John and Bob from Charisma became heros on Thursday night - saving a fellow cruiser's boat before it went crashing into the reef. The day began with a strong wind blowing from the north (normal prevailing winds are from the east). The grib (weather) files predicted the wind would eventually clock around from out of the west, and continue to blow around 20 knots. This would leave all the boats in the mooring field on a lee shore (the wind blowing us all towards shore and the reef, with our bows facing out to sea). Not a safe position to be in. We were all confident in our mooring lines though, and besides - we still had a bit more of the island to see, so we decided to go ashore one more day while we still had the van. Bob stayed behind on Charisma to work on photos and read (thank goodness he stayed behind...).

Getting ashore that morning with the heavy winds and seas was a sport in itself (but it was to get much worse later in the day). Getting ashore means dumping your wife or crew at a ladder near the steps, they then climb to the top of the wharf, and then one person runs the electric crane. One person is left in the dingy to secure the crane's hook onto a 3 point dingy bridle. The electric crane is then used to lift the dingy out of the water. Once it is level with the top of the wharf, you swing it on in and place it on a roller cart to park your dingy off to the side and out of the way - so the next cruiser can go through the same process. You don't want to tie your dingy to the wharf and leave it in the water as it will get pounded to pieces by the surge of the water. The surge was already starting to build that morning - making the leap to the ladder an act of faith, but we all made it ashore safe and dry.

So on we went with our day - exploring the famous Talava Arches, eating our picnic lunches, and running some errands in town. By the time we made our way down to the wharf (around 3 o'clock) the wind was howling and the surge was pounding. The wind had clocked around as predicted and was now directly out of the west - along with some heavy seas. All 5 of us stood there and studied our predicament for quite some time. The waves were breaking at the point of where the dingies are placed into the water from the crane, and the surge was at least 3-4 feet high. We needed to get back to our boats though to make sure all was well (Pat and John from The Rose had their dog Sushi onboard that they needed to get back to), so John (LeDoux - the crazy man) decided to give the dingy launch a try. He got in the dink before we hoisted it up and over the water. Then slowly I lowered him (at his direction of course) near the water and surging seas. But all it takes is one big wave and you become a dingy turned turtle and crash onto shore. Still a few feet above the water, John got hit with a big one, causing the dink to swing wildly on the crane hook and dousing John with a rush of seawater. "Take me up! Take me up!" he shouted. We got him back up and swung safely onto the wharf again - but much wetter than when he had started and the adrenaline pumping. Mission aborted and it was time to tcome up with Plans B and C.

Pat and John (from The Rose - I will just call him John.G from here on out to keep the 2 Johns straight) had brought their snorkle gear with that day - John, Ann, and I had unfortunately left ours on the boat. Pat and John.G are strong swimmers and decided to try and swim for it (Plan B) - leaving all their personal stuff behind in the van for the night. After timing the surge, John.G jumped in first and swam for about 50 feet, then turned around and gave Pat the thumbs up that all was fine and she shouldn't have a problem following suit. In between surges, Pat jumped in next and off they swam, bobbing up and down with the swells and waves. The 3 of us watched from the wharf and Bob was standing by on Charisma with dingy nearby in case they needed some assistance. Thank goodness the 3 of us are on the mooring buoys nearest the wharf. About 20 minutes later Pat and John.G were safely aboard The Rose and all was well - for them.

Being left behind on shore, the 3 of us decided to head back into town to the yacht club, have a beer, and think things over a bit. Maybe it would calm down a little by then (wishful thinking!). We were not the only yachties stranded ashore - the yacht club was a busy place with crews of at least 3 other boats waiting for things to calm down. After drinking our beer to calm our nerves, and discussing the situation among ourselves, we headed back on down to the wharf to try our Plan C.

When we got to the wharf, it was even worse than before. The waves were now breaking at the second set of stairs further on down the wharf, and the surge was easily 6 feet high now. It was now 5:30pm, so we only had an hour and a half of daylight to work with. Ann had her handheld VHF radio, so we talked to Bob to see if he might be interested in swinging by and picking us up - one at a time. He was willing to give it a try (this was his first act of bravery for the evening, to be followed by yet another later that night!). At first we thought we were each going to have to jump into the water and try to swim away from the concrete wharf, then Bob would pluck us from the water and into the dingy. Once he had made his way over to the wharf though, we were all studying the timing of the surge, and there was usually about a 60 second repreave with smaller breaking waves before the next big one hit. Bob was willing to drive the dink right up next to the second set of steps long enough for one of us to jump into the dink, then drive off and get us onto Orcinius nearby, then come back for the other bodies - one at a time. Ann took the first leap of faith from the steps and into the dink (it wasn't graceful, but very effective!) and off they went - dumping her off on Orcinius, then coming back for me next, then finally John. As Bob motored me back to Orcinius, the waves looked huge! But it was actually kind of fun riding these huge waves in this little dingy! But I don't care to do it again. The first thing I did when I got dumped off on Orcinius was pour Ann and I a shot of tequila! We were both pretty pumped up, but Ann still had to make the transfer back into the dingy and finally onto Charisma before she could relax a bit - so only 1 shot for her. Bob got John back onboard Orcinius, Ann jumped back in the dink, and we all had made it back safely to our boats.

Bob had no more than tied their dingy to the back of Charisma when we heard Karen and Jim from Sockdolager calling on the VHF. Karen saw that the boat 'Sunshine' moored in front of them and Charisma had a line chaffed all the way through and no one was on board! There was still a second line holding them to the mooring bouy, but no one knew (or trusted) the condition of that second line. So Bob jumped back in his dingy (no easy feet with the wind and waves still pounding) and swung by to pick up John, who took 2 heavy duty lines with him to use as replacements if needed. Bob drove up next to the sailboat and dropped John off. Then John and Bob proceded to run one of our heavy lines to the mooring bouy - John from the deck and Bob from the dingy. It took them well over an hour and it was after darkness to resecure the sailboat as the one line had chafed all the way through and the second one was also on it's way to doing the same. The owners were unable to get to their boat that night and had to spend the night ashore. If John and Bob had not re-secured the boat, we were certain it would have broken free during the night and crashed onto the reef - possibly hitting another boat along it's way. So John and Bob are our heroes!!! And the couple from Sunshine could not have been more thankful - they definitely understood the good deed John and Bob had done.

Three of the other skippers were able to make it back to their boats that night as well. A fellow that had remained on his boat took his dingy over near the wharf where 3 guys - each from a different boat, proceded to dive off the wharf and into the water and swim out about 100 yards to their friend's dingy, climb on board, and then they were ferried back to each of their boats. The rest of the wives and crews spent the night at the yacht club, or motels nearby. The wind finally mellowed and clocked around at about 2am - and all was well in the Niue mooring field!