A few weeks ago a little sailboat
showed up on stands in the Marina's parking lot. There was
significant damage to the hull along the waterline. I heard around
the dock that they had hit a buoy (can't really claim the buoy hit
them) and had taken on water and started to sink. A radio Mayday call
summoned the Coast Guard who apparently deployed some kind of balloon
flotation device to save the vessel from sinking. Word around the
dock is they had come from Australia to Hawaii, and then done what's
known to cruisers as the “Great Loop”, down the west coast,
through the Panama canal, up the east coast and through the Erie
Canal to the Great-Lakes. Apparently they were headed west, by
Montreal en route across the Atlantic to England when disaster
struck. How unfortunate that having traveled so far they would have
such a disaster befall them here. I guess it demonstrates how
the strong current here in the mighty St-Lawrence river is like no
where else. I was also struck at the miniature size of their
propeller, which in my opinion likely made fighting the current
next to impossible here. They had repairs done and the boat looked as
if nothing had happened (I've noted the company that did them
heaven forbid I should ever need such repairs).
This week I was joined by two new
friends for an evening sail; Jacob, a Marina employee who has
recently purchased his own boat and Richard, a colleague's
husband who's sailed in the Southern Ocean on an 84 foot ketch for
months. While the weather was bleak, the wind was excellent
(a rare northerly breeze) and I thoroughly enjoyed having experienced
sailors aboard. It was nice to focus on just enjoying the sailing
without being distracted by the safety concerns of newbies. As we
entered the marina we were actually discussing the trials &
tribulations of the afore mentioned Australian sailboat and lo &
behold there she was, in the water, but grounded at exactly the same
spot I had gotten stuck a week earlier!(see previous posts) They shouted for assistance
and after evaluating the situation we maneuvered Topanga
around, to take a line from them and tow them off the bottom. This
was the first time I've ever actually done this and I was quite
concerned because 1- I didn't want to get stuck as well and 2- the
maneuvering is so tight in the marina that we risked colliding with
something ourselves. Given the experience we had on board though I
evaluated that we could at least make an attempt and through great
team work on my crew's part; me at the helm focused on maneuvering,
Jacob communicating with the Australians and Coast Guard officer
standing on the dock and Richard managing the tow line we succeeded in getting them safely to an adjacent dock. They shouted their gratitude and
we made a smooth re-entry into our slip. Once secured, beers were
cracked, hands shaken and a sense of satisfaction at having helped a
fellow sailor in need. We celebrated our outing with a BBQ dinner,
some wine and trading of sailing stories.
Ouch! |
I know size doesn't matter but c'mon look at that mini prop |
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