Dinghy Rescues in George Town
27 May 2012 | George Town, Exuma Bahamas
Robin
I can't believe I haven't updated the blog since Evan and Owen returned from the States on Friday 13 - and what a night it turned out to be!
Everything was going fine that day except for the weather which was forecasted to turn bad with high winds gusting over 25 knots for the next several days. The guys were scheduled to arrive at the airport at 6:30 pm so John sent them a text that we would be waiting for them at the Exuma Yacht Club and to have a taxi drop them off at that location.
We were so looking forward to seeing the guys and hearing all about their trip back home. It was going on 7:30 pm and still no Evan and Owen. The bartender could tell we were worried and offered to check on their flights since we didn't have our phones with us. Big mistake! Sure enough their flight was delayed again and finally when they still hadn't arrived by 9:00 pm we took the dinghy and went back to the boat to get John's phone.
The winds that were predicted for the evening had arrived and made for a wet dinghy ride back to the boat. In all the frenzy to locate the phone the dinghy didn't get tied to the boat properly and managed to get loose with the winds blowing it toward the shore. John quickly jumped into rescue mode, untied the sea kayak from the bow of the boat and threw the kayak over the side. Unfortunately, the winds made the water so bumpy that when John went to climb in the kayak he fell into the water - not good! He managed to get back in the kayak and paddle like crazy to catch up with the dinghy that was about 50 yards away. John did manage to rescue the dinghy and bring it back to the boat. He changed his clothes and was off in the dinghy with the kayak attached headed for the Yacht Club to wait for the guys - without his phone! Luckily as John was leaving I saw a message on his phone from Owen wanting to know where we were and that they were waiting at the dinghy dock. I didn't worry because I knew he would meet up with the guys.
I fell asleep waiting for them to return to the boat because they decided to have a beer at the Yacht Club and when I awoke at 1:00 am they still weren't back. I became quite concerned not having heard from them about their extended stay and tried texting Owen on his phone but didn't get a reply. My thoughts started to run wild and of course I was starting to fear the worse. I grabbed the chart book and started to look for the Exuma Yacht Club phone number and any other emergency numbers I may need. I tried calling Owen and the Yacht Club several times but no answer. An hour had gone by and now I'm trying to decide if I should call the local police or BASRA (Bahamas Air-Sea Rescue Association) when John's phone begins to vibrate and it's Owen. After a sigh of relief but still angry at the same time I answered the phone and Owen is yelling, "turn on the strobe light so we can find the boat"!!! They couldn't find the boat and had to return to the dinghy dock to call me. I'm holding a strobe flash light for about 15 minutes when I finally see the dinghy, with kayak in tow, heading for the boat. Just as they reach the boat the tow line for the kayak got caught in the propeller of the dinghy motor which caused the motor to shut off and the dinghy began to quickly drift away from the boat heading back to shore! They were able to free the line and start the motor again and by the time they made it back to the boat they were soaked!!! with about three inches of water in the dinghy. The suitcases and backpacks where completely soaked because they tried to use them to shields when they left the dinghy dock from the waves that were splashing over the side of the dinghy. All the clean clothes in the suitcases the guys were so proud to have done before their return trip were completely wet and the items John had them bring back were questionable. It was a long night and I was just glad they made it back to the boat safely!
The winds were with us for a few more days and with that came a few dinghy incidents - not ours this time thank goodness. I was aware of about five other dinghy incidents over the course of several days but there may of been more. The guys were involved in two of the dinghy rescues and started to get a reputation for coming to the aid of distressed cruisers. Someone jokingly suggested that we should start putting little dinghy symbols on the side of the boat for each rescue.
John located a dinghy that had gone missing overnight when someone didn't tie off the dinghy properly (at least we're not the only ones). Unfortunately, the dinghy and its motor were found upside down in the water after crashing into the rocky shore.
The other time was when we heard a cry on the VHF radio around 7:00 pm from a cruiser requesting assistance because his wife was drifting away from the beach and couldn't get the dinghy motor started. He was on his boat and couldn't go and help her because she had the dinghy. At first the guys didn't pay much attention to the call because the caller was on the other side of the channel but about 30 minutes later the situation had evaluated into a distress call for more cruisers to help because now they couldn't find dinghy. Evan got on the radio and offered to bring a big search light and off they went. Because it was dark Evan and Owen could see several dinghies running back and forth along the shore line trying to find the missing dinghy. Evan stopped the dinghy just as they crossed the channel to see which way the wind would take them and with Owen shining the search light in the direction the wind was taking them he saw something shiny. Sure enough as they got closer they saw the dinghy bobbing in the water but didn't see anyone in the dinghy. As they got closer to the dinghy they found a woman, folded over sobbing and the dinghy was nearly full of water from the wind splashing water into the boat. She didn't respond when Evan asked if she was okay but he thought she looked okay. Using the handheld radio, Evan let everyone know that she was found and they were bringing her back to her boat. Hooray!
Several "good job guys" came over the VHF radio and all was good!