Mishaps

Look close, Pancho pulling Evan and Adam on his surfboard

Just a few notes to make everyone aware that life is not all sunsets and sailing. We thought our readers might enjoy hearing about a few of our mishaps. I am going to talk about dropping the coffee pot. In the morning after Mom and Dad have their three gallons of coffee, Adam and I have to clean out our fifty year old coffee making thingermagiger. It has a lot of parts that look like they are attached but are not… When I bent down over the back of the boat the most important piece fell off. In my clothes a made a brave attempt to save it by half jumping half falling in the water to save the coffee maker. It started to sink and was too deep to retrieve. Once it was gone I realized that I had my iPod in my pocket… I immediately jumped out, dried it, and put it in a big bowl of rice (hoping this would suck the water out of it). After a few days I took it out. Unfortunately it is broken from the salt water. This really stinks for me. The good thing was my dad was able to use the scuba tanks to retrieve the coffee pot. EK

Another day we went to a beach called shell beach. There were shells everywhere. It was a great place to swim. When we were leaving I got a little distracted and forgot my sunglasses. I realized it when we were a half a mile away and my dad and I ran all the way back. By the time we came back they were gone. AK

It is always a little disconcerting to leave the boat and not be able to see it anchored safely in the harbor. The wind changes a bit from time to time. It can blow stronger or even change direction. Recently, after leaving the boat to go into town and feeling like our anchor was secure we realized it was not. As we were walking back to our dingy and looking out towards the boat we realized the wind had changed 180 degrees. Needless to say, this had dislodged the anchor. We watched it drift slowly past a neighboring boat, missing it by what seemed like inches, and then slowly continue towards the open ocean. I am not particularly fast but you should have seen me do mach 5 down the dock, hurdle into the dingy, land perfectly upright, start the engine on the first pull and race to our home floating away.  No harm, no foul. All is good.       BK

We were just settling in on one of our first passages when we noticed the dingy had come untied. Fortunately we noticed!!! It gave us an opportunity to practice a “man overboard drill” and turn the boat around in fairly strong winds and seas to rescue our dinghy.

Another dinghy mishap I had involved a flying fish. I was quietly painting my dolphin paint by number after everyone had gone to bed. (one of those items you like on vacation but would never use at home...this may become a Christmas gift…:) I heard a flopping sound on deck. My first thought was “flopping pirates?”, then “kids messing around in bed?” Then I realized a flying fish had landed on deck. I first wondered if we could eat it, but then realized I was not strapping myself to the stern again this late at night to filet it. Also, they are a beautiful fish with iridescent delicate wings. We are all fond of them because we have flying fish races while sailing. Take turns and count how long they stay in flight. The person with the longest flight wins! My second thought was that I must save it! I scrambled up to the deck and tossed if over, only to have it land helplessly in the dinghy. Since we have all become quite nimble climbing all over the boat, I was able to jump into the dingy and save the fish just in time.         

We are currently at the south end of Martinique working our way towards St. Lucia. We will be having our first overnight guests, the Dunham family, meet us there on March 21. Yeah!         JK