Tuesday April 10
I heard David call Fred on the radio and they talked with Chris Parker. It was a go. I jumped out of bed and closed everything up, preparing for a departure. We still had to lift the dinghy onto the davits and secure the lifelines etc. It was going to be a long trip, an overnight. At the last minute, after hearing what Chris said about the upcoming weather, we knew this was our only window for awhile if we wanted any winds. We took it. Things changed fast though. Fred decided to go on to Conception Cay, one I have been really looking forward to since we left Florida. It would be a 24 hour sail. After we were under way, I went below and poured some coffee for both of us, and we hit a swell. Two cups of hot coffee spilled up on me and thank goodness I had a t shirt over my bathing suit or I would have been badly burned. It saved me from scalding hot coffee, which only got the inside calf of my left leg. I spent the next 15 minutes with a towel over my leg, fighting back the pain as I made a mental note of designing a cup holder to hold coffee cups in the galley while pouring it. Fred came below and helped me clean up the coffee all over the floor and cabinets but I decided a towel was enough and just mopped it up with my feet, knowing it could be dealt with later. By then I decided I didn’t want any so I brought up Fred’s and put out my hand line, hoping to catch dinner. By 10:30 am I got a bite. It was a good sized something. We think it was some kind of Mackerel but still not sure yet. Fred cleaned it and stuck it in the refer. I was happy he had something to eat. The sail was great. I, seasick again, did the best I could and accepted this is what it is. We took turns and I was resting in the V-Berth when Fred called me. “Patti...I need you, hurry”. I thought he saw a whale or something and nearly grabbed the camera but the look on his face said differently. We were in trouble. I looked to the stern of the boat and the dinghy was dangling by the bow, the stern dragging in the water...with the motor attached. “Oh no”, I said, “what can I do? Should we stop the boat?” That always seems the logical thing to do to me when trouble is ahead
But he said no. to just hold the painter, tight. That I did, with all the strength I could muster up. Something was catching the stern and I saw Fred pull out his knife. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to unknot something or getting ready to cut the line. I all I could think about was ‘don’t let go of this line Patti...this is our lifeline from Casa Mare to shore. Without it we were in trouble.’. I prayed. The next thing I knew, the line was loose and Fred was trying to let out the line on the davit when I heard this tremendous thud. We looked at each other and I said, I hope that was not the motor breaking off the chains. We couldn’t tell, all we could see was the bottom side of the dink. Finally loosening it up enough to skiff in the water I saw that dreaded look on Fred’s face. “Oh no…...do you think it is still attached to the chain under the dinghy?” “Not sure but probably not, the back is skipping around too much. Doesn’t look like there is that much weight back there.” I didn’t want to give up hope but I knew he was right. I fed the painter to Fred to the Port side and he cleated it off. It was like losing a life. Silence filled the air and it was obvious we were thinking the same thing. Rowing was only half an option but better than none. I had lost one of the oars also. The big one. The one you would like not to lose although we were left with the smaller one. Didn’t matter, No one was hurt and we still had the dink. We spent the rest of the trip trying to figure out just how that motor came loose from the boat. We had already concluded the davit broke. Well, a $10.00 part of it is what actually broke. I was glad it was still daylight, it wasn’t on my shift and the dink was still trailing behind us. Things could have been worse. That engine had already tried to escape the dink once before at Rum Cay when we hit a coral head and it came flying off the back, still attached and still running, right into Fred’s lap. He secured it and was glad the chained engine was still attached then because we would have lost it that time instead. We knew things were about to change again, Conception seem not to be the priority by then and we brainstormed. We had to make some decisions but we had until morning to decide because the next stop, would be Rum Cay or Conception. For now...we just needed to sail forward and stay on course. That Yamaha 15 was less than a year old, buried at sea and we needed time to mourn. Fred took a nap as I took the helm. The sun was setting and I looked west, thanking God for this wonderful day. It was a beautiful sunset. I wanted to get my camera but it was my time with God and the camera was not necessary. At the last glimmer of sunlight there it was, a “Green Flash” My first. I was in bliss, parallelized with the gift I had waited so long to catch. It was like a wink from God telling me, “It will be okay”. After savoring the moment for more moments than I can remember, I went below and woke Fred up to tell him I saw a green flash. He smiled, rolled over and went back to sleep, and I watched dusk disappear into the night, reflecting on the day, knowing I gave it to God.
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