A Zip-Line “Rescue” At Sea
Unfortunately I have no pics or videos of it (we were a bit busy at the time!). But immediately afterwards I wrote it all down. So, here you go.
We set off on the 2019 ARC Rally from the BVI to Bermuda on a lovely sunny Saturday with about 30 other boats in our covey. Some zipped along faster than others, like the SV Amanda who was quickly toward the front of the pack. That was why we were so were surprised to see her, late on Sunday only about 200 miles into the trip, fallen behind and acting erratically.
By erratic, I mean she seemed to move at an odd angle and not at all toward our Bermuda target. As we came into visual range, we noticed that her foresail was luffing at first, then reefed almost all the way in, and later let all the way out. On top of it all, she was tacking again across the path toward Bermuda. Something was up.
At that point we hailed them on VHF. No response. Now both sails were luffing. We hailed again.
Amari: Amanda, Amanda, this is Amari.
Still nothing. This wasn’t good.
On the third try they responded, stating that they had lost steering and perhaps the rudder. Processing this nightmare for no time at all, the voice came back on and added if there was any medical person on Amari who could help them. There had been an injury with “torn flesh”.
Amari: Is the bleeding controlled?
Amanda: YES, over.
Amari: Are there broken bones that you know of?
Amanda: NO, over.
In the absence of a medical doctor, we simply advised them to sterilize the injury, clean it, apply antibiotic, and a bandage.
Returning to the steering issue, over several back and forth communications we learned that it was actually the steering cable that had broken. The skipper said that he tried to fix it already, but the fix didn’t hold. And they were going to attempt another fix.
Amanda: Amari, Amari. Do you have a spare steering chain?
Amari: YES, over!
We had brought an extra one for exactly this reason. And although this one was made specifically for our boat, our sizes are similar so … it might work?
The skipper came back on and described the chain dimensions and manufacturer, so we dug through the forward interior locker, found the brand new cable in its sturdy cloth bag. Excellent! Now all we had to do was to verify that it was the same manufacturer.
No luck. Honestly though, it didn’t matter at this point. We offered to get it to them anyway, just in case it could be a fit, or retro fit, or used in some makeshift way for them.
Amanda: Amari, Amari, come in.
Amari: Yes Amanda.
Amanda: Please stay with us. Near by along side with us. We are trying another repair.
We had zero intention of leaving until it was all safe.
Amari: We will be here until you have a fix, and you are comfortable with us heading off.
Amanda: Thank you so much Amari, and there will be a mighty party when all this is over!
Amanda didn’t have a satellite phone, so we called ARC Rally Control, but got nothing. We hailed them on the SSB net but could not hail them that way either. Thankfully we were able to reach some others in the fleet, who could relay this information to Rally Control.
Meanwhile the skipper came back on and said that they had gotten limited steerage back, and it was getting too late in the day to be trying to transfer the spare chain over and fix anything. So we agreed to shadow them, just aft and downwind a bit, through the night.
Just then another boat from the fleet, SV Karma Daze, called over VHF and said they heard about the issue and immediately called in to provide aid.
Karma Daze: Where are you? What’s your position?
We let them know our lat/long, provided updated status, our position, trajectory, and speed for both us and Amanda.
The skipper on Amanda overheard and said he was going to try a couple of things as a temporary fix, but wouldn’t apply them until morning, but Karma Daze were not deterred.
Karma Daze: Well we’re coming all the same. For moral support!
Just then Mares Tail piped in as well, to let us know that they too are close and can provide any assistance at all. It felt like the Calvary had arrived!
We moderated our speed to about 5 knots to position ourselves beside and behind Amanda, in case there was a need during the night. Fortunately, all went smoothly through all watches.
Now that we had a moment to think clearly, we realized that we’d agreed to do something we had no idea how to pull off! Transferring contents from one vessel to another when you’re at sea is non-trivial to say the least. First of all, rafting up in a ragged unsettled sea is just not an option. There’s the risk of bashing hulls, but also if the masts tilt toward each other they can get snagged and attached. At that point you have a way more serious problem to manage.
Throwing objects over the water from one boat to the next is just as obvious a solution as it is obviously wrong. You get one chance to land that package, and if you miss it gets an expedited delivery to Davy Jones Locker.
We stewed on it through in the evening, and the inspiration for a solution came to Dottie at around 3am.
By morning, we had our coffee the usual sunrise symphony of colors, working through the steps of our solution for Amanda. We were waiting for them to call us, but by 07:20 or so we decided to go ahead and make a quick breakfast.
Like forgetting your umbrella ensures that it will rain, and buying the replacement part ensures you will find the original one you thought you lost … as soon as the bacon started its sexy sizzle next to the caramelizing onions (for the scrambled eggs that were already cracked and spiced in the bowl beside), so then did Amanda call.
Amanda: Amari, Amari, this is Amanda. We have a temporary fix for our rudder cable, but the other fixes failed and we would very much like to bring your spare chain on board for the rest of the trip, just in case.
Amari: Okay Amanda. We will come along side and transfer the steering cable.
Amanda: Okay great. Thank you. Over.
[after a brief pause]
Amari: Amanda, if you are okay for right now, we JUST put on the bacon, onions and eggs. Can you give us just a couple of minutes. Bacon awaits.
Amanda: [through their laughter] Yes of course! The whole world, I think, would wait for bacon. Enjoy your breakfast!
At this point, the others who had tracked Amanda with us through the night understood that Amanda was okay for now, getting a backup chain for the trip, so they moved forward and checked in periodically on the SSB net.
Post-bacon, we pulled out sails to get to Amanda. She was very hard to catch up to, as it turned out. On hailing her she replied that they had to balance their sails just right to help with the steering fix, so it was actually difficult to slow down! Plus Amanda is a sleek and lovely girl who slices through the water with grace and ease.
So we cranked up the motor to bring our speed into the 7kt range, allowing us to close the gap.
Amari: Amanda, Amanda we are within one mile of you and have a plan for transferring the chain.
Amanda: Yes Amari, please advise, over.
Amari: We will come up along to your windward side, which will be to starboard. The seas are too choppy to raft, so let’s come as close as we’re comfortable. But just in case, please set out fenders on the starboard side. We will toss you a line and use that line to transfer the chain. The chain will be in a canvas bag.
On our end, we took our longest line and coiled it so that it could be thrown between the boats (and hopefully reach them without falling into the sea). The line was fed through the handles of the sturdy canvas bag holding our beautiful brand new backup steering chain. At one end of the line, we made a loop that was would then be attached to a spare halyard fit with a snatch shackle.
Once Amanda tied down the line they received, we’d raise the halyard and that would raise the line now attached to Amanda. So we basically, we created a makeshift zipline!
The plan was to come to the upwind side of Amanda, to throw in the downwind direction. Either they would catch the line or it would fall into the water and we’d have to reel it in and try again. We tied on a small float and advised Amanda to have a boat hook ready in case it went in the drink.
When the time came, we sloshed up to the side of each other with some very bouncy seas between us, and finally Amanda and Amari were due abeam, perhaps only twenty feet away. I heaved the line over, and somehow made it to their deck!
Last wrinkle.
The shackle on the halyard that would hoist the line to zipline the bag over was initially clamped onto the deck. We did this to keep everything in place until the moment we got confirmation that the line had been successfully caught by Amanda.
But to get the shackle around the zip line meant it had to be unclasped from the deck. For a brief moment it was OPEN and NOT YET clipped to the line! The only thing holding the line to the halyard to the bag was supposed to be that shackle (which was still OPEN). Our crew had already started pulling up the halyard on our end, and the open shackle was moving away from us out to sea! In a frantic few miliseconds the clip was grabbed and clipped shut just as the lines went taught between boats. A near miss.
As the halyard raised, it pulled the sack higher, and then zipped right over. They deftly caught it, brought it on board, and released the line back to us.
There was much wooting, fist-pumping, and yelling all around. Amanda pulled off with her just-in-case back up steering cable on board, confirmed that they were good to go, and we made our new course off to Bermuda looking forward to that “mighty party” to come.
