kalla man
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2006
- Messages
- 100
So I figured this story might generate some interest among my friends here on the forum. Its one of the craziest things thats ever happened to me.
About a month ago I was visiting some friends of mine that live the the Bahamas (Lubbers Key, Abacos). My buddy has been living down there for over 10 yrs. he runs a couple of cabins and charters two beautiful 45' catamarans. If any one has interest in either,, drop me a line, great vacation for the family!
Anywhoo. As we were out trolling one day we noticed in the distance what looked like a sail boat with no mast. As we got closer it became obvious that there WAS no mast, snapped clean off about three feet above the deck, all the rigging in the water still attached. So we yelled at the boat, no response, we blew the air horn, no response. tried the radio, no response. at this point my buddy turns to me and says "you need to board that boat".
At this point I am feeling a bit wary about getting on this thing. I mean It wasnt the most comfortable situation. there was some blood pumping through my veins.. to say the least.
He pulls me up to the boat and I jump on. Both the hatches are wide open So I yell inside "anybody there"......no answer, there is enough water in the cabin that the floor boards are floating, and there is a very unpleasant oder coming from the cabin.
Now im thinking that im going to go down in this cabin and find a body. I get down in there and start walking around on the shelves and anything else i can find that is above the water. I notice that all the important documents are out on the counter and there are empty flare gun cartages too. As i crawl around in the cabin of this boat i am expecting to find a body around every corner. thankfully I didnt. The stink was coming from a large tupperware box that had a bunch of fruit in it. Now that i have cleared the place. i am begining to notice how beautiful this boat is. Main salon is huge and there are 2 heads and 3 births. Flats screens in all three!!
I get back up on deck and give my buddy the news, he looks at me and says "did you ever wanted to be a pirate growing up?"
he trows me a line and tells me to tie off to a bow cleat.. now we were not exactly in a tow boat here.. it was a Rampage 25' or so cuddy but it did have a yannmar inboard diesel. and i start cutting off lines with a knife.. only one problem.... the mast is hanging in the water with the sail and all the rigging.
and we have no tools to get it off
he gets on the radio and calls up some of his buddies who show up in a little whaler with a box full of tools, and we hacksaw the cables and get the mast free. laying on the bottom of the Atlantic now ( in itself was prolly a couple thousand dollars in scrap aluminum)
long story short (not really short at all) It takes about 7 hours to tow it back to his place where he moored it up (half of that time was in the dark) but boy was there a party that night.
The boat ended up being a 45' Oyster Mid 90's and what a beautiful boat she was , even in her sad state.
We ended up finding the owners contact info in the cabin and got intouch with him by phone. He told us they got caught in a storm of the Turks and Caicos and was de-masted when they surfed down a wave and rolled the boat. luckly no one was hurt too bad but they had the coast guard air lift them off. He was excited that the boat was found and said that the insurance company would be down to make offers on buying the boat back.
this is where the story leaves off, last i talked to my buddy the boat was still moored in front of his house and the insurance company had not been there yet.
Pretty exciting vacation for me.. came back with a hell of a story and something im sure will never happen to me again, but also something i will never forget! Just thought id share with you guys.
im gonna try to attach some pics here...
About a month ago I was visiting some friends of mine that live the the Bahamas (Lubbers Key, Abacos). My buddy has been living down there for over 10 yrs. he runs a couple of cabins and charters two beautiful 45' catamarans. If any one has interest in either,, drop me a line, great vacation for the family!
Anywhoo. As we were out trolling one day we noticed in the distance what looked like a sail boat with no mast. As we got closer it became obvious that there WAS no mast, snapped clean off about three feet above the deck, all the rigging in the water still attached. So we yelled at the boat, no response, we blew the air horn, no response. tried the radio, no response. at this point my buddy turns to me and says "you need to board that boat".
At this point I am feeling a bit wary about getting on this thing. I mean It wasnt the most comfortable situation. there was some blood pumping through my veins.. to say the least.
He pulls me up to the boat and I jump on. Both the hatches are wide open So I yell inside "anybody there"......no answer, there is enough water in the cabin that the floor boards are floating, and there is a very unpleasant oder coming from the cabin.
Now im thinking that im going to go down in this cabin and find a body. I get down in there and start walking around on the shelves and anything else i can find that is above the water. I notice that all the important documents are out on the counter and there are empty flare gun cartages too. As i crawl around in the cabin of this boat i am expecting to find a body around every corner. thankfully I didnt. The stink was coming from a large tupperware box that had a bunch of fruit in it. Now that i have cleared the place. i am begining to notice how beautiful this boat is. Main salon is huge and there are 2 heads and 3 births. Flats screens in all three!!
I get back up on deck and give my buddy the news, he looks at me and says "did you ever wanted to be a pirate growing up?"
he trows me a line and tells me to tie off to a bow cleat.. now we were not exactly in a tow boat here.. it was a Rampage 25' or so cuddy but it did have a yannmar inboard diesel. and i start cutting off lines with a knife.. only one problem.... the mast is hanging in the water with the sail and all the rigging.
and we have no tools to get it off
he gets on the radio and calls up some of his buddies who show up in a little whaler with a box full of tools, and we hacksaw the cables and get the mast free. laying on the bottom of the Atlantic now ( in itself was prolly a couple thousand dollars in scrap aluminum)
long story short (not really short at all) It takes about 7 hours to tow it back to his place where he moored it up (half of that time was in the dark) but boy was there a party that night.
The boat ended up being a 45' Oyster Mid 90's and what a beautiful boat she was , even in her sad state.
We ended up finding the owners contact info in the cabin and got intouch with him by phone. He told us they got caught in a storm of the Turks and Caicos and was de-masted when they surfed down a wave and rolled the boat. luckly no one was hurt too bad but they had the coast guard air lift them off. He was excited that the boat was found and said that the insurance company would be down to make offers on buying the boat back.
this is where the story leaves off, last i talked to my buddy the boat was still moored in front of his house and the insurance company had not been there yet.
Pretty exciting vacation for me.. came back with a hell of a story and something im sure will never happen to me again, but also something i will never forget! Just thought id share with you guys.
im gonna try to attach some pics here...
