New Hope Member (Almost) Lost At Sea

A Message from Chris Howell

Well today was one of the most exciting days of my life... certainly a day I will NEVER forget!!! I went out sailing today in a small (13.5 ft.) sailboat on the large lagoon in Majuro Atoll (Marshall Islands). I was a couple of miles out to sea and was having an absolute blast! But all of a sudden a large gust of wind came up and blew my boat over. This in and of itself was not such a big deal, but it did cause a problem as I lost my sunglasses, suntan lotion, my only bottle of water on the boat, and my favorite t-shirt! But I knew how to go about righting a sailboat that's tipped over. I swam under the boat and retrieved the main sheet (main rope that is used for controlling the boom) and the wooden centerboard (the centerboard is the device that's used to prevent the boat from drifting sideways when moving through the water). I inserted the centerboard in its slot and then used the main sheet to pull myself up on the hull of the upside down boat. I then put my body weight against the centerboard to cause the hull to twist toward me, thus "prying it" out of the water. Once the hull began to right itself, I shifted one foot onto the centerboard while I stood on the hull with my other foot and pulled on the mainsheet. This managed to right to the boat, but since it was flooded with water it promptly flipped back over again. Now this wouldn't be such a big deal except that I was a couple of miles out at sea with no one around to help me out! And to make matters worse, I knew that I was in shark waters.

I continued my attempts to right the boat, and could tell that I was utilizing the correct tactics, because the boat was attempting to right itself. I once again repeated my maneuvers and managed to right the boat once again. This time I remained in the water and attempted to bail out the water that had flooded the cockpit using my hands (since my bailing device had also floated away when the boat capsized). Once I got enough water out of the boat to help raise the waterline I held onto the main sheet and hauled myself back in to the cockpit. Now I was back in the boat and once again in control, but the boat was now in irons.

A sailboat that's in "irons" is a situation where you are facing directly into the wind, and the sails are unable to catch the wind to propel the boat. This situation is usually corrected by giving the tiller (rudder) a swift turn with your hand to cause the boat to shift position, thus enabling the sails to catch the wind. I had done this a couple of times earlier in the day with good success. But this time when I tried to use the tiller to shift the position of the boat, the tiller broke in half back at the rudder mount. Now I was in real trouble with no way to steer or control the boat!

My first thought was that I needed t o remain calm, because panicking would only make the situation worse and prevent me from being able to think clearly and rationally.

I focused on keeping my breathing and my heart rate under control so that I could remain calm and collected (at least as much as possible).

I was now drifting alone at sea with no rudder to control the boat. I attempted to lash the tiller handle to the top of the rudder mount, but there wasn't enough exposed area on the tiller to be to affix it to the rudder assembly. I was left with no choice but to drift.

I could still see land, but I was definitely too far to be able to attempt to swim to shore, and I wasn't real comfortable with the idea of being in the water with the sharks around. I'm really not one to be afraid of sharks, but I prefer being able to see them rather than having them come up from down in the deep toward me.

I decided to reef the sail to cut down on the speed of the boat. I also cleated the main sheet as my hands were getting sore from trying to hold it. I was able to guide the boat somewhat by using the centerboard as a makeshift rudder, but fatigue would soon set in and I was forced to bring the centerboard in to rest my arms. I was making slight progress at getting back to the island, but was also being driven downwind toward the open sea. I saw a boat passing in the distance, but it was too far to be able to see me or hear me whistling or shouting. So I focused on just keeping the boat on a steady course and bailing out the water that was quickly accumulating in the cockpit from the ever-increasing waves. My biggest concern was just to be able to keep the boat right sided since I was now in deeper waters with much bigger waves. If I capsized again, I could likely right the boat, but this required great effort and I didn't want to exhaust myself. Plus the extra energy would increase my need for water to drink which I no longer had. Interestingly enough, the words of one of my favorite songs "Man In The Wilderness" (the source of my email address) contains the lyrics, "I'm dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean". Now I was not dying of thirst. Not even close. Nor was I in the middle of the ocean. But the song kept going through my head...

I was doing fairly well at keeping the boat steady and in an upright position. Again, this was my biggest challenge since I really had no way to control the boat. I drifted in the lagoon for about two hours, focusing on keeping the boat upright and dry.

Finally, after about 2 hours of drifting in this condition, I saw a small boat approaching me in the distance. I dropped the sails and stood up waving the centerboard in my arms to attract the attention of the captain. The boat had about 5 Marshallese men in it who were returning from a dive trip, and one of them spotted me. They steered their boat over to me and quickly identified my dilemma when they saw the broken tiller in my hand.

They pulled along side of me and I climbed into their boat and we hooked a rope onto the sailboat and towed it back to the area that I had set sail from.

I was safe, but it certainly made for an interesting adventure!

I'm glad that I was able to keep a level head through this situation. If I had panicked I might not have been so fortunate!

Life's definitely an adventure! So what's next???



Chris