February 23, 2021

A crisp wind blew across the fourth-floor podium of One Water Street this morning. I looked at the flags fluttering in the breeze. The cool February winds pierced my coat and sucked the warmth from my core. The wind was not helping my plans for the day.

My buddy was coming from Vernon. We were going to fish our way from the Hotel Eldorado to the west Kelowna boat launch. Serendipity, my Campion Biltmore, needed to get home. Finally, after leaving our baby on the lift it was time to bring her back o the safety of my garage. Captain Rob had inadvertently forced the issue on Monday.

Rob went to check on the boat and when he lowered it into the water the boat fired right up. The boat lift unfortunately did not. Rob sat stranded floating in the water and the winds were picking up. The manager of the marina came to help. He lowered another slip for Rob, it malfunctioned as well. Our intrepid boat captain was forced to tie Serendipity to the dock.

My job was to get her home.

I stood looking hard at the tumbling waves on the lake and called my good friend and fishing buddy from Vernon. “Man the water is rough and the wind is blowing, do you really want to do this?”

“Not really wanting to come there and get cold in a blustering wind…” Don and I chatted for a minute and agreed to leave the boat for another time. We decided to go with the theme since the beginning of covid and shelter from the storm.

“I’m gonna check on her before I go home.” I hung up the phone and walked back down the stairs and to my truck. I ran scenarios of my day through my mind. I could go home and get some chores done and take the boat home tomorrow, but my honey was at Big White and I missed her…

I drove down Lakeshore Drive toward the marina and I noticed the flags start to drop. By the time I got to the dock the breeze had died right down. I called Don back, but he had made other plans for the day. I should have left him coming… Shoulda, coulda, didn’t.

My friend and neighbour Brad, the big boarder, was available, so I decided to get Serendipity home. It wouldn’t hurt if we wet a couple of hooks on our way across the lake.

It took a bit of organizing but we dropped the truck and boat trailer at the launch and drove around the Okanagan. As we crossed the bridge we saw the wind begin to pick up. It looked like we could be in for a rough ride after all.

The water was rough and the wind began to blow even harder. I laughed at Brad and remembered what my buddy Keith and I used to say, “It’s a good day for a bucktail!”

I grabbed my large fly called a bucktail and let my line spin out. It was a good day to be alive. Whitecaps coated the lake and the boat plowed through the waves as we paced our way to the Westbank Yacht Club boat launch. I tried to shelter from the storm. In the end, we went headlong into the breeze.

I felt alive, invigorated to be on the water again. Brad and I cranked the music and connected with our Okanagan Lake. Unfortunately, we never saw any sign of a fish that afternoon.

As I reeled in my line I smiled at Brad, “in a perfect world we would latch on to a lunker right now. The sun would break out, and the wind would quit.”

“Dude, we don’t live in a perfect world.” My friend laughed.

“No, but we sure live in an awesome one. And every once in a while it gets pretty damn close to perfection.” I smiled back at my buddy and we both laughed in agreement.

Serendipity is now safe inside my garage. When we drove back to Brad’s truck, the lake turned to glass and the sun broke out overhead.

Sometimes we miss the perfect moments, sometimes we catch them. I figure we are doing pretty good so far.