"Point the Bow Towards Hope" - Part 2: The Rescue

If you haven't done so, please read the Introduction and Part 1 of this story.

The spectacle of a wild and rough sea at night is frightening: one wave after another after another. You go over a crest of one and you find yourself in an abyss between two columns of water on either side of you. The wind was blowing from the north at 35 to 40 miles per hour, with very heavy rain. This did not seem to be just a passing storm. After about two hours we did what we fearfully had not wanted to do: we lowered our sails, let go of the rudder, and navigate by sight. We were very tired. A full day at sea and all of the bad days and nights before that. Dad started getting delirious. He was asking us about a bus that was near the horizon (actually a light far away) and asking me to talk to the bearded man on the boat. He also called me “Felipe”. We accommodated ourselves as best we could, covered in the sails. The waves would enter and leave the boat. I could not sleep. I was holding on to Dad since I had heard that a person in a delirious state would jump off the boat. I was not letting him go and kept talking to him to keep him alert and to determine his state of mind. My other reason for staying awake was practical: if the catamaran tipped over – and we thought it would at any moment -- it would be easier to save ourselves if we were awake and get on the boat again.

In those terrifying moments I thought of you and Felipe and I prayed. I prayed and felt the peace inside that, whatever happened, we were not going to give up easily. If the boat overturned, we were determined to straighten it and get back on it. I may go through many more experiences in my life, but this moment, I will never forget. We spent 12 hours that way, closer to dying than surviving.

The catamaran, though, resisted everything and kept going like a boat built in a professional boatyard. The bow would head in to the wave and right away would come right back, as if defying the waves. It did not suffer any damage whatsoever in those seas. I know we are alive because of God’s grace in making the almost perfect flotation device.

Hours passed and we hoped that the storm would let up by the time the sun rose. We were hoping to reorient the boat to our course, not knowing how much the storm had deviated us from it. We needed to navigate northeast and we were going to do it. When the sun rose, the huge waves were still there, the wind was blowing a little more from the north than before. We raised the mainsail to half-mast only due to the still strong winds and the waves still buffeting the boat. We still feared the catamaran would flip over so we proceeded on this northerly course.

Around seven that morning we saw a small aircraft a little behind our position. We signaled it, of course, hoping against hope that it would see us and bring the Coast Guard. About an hour later, we saw a Cutter approaching our position from the north. We were beyond happy and elated because we thought the plane had radioed our position for our rescue. The Cutter was coming towards us very slowly. We had been seeing it for about 15 minutes and it seemed to be taking forever to reach us. Suddenly, though, Carlos looked back and saw another Cutter behind us coming towards us at a great speed.

When we all turned to look, the Cutter had already arrived at our position and came alongside us. Mom, the joy we experienced in those moments are indescribable! We did not know how we were getting to the US, and had no clue as to what was awaiting us. All I know is that our lives were saved by the grace of God, and we all thanked the Almighty for having saved us from the sea.

The transfer to the Cutter was pretty difficult. The seas were still very rough since the storm persisted through all of this time period. The catamaran still moved up and down, up and down, even though we already had the Cutter’s line that they had thrown us. As soon as we got close enough to the Cutter, I yelled in English that I could not walk. They told me to be very careful since the sea where we were was teeming with sharks. They said to wait for one of the up movements of the catamaran in a wave and that they would grab my hands and lift me in the boat. After several harrowing attempts, I succeeded in reaching their hands and they lifted me into the Cutter. Carlos had already been lifted into the boat; Dad and Juan’s brother followed me in.

End of Part 2

(Copyright © 2005 The Universal Spectator in trust for an anonymous author. All rights reserved. The material contained in this story on the BabaluBlog.com website is protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of The Universal Spectator™. English translation Copyright © 2005 The Universal Spectator. All rights reserved.)

Posted by George Moneo at July 18, 2005 01:15 AM

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