As promised, here’s a quick tale of our sailboat, the JohnLoriEh. The boat was a 25-foot 1979 O’Day moored for the winter in Kaslo Bay, part of Kootenay Lake. As you may notice, there is a bit of snow onboard, and this was after cleaning most of it off. As a point of interest, Kootenay Lake does not freeze up.
Long story short, it was tied up to the dock alongside a boat shed. The shed collapsed due to snow load, immediately sinking several not-cheap cruisers and, in the process, amputating the dock from the shed. Our boat went Flying Dutchman and crossed the bay. Once there, it met up with a steel-hulled houseboat. Once there, it bounced up against it for a day or two until she was noticed. By that time, a major gash was formed at the point where the hull meets the deck.
We were contacted by a friend in the area who recognized the boat. We were leaving for Mexico the next day and had to cancel everything and drive from Calgary to Kaslo to facilitate the next steps. Once it was safely docked and inspected, we decided to motor to Jones Boys, a boat dealer and shop about an hour south on the lake. The forecast called for no wind and two above, so we made the run. We got the motor going, and I headed out alone, with Lori meeting me there with the car and trailer.
There were definitely some worries here, as the lake can get quite rough at times. The vessel was not exactly seaworthy and could easily take on water. Fortunately, the lake stayed calm, with barely a ripple to be seen. All in all, it was a beautiful run, albeit a bit cool for boating.
Once we reached Jones Boys, they hauled it out of the water onto our trailer. It was then placed in their lot, waiting for an insurance inspector to estimate the damage (it was a write-off). We stripped it of whatever was on board and drove away, never to see her again.
The main downside to it all is that we stopped sailing, something we truly loved to do. Maybe someday we will do it all over again, minus the snow.
