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.