David N.
02-07-2003, 11:45 AM
So there we where , tide was ebbing big time , we left 16 , and where heading down to Harding Rock ( ? ), straght down the city front , DDW , chute up , port tack , had to go real low on the lay line , for harding , jibed , sq'd away the fore deck , raised the ginny , was ready to drop the chute , wind about 30 knot's ( just a summer's day , on the bay ) , about this time we are coming around to a fore reach , and I take the line off the cleat , the winch is jamed , now the chute is under a pretty heavy load , and I try and slip the line out , the boy's are yelling at me , took a green horn out he is down below puking his gut's out , and we left one shy of a full crew to start . I am paying out the line when it jump's the winch , yard's me up the mast to the jumper's , the chute hit's the water , and fill's , spreader's are dipping , we are knocked down flat , look back in the cockpit the sheet is dragging the boy's straight to a snatch block , about ready to squezze them thru . I grab the mast and let the line run on thru , they get the chute in , all along giving me the evil eye , so I come down to the spreader's and just kind of hang out awhile . I knew I was in for a shellacking one guy wrestled and the other was( still is ) a judo master , me I boxed , but the writing was on the wall . Later on after the race , several other crew's from different boat's where telling me what a brave thing I did to save the day , if they only knew .