spring.

It was a long and trying day but also a reaffirmation of the good in most people. So refreshing in this world where we're constantly hammered by how bad everything and everyone is.

T2 languishes on the beach waiting for the pirates.