Rescue on the High Seas
14 May 2008 | Bonaire
Jean Trefethen
The morning we made it to Bonaire was the morning that the wind picked up. We were fortunate to be running ahead of a strong wind system and made it to the lee of the land before the winds began in earnest. Other boats were not so lucky. A few hours after picking up our mooring we heard a distress call on the radio. A catamaran was headed in without a functioning engine and needed some help picking up a mooring. As you can see by the photo the Calvary showed up. We had 9 or more dinghies show up ready to push, pull and handle lines. The seas were rising and the catamaran was not moving forward. The dinghies flanked both sides and kicked up full throttle to get her to move. Once we gained momentum it was a quick job to bring the vessel bow to a mooring and hand her the line. We met the appreciative sailors that night at happy hour and now rank them among friends!
It was great to see the responsiveness of all of the boaters to the cry for help. I know I would like to see the same if I were to put out a similar call for help.