After a nice night at anchor we awoke to anchor beautiful day and being lazy in the sunshine seemed a good idea. After brunch and washing up. Out into the cockpit we went, l decided to lift the outboard motor from pushpit to dinghy and fill fuel tank. Afterwards l paddled around looking at Elektra, she wasn’t looking too bad l thought after all my hard work during the winter.
When climbing back aboard and talking to Vicki, l somehow forgot to tie the dinghy on, and l looked around and saw the dinghy drifting away! At first sight it was only about a boat length away but by the time l had pulled off my clothes 2 boat lengths away. At this point l thought l better put a life jacket on as l know of a skipper drowned in Helford River with a similar event. So l grabbed a old manual life jacket (our newer ones auto inflate with contact with water) wasn’t fitting well and had to adjust, all the time the dinghy was getting further away! At this point I should say l like to be hot and hate the cold! Well climbing down the ladder into the cold water took my breath away and it took me a minute to let go. I can swim quite well but the cold was getting to me, and it was showing me down and it didn’t look like I was catching the dinghy either! I turned and looked back at Elektra no l wasn’t going to get back either. At which point l pulled the toggle on the jacket and it inflated almost instantly. With the added support lying on my back l kicked on towards the dinghy and used my arms as best l could. By the time l reached the dinghy it was ashore and l could stand up. It was then another sailor arrived and asked if l was OK. By then l was but it was nice that someone had noticed.
It hadn’t been a long swim but it had sure taken it out of me. I didn’t know how disabling cold water was until today!
Climbing into the dinghy, l rowed back to Elektra at which point Vicki noticed my bloody foot which l must have cut on a rock, so she did first aid while l dried and changed. It was amazing how much warmer the day seemed after getting back aboard.
It was an old life jacket (15years) and the power of it as it inflated had destroyed the zip so it wasn’t possible to be useful again but l don’t think it owes me anything anyway.
Then l spent the rest of the day being lazy in the sunshine
In the evening we played Scrabble, listening to music and ran the heater to warm the cabin up. By bed time my shoulder was hurting, l had obviously strained when swimming after the dinghy. These days one of my joints is giving me pain, l say don’t get old, but as a friend said the alternative isn’t good either!
Love Sailing 