May 29

We launched Serendipity today for a practice run of social distanced fishing. It took three tries before we found a boat launch.

Our first try was in Westbank at the yacht club. The boat launch on Gellately road has gone through substantial repairs over the last few years. We thought on a Friday at 230 it should be fairly easy to launch and park. We thought wrong.

I have avoided the Gellately boat launch over the years. Like a summer weekend it was very busy. There were two boats waiting to launch and nowhere to park the truck and trailer once we launched. The city made a mistake when they changed the parking, at least from a boaters perspective they did. Judging by the cars there are many people who might disagree. It seemed crazy how busy things were for late May and supposedly no tourists.

We kept driving.

Next try: the launch at the south end of Peachland. This has always been our goto boat launch. We pulled into the parking lot and saw there were only a couple trailers. This looked easy; until we saw the concrete barricades in front of the ramp. The lake was very high and the docks were barely above water. In years past they never blocked the launch. In today’s world it feels like our governments no longer trust the people to take care of themselves. We had one more place to launch from and I had my doubts about parking there.

The downtown launch in Peachland has a rebuilt floating dock and is on the main drag. I was pleased to see there was parking available. After a half-hour adventure we finally were able to drop our vessel into the Okanagan Lake. There are only three boat launches on the westside that are available to the general public. We could use at least one more; one of our biggest tourist industries is boating. I feel fortunate that we do have a slip, I wasn’t quite ready to put it on the dock full time without a test run.

My good friend Keith and I set off from the launch in search of an elusive rainbow trout. Some of the best times in my life have come fishing the Okanagan and Kootenay Lakes. My fishing buddy has been there for many of those adventures.

Here’s where I regale you with a tale of an epic battle with an aquatic twenty-pound monster. A half-hour battle of wits with the fish spinning line, myself and my buddy thrilled and excited to land our prize.

Unfortunately, that did not happen.

We simply cruised the lake on our luxurious ‘fishing’ boat. Serendipity is not really set up for fishing, but with Captain Rob’s help, we mounted a fish finder, an electric down-rigger, and some rod-holders. We were able to comfortably fish in style. My twenty-five-foot Campion Biltmore is very spacious and there will be no problem taking strangers on the water. I may have to wear a mask but if people can be served in restaurants I see no problem driving them around on the lake.

We had a comfy three-hour tour and connected in the serenity fishing gave us. Just being on the lake again has given me a strong sense of normalcy; one I hope we expand upon. In many ways, both good and bad, we seem to be adapting.

Our day came to an end with no fish on board. There was no sign of any fish except on my fishfinder. We put the boat on the trailer and proceeded home. I had a choice of parking spots at my house and chose the easy one on the grass. It’s very tight to put the boat back in the garage and my plan was to go back out the next day to put Serendipity on the slip.

Sometimes what seems like the easy way – is not. When the phone lines came crashing down on the boat and the ground, I realized that the front yard was not the ideal spot. I have been looking at the wires from Telus for the past two months. Disconnected from the proper connection on the house, they have been hanging lower than they should. Apparently they were low enough to catch the wakeboard tower on my vessel. For some reason, Telus has three lines going to the house and two of them ripped right of the house. I guess it was finally time to call them to fix it.

I MacGyvered a strap to lift the lines back up. I called Telus and explained the situation. When I got off the phone I realized that sometimes we are forced into doing things.

This pandemic is forcing us to do things that we may otherwise have kept procrastinating. Our society needed a reset. It needed us to become more connected and less wasteful. I hope we have learned and can come back stronger and more connected than ever.