Have you ever rescued another boat?

[rtbates]

years ago we were sailing in Corpus Christi bay when we spotted five people in the water waving frantically. As we turned in their direction we couldn't see their problem at first. As we approached we noticed that their boat was slowly sailing away from them. We picked them up, caught up to their runaway boat and all was swell. Apparently they decided to all go swimming as there was little to no wind. Well there was a LITTLE wind and enough to sail their boat away without their knowledge. The lesson I learned was to always trail a line when swimming off the boat even if someone is still aboard, never mind when everone is in the water...

[multihullsailor6]

Sailing in a dinghy of Saint Tropez I noticed a capsized dinghy about 1 km offshore drifting downwind. When we went closer we saw one crewmember standing on the centreboard unable to right his boat which was floating very high, the other was in the water 10 metres upwind from the boat which was drifting faster downwind than she could swim with her lifevest on! First we picked her up, then I dispatched my friend to the dinghy to help right her. As this didn't work I anchored our dinghy, swam across and the joint effort then saw her come upright again. That's when the local Coastguard arrived! So I got to sail on two different dighies that day.

Another time we were sailing from the eastern lock of the Ijsselmer dam in Holland towards the island of Terschelling. It was misty, not more than Force 2, and the buoyed channel there meanders. We were the second boat out of the lock, ours being a trimaran. Approx. 1 hour later, following a vague sail shape in the mist, this one suddenly heeled over and stayed that way, run aground on the sands by missing the channel turning. So first we turned back to warn and guide the other boats to the channel, then, estimating that with the draft of our trimaran we could venture close to the run-aground monohull, we went in and effected a tow back to deeper water.

Roger