Well, we raced in about 4 knotts with the windward leg heavily favored on starboard and right into a calming swell from overnight winds of 30+ knotts. I might as well have been dragging my crew on a boogie board. The only saving grace was everybody was in the same predicament. You must have been able to hear the banging masts from 10 miles away.
Later in the day, the wind really came up and we headed out on sailboards. After about an hour of shredding around, I noticed my partner about 300 metres to windward was now towing a body. That's right, a body. We were about 1.5 Km offshore and he found the crew of a Nacra 5.8 that fell overboard in a 30 Knott squall that came through about an hour earlier. She said that her husband could not control the boat after righting it from a capsize and sailed off without her. She was blue and shivering so hard she was making her own waves. My partner was able to get her to shore and knocked on the first lakeside house he came too to get her inside. We never did get a chance to speak to the guy that left her there, but WOW...I suppose, if OJ can get away with it...(bad joke)...My 16 is now put away for the year..catch y'all in the spring!
Cheers!
Left his wife WOW what a brave man or maybe a stupid man. He couldn't control the boat yet he could sail off, interesting. Poor woman could of died if I am reading your story right.
Yes, you read my story right. Had my sailing partner not come upon her out of blind luck on her part, she would have had to swim at least another kilometre to the beach in air and water temp in the 50's in high wind. She was also only wearing wetsuit shorts and a sweater. I'm quite certain she would not have made it. I'm also quite certain that there are going to be several tense months in that household. He was unable to pick her up, but sailed back to his launching point. I felt very bad for the poor waterlogged gal.
Cheers!
As a followup, the gal that my partner pulled out of the water dropped by my father's house this afternoon (where we launch from) to drop off a gift of thanks for getting her out of the water. She told my father that she felt she was a
gonner
as she had been in the water for over two hours by her account. She said she could no longer feel or move her legs and had given up when my partner spotted her and dragged her in. This was a very close call and speaks heaps about wearing adequate clothing (wet/dry suits) to match the season and day.
Cheers!
I just can't get over that. That's so unreal. Ever heard of
man overboard
drills? What about summoning assistance? She was out there 2 hours? Exactly how far removed from civilization is this place? What the heck was her busband doing during all this time? Or had he gone and gotten himself drowned himself?
Egads, that makes me appreciate my little prairie pond complete with boat control lifeguards that much more. But good grief, if you can't control the boat in certain conditions, then you shouldn't be out in those conditions. I hope these two learn from this, and that their marriage survives! (I know I'd be in serious trouble if I was in that situation!)