Swirly World Sails South by Andrew Fagan
Author:Andrew Fagan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-12-15T00:00:00+00:00
The GPS put us 1 mile true east of North East Cape and heading directly, by compass course, for it. Iâd been possessed with heading west, but the tide had turned and a current was sending SW rapidly sideways to the north. We now needed to steer southwest instead of west.
Visually there was absolutely nothing to see. An overcast night sky shut down the possibility of the moon being any use, or company. Looking to the west there was nothing to see. But the sound was ominous. The frightening bottom-end booming sound of water on rock. The noise of instant, not too distant, destruction if I let SW get too close.
Identifying where the pongy seaweed smell was coming from also didnât take long. A quick shine of the torch at the sea around SW revealed that we were surrounded by a floating island of thick kelp seaweed, and while the sails were still filling, we were quietly sailing nowhere. That explained what had happened to the engine: the prop had wound itself to a halt, wrapped in thick, long strands of bull kelp. The engine had insisted it keep turning, and the coupling had sacrificed itself.
In a mild panic, I pulled the sails down and pushed and prodded at stubborn bundles of the slippery stuff, one arm firmly attached to the boat or the rigging and the other straining with one of the dinghy oars, leaning over the side, trying to back SW out of it. After a fair bit of frantic and at times irrational effort, it eventually happened, and SW floated free and away from that tangled, shining, wet brown slithery trap.
The main and genoa were got back up and slowly started drawing SW along in a then very light northerly air, heading for the 1-mile gap between Enderby Island and Ewing Island, the unlit entrance to Port Ross.
The sound of the swells executing themselves on the unseen cliffs only a mile away was still very disconcerting. With a suddenly heightened sense of self-preservation, it was gravely obvious to me that now the engine was out of commission, the sailing would be very important. More wind would have helped. With the prospect of auxiliary engine assistance completely removed, the whole dark, heaving seascape and lack of wind took on an even more terribly threatening persona.
On a positive note, the cloud cover had started lifting and the stars came out to see how we were doing. A bit of a moon was up there for a while as well. But the most attractive celestial companion, way up there but viewable from SW, was a surprisingly clear McNaught comet. It was heading to the southwest, right up the gullet of Port Ross, and all we needed to do was hitch a ride.
There was another worst-case navigational scenario here, and I embraced it with a quiet sweat inside my survival suit, again without telling anyone. If the wind dropped completely, and it felt like it would, then SW would be pushed wherever, according to the whims of the currents running around North East Cape.
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