06/14/2012
Justin and I are doing good, but I spent the night in the cockpit babysitting Oscar Couldn't sleep anyway thinking about you and dad.
Only making about 4 knots, very frustrating. Glad dad's safe and sound!
(more from John)
Well........with three men on a small boat out in the seaway of the Pacific ocean.........with a head (toilet) that would make most RV's look like a 5 star room can you just imagine going in there barefoot???EEEEEEUUUUUUWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
This wasn't in the brochure!~~~ the Captain on head duty? sigh....it must be done. I'm not quite sure if it has EVER been done. But I do have a desire to be clean meself, and there is hot water and a drain in the floor, so out with the pinesol and brushes AAAARRRRR. (i now know why they alway say that)
I can't really say it is safe to eat off of but it is most defiantly good to go for bathing.
I was awoke to the smell of pancakes this morning that Justin had made. He had not been feeling well the last couple of day we think because of too much sun. Now feeling much much better with a lot of rest and fluids. Upon stepping out in the cockpit I was welcomed by a bull blown rainbow! Hows about that for a promise from God?!
We have less than 1000 miles to go. There is a storm coming our way and Justin and I welcome it! Bring on the winds. We'll reef the main set the staysail and haul ass to Honolulu! We do appreciate all of your good wishes and prayers.
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Comments [2]
06/14/2012, (from Honolulu)
What anoverwhelming day, full of the kindness of strangers! The generosity and hospitality of so many people has brought me to tears...
As did driving into to Horizon Terminal and the magnitude of the SHEER SIZE of the 'boat' that the Gallivant cozied up to... literally made me cry.
So I'm sitting in the shipping offices of Horizon Lines waiting for the Reliance to make port, and the many workmen in and out of the offices pop in and tell me to look out in the harbor! The Reliance is here. We'll wait for the medical transfer (ambulance) and the fire department (who will help Dad exit from the giant ship), and then, we'll see where things take us.
And the Reliance/Gallivant liason at sea made the local news! http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/18777591/ship-saves-elderly-sailor-1000-miles-from-hawaii
I anticipate the camera crew will be here to greet Dad and the wonderful crew as well. More to come tomorrow... oh wait, it IS tomorrow...
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Bob is great hands. Love and prayers to you all.
06/14/2012
John called me several times today, as he is anxious to hear that his dad makes Honolulu safe and sound. There's a small storm brewing that should bring the Gallivant some favorable winds -- John is looking forward to breaking the 1,000-miles-to-go mark!
I'm headed for SeaTac to hop a flight to Ohau to mee the RELIANCE when she makes port. I'll keep you posted!
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06/14/2012
John called me several times today, as he is anxious to hear that his dad makes Honolulu safe and sound. There's a small storm brewing that should bring the Gallivant some favorable winds -- John is looking forward to breaking the 1,000-miles-to-go mark!
I'm headed for SeaTac to hop a flight to Ohau to mee the RELIANCE when she makes port. I'll keep you posted!
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06/12/2012
We are so incredibly thankful for the bravery and kindness of the crew of the Reliance! They have kept us updated on Bob/Dad/Grandpa's condition, and he is improving steadily. The Reliance will make port late on Wed night /early Thurs morning, and the CG will arrange transport for him to a nearby medical facility. The Reliance skipper sent us the following email today (please note that Bob has been unable to speak for most of the past 48 hours):
Your Dad rested well last night.
Our Steward has been preparing meals for him that he has been able to get down. He is eating and hydrating well. Following his breakfast, we got him into a hot bath. He liked that.
Your Dad is responsive to my conversations with him. He nods and smiles a lot. His frustration at not being able to speak is getting better.
We are monitoring him 24/7 and in contact with the medical professionals.
That was some attempt at bringing him aboard! The plan was to bring him into our lifeboat, but the winds kicked up and the seas were just too rough to pull that off. I have some minor scratches to my lifeboat and it looks like I have what's left of (the Gallivant's) anemometer and mast head light bulb. Just a couple hours earlier, the winds were light and the seas calm. I was hoping to that it would be dead calm near the water with no wind. Not the case. If anything the wind picked up to about 15 or 20 knots and the seas started building.
This big old ship (892 feet) was just never intended to be a rescue vessel. We are set up for abandon ship is all. No towing for us either. We were originally what is called a LASH ship. In the old days this vessel carried barges and had a huge crane on deck. Since then we have been changed into a containership.
Our next attempt at getting your dad was with our crane using a stokes litter (basket) but that was quickly ruled our because you had too much rigging and no place to land the stokes litter. We were running out of options.
The last attempt was with our accommodation ladder (gangway) where you saw our Chief Engineer and Boatswain make it happen. Once we had your dad on deck, we put him in the stokes litter (stretcher) and hauled him up to our hospital. You know most of the rest from the Captain's correspondence emails.
Keep the faith and say your prayers. It can only help. Try not to worry. We are doing everything that we can to make him comfortable and safe.
And GOOD NEWS! I just got the word that your Dad is talking right now. I'm getting down there to check on him!!!! Yes!
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It was absolutely the right choice to get Bob to HI, as soon as possible. The boat will be fine and can most certainly be repaired.
Keep your wits and remain sharp. Be safe. Bob is now in good hands. And there are people on the Islands waiting for his arrival.
Love you much!!! Mama
Praying for Wind and health.
-Daniel.
Ronna
Our hearts sank when we read about Bobs stroke symptoms and are sending good wishes your way. We sincerely hope that he is okay.
06/12/2012
So, dad suffered a stroke, had impaired speech and some right side paralysis. The great concern was that the same parts of the brain that control those functions also control the 'swallow' function, and Dr. D was concerned with potential aspriration. Capt John made the right call ... and he and Justin and two of the crew members of the Horizon Lines vessel Reliance showed incredible bravery in making the at-sea transfer from a bobbing 33' sailboat to a stable 900' container ship...
The Horizon Reliance is a 900' container ship and is about 60 miles away traveling around 22 mph. I started getting hailed on the VHF radio long before we could see her. We could see and track her progress on out AIS (automatic tracking system) that I installed on our chart-plotter. We finally spot them about 12 miles away right behind us. The Captain asked me a few questions about Gallivant maneuvering ability and such. He would like to come up on our port side and slow down while I go around his stern coming up on his port side. That way we would be on the lee side of the big ship. The windward side is the side where the wind is blowing and the lee side is the sheltered side from the wind. The seas should be a bit calmer and make things better.
They want to lower one of their life boats down, have us come along side, get dad to the lifeboat and raise it back up. Sounds good right?
As we approach the Horizon we can see all hands on deck and cameras galore. I manuever Gallivant around the stern and up the port side. The lifeboats are up by the bow. I hold a position off a bit while the boat was lowered with three men in it.
When it got down to the water, they hailed me on over. Each man had a boat hook so it was looking good. But right when I got alongside the lifeboat rose about 5 feet! Gallivant went under it and then the lifebot came crashing down on our rails bending and splintering it to pieces!
I shoved the throttle to full and got away from them as fast as possible. I thought it was a wave so asked if they could lower their boat some more so it would be floating rather than suspended. They did the best that they could but the same results only worse. The entire teak rail was now nothing but splinters, the railing looked like a pretzel and upon further inspection, the top of our mast had been caught in the cables, tearing off our mast light VHF antenna and wind gauge.
The next plan was to lower a litter over the side with a crane. They worked on it for 45 minutes started to lower it and changed their minds and I am very glad that they did. It would have been a disaster trying to get an able bodied man, let alone Dad in his condition, into that thing while still trying to keep Gallivant from being destroyed against that big ship.
The next thing was to lower the gangway down to water level, have two men at the bottom, get close and make the transfer. They got it down but not far enough. Then lowered it some more to the point that their man got his feet a little wet. This guy was not afraid though, and he said his name was Sean, and what was your dads name? "Bob." The other guy, Qui ('Wee") stayed up the ramp a bit.
I eased up as slow as I could. The Horizon was still traveling along at 5 knots and I can only do about 7 max. I had to keep Gallivant's nose at just the right angle to the hull of the 900' ship. To keep her parallel would cause us to veer into her and collide because of the currents the Reliance was creating with her massive size,; to much away angle and we would dive off and have to start all over again. I made my move, and it all went perfect. We eased on in until we almost touched right at the spot at what was left of out gate. With a push Justin handed off his grandpa to Sean, and with a shout of confidence, Sean yelled "I gotcha Bob!" The two men carried him up the Gangway ant took him to the ship's hospital.
We then got close again so that they could toss us a rope (it was about 60' from their deck down to ours) so that we could tie it to Dad's bag and get it to them. (Jenni's insert: Dad's bag contained his identification, passport, clothing, etc, which will be essential when they make port in Hono)
The Gallivant is a bit broken and beat up. Justin and I drifted away from the big ship, assessing our damage, getting sails up and are now working to get to shore as soon as we can.
Looks like another 10 days or so to go to get to Honolulu. The winds have been fickle and uncooperative so far.
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