First we raised it and a knot broke free and it was up there flapping in full glory. So, we brought it down, tied it up tight and sent it back out. Shortly thereafter, I was putting a life jacket on Vitality on the port deck when I saw Innocence get smashed up against the lifelines. Apparently the spinnaker had become slack, at that moment she walked between the rope and lifelines (a pinch zone). As it filled with air, it was smashing her. It was so fast, I couldn't say anything or do anything when the air let out, she went back down, and then it totally filled. At this point she was lifted off the deck, smashed into the lifeline and thrown headfirst over the lifeline into the water. Courage and I both saw this. I had milliseconds of thought - "she's a swimmer, but she has no life jacket, we're underway, so it'll be a little bit, maybe she got hurt in the ropes, but it looked relatively smooth, I need to go with her." Somewhere at this point of conclusion, I also heard Courage say, "You have to go." And I went. I was focused on where I needed to be, where Innocence was, how I was going to find her in the water, etc. Not so much in how I was going to get in. Later in review, apparently I jumped straight from the deck, over the 42-inch lifeline, and head first into the water. Good to know that's an option.
So, I came in pretty close to Innocence. She had a look of surprise or slight concern on her face, but not distress or panic. She was not injured and was swimming to me. Cassidy then threw in a life jacket, so we began our swim in that direction. We didn't need it, but it was a nice goal and a bonus to have floatation. When we got to it, we put it on her. She was swimming toward the boat, I told her to save her energy, they can move so much faster than we can. She said, "Yeah, save your energy for splashing." So, she remembered some discussion that you splash so the boat can see where you are. That was good.
She said, "I think they'll bring the big boat back for us." I told her they would. I explained to her as they dropped the spinnaker, then turned the boat around. We splashed a little bit, but it did appear that they were aiming right toward us, so I figured we were in good shape. We would have done more splashing if they went past us or were aimed away from us, but we liked their course, so just held tight.
As they came in, they were moving and the mainsail was still up. There was a wake!!! I was hoping there was a rope or something to grab onto. Apparently Cassidy was going to put one out, but it was vetoed so that it didn't get in the prop. I grabbed onto Innocence's hand and said "Hang on." My plan was to keep my right hand free and grab onto anything I could. Then pull Innocence in with my left. Cassidy was on the back step with a hand out and braced. She, on the other hand, had Innocence as the priority, so grabbed onto Innocence. This was all good and well, but now I was towing behind Innocence who was the middle link. Not perfect! I swam or pulled up and grabbed onto the kayak handle, which was tied on the back swim steps. Now I could let go of Innocence, push her while Cassidy pulls her, and we were all set!
We reviewed our man overboard plan throughout the day. Overall it went fast and well. There was no distress or panic or injuries, etc. We taught the boys to push the man overboard on the GPS that leaves a waypoint wherever you push it. We put the life-ring at an easier place to find/throw (but everything that isn't tied down gets moved around). But in general, we followed our plan. I have been nominated as the "woman overboard" when a child goes in. I don't mind being in, I'm probably the least valuable adult
I asked Innocence, "Were you scared when it threw you in?" She said no. "Were you scared when you were in the water?" She said no, but followed with, "but I went under." So that was her main concern.
Obviously no photos, but I can play it again and again in my mind's eye pretty vividly.
So, again, we certainly weren't winning the race. You can see our backtrack on the GPS, we settled things down, enjoyed a nice snack of our newly ripening bananas, and went to dry off and play indoors. Pretty soon, we were right back out with dolphins on our bow. I was getting some gorgeous pictures where you could see the dolphins under the water. Weather is beautiful, seas are relatively calm, we sailed for awhile, but are going to be getting in just near dusk/dark, so have turned on motors to try to beat the sun. We have fish left over from yesterday's catch for dinner and are looking forward to seeing a new island.
We are going to Ua Pou. It has the tallest spires of the islands, a white sandy beach with no waves for landing your dinghy, as well as reported to be the "best dinghy dock in the Marquesas." Not something we worry about, but sounds lovely.
Tomorrow the local office of tourism at this island is putting on an event to encourage cruising and tourism to their island. There's supposed to be free local food, probably dances and crafts?? We really aren't sure, but there's quite an entourage of boats going in. Looking forward to it, probably a nice reunion with all of our buddy family boats who have gone directly to Nuka Hiva and we haven't seen them in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to one of the more beautiful islands here, the local cultural show, and seeing all of our friends! Sounding good. We can get some information about Nuka Hiva (our following island) from people with families who have just done it, so it's perfect! This island also has a French bakery and maybe even Internet. And so we sail off into the sunset with some hope of arriving before it actually sets. Think we'll be anchoring out of the bay based on the amount of radio traffic and people we know are coming.
Bon soir from a now more experienced crew,
Shannon
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