Now...where to start ?!?!?!🤔🫣🥺
Oh yeah, Condesa and her 2.74mt draft!
Because of this fact, it has us picking and choosing routes everywhere we go. We also have respect for the unpredictable weather and the need for somewhere to hide should something spring up. And there is nowhere to hide once you are on the ocean side of islands. So we found it is preferable to work the full moon / highest tide and to make our way with protection of an island whenever we can.
THEN THIS HAPPENED......
4/11/24
Underway in the Sandy Straits (inside K'gari Island), avoiding the shallow spots, the VHF radio announcements of increased silting in certain locations - Noted!
It takes concentration to stay on the long narrow meandering channel for hours before you reach the other end. We had travelled beyond half way unscathed, until.......
😳Condesa running with the tide hit a shoal with momentum. Our immediate reaction to reverse was without success. We waved down two fishing boats a few minutes apart, to quickly help try to pull us sideways, but Condesa's waterline was already showing. The tide around her dropped like someone had pulled the plug. We were in "operation rescue mode", but devastation was creeping in with every fruitless effort we made.
The next we know, our beautiful Condesa was listing to starboard. Eventually she laid down on her side like a lamed mare. By low tide hours later, nothing but sand surrounded her. To observe her motionless was agonising.🙈 This is the thing nightmares are made of!
We had to pull ourselves together, remain collected and evaluate what we had to do. Look no-one has lost an eye, we were both ok. We had to tell ourselves this was rectifiable with quick thinking, involving professional help, and advice from anyone with marine experience and then create a back up plan.
The issues at hand were ....
😳the last workable higher tide was the next day
😢The coastguard boats were busy with a search & rescue in the Mary river.🙏🏻
😬Only one vessel available the next day
😮Condesa weighs 43 ton
😵‍💫24 hours of climbing the walls
🥺What if she doesn't come off
😣No basic essentials for 24 hrs
🫣The portholes and gunwhals were under water
🤯The possible risk of water getting inside
🫥the unknown!!!!!!!!!!!!?????!!!!!!!!!
The positives-
🧐No rocks
😅No crocs
😌No midges
😬No storms
😬no swell/wash
😶no water getting in
🤗And a lovely couple on anchor across the channel reached out to us and cooked us dinner!
This night was a test of our minds. Stopping the shards of "what ifs" and convincing ourselves that nothing is impossible. Well that's what my head was wrestling with. We were each alone with our thoughts, perched, feeling the night set in and waiting for the ending to play out. .
The overnight support was family via calls and texts to check on both us and Condesa's progress. One son, "She'll be right, they just pull her off tomorrow at high tide!". The other, like me, requires scenarios discussed, a watertight (excuse the pun) back up plan. Thank god for them, because both ways of thinking was appreciated.
Then the job of seeking a space to be physically supported for the night amongst everything else already strewn across the boat.
At 5am He Who was painfully Silent 2had climbed off and was out walking around the boat, digging shale and sand away from the base with his bare hands. This kept him busy, so I just kept praying hard.😣🙏🏻
For the next 6 hours (5am-11am) we watched the tide move at a glacial pace. I heard repeatedly, "She coming up now" 🤔 ‘He Who’ was seeing things. I'm looking at the mast still at a 45 angle. Condesa needed every cm of the high tide to budge her, but I said nothing. Looking at the 100ft mast, rigging and sails still on a big lean, all making it harder for her to right herself.
It took Condesa until the last half hour of full tide before she looked anywhere near a chance to me.
My prayers worked, she was somewhat upright but not fully. Now if we can miraculously have two rescue boats please. With no time to chance, we had spent the morning phoning around for a backup tugboat, they were 4 hours away, so we lined one up for the next day, pending the outcome of "Operation God help Us" first attempt. Sweating bullets, but acting very rational once this tug was in the pipeline. We can't do much more but wait now.
Imagine another 24 hrs of this situation! It was doable but a jarring reality, and would be a real test of character.
I could feel Condesa shimmy herself a comfy hole with every small slap of the almost high tide. I didn't want her getting settled in here. By now, I found my empathy for her was waining, enough is enough- get up God dam you!!!! With that, the Coastguard phoned to say they were nearby. 😓
This is where I fully understood the saying "You have to be brave with your life, so others can be brave with theirs".
Two, yes TWO coastguard boats turned up!!!! These amazing people had a recovery plan that matched ours. That was, vessel 1 to haul her over using our halyard from the top of the mast and vessel 2 attached a heavy duty bridle to drag her out of the hole she'd dug herself.
Holding our breath, this was the moment! After vessel 1 churned up water and I felt the yank down of line1, then vessels 2 and Condesa hit full throttle in unison. And like leading a horse to water, she obediently dragged herself up and followed slowly but surely out into deeper water.
Such jubilation all-round, but no time for high fives as instructions were then shouted to retrieve the working lines, within seconds they were detached and thrown. A quick thumbs up and they were gone, back to VMR Tin Can Bay. Our small strained voices called out our extreme gratitude but the words were left hanging in mid air.
We made our way through the last of the notorious Sandy Straits still giving thought for those dedicated and dutiful people who disappeared as quickly as they appeared, like knights in shining armour. How can you ever thank such people with words!!!! There was no time for money or a champagne hand over... nothing! "Just a beer one day mate!" I heard their skipper shout.
How blessed we were! We came out the other side with everyone and everything intact! Look, even that feeling was promptly put in perspective knowing these volunteers deal with far worse marine rescue missions where survival is the main part of their day.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Thankyou to the volunteers @Coastguard Tin Can Bay -THANKYOU!