Coupeville Sports

High winds affecting the Coupeville/Port Townsend ferry run Friday prevented Gavin Knoblich and Co. from traveling to Chimacum. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The wait for basketball to return will go on a bit longer than expected.

Coupeville High School was slated to return from a 12-day break Friday, with three teams planning to set sail to the mainland to play Chimacum.

Mother Nature had other ideas.

Shortly before the Wolves were set to meet at the CHS gym, school officials announced Coupeville’s teams wouldn’t be traveling after all.

The Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry run had been disrupted off and on Friday by high winds and choppy seas, but was back on schedule as of 1:52 PM.

The Wolves were scheduled to leave Whidbey on the 2:45 ferry.

But, with a wind advisory having been stretched out to 10 PM, the chance Coupeville’s hoops stars would be stuck on the other side overnight — or have to take a much-longer return route — became a definite possibility.

Friday’s games, which would have featured girls and boys varsity games, as well as boys JV (Chimacum has no girls JV), were non-conference affairs.

They are also the second set of non-league games removed from the schedule due to wind, as Coupeville’s trip to play Port Townsend December 19 was also sidelined.

There is a slight possibility both matchups will be rescheduled, but put plenty of emphasis on that word “slight.”

With league play kicking into high gear next week for everyone involved, and a far greater emphasis put on getting those games in, it’s unlikely any of the officials at the three schools involved will spend much time looking for open dates.

Coupeville will now be coming off a 16-day break when it returns to play Tuesday.

The Wolf girls host Cedar Park Christian, while the CHS boys travel to Granite Falls, with both games being North Sound Conference bouts.

All Coupeville teams are home Friday, Jan. 10, as well, with Sultan on tap that night.