Man (Walt) overboard!!

Sunday, October 19

Walt and I played two games of Backgammon on Saturday night, and I actually won one of them—amazing! That sent me off to bed with a smile on my face, and despite waking several times and hearing rain drumming on the aft cabin roof, I got a decent sleep and awoke to see a few sunbeams trying to push the heavy clouds aside so that they could peek through our port-lights.

Forecasts showed winds increasing until mid-afternoon, so we decided to leave Prevost Harbor at about 11 am and head for Deer Harbor. Our motoring journey through waves agitated by a highly variable wind took about one and a half hours, with the sun spilling gold onto the water ahead of us and foamy waves, approaching diagonally from the starboard side, splashing over the fore-deck and giving the teak deck planking a good saltwater washing.

The wind was blowing quite strongly as we approached the Deer Harbor Marina and I prepared the dock lines and fenders for mooring. Walt pulled the boat into our slip as slowly as he could, but the loop of line with which I tried to lasso one of the dock cleats was caught by the wind instead and I missed the cleat, and so Walt had to back out and bring the boat in again. By this time, two boaters, who’d seen us coming in, had arrived at our slip, I tossed them our lines, and they were able to begin to tie Braesail into place. As Walt was stepping backward off the boat’s deck to the dock, however, the wind pushed the boat away before he could get a foot onto the dock, he slipped down and held onto the toe rail for a minute as I grabbed his hands (I could not pull him up), he couldn’t get a foot onto the lowered boarding ladder beside him or the fender next to it, and he finally dropped into the water. His “personal flotation device” inflated immediately to hold his head up, and the men on the dock managed to drag him up onto the dock head/torso first. Things to be grateful for: He was unhurt, the water was not terribly cold, his glasses were not lost, and though his billfold and its contents were wet, his smartphone was in the cockpit, NOT in his pocket–WHEW! Back on the boat, he shed his wet clothes and took a hot shower in the aft head, put on dry clothes, and then went about the business of hooking up our shore-power cable to the power-kiosk on the dock. I was SO thankful for the two men who helped us tie up and who pulled Walt out of the water—they were, in my opinion, truly a GOD-send!

It wasn’t long before we were in the Prius and driving through the beautiful island countryside, in partly sunny and much less windy conditions, to the hardware store in Eastsound so that Walt could buy a roll of paper to use for a project (making plastic “storm windows” for the main cabin windows and the hatches). We stopped at the Brown Bear Baking Company’s wonderful shop for “afternoon tea” (I had a super-chocolatey muffin), we found the necessary paper, and we enjoyed a lovely drive back to the marina. Heavy showers arrived there just when we did, but we were able to bring aboard the boat the items we were transporting from the car without their getting wet.

Evening activities included supper, online Compline, reading, writing this post, and Walt’s making measurements and templates for the window covers. The wind and rain have now departed, and we look forward to a peaceful last night of this fall trip. After taking care of some little projects on Braesail and packing our food and belongings into the car, we plan to take the evening ferry from Orcas Village to Anacortes and then to drive back to Everett on Monday. It’s been a fantastic five-week trip, we’ll return to the boat now and then to work on upgrades and perform maintenance tasks, and we might take her out at Christmas or for some other winter excursions. God has blessed and protected us (and provided the help we needed today!), and I trust that we will continue to experience similar manifestations of God’s love, care, grace, and beauty every time we travel.