THE DAY WE LOST OUR "WINGS" SEPT. 9TH

We departed from Lund and headed south. The wind and seas began to build as we passed in between Texeda Island and the mainland. I read aloud to Lou for awhile from my new book “Ghost Sea” by Ferenc Mate and then went below to fix him some lunch. I heard the tell tail sign of the engine winding down and I knew there was something wrong. As the boat slowed I went up the companion way when Lou told me that we had lost “Wings” our dinghy. Sure enough there it was behind us about 200 yards unattached bouncing on the 6 ft. swells and blowing away even farther in the 16 knot wind. I took over the wheel and threw her in neutral while Lou put on his life preserver, went forward to retrieve the boat hook and readied it to grab onto a line. I turned the boat around causing us to wildly rock back and forth as the swells broadsided us. The first pass was unsuccessful as I did not have enough forward speed to turn the boat in time to come close enough even though I was “hard to port”. The second pass came closer but many adjustments had to be made. Forward, reverse, hard to starboard, hard to port while we rolled and pitched one way and Wings the other! Lou hanging off the bow reached with the pole and grabbed a stern line on Wings. He carefully walked it back and tied it to the stern railing. He then jumped into the cockpit and back to the swim step to prevent the sharp propeller of Wing’s outboard motor from gouging the stern of Seventh Heaven. The dinghy was like a wild horse bucking and kicking fighting its stern tie. Lou had both feet in the water pushing away the heavy engine while attempting to swing the bow around parallel to the swim step. The prop hit the stern chipping at the fiberglass and bending the blades. At one point he plucked a crab trap and float to make room for his eventual boarding. The wind gusted and the swells violently pushed and shoved making it impossible to harness the wild Wings. He was somehow able to slither onto Wings while holding on to the big boat. I watched in horror as his powerful arms were twisted and turned in the turbulence. I handed him a new line of which he attached to an islet mounted on the inside of the bow seat. He had me tie the new line to the stern. Now he had to get out of Wings onto Seventh Heaven. I tried to hold the bow closer with the boat hook but was overtaken by the power of the churning water and the weight of the dinghy being tossed up and down at an opposing rhythm of the big boat. I had to brace my body against the railing not to be pulled into the water by the force. Lou then instructed me to slowly point the bow of Seventh Heaven into the wind. As the two boats became aligned he was able to hand over hand the line to the swim step and pull himself aboard. The adrenaline pumped through our bodies flushing our faces to a bright red. We pulled the frayed painter line aboard to examine the cause of our dangerous encounter. I pointed the boat south and Wings obediently followed with the new line cutting a scar on her bow. Lou went below to change his soaked clothing. We congratulated each other on our great team work and then decided to pull into Pender Harbor for the night.