Got this e-mail from a friend today. Sorry for all the >s, he forwarded it to me.
These are friends of mine from Westfield -- Dad and daughter...
> Subject: the story
>
> Thank you everyone for your concern and the flowers and fruit basket.We're
> glad to be back.
> maggie & Jubb
>
>
> For those of you who have not yet heard the story, Jubb and I were sailing
>
> from Palm Beach, Florida to Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas, the boat sank
>
> and we were stranded in the water for 20 hours. Both of us are doing fine.
> Here's what happened:
>
> Maggie Corbet
> Saturday June 22, 2001 06:30 hrs
> LAT 26*46N, LON 80*00W
> Riviera Beach Marina
>
> Jubb and I set out on his new 22' Marshall Sloop, wind was 10 knots from
> the
> southwest, seas were calm, weather forecast was good. We set a course of
> 90*,
> sailing at a compass course of 120* to adjust for the gulfstream which
> runs
> at about 2 * knots north. At 06:50 hrs we passed the Lake Worth Inlet,
> called
> home to say "we were on our way, talk to you Sunday night or Monday
> afternoon" and set the sails. The morning couldn't have been better, the
> weather was perfect and with sails and diesel, we were doing better than 6
>
> knots over the bottom. We puttered around the boat, programmed the second
> GPS, had a little lunch, took a little nap and everything was could not
> have
> been better.
>
> Around 14:00 hrs, we were 18 miles west of Memory Rocks, the crossing
> point
> into the Bahama banks. Memory Rocks is just mark that identifies a rock
> on
> the reef that defines the Bahama Banks from the Ocean. The Bahamas is
> series
> of over 700 islands, some no more than a rock with a tree, others are 90
> miles long. The Bahama Banks is a coral based underwater plateau that is
> the
> base for the islands and carries a water depth of 1 foot to 18 feet. So
> when
> you cross from the Gulf Stream into the Bahama Banks, you go from 500 to
> 700
> feet of water to about 12 feet of clear blue water. Our destination was
> Mangrove Cay, a tiny mangrove and coral outcropping about 18 miles east of
>
> Memory Rocks, with an ETA of 20:00 hrs and sunset around 20:45 hrs.
> Another
> option at this point would have been to head further south to West End, a
> small harbor on the tip of Grand Bahama Island. West End was about 24
> miles
> to the southeast, which would have meant an ETA of around 17:30 hrs
> because
> we still had current against us going south. We opted for the Memory
> Rocks/
> Mangrove Cay route because we wanted to get out of the Gulf Stream as soon
> as
> we could and we still had plenty of daylight. (Either course would have
> still
> had us in the Gulf Stream at 15:00 hrs).
>
> Around 14:30 hrs we could see could dark clouds building to the east.
> Around
> 14:40 it was clear that it was going to be a major squall, so we started
> getting ready. We took down the sails. The Main was the largest sail, with
> a
> gaff rig, which means and upper and lower boom, we tied this off with
> about
> 10 sail ties and brought in the smaller roller furling jib. Then we stowed
>
> the loose gear and put on our life jackets.
>
> 15:00 hrs
> Lat 26*52 N Lon 87*12, 10 Miles west of Memory Rock, in 700 feet of Water,
>
> heading 87*.
> The wind hit like a wall. The water was white and flat as the wind blew
> the
> tops off any waves before they could build. Almost as soon as the wind
> hit,
> it began to fill the sail in pockets between the booms and the sail ties.
> In
> about 15 seconds we went from motoring down wind, to trying to get head to
>
> wind as the main sail began to fill in the pockets and the jib which was
> furled on the forestay began to fill with wind from above and below where
> the
> jib sheets wrapped around the roller furling. With about 5% of the sail
> exposed, and gusts that we guess to be 65 knots, we were heeling over
> enough for the water to start pouring in over the leeward rails. As the
> water came
> in it began filling the lazerettes (storage area under the seats) and the
> engine compartment, which was beneath the cockpit floor.
> As the water poured in we both stood there looking at the companionway
> entrance, knowing that three feet on front of us were the two things we
> needed most, the flares and most critically the VHF radio to get off a
> Mayday
> call. But we also knew it was too dangerous to risk getting trapped below,
> so
> we just looked as the boat started to slide under, starboard side and
> stern
> first.
> It took about 30 minutes for the storm to blow through, but the seas
> continued for a while. So we watched and waited. There was an air bubble
> keeping the bow afloat, but we could hear the air hissing out. Jubb was
> watching the registration numbers and figured we had about 4 hours until
> the
> boat went under. So we held on and waited, each of us holding onto a jib
> sheet with one hand and the bow sprit with the other, so we could float up
>
> and down with the waves rather than have them break on us. Around 18:30
> hrs,
> we saw a boat off in the distance, it was a sport fisherman heading west.
> Jubb climbed up on the bow sprit and we were waving and shouting, but he
> was
> cruising full out and a little too far to see to us, so we settled back in
>
> and watched and waited.
>
> Around 20:00 hrs, the last air bubble gave out and the boat sank, just a
> final gurgle as and swoosh as it headed down 700 feet to the bottom of the
>
> ocean. Within a couple of minutes things started popping to the surface, a
> 2
> gallon jug of diesel, wooden boom crutch, fender, self inflating life
> jacket
> (the CO2 cartridge must have popped when it hit whatever depth) cooler (
> empty). We grabbed whatever we could. We tied one end of the fender to
> each
> of our life jackets so we would stay together. We held on to the
> self-inflating life jacket because it had a whistle attached to it and
> reflectors on it. Jubb grabbed the jug of diesel and tucked it under his
> knees. Just before the boat went under, we kept seeing all of these Blue
> Dolphin (the fish, not the porpoises) jumping out of the water and at one
> point at least a hundred jumping three times in a row not 10 yards from
> the
> boat. This was good and bad. Bad, because it meant there must have been
> something very large under the water chasing them. Good, because if any
> one
> knew this, it would be a prime fishing spot, so maybe some fishermen would
>
> head for this area. So we kept the diesel and let it seep out, hoping this
>
> would keep the sharks away.
>
> Around 20:30, the sun set, and our little flotilla of life jackets, fender
>
> and diesel can, settled in for the night. The moon came up and set and
> there
> were a zillion stars. We could figure out some and pick out the
> satellites,
> but they don't really look like lions, bears or hunters. Jubb's watch
> would
> beep every hour, but we couldn't tell what hour it was. At one point Jubb
> turned to me and said he had heard a strange noise, what?, I was snoring.
> We
> watched the cruise ships pass by on the horizon, blowing SOS on the
> whistle
> in vain, since the were probably a couple of miles away, but somewhat
> relieved to see they were still to the north of us. We knew the current of
>
> the Gulf Stream was running at about 2 * knots from south to north, and we
>
> were guessing that we went down about 30 miles south of the northern most
> point of the Bahama Banks. After that, next stop Nantucket.
>
> From the first sign of daybreak to sunrise seemed to take forever. Sunrise
>
> meant time for the fishing boats to get out on the water. By 07:30 hrs we
> started to see boats off in the distance and I was blowing SOS on the
> whistle
> just in case there was someone out there trawling who could here us. But
> it
> was also starting to get hot and we were beginning to feel the sun. By
> 08:30
> the sunburn was starting to get painful, trying to figure out what to do
> with
> our limited resources, I ripped the pockets off my shorts, so we could
> cover
> our faces, and we took turns lying on top of each other to block the sun.
> By
> now we could see boats regularly, but they were still miles away.
> Around10:30
> we saw three sport fishermen coming in our direction at full speed and
> they
> went right by us not 300 yards away. But they also turned at a 60* angle
> at
> the same point, so that meant we could be near a key GPS coordinate. By
> now
> we could also see a small island, probably just a couple of trees. Since
> neither Jubb nor I have great depth perception it was hard to tell if it
> was
> two miles or ten miles away. Should we try and swim? (don't forget Jubb
> was
> the undefeated captain of his swim team, even if that was a long time
> ago)Stay where we were and can see the boats? Try and save our energy to
> avoid hypothermia? Now we could see another boat on the horizon that was
> heading in our direction, then it turned west, then back north towards us.
> As
> it got closer, we were waving the life jackets, waving my hand trying to
> get
> the sun to reflect off the watch crystal, blowing SOS, and shouting for
> help,
> but the passed us, not much more than One hundred yards to the west. Then
> they may the same 60* course change as the previous boats, but there was
> guy
> standing in back by the rods and we could see him lean back over the side
> then climb the ladder to the bridge, then the boat slowed down and turned
> around.
>
> I finally lost and started shaking and crying, by the time they got back
> to
> us, it was all we could do to reach our arms up. They pulled us up and
> over
> the transom like a tuna and hosed us down. They brought inside gave us dry
>
> clothes, water and Gatorade. The boat was a 40 something sportfisherman,
> "Mustache Man" out of Stuart Florida, returning home from OurLucaya on
> Grand
> Bahama. They radioed the Coast Guard that they had picked up two people
> without identification and were told to bring us to the nearest port,
> which
> was West End on Grand Bahama. About 20 minutes later we arrived at West
> End
> where a whole series asked us for name, address, date of birth etc., I
> think
> it was customs, coast guard, and this guy Brad the Old Bahama Bay Marina,
> who
> just took charge of us. From there went to this little clinic in West End.
> We
> weren't hurt but we did have hypothermia, dehydration, and painful
> sunburn.
> So they did the basics, EKG's, IV fluids etc and then they sent us off in
> an
> ambulance to the hospital in Freeport, and then another round of tests.
> While we were in the emergency room a nurse came in to say there was a
> reporter on the phone from the Palm Beach Post. Uh oh, we needed to call
> home
> before word got out. Since Joan would not have been expecting us until
> Monday, we hadn't rushed to call home, so now what do we say to Joan? So I
>
> decided to call my brother, Bill instead. 4:00pm is naptime for the kids,
> so
> they should be home. "Hi, we're OK but the boat sank," "WHAT?" I gave him
> the
> short version of what happened, told him to call Mom, and now we needed to
>
> deal with real world issues. We are in a foreign country with practically
> no
> clothes, no shoes, no money, no ID and no passports. So Bill calls his
> in-laws, John & Dee Carton who live in Stuart FL., but are visiting in NJ
> and
> sends them down to our house to get Joan before he calls. Then he called
> Louie in Green Turtle, to go to our house and get us some clothes and some
>
> money from our account at the club.
>
> We spent Sunday night in the hospital in Freeport and Monday morning,
> Louie
> showed with our stuff and Joan flew down to Florida with John and Dee.
> Then
> all of them started working on the logistics of how to get us back. Louie
> went over to visit his friend, Marsha, who the head customs person in
> Freeport, and John Carton had two phones going at all times working
> everything in the states, and some how they worked it all out and we had
> an
> ambulance plane to fly us back to West Palm Monday afternoon, but there
> were severe thunderstorms, so they opted to leave us in Freeport. We
> finally flew out Tuesday morning, where they brought us to St. Mary's
> hospital in Palm
> Beach. They released me after a quick round of tests, but kept Jubb one
> more
> night because the EKG had showed some activity and the doctors wanted to
> see it settle down. From there we went to the Carton's house for a few
> days to
> sleep.
> While we were in Florida we got a chance to talk to the captain of
> "Mustache
> Man" ( If any one ever sees this boat in there travels, please buy them a
> drink and say thanks again for us). It turns out we had drifted mostly
> east,
> to about * mile off the Bahama Banks and were 11 miles north of West End,
> not far off of Memory Rock ( the island we could see?) The water
> temperature was 84* and they couldn't believe they actually saw us.
> Thank you again "Mustache Man" |
