Re sailing, I got this e-mail from a friend who knows these people.
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.
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 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 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" |
