Tales of the Salish Sea

Remember that mysterious weather mark lost off Indian Point two weeks back? It’s been found! And it’s a most unusual story shrouded in three mysteries….

Back then, two weeks ago, I went to the PTSA locker, behind PT Rigging looking for a suitable weather mark. There in a milk crate, with a dead mouse nestled on top, was a neatly coiled 200’  line with ten feet of chain, and a few links of chain near the top to keep the line from floating too high in the water. That’ll do, I thought. I grabbed the line, flicked out the dead mouse, and reached for a crab float buoy with a small flag on top. Only an anchor was missing. But no worry, I thought, I’ll attach Falcon’s anchor—a 10 pound Danforth and we’ll have a solid weather mark.

We sailed out of the harbor and set this mark 50 yards SE of Indian Point.  It bobbed happily with its little flag streaming atop a 4’ pvc post. All looked well.

Along comes Kolus and they snagged the floating line and dragged it a ways into the Bay. Jeff and Angela Brantley soon managed to unjumble their tangle and reset the mark. All looked well. And we sailed five minutes downwind to set a starting line.

Mystery One: where did the mark go?

Six boats started. Kolus, Merlin, Kuma San, Falcon, Murrelet, and a Gaff Rigged Mackinaw restored by the Community Boat Project. Falcon rounded the weather mark in the lead and now it was her turn to snag the line. The float, pole, and flag marker ducked under the waves in torpedo fashion. Falcon looked behind her and saw she was dragging a 200’ line and anchor drogue. The conditions did not call for a drogue.  Everyone else was left searching the horizon for the weather mark.

Falcon turned head to wind to disentangle from its drogue. The mark popped up, and we thought “Ah good. All is well,” and headed for the green buoy across the bay. There was no more sign of the mark for the rest of this race, or the next. It was gone.

How could a float on 200’ of line and a 10 lbs anchor simply vanish in the Bay? We knew it floated.  We saw it.  And the only weight on the float was the few links of chain that were supposed to prevent the snags we encountered. It was a mystery.

Kolus, Falcon, and Kuma San scoured the area where we dropped the weather mark after the racing but saw no trace of the float, line, or anchor. I returned the next two days and looked some more. Maybe the float popped back up? But no luck. There was no trace. So I paid a visit to West Marine and bought a new anchor. Oh well. The mysteries of the sea.

Mystery Two: How did we not see it?

 The following week the wind blew southerly.  We set a start line off the breakwater and went back to the green buoy.  There was no trace of the lost mark.

Today the wind was again from the south 5-8 knots, pretty steady.  Kuma San, Falcon, and the Gaff Rigged Mackinaw started. The two Thunderbirds had fun two-boat testing up the weather leg to the green buoy.  When we got there, I spied a crab float entangled with the green buoy, looking suspiciously like our lost weather mark. But surely not! How could a mark with 200’ of line and a 10 lbs anchor  attached cross Port Townsend Bay from Indian Island to the Green Buoy, a distance of 1.5 nautical miles?.  We tried to pick it up as we passed, but it was firmly lodged, so we headed for the finish line.

After finishing at the breakwater, Falcon returned to the green buoy to investigate further as Kuma San collected the starting marks.  By this time the wind had died and we sidled up next to the green buoy and pulled on the mark. Yes, it was our weather mark—all the way from Indian Point to the green buoy. The Tide level was 4’.  So mystery number two solved:  the previous week the tide level was 11’ when we rounded the green buoy and our pole and flag were kept out of sight below the surface in the clutches of the the green buoy’s anchor chain. But today, there it was, gasping for air.

We chased off the cormorants and seagulls and hopped onto the green buoy to wrestle with our mark. After rotating the green buoy around its axis and doing laps around the buoy with our line, in each direction, ten feet released from the tangle. We attached our spring line to the mark and began pulling in various directions using our motor.  A sudden lurch and 10 more feet released.  One last pull towards town and suddenly the line streamed out behind the boat, and the boat kept moving. “Is the line still attached to the cleat?” I asked.  “Yes, the mark is free!”  And so it was.  We retrieved all 200’ of line, the chain, and the anchor, all now very much cleansed of dead mouse smell.

Mystery Three:  How did it get there?

The anchor and line were fully intact so there is no way the mark dragged across Port Townsend Bay by wind or tide.  The mark must have stowed away across the bay, hitching a ride courtesy of the keel of Falcon, or possibly Kuma San. We noticed Kolus was marching away on that downwind leg. But whether Falcon or Kuma San was host, it seems remarkable how little drag this drogue created. But I can see no other explanation. Two weeks ago, upon rounding the green buoy the mark line got tangled with the anchor line for the green buoy and pulled free of the keel.

Or perhaps it was a trickster sea monster, a caddy or atlatl?  Next time you sail past a clump of kelp or seaweed, take a closer look. Could it be a monster of the Salish Sea prowling Port Townsend Bay?