ADAPTING... hanging on (Part 97c)


As soon as I realized what was happening I let the wind out of the mainsail (the big one) to slow the boat down. Norma had been holding on to the jib sheet (a rope attached to the small sail in the front) of the boat when she flipped off. For some reason (thankfully) she didn’t let it go. Because the sheet was attached to the sail when she ended up in the water her weight acted as an anchor slowing the boat even more. I turned to look at her and she was on her back being pulled through the water and very obviously swallowing some. Her feet were in front of her and when I tried to pull her back to the boat I reached out for her to grab my hand and arm. By that time she was in full panic mode and basically ignored me. Once I got her close to the boat I reached down and grabbed the waistband of her shorts and pulled her up so she could grab hold of the boat which she did. However, she was only 1/3 of the way back into the boat. When I pulled her up I felt the material give way but I’d gotten her going in the right direction. Now I had to get her all the way in.

The whole time this was going on the sails were flapping wildly just above us. By this time I’d say the wind was blowing around 15 mile per hour and I was not only worried about Norma but also about getting control of the boat. If I didn’t there was a good possibility that it could capsize and fill with water and then we’d both be in danger. With Norma hanging on but unable to pull herself into the cockpit I could only get partial control. It took a minute or so to stabilize the boat at which time I focused on Norma. I remember imploring her to help me by pulling herself into the boat but she said she couldn’t and was barely holding on to what she had. There was no way for me to lift her up but I figured I could grab the back of her shorts and sort of drag her further inboard. I got a handful of the back of her shorts and gave a yank. Before they ripped again it was enough to get most of her body into the boat.

She’d been coughing right from the time I got her part way into the boat and it was from having swallowed the salt water while she was being dragged along. I got her to acknowledge that other than that she was OK. I started heading for shore knowing from her look that she’d had enough sailing for the day. I remember hoping that the experience wouldn’t turn her away from sailing/racing in the future.

We were the first boat back to the beach which meant there wasn’t much, if any, help available to assist in getting my boat out of the water. However, before that I had to get the rudder off and the sails lowered. The tide was high and the waves were larger than usual which made our situation a little more grave than usual. When Elle (or anybody else) sailed with me she knew she’d have to jump overboard and then hold the boat while I removed the rudder. Under similar conditions she had a bit of a struggle. When I told Norma to jump over and then hold the bow (front) of the boat she gave me one of those looks of panic. But I didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t and boat drifted back towards the shore and the rudder hit bottom it could possibly damage the boat. I’ll admit that I yelled at her. She was still in shock from her ordeal but I did get her to go overboard. However, she was easily three or four inches shorter than Elle and the waves were washing over her and the boat continued to drift backwards towards the shore. I took a look and saw she was only holding onto the boat with one hand. Seeing that I yelled again. ”BOTH HANDS! BOTH HANDS!" She responded and it did slow the backward drift of the boat enough for me to get the rudder off.

By then some of the beach goers had seen that we were having trouble and had come down to the water’s edge. Among then I recognized JR’s mother and sister. (JR was the young lad who had done well the previous Summer in his first year of racing) Once I got the rudder off and stored inside the boat I went to take hold of the boat from Norma. When I was almost to her I could see between the waves that her ripped shorts were now down around her knees. Earlier, I’d thought that she had her bathing suit bottoms on since she was wearing the top. It was very obvious that she wasn’t.

Cotton, when dry, can be very opaque. When wet it has the opaqueness of tissue paper. There was no doubt about the fact that she was wearing cotton bikinis even though I only got a view between the waves. Once I took hold of the boat she attempted to pull what was left of her shorts up. As she made her way to the shore I could see the damage I’d done. I’d paid no attention to it on our trip back to shore but it was very obvious as she walked away from me.

They were a pair of fitted shorts with no belt and a side zipper. Evidently when I’d grabbed hold of her the first time I’d popped the zipper. With no button they were basically held up by her hips. When I’d grabbed the rear of the shorts to pull her all the way into the boat I ended up ripping them all the way down the side where the zipper was. It was interesting watching her leave the water with her holding the shorts up as best she could. There was a clear area of one butt cheek showing off her panties. Denise, JR’s sister, had already seen enough of Norma to recognize she needed help and had run up the beach to fetch her beach towel. She ran back and wrapped it around her and then walked her up to the clubhouse. I was left to hold the boat until the rest of the racers showed up.

To be continued...