Canadian Yachting October 2016 - 67

tower rising heavenward above it. Small navy vessels, the radar dots, zoomed in on us. On both the VHF radio and on loud speakers we heard, "Come to a complete stop. Prepare to be boarded. Move away from the helm and raise your hands." Utter terror as each of our group, unseen by the others in the fog, looked at 50 calibre machine guns, automatic weapons, rocket launchers and US Navy SEALS in full combat gear appearing out of the fog. Only Sandra and I could see the immense submarine looming out of the fog. What was happening? What was going on? What had we done? That's all the time we had even to think before we had a boat alongside and six SEALS on board. "Don't move a muscle" they ordered. My knees were shaking so badly that was impossible. In an instant they were below, searched everything, looked in the engine compartment and then radioed to someone, "Alpha team, we're clean." Then the question, "What is Valley Squadron?" I shakily explained who we were and where we were going. As I was finishing one of the SEALS, evidently listening to his radio, began to laugh. He looked at the others and said, "Relax, they found the Afghan." Everyone looked at the NCO and he continued, "It's an Afghan dog. These guys really are boaters out for the weekend." Everyone relaxed, weapons descended and we were told what happened. The US President and Canadian Prime Minister were having a secret meeting on Orcas Island. The military exercises were actually guarding the leaders. The military overheard our VHF transmissions about the Afghan sneaking into Rosario. That and our other jokes had set in motion a huge operation to contain the threat to the leaders. Tension gone, the SEALS were great. The fog began to lift and we saw the fleet of submarines, destroyers and smaller craft around us. The jamming of our GPS signal ended and once again we had our navigation systems. Two navy patrol boats then escorted us the last two miles into Rosario, waving and laughing as they left us at the docks. What can you say? We were all pretty shaken but had lots to talk about. And talk we did until dinner time. We had reservations at the resort dining room and at 6:30 pm our group of eight arrived to find a huge sign saying, "Sorry, but we are closed tonight." As we stared in dismay at the sign a woman who looked more like Secret Service than a waitress asked if we were the Valley Squadron group. Finding we were, she told us we would have our meal, a very special meal, with some very special hosts who had heard about our interesting military reception and wanted to make amends. We were ushered into the dining room, seated, and introduced to our dinner hosts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Obama. And a small note from Gary Clow the author: "Please remember that like most of my stories, "A Cruise to Remember" is completely fictional." www.canadianyachting.ca 67 THE PORT HOLE Obstruction Pass to head west. On the radio I asked everyone to tighten up our formation because of the narrow channel and all the other boats around us. We still couldn't see them in the thick fog, but there were dozens of them. Maybe there was a salmon run or something similar happening. Following up on Tony's earlier broadcast about sneaking into Rosario, Tim radioed, "That's good guys, a nice tight grouping for the assault." That brought more laughs and more comments from the rest of the group as we slowly motored through the thick grey blanket of fog. None of us were very comfortable in the fog as we cruised between islands and rocks which we could not see. My biggest concern was the incredible number of vessels around us that only I could see on our radar. Finally I radioed to the rest of our group, "Valley Squadron, be really careful and keep a sharp lookout. There are dozens of vessels around us in the fog." Totally blind in the fog, except for our instruments, we finally were out of the narrow, rock choked Obstruction Pass and rounded north into East Sound and towards Rosario, now only four miles away. Our way was fairly clear now. Suddenly, a gasp. Collective gasps on every one of our boats. Our GPS systems went down. What a time for a GPS glitch. I radioed everyone, "Valley Squadron, I can lead us through the fog by radar, but pull ahead so you can see the stern of the boat ahead of you." I guided each one until we were like a tight string of pearls moving up the sound. It wasn't bad for me, but it was very spooky for everyone else who had to trust me to keep them off the rocks. The crowd of boats around us, still out of sight, was moving with us and if anything, growing in size. Really bizarre, and scary since they too were now without GPS. Once again I reminded everyone to keep a good lookout. Again, one of our group joked that "Maybe the Americans don't like Afghans!" That broke the tension a bit. As we cruised through thick fog Descanso's radar showed an abrupt change in the pattern of the dozens of boats around us. The outer ones formed a double ring around our boats about a third of a mile out from us. Then about a dozen smaller vessels picked up speed and headed straight towards us, three boats coming at each of our boats. "Valley Squadron, watch out, something strange is happening. Lots of boats are cruising straight at us," I radioed. Suddenly one of the small radar images ahead of us seemingly morphed into a large island right ahead of us. This time I radioed with a bit more authority, "Valley Squadron, Valley Squadron, Valley Squadron. Everyone stop. Everyone stop." On the radar I saw a 500 foot island ahead of us where there had been nothing but a tiny blip on the radar. "A huge object just appeared out of nowhere right ahead of us." As Descanso slowed, two more huge objects appeared on the radar screen, both behind us but one to port and one to starboard. At the same moment I saw them, the island in front of Descanso materialized out of the fog. Descanso coasted to a stop with an immense submarine conning http://www.canadianyachting.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting October 2016