Yesterday, for the first time in 40 years of sailing here at Lord's Point, the dinghy painter (rope attaching the dinghy to the boat) "undid itself" from the cleat on the boat as we were preparing to sail.
"Look!" said Jack, pointing to the dinghy 100 yards away drifting towards shore.
"Oh," was my response, not really comprehending what had happened. Then, when it sunk in that we were stranded, I gulped and said, "I'll swim," starting to remove my lifejacket.
"No," was Jack's reply, "We can get it."
So we did a quick drill to stop what we were doing, start the engine (fortunately it started first pull), cast off, and headed towards the dinghy, coasting up behind it so I could lean over the side and grab the end of the painter. Then it was back to the mooring, pick up the bouy, secure oursleves - and the dinghy -- and resume where we had left off in our routine of hauling up sails.
How did it happen? I'd been cleaning some baked-on seagull droppings off the side of the inflatable as we approached Wind 'n Go, and had to hurry to find the end of the painter. Maybe I did not secure line at the end, so there was insufficient slack for the dinghy to ride easily and there was enough force to loosen the line. Or something like that. Maybe I tied a poor knot in the first place.
I hope you understand why there are not photos to accompany the story of he drama!
And, maybe it happened once before, with Nerissa. Does anyone remember?
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