I’d be totally happy if I never had another July 2nd for as long as I live. Father Time can keep the lot of them.
During Sunday night we had a bit of a wind shift. We were in shallow water with slippery turtle grass and sand below. It’s not great stuff for setting an anchor in, but we’d been fine for a few days in spite of quite strong nor’easters. The wind shift was enough to dislodge the anchor and by early morning we noticed we were dragging into even shallower water.
Not a major drama. We started the engine and I went forward to the bowsprit to raise the anchor so we could head back out to deeper water.
Well, raising the anchor was where the problem started. I’d put out a lot of chain to prevent dragging, and the windlass suddenly ground to a halt. Part of the problem was that the chain wasn’t riding in the gypsy the way it is meant to, so there was a bit of bunching. Some back and forth cleared it most of the time. The other part of the problem was that the chain wasn’t able to stay on the roller in the bowsprit platform. At some stage the surrounding stainless steel fabrication had taken too much strain and now the chain was able to slip off the roller and jam. Which it did.
While I was wrestling with it we drifted aground on a falling tide. I was still trying to get the chain and anchor in when I noticed a Cayman Island Fire Services boat going by and waived them across. There were 3 black men on board and they were happy to give us a pull from behind while I had the boat running in reverse. They threw us a line and with their 2x 225 hp motors it wasn’t long before we were afloat and moving back freely.
Being their tow line, Sandy undid it and let it go so they could pull it back on board. Well, for some inexplicable reason their guy decided to let it go too. I was still running hard in reverse and in a flash the rope disappeared, wrapped itself around the prop and rudder and stalled the engine.
Without the engine or steering we were being blown straight back into the shallows.
I threw out the anchor I’d retrieved by hand but it was too little too late with no way to set it. We were blown into the shallows immediately and grounded.
The ‘Rescue’ boat said there was nothing they could do because it was now just on low tide. They’d be back later to help when the tide had risen a bit, but to call them on channel 16 if we needed help.
With the wind blowing the way it was, we would continue to be blown in further as the tide came up negating any benefit.
It took me an hour to rig up the 65lb spare anchor to chain and wharp and lower it into the dinghy, drag it out 200ft and drop it. Motored back, got the rope onto a big genoa winch and hauled it in until it set.
Then it was goggles, snorkel and knife time to get the rope off the rudder and prop.
The water was choppy and difficult. In 15 minutes I was exhausted and had freed the rudder, but made little headway with the prop.
I tried to call the Fire Rescue Service on 16 but got no response. Port Security responded, I explained the situation and they said they’d get hold of Fire Services for me, which they did.
An hour later our old friends turned up, and I didn’t feel so bad when it took 2 fit young divers over half an hour to free the prop!
We had another go at pulling the boat off but she wouldn’t budge an inch. High tide would be around 7pm and they’d be back around 5.
There wasn’t much left to do so I took the dinghy and went up the canal past all the million dollar mansions to the shopping centre. Sandy couldn’t bring herself to leave the boat in its hour of need. The boat was a sad sight leaning over to port at such an unnatural angle.
I got back just on 5 but there was no sign of the Fire Services boat.
A dinghy turned up with father and son. Really helpful folk too. We discussed the problem and they went and dived to check the kedging anchor etc. He introduced himself as Greg Merrin, 7th generation Caymanian, and his son obviously 8th. I only found out later that the Merrin on this island is almost akin to the House of Windsor in England! Not real royalty, but a very old and respected family here.
Greg felt that the fire services guys were not that well experienced and called up someone from one of the marinas who has a lot of experience. I wasn’t sure we’d need him because we were already getting the occasional wave bounce and had another foot of incoming tide.
The guy turned up with all his experience and a very grunty outboard motor. I explained our keel shape, lowest point etc, and he came up with this brilliant idea that if I passed him the main halyard (rope to the top of the mast), he would use his powerful engine to tilt the boat, making it float on more of its side, which would tilt the keel up.
It all seemed a bit extreme for a boat that was already threatening to float anyway. I also didn’t like the idea of her floating with him pulling towards shallower water again.
My keel is full length with the deepest part near the aft end. If we were already wave bouncing, the front end should be free already and a good sideways pull would swing us towards deeper water. If I opened up with our engine too we could probably break free.
Reluctantly he agreed to try it, and it worked like clockwork.
With no working anchor system we made our way to the remnants of the Cayman Island Yacht Club. It was destroyed by hurricane Ivan 8 years ago, but it still has a concrete wall to tie up to and pylons for members to rent and tie boats to.
It was dark by the time we found the channel and made our way gingerly through the maze, spotlight on, looking for somewhere to tie up.
This boat weighs 28 tons and this was our first attempt to bring her into a wharf. We took it slowly and played it safe, and on the 3rd attempt we were in, tied up right in front of a big tourist boat with huge shark type teeth about to make a meal of us.
But the day from hell ended well. A young Caymanian guy grabbed our lines, helped with the tie up and welcomed us.
Sheldon is our new best friend, Yacht Club Harbour Master, general nice guy who goes out of his way to be helpful. We could not have ended up in better hands.
Until next time...