WEDNESDAY NIGHT EXCITEMENT

by Pam

It happened again ... drama, drama, drama.  The evening  started off nice and quiet and just after sunset the lake was filled with the sound of sirens and the sight of flashing lights as the Fire Department responded to a call of a sailor in distress and launched their zodiac.  I must say, it was kind of cool to see the rescue team ... easy on the eyes.  Almost made me want to jump in the water and yell for help.

So, Doug and I were planning to do a little training on Wednesday evening.  A few people were planning to come but it’s sometimes difficult to get to the lake in the evening so it ended up being just me, Catherine, Amanda, Bruce and Doug.  Bruce and Doug set up observation/coaching chairs at the end of the docks and Amanda set some marks and we began some boat handling drills.  Catherine quickly decided she didn’t like the drills and announced that she was going to go sail by herself.  Now, what could go wrong there, right?

Doug did coaching and videoing with me and Amanda and we started out kind of out of control and got better as the evening progressed.  On one particularly crowded and bad rounding I believe I heard Doug say he was filming a “Girls Gone Wide” episode.  The evening was really lots of fun and very productive.  Then Bruce headed home and Doug jumped on my boat for a bit and I sat on the docks and watched.

All of a sudden, it sounded like someone started a motor.  It was the Laser sails flapping like crazy as the wind built and blew through.  Boats started tipping everywhere and surprisingly, many couldn’t get back up.  I think I counted about 5 within view and later heard there was a Flying Scot over further up the lake.  About 5 minutes later the sirens started and shortly thereafter a fire truck and another 3 vehicles with lights and sirens all began circling the lake.  They were going slowly and appeared to be searching along the shore and we couldn’t see Catherine anywhere.  The boats were leaving the course, the sun was setting and a CSC rescue boat was buzzing around to all the tipped Lasers. 

Doug and I both jumped on a Butterfly and headed for the boat I saw tip first that was still over.  As we got closer, we saw that it was Catherine.  She’d been over a good 20 minutes.  She was fine but she’d made enough noise that several people on shore had called 911.  For some inexplicable reason a CSC rescue boat didn’t get to her until a minute or two before the Fire Department and us (did I mention we were on a sailboat and Catherine was about a mile upwind?).  Catherine caught sight of us and started pointing to us.  Just like the Marines, the Butterflyers never leave their sailors behind.  Doug helped get her boat up and sailed it back.  When I returned to the docks there was an experienced sailor and WRBC member that had sailed by Catherine earlier with her screaming for them to go get the rescue boat and who was now trying desperately to launch the WRBC rescue boat.  No doubt about it ... the gas is safe and secure in the gas locker and only a handful of people can get it out.  It would have been entertaining if he’d gotten the gas and tried to pull away from the docks without knowing the combination to the chain securing the boat to the docks.  Somehow we have sacrificed safety for security.  Hopefully, the incident will spark some changes. 

All ended well, Catherine was driven back to WRBC by a Butterflyer and Doug and I chatted with the Fire Department who were concerned with their crude equipment and rescue procedures but Doug and I were impressed and grateful for them but a bit concerned with the rescue efforts of CSC and WRBC.  What a wonderfully safe time for a few things to go wrong and get our attention.