4^th January 2012

A Launceston heat wave…

It is so beautiful here, on these hot, still days.  Reminds me of teenage years, walking downhill all the way to the Gorge with my much younger sisters, skipping cheerily, for a cool refreshing swim, then walking back UP the stinking hot steep hill with much younger sisters, trudging not skipping, complaining bitterly all the way… Was it worth the cool refreshing moments in the chilly Gorge waters??

Lots of lovely family reunion moments during our three days here, all is well with our world so far in 2012.

2XS  -This story is too sad…a salutary tale. 

Pete is quite strict about safety procedures on 2XS.  When we had Nick Wood on the boat, he increased our safety standards about 95%, with his good seamanship and knowledge of proper ways to store safety equipment etc.  So whenever anyone is new on the boat, we try to run through just a few basic safety issues IMMEDIATELY.  The most important thing is, what to do if you have a Man Overboard situation (MOB).  Nick ran us through a MOB drill between Lord Howe Island and Balls Pyramid, in rough seas, and it was certainly a big wake-up call.  We haven’t actually done this again, but we think about it, and talk about it, quite a lot. 

Basically, if you fall overboard at night in rough seas – you are a goner.  So the best thing is NOT to fall overboard.  We are very careful about attaching ourselves to harnesses and lanyards as soon as it is dark and as soon as we step outside the cabin.  (In fact I have just realised that the only time I undo my harness is when I am vomiting over the back of the boat, which is, obviously, the time at which I am most vulnerable and most WANTING to fall overboard…I told Pete and he said we will have to put an attachment point right where my favourite vomiting place is to be found.)

In daylight, it is more likely that a Man Overboard can be retrieved.  Most boats have an MOB function at the helm, which records the exact position at which the accident has occurred.  So the first thing you do, after emitting a few frantic squawks when someone has gone over the side, is to hold down the MOB button for four seconds.  Then you hurl safety equipment – a life ring etc – into the sea, hoping it will float towards the MOB.  Then…well there is a whole lot of other stuff which has to be done,

including turning the boat in a circle, keeping an eye on the MOB, etc etc.  Vital information for anyone stepping on any boat, all this procedural scary stuff, I think.

So my sad story…I’m not going to say where this occurred or give any details.  But a lovely lone sailorboy met a lovely lone young woman on a lovely tropical island.  They fell in love and he invited her to sail off into the sunset.  Wonderful stuff.  LOVELY in fact.  She had never been on a boat, but he was very knowledgeable and felt he could look after everything while they pursued their beautiful new love affair (lovely).  They were sailing around in a rough bit of sea one day when he noticed the dinghy needing attention.  So he reached over to tighten a rope or whatever it was that was bothering him, and he fell overboard.  His girlfriend had no idea what to do; she didn’t know how to turn the boat or drop the sails or do the MOB procedure in any way.  So she watched helplessly as he was swept away never to be seen again.

I don’t know what happened next.  Much weeping, I imagine.  She was rescued by people passing by on another yacht, because she didn’t know how to sail to the nearest safe harbor.  Too too sad…