Terror On The Lake

Fernandina Beach, FL
NoLL

Here's a blog post that's been sitting in my out box for some months.

Remember the day when we got hit with a boat full of kids and grandkids on Valcour Island, when the wind came up and blew like Dickens. We had a heck of a time sailing back against that wind with kids getting scared and sea sick. I wanted to give up and seek shelter until the wind died but we didn't. I wrote a blog post about it here. Well, after the fact, I learned of two real life dramas that were playing out on that same afternoon close to the same location where we were.

The first story you are getting third hand. I heard it second hand from a cruiser in Vergennes. That same afternoon, as we departed Sloop Cove on Valcour Island, another group of boats were anchored near by in Smugglers Cove. Smugglers Cove is very small but it is marvelously sheltered from wind and waves in almost all directions. But on that day the wind and waves came from that particular direction that funneled waves in to the north end of the cove. Well, as the story goes, there was a house boat anchored at that spot, and before long its anchor dragged and the boat was driven up on the beach where it would be pounded by the towering waves.

Since the beach was fine gravel, and since house boats have a relatively flat bottom, I think the skipper's best choice would be to do nothing and wait for the weather to change (it did change 5 hours later). But that's speculation. I was not on the scene. The house boat skipper, called for tow boat assistance. There is no Sea Tow or Tow Boat US franchise on Lake Champlain, but he did manage to contact someone willing to help. That someone appeared with an ordinary cabin cruiser, no towing frame or special equipment.

According to the story I heard, a crew man jumped off the tow boat and swam ashore with the towing line. (SWAM???) The tow line was attached to a bridle connected to ordinary cleats in the stern. In case you don't know, cleats are not nearly strong enough to use to anchor a tow line. What an amateur! Then, as they were towing, the house boat family, man, woman and children, waded in the surf and pushed on the house boat as the tow boat tugged. The witness telling me the story said that he feared that the people would be crushed under the heaving boat. Finally, the boat was freed from the beach. The family swam out the the boat. SWAM!!!??? Then the captain of the house boat swam to the tow boat to settle the bill. SWAM!!!??? All this was transpiring both boats drifted toward a rock cliff in the fierce winds. A witness said that he thought that both boats were about to end up on the rocks. Oh my God. The whole thing sounded like a recipe for death and injury caused by massively bad judgment.

A second story. Jenny told me that the newspapers reported that on that same afteroon a large sailboat was washed up on to the rocks near Valcour island and ground to bits between the waves and the rocks. The crew was rescued.

What is the point? Just that safety, seamanship, and good sense are sometimes needed just as much on an inland lake as in the open sea.