We did not want to publish this story while we were not in USA waters because we did not feel "safe" near Russia and it was so scary while we were on the ocean that we wanted to wait until we checked into United States. The incident happened within 24 hours after our departure from Japan.

There was not much wind, so we motored all night. I came on duty at midnight. Everything was fine until 5:00 am. I went up to adjust the direction of the boat and then I noticed that the boat was moving at "0.0" knots on display. Something is definitely wrong. By that time Ted had woken up. We turned off the engine immediately. We were surrounded by fishing nets, unmarked totally, no flags or buoys to mark where they were. They were single strand nylon gill nets with small floats and weighted down by a lead-line so that they are practically invisible until one is on top of them. Also, they were quite long. We are told that they are illegal in the "Western world". The boats near by appeared to be using the nets but on our AIS they were labeled as "pleasure boats". Obviously it was a poaching operation and they left the nets unmarked so that the Japanese authorities would not see them as they were well within the Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone. We could tell that the boats were not Japanese, we assume by the names on the AIS that they were Russian. The first Russian islands are only about 5 miles from Japan. We finally got out of one net but got tangled up in another one straight away. I called them on the VHF but maybe they were asleep. I think possibly they worked all night. We proceeded to cut the net loose from our boat. As we were backing out of the net, the propeller froze; apparently the loose pieces of fish net got in the propeller, worse yet, the net and floats were tightly wrapped around the shaft as we later found out. Also they were on the fin keel and would not come off because the floats did not allow the nets to drop downwards.

Ted was going to jump into the water but I knew he would not be able to stand the cold and we need the captain to be in good shape. I put our tropical wet suit on and jumped into the icy water. I dropped my razor blade just as I jumped so Ted had to get another from his desk. When I dove down there I saw the problem was not around the propeller as I usually find but on the shaft. I quickly started to cut the first rope I saw but couldn't because of the dull blade. I came back up and asked for another knife. The wind kept pushing the boat forward so it was quite an effort to get down to the right spot. I found that in such cold water I was not able to hold my breath underwater as long as usual. In the process of trying, I lost a flipper so Ted had to get another one. I tried one more time but could not get down to the shaft. My feet began to go numb and I noticed my hands were turning purple too. I had to get out of the water. It took several tries before I was able to climb up out of the water because I was shaking uncontrollably. I thought to myself at the time, "Come on, stretch that leg up there - don't let me down after years of yoga practice!" When I finally got into the boat, I could not stop shivering. I got into the shower and turned on the hot water hoping to thaw out. It seemed like a long while before I stopped shivering. I drank a couple of cups of hot water and that seemed to help. Meanwhile, Ted was able to get away from the "crime scene" with the help of some wind.

I heard S/V "Liv" calling us on the VHF radio because they heard me calling the fishermen so they called to check to see if we were alright. Our four sailing vessels had established a radio net for the crossing to Alaska. We switched to the SSB so the fishing boats would not hear us. After we told them what happened, we could not use our engine and there was hardly any wind. Our plan was to sail back to Japan to the nearest harbor about 20 miles away. Alternatively we could call the Japanese Coast Guard for help. Dominique from "Kea" offered to help us. We were about five miles from each other, thirty minutes away. We were so grateful!

Dominique has a heavy wetsuit, head gear, socks, boots, heavy duty flippers and scuba gear. He dove down several times but each time he could not get the rope off the shaft. It was trapped in the tube where the shaft goes into the boat. He was getting exhausted. He used the knife and the hack saw but could not reach it in the tube. Finally he tied a thin rope on to some rope that was sticking out of the tube. We tried to pull it out with the winch but it did not move. We all but give up at that point. Dominique and Dominique (both the husband and wife have the same name) offered to tow us a short distance toward the Japanese coast because the wind had totally died. Many thoughts were racing through our heads like how are we going to call the Coast Guard because most of the time they don't answer the VHF radio? We have a satellite phone but what is their number? Once we dock, do we have to fly to another country to renew our Japan visa (which had just expired)? Would we be able to go to Alaska this season?

Meanwhile Ted opened the floor where the shaft comes into the boat and began turning it backwards with a heavy plumber's wrench. Miraculously it started to move and we were able to pull out the float that was lodged in the shaft opening. We started the motor and the propeller turned. Dominique was not convinced that it was clear because he explained that there was a big clump of the net still wrapped around the shaft even though he cut the ropes in many different places. Just as we were discussing the situation, a string of fishnet began to float to the surface. Dominique grabbed it and started pulling. He pulled up a large pile, enough to fill a big plastic bag. Call it luck or a miracle; I think it was a miracle.

Thinking about it afterwards there were many factors that helped us. First, the fisherman aboard the nearby "pleasure craft" did not wake up and notice us cutting up their nets. They were already breaking the law so who knows what they would do to us. Second, just as we cut ourselves free, a favorable wind appeared out of nowhere and we were able to get out of sight of the boats, without the wind or the engine we were not going anywhere and would have been caught by the Russians. They would undoubtedly have towed us back to Russia and probably impounded the boat pending a heavy compensation claim. Third, just as we tied up to S/V Kea so that Dominique could dive on the propeller, the wind dropped and the sea was calm. There would be no way we could do that in a normal sea. Forth, Ted had made a new boat hook at the last port which we could use to pick up the nets. The previous boat hook, which we think was mysteriously lost in the sea, had a plastic hook which could not have picked them up. It was designed more for safety and fending off other boats. The new boat hook has a serious hook on it, capable of picking up a heavy net. And last but not least, S/V Kea was nearby and was willing to help and had the right equipment.

All the above factors were in our favor, without all five; if just one was missing, we would have been in serious trouble. I think God was smiling on us that day.

As a footnote, as S/V Kea continued towards Attu in the Aleutians, she ran into another similar net and was able to cut free after two hours hard work by Dominique. It is not difficult to reach his propellers because his hulls are quite narrow at that point. He can actually reach them without diving under the boat. He thinks the net was about 5 miles long because a Russian boat warned them about a similar net and they had to motor around it for about that distance.