The Kindness of Strangers

Originally posted on July 3rd 2007.

In my albeit limited sailing experience I am always surprised by the kindness of strangers in the boating community. We arrived latter Saturday night at Pirate’s Cove Marine Park. We found the Cove busy but not totally full. It was an extremely high tide. We selected an anchorage close to the eastern edge of the Cove. After consulting the GPS and Chart I figured I was close to a reef but not too close so I set my hook. In my head I thought worse case scenario I would hear a little bumping and move the boat.At 0800 I awoke and wondered through the boat looking for water. Having found some I climbed back into the vee berth not noticing anything amiss. About 0830 I heard someone slapping the hull and calling out. I hopped out of bed and noticed that the boat was not rocking and I was climbing up hill slightly. I stuck my head out the companion way to hear “Your rudder is snagged on the reef.” I looked down and saw three people in a Boston Whaler. I looked at the rudder it was hard on the reef down below. The gentlemen in the Whaler said that my prop was free. I turned the rudder and it popped off the rock and into the mud below. The rudder was now moving freely but still fouled in the mud below. I fired up the diesel and tried gunning it. Cheryl came up on deck at this point and I ran to the front and let her give it a try seeing that I weighed more. The group in the boat graciously offered to take our genoa halyard and kedge us from the bow. Within seconds we were off the grounding and free. We quickly moved the boat to a clear spot just vacated by another larger boat and set anchour. The three people who helped us were very empathetic stating that they had had this happen too. I was completely blown away that they had taken a keen interest in our safety and single handedly rescued us in seconds. We rowed over a bottle of wine and thanked them once the boat was secured. A big thanks to the crews from the sailboat Arwaren (sp) and powerboat Tortuga!