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We had delayed leaving.
The weather had kicked up and we were waiting for a southerly wind to help
us sail north. During the night Sharon had woken up to a ruckus. Someone was walking the breakwater and
scaring the seagulls. The gulls
were making a tremendous racket.
A search light was scanning the breakwater.
Sharon woke me and told me “something is going on” but I felt it was
probably just some late night revelers and rolled over and went back to
sleep.
The next morning we were
joined for breakfast on Mustang Sally by Dave and Susanne from Cheshire. Half way through breakfast I noticed a
launch struggling in the current and going up against some pilings. I went out to try and help. The launch was maneuvering to avoid a
body in the water.
The body was not moving.
It was floating up to our dock- pushed along by the current so I decided
against jumping in for a rescue.
It was a female with long black hair.
I reached in, grabbed it by the hair, then dragged it out of the water and
dumped it on the dock without thinking about it.
The body was totally stiff and grey and lifeless.
I covered it with a blanket as blood began oozing from the mouth.
 It was a horrible
accident – a woman had fallen in the water late at night. We were unaware that a search had been
going on since the very early morning.
Alas - we found her. I was
traumatized by the experience but not near so much as the poor woman’s
family. Her family arrived early
in the morning to go sailing with her.
Our hearts go out to her family.
The marina has swift currents. If you fell in when the current was
strong and were a competent swimmer with good upper body strength you could
probably pull yourself out of the water.
But it would not be easy. You
would have to swim to the down current dock and preserve your energy for the
climb out. Mooring lines from another boat might
help as would a loud voice to shout for assistance. For a poor swimmer, at night with no
one around, probably groggy, it could be fatal.
In this case it was. Very
sad and traumatic.
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