~ We had. too. much sail up; ‘for sure. ‘That v was the
first mistake.:But several other things happened

on Sunday. which, -in. the spirit of safe the enter I

coe

| er For: you, at Teast!

“Tt was a beautiful sunny
morning when we left. The
wind t was light, the sea

' smooth. There were many

other boats around, and as
we. had no intentions of
staying out very long I did

_ not listen. very. carefully to
‘the —

weather |

forecast.
‘Another mistake.

We ‘motored ‘out to

Passage-Island, where there

was enough light breeze to

coast us along at about two

knots. Down in-the galley
Mary.made a pot of coffee,
and the kids played on the
floor with their colouring
books. She opened the new
windows in the front of the

deck-house. - That was
another mistake.
Kim was steering. After he .

shut -the engine and the
blowers off it was pleasantly
quiet. I went around the
deck setting the genoa up for
the light breeze. As I was
adjusting the downhaul on
the mainsail I saw a dark
patch coming over the

from the west: Kim | seen

north shore

news

. CIRCULATION
986-1337

North Shore News, founded in
1969 as an independent
community newspaper and
qualified under Schedule 111,
Part 111, Paragraph 111 of the
Excise Tax t, ta published each

Sunday by the
North Shore Free Prean Ltd and

Claas
Registration Number 3685
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49,503

Entire contentat: 1970 North Shore
Froe Press Lid. All rights reserved

it too, anid by the time that I

got back into the nieeea he
was preparing to t. the -.
boat up into the

But it wasn’t just a gust, it
was a big wind. As the wind

hit us the:boat heeled over

and we acce! through

- the water. The speedometer

hit six knots and what had

been peaceful, sunny, light-

air sailing turned into a
pounding, . - wet, smashing
drive through the ocean.
The waves came up im-
mediately.

I heard the familiar noise
of the coffee pot falling over

and plates crashing to the

floor, but I was too busy on
deck. I had smooth-soled
deck shoes on, which are
fine in dry conditions, but as
soon as the bow tucked into
the first sea the entire deck
area was wet and I was
suddenly skating around. It

was another e to wear

“smooth-soled shoes. After I

changed into iny sea boots I
felt much more secure on
deck. ¢

Mary came to the com-_

panion way. Her face was
green. “I'm sorry.” she said,
“Tve got the barfies.” She
handed me a safety harness.
“You'd better use this.” The
harness was tangle of
webbing and line, and I
swore at it before I had it on.
Kim was heading up into
bigger gusts, which was
causing the main sail to flap |

furiously in the puffs. Up- (

above us a batten broke.

Loed

: ‘I went out on deck to

the genoa. With the shackle
of the safety harncss at-
tached to a strong point I felt
even more secure. The boat
was laid over with the tocrail
in the water, and I could
hear the hydraulic stecring
groan with the strain on the
rudder. We were now
driving through the water at
six and a half knots.

A wave washed over my
boots and up through those
open deck-house windows,
and ai lot of scawater
tumbled through and into
the interior of the vessel. I
got the genoa down and
secured, and Kim paid the
boat off the wind. We
reached into the channel
between Passage Island and
Bowen Island and things
became much more stable.
Under main and stayszail only
we were still doing over six
knots. 4

With things on deck more
under control, I went back
into the wheclhouse and
down below to survey the
damage. It was a disaster.
The floor was a mass of
soggy colouring books,
crayons, scawater and coffee

ounds. In the foc’sle the

age children huddled. Just
as I got there the baby
vomited. He's been sailing
since before he was born,
but he still gets seasick. The

lite girls s shrieked. “Come

quick, Peter, John’s

fing!” By the time I got there
with a bucket-and a wash
Cloth John -had redecorated...
the inside of the foc’sle, his
coat, a sleeping bag and a
blanket, and the two girls
_were holding their hands.
over. their mouths and —

looki And by the

time I finished cleaning up

the mess, I was feeling
too. I opened the foredeck
hatch for some frésh air.

Inside the head, Mary

crouched in misery. When .
she came back. out again, it .

was only to make a bee-
for one of the settee berths.

She lay there in ashen-faced

muscry. .

Heinz. -Gritzas, of A-1i
Canvas, had just make us
new bunk-cloths, canvas
contraptions that
people in their berths under
rough sea conditions. I

pulled hers out from un-—

derneath the settee mattress

over Mary. It was all I could
to for her in her misery.
After I cleaned up John I
put him in the other settee
berth, then got the girls
interested in
something and began to
clean up the debris off the
floor. By the time that I was

finished with the mess and.

back in the cockpit we were
in the lee of Bowen Island,
and right back into the calm
silent. sunny sailing con-
ditions that we had left
earlier. The coffee pot
survived, and over coffee
Kim and I re-capped the
Situation and discussed our
mistakes.

Back on deck, I put the
genoa up again. The big sail
flapped in the light air, and I
unhooked a whisker pole
and manocuvered it around
in order to hold out the sail

to its best advantage in the-
light air. I was struggling it -

across the deck trying to
clear the staysail stay when I
fell into the hatch. That was
another mistake. For-
tunately, the whisker pole
bridged across between the
staysail boom and the life
lines, and I only fell a couple
of feet and hung suspended
in the air, but it could have
been a lot worse. When I got
back out of the hatch? I
wedged the whisker pole
into what I thought was a
safe location while I put the
hatch cover back on.

That was a mistake too.
The boat gave a little lurch,
and so did I, my knee

‘nudged the end of the

’ overboard like a

whisker pole, and it slide
cil out
of ones’ pocket. I've heard
and experienced this before,
but as I watch the pole slide

- into the sca I had time for a

lot of thoughts.

Even as I was watching my
body move towards
the end of the pole, 1
remember thinking that the
pole cost $300, and I knew
when I wedged it in the deck

| CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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