Where WhimSea Takes Us

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We left the dock on Saturday morning shortly after the Club's Pancake Breakfast. The plan was to head to the Apostle Islands for the evening. We had a beautiful sail all the way out. The wind was just astern of us, causing us to pole out the jenny, but that meant we could also really fly.

We arrived at York Island around 4:00 pm and made preparations to start the engine and drop anchor. Unfortunately, the engine wouldn't start. Troy called the marina and they offered no insight, but did let folks at Knife know that we would be coming in without an engine, we might need a tow.

Since our options were to drop the anchor under sail and hope for enough wind the next day, or to use the wind we did have to return to the marina, we decided to turn around and head back to Knife. We couldn't predict what the weather would do the next day and we didn't want to squander the wind we did have, even though it was from the wrong direction.

We called Dave Martin (Rain or Shine) around 11:00pm and gave him our location and plan. We would sail as far as we could, get as close to the marina as possible before hailing them on 16. Of course now I would suggest 9, but that night we chose 16 which means lots of boat traffic kept everyone awake that night.

The trip back provides to e very long. We beat to windward the entire way. It was cold and made me very grateful for our silkies. The wind scoured our faces and I'm seriously thinking we should bring ski masks on board the boat.

As night fell the winds diminished and a dampness joined us. Deep, penetrating dampness. The air from shore was sometimes much warmer then the ambient temperature and it make you actually feel colder to be behind the dodger and away from the wind.

There was a lot of ship traffic that night as well. Only one was close enough to be concerned with us though. They were so curious, in fact, that they turned on the spotlight and flashed us. We must have looked an odd sight with the white sails against the pitch black night. Our masthead light was dancing with the rhythm of the lake and indistinguishable from the stars save for its slight movement.

We took turns napping in the cold as we ghosted along, sometimes reaching four knots, but often at two. Around 1:30am we called Rain or Shine and provided the coordinates. They made preparations and collected volunteers for the 'rescue mission'.

During that time, we got another gust of wind which changed our location slightly so by the time Rain or Shine was out our point changed. They didn't see us at first, or actually didn't recognize us. They light lit the sail to make us appear to be a bigger vessel. But eventually we found each other. They had rigged a harness on back so the tow line could be run. We hooked up and made for home.

It worked perfectly. WhimSea touched a dock lined with friends to steer her home around 4:30am. It was an excellent feeling to see how people pitched in to help. And Rain or Shine had it all figured out.

We made it safely.