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Escape!
The night passed
very slowly. By 2:00 AM the seas rolling into the bay were truly
frightening. The conditions inside the bowl of the bay had become almost
impossible to endure. Sea Dart was rolling to her beam ends, and at the
same time was being thrown up and down violently. I was thankful for the
three anchors, but was also very concerned that their nylon ropes would
chafe through on coral. The main anchor had a chain lead, but the other
anchors had 3/4" nylon line right to the anchor ring. All we
could do was to wait and hang on. My stomach was a knot of tension.
The first grey streaks
of dawn finally showed above the island beyond the head of the bay. The
noise and motion in the bay were almost beyond description. The light
revealed a horrible scene as it became bright enough to see. The waves
rolling in from the sea would expose the reefs for 20 seconds or so
as the wave approached, and then it would bury the reef in a crashing
white breaker. The surge would then enter and cross the bay, run up
the beach, and start its return trip out of the bay. Waves refracting off
the cliffs surrounding the bay caused a chaotic pattern of crisscrossing
and impacting waves from all directions. We were right in the center of it
all.
I wasn't sure we could
even get the anchors up, let alone navigate the narrow pass through the
reef during the short 20 second window as each wave trough approached. If
we got caught there it would be over for Sea Dart in an instant, and
probably for us too. There was no wind in the bay, so we would have to
rely on the cranky air cooled engine that Dart carried. Fitz and I said
very little as we considered what was ahead. Finally I could wait no
longer and told Fitz that it was time to get the hell out of there.
In order to pull the
first anchor it was necessary to let out more scope on one of the other
anchor lines to allow Dart to move over the anchor we wanted to pull. With
that anchor safely on board and stowed we pulled the second one. We then
had only the main CQR plow anchor holding us, in almost impossible
conditions. My heart was beating heavily as I started the engine and had
Fitz pull the last anchor. We were now under way in a nightmare of
vertical plumes that would come and go almost instantly on all sides. Once
under way, Sea Dart seemed to steady up slightly, as if she was anxious to
get out of the bay also.
Over the years I had
obtained a lot of practice at timing waves, so that I could either land or
launch a small boat through heavy surf. Only once had I missed my timing.
That resulted in a flipped boat and a lot of expensive gear on the bottom
of the sea. This time all the chips were down, it was all or nothing. We
absolutely had to reach the pass through the reef just after the last
breaker had passed. A moment too early and the surge from the last breaker
would put us on the reef, and a moment too late and we would be lifted by
the next incoming breaker to be crashed down on the reef. There was
another concern too. As the previous wave withdrew it caused a terrible
suction, pulling the water back out through the slot in the reef at
horrible speed. I wasn't sure I could control Dart well enough to hit the
narrow pass in those conditions.
I slowed Dart in order
to match our speed to the next approaching wave trough. The wave ahead
crashed down on the reef, I opened the throttle wide, and held my breath
as Dart seemed not to respond. Finally she started slowly forward, as
if afraid of what was ahead. The previous wave dissolved into a mass of
bubbles and hissing water as the sea's surface rapidly dropped and we
started to be sucked toward the horrible black jagged reef ahead. The
opening through the reef looked too narrow to allow us to pass. With the
engine going full speed, and the suction of the sea pulling us toward the
reef, Dart seemed to almost jump forward toward the tiny opening, to meet
our fate.
Twenty feet, ten feet,
and then we were right in the slot with the black coral walls rising ten
feet above us on either side just a few feet away. Our aim was true,
and Dart shot the gap and quickly put distance between the reef and her
stern as the next great sea rose ahead of her. We started up the steep
face of the liquid mountain, but we were safely passed the danger point
and running fast toward the safety of deep water. The huge wave passed
harmlessly beneath us and we could relax at last.
We raised the sail and
shut down the engine. The quiet was wonderful after the noise inside the
bay. It was time to relax as we sailed slowly northward toward Bequia
along the west shore of Canouan Island. The relief was tremendous. My
knees were so weak that I needed to sit down in the cock pit to recover.
The danger was over ... or was it?
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Copyright © 2001
- 2003
by Donald R. Swartz
All rights reserved.
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permission
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