Overboard
Be Thankful
This reader contribution really does give all of
us a reason to stop, think, and indeed, be thankful.
 It
was the third race of Two Harbors Fall Series. Cassiopeia had rounded
the weather mark, which happened to be the Gilda Oil Platform. The
wind had picked up a bunch, pumping up around 25 knots and kicking
up some choppy, erratic seas. The spinnaker classes had rounded the
oil platform and were haulin' ass toward the Ventura Yacht Club bar.
The sheets were eased and Cassiopeia squared up to head for the barn.
Randy Alcorn went forward to put a pole on the headsail when the boat took an
ugly dip to leeward and broached. Randy ducked, but not far enough or fast enough,
and became a human base-hit into frigid channel. He was wearing a self-inflating
life vest, which probably ought to be standard issue for the club-level sailor,
and the vest popped him back to the surface. Shocked but conscious. He watched
as the shorthanded crew tried to get the boat under control and mount a rescue
effort.
When Cassiopeia came back, looking for Randy, he wasn't where they thought he
should be. Other boats joined in the hunt. But, as they searched, they seemed
to get further and further away. Randy was starting to feel a little lonely out
there. Coast Guard and Ventura County Sheriffs Search and Rescue units were deployed
to lend a hand. Ultimately, it would be the crew of the oil rig that directed
the SAR helicopter to Randy's location. They plucked him out of the channel and
deposited him back on terra firma.
"Thank God for the guys on top of the oil rig." Randy recalled.
Indeed. Without their superior vantage point a couple hundred feet off the water,
who would have found him? It's a long cold swim.
The good news: Randy gets to clean out his underwear in the privacy of his warm
and dry house.
Lessons? Oh, you bet!
For starters, it's a temporary assignment - this life. Though packing it in while
engaged in the act of yacht racing would have to be up there in the top ten list
of ways to go, I might rather it be a more epic finale. Say, on a Clipper ship
plowing her in under a full rig of sails. Or doin' the wild thing in the aft
cabin of some old gold-plater when the ticker explodes. Just about any demise
on the water is a damn sight better than dying of boredom under the cold stare
of a computer screen.
However, the recent loss of Hans Horrevoets on the VOR ought to stand as a sobering
reminder. The obvious conclusion is that it can happen to any of us. No one is
more prepared for the possibility of losing somebody over the side than the 'round
the world guys. Yet, even they were powerless to stop it.
Maybe we can get schooled on recent events and apply just a bit more caution
in our moves. Not just for our own safety. Not just for those people in the real
world who depend on us to come home at the end of the race. But for our mates,
who might be the ones who have to save our sorry asses. Don't forget, man overboard
routines are really slow.
Of all the boneheaded moves that are unconsciously made by all oblivious yacht
racers, myself included, it's a wonder that we don't have a lot more splishing
going on out there. Personally, I'm givin' thanks for that leeward shroud that
just happened to be within reach, the crewmate who managed to grab a handful
of my foul weather gear, and all those mysterious bailouts in the many near-misses
I've brushed up against. I'm happy to have stayed with the boat. Sometimes there's
just no substitute for luck.
On this Thanksgiving, we can all hoist one for Randy, and for Randy's good luck.
Welcome back, Mate! Comments?
Wendell Liljedahl
11/23/06 |
