A DAY OF THANKS by Chuck Nunes
My brother Joe, his wife, my wife, and I were anchored in our little sailboat on the windward side of Catalina Island. We were enjoying a bright sunny morning when a Coast Guard vessel passed, blasting a loud warning: "A major storm is headed this way, please move to the other side of the island.”
We immediately started sailing around the north end of Catalina towing our 8-foot dinghy. But then it broke loose and crashed on the shore rocks. Our outboard engine was not working, but we could still sail to Cat Harbor. I later put anchors down and quickly learned that just two anchors could not hold our deep-keeled boat off the shore in the raging wind. We would be grounded if we did not get away from shore. So, I decided we would have better luck in the open sea and sail on to the mainland. We then saw the Coast Guard towing in a large power cruiser, but I figured our little 24-foot sailboat would do much better and would take the 10- to 20-foot waves straight on the bow of the boat. We headed out with just a tiny jib sail up.
Then we rode a never-ending roller-coaster with the bow crashing into the next wave before disappearing into it. The old-fashioned planked hull had weathered countless raging storms.
My wife and sister-in-law were inside the cabin praying. My brother was hand pumping the bilge water squeezing in through the planks of the hull. As the only person who knew how to sail, everyone's life was in my hands. For this reason, I tied a lifeline to myself and to the boat in case I would be washed overboard. The boat slammed deep inside one giant wave, then exploded to the top of the next one. Less than an hour passed when I looked ahead and saw the cliffs of Portuguese Bend and the mainland!
I needed to make a hard right turn to avoid crashing on the rocks. But if I did, the mast and sail would hook the next wave and take on water. We were headed for the rocks when a large freighter heading for the breakwater opening saw the fix we were in. The horn blasted and the freighter’s forward motion stopped. This blocked the large oncoming waves long enough for us to gradually turn right and reach the breakwater opening. Once inside, we had lighter winds and a peaceful sail into our slip.
We coasted into our slip with all sails down, but the boat still moved too fast. We crashed into the dock, surprising a group of party-goers.
My wife got out of the boat and knelt down to kiss the dock, happy to be alive.
After checking we were all okay, the revelers invited us to join the party.
