Bruce In Bangkok wrote in
:

He replied, "not when
you're as scared as I was!"


I think my worst scare was when we were bringing back Geoffrey's
Endeavour 35 sloop from Florida. There was just two of us, Lloyd and I.
Lloyd at got me up for my watch about midnight and I was to get him up
at 3:30 for his 4-8. About 3AM, I'm 100 miles due S from Charleston in
3-4' seas making good time in a broad reach staring at the radar on a
completely moonless night when "something" to my starboard went
WOOOOOOSH!, a moment of silence, followed by a HUGE roaring SPLASH! that
went on and on.

......then, total silence, the sea noise as if nothing ever happened. No
monster wave, no swamping, no going off course, as if it never happened.
BUT IT DID! Supercharged on adrenaline, Larry was WIDE AWAKE for hours
and not sleepy at all. 3:30 came and went. 4 - 5 - about 6:30 Lloyd
came out looking refreshed from the V-berth and a shower in the tiny
head. "Why didn't you wake me?" My hands were still a little shaky and
my face must have still showed my supercharged state.

I don't think if a Navy Boomer had done an emergency blow and come out
of the water 50 yards off my Starboard beam it would have made any more
noise. I didn't hear any tanks blowing or mechanical noises emergency
blows are sure to make...and I didn't hear a blowhole open to vent a
whale, but that's what it must have been.

We had a second scare during breakfast that was more manageable. We had
a table that hooked to the helm stand and had just pigged out on Lloyd's
excellent Jamaican hot scrambled eggs mixed with fried onions, bell
peppers and potatoes smothered in some kind of spicy Taco cheeze whiz.
We were talking about the third book he was just finishing during the
cruise, his favorite pasttime at sea.....when this MONSTEROUS wooden
cable reel nearly as tall as our mast just floated by. The RADAR alarm
didn't sound, I rushed around the helm to watch the scope and saw
NOTHING, no return at all from our little 2KW Raymarine on a stern stick
up 25'. The wind had died in the morning as the sun came up, the sea
had calmed, but we were still making 5-6 knots on the beam reach with a
150 Genoa wrapped around the main well, a goodly apparent wind over the
airfoil. It just floated there....EMPTY. Now, during the night the old
cruiser was making a good 8 knots and we both started thinking about
what would have happened and were we would be if we'd slammed into that
damned reel at 8 knots in the pitch dark. It would have surely broken
the bow off and sent her to the bottom as she had no watertight
bulkheads like the Amel Sharki Geoffrey sails, now. There was as much
reel in the water as above it...

Dogged tired, I did crash, finally, and slept about 6 hours before Lloyd
got me up again to take the 16-2000 in light air so he could sleep. I
woke him about 2AM and slept some until we got to the Charleston Jettie
entrance about dawn, a beautiful sight every time I point the bow to its
slot on the South side of the rocks.....

That WOOSH still holds the record over the 15-17' seas we encountered on
another trip up the coast caused by "rushing" I hate. The boat just
becomes a tiring thrashing machine over 9' to fight until the damned
front passed....but it didn't WOOOOSH in the dead of night!