Feb. 08, 2021-Wreck of the Monkey
edwina images-john matejczyk
Wave Coming
There was a radio call, one of those which you hate to hear:
“Attention the fleet in La Cruz, a boat in the anchorage is dragging anchor. Can we get some help, someone in a dingy, to go get a line on it and pull it back to the anchorage?”
A chill went through my heart with those words. The anchorage at La Cruz is dangerous. Rocks and reefs lie just to leeward. When a boat drags there isn’t much time to save it. The community always responds quickly and usually someone gets there in time, often more than one person, and the boat is saved. But not always. Every season boats drag and sometimes they are not saved. Over the years we’ve had several wrecks on the reefs near the La Cruz anchorage.
The next voice I heard was someone answering; people from the boat Noeta.
“This is Noeta, we are in the dingy and heading that way.”
I relaxed. I couldn’t help anyhow. I don’t even have a dingy, but at least somebody was on the scene.
But a little while later, maybe 10 minutes, another call came through,
“Attention the fleet in La Cruz, this is Noeta, the yacht Monkey is still dragging and we haven’t got enough help to rescue it. It’s heading for the rocky breakwater
Now I had to act. I couldn’t just sit at home and listen on the radio while Monkey, the boat owned by my friend Ralph, or any boat, actually, got wrecked. I hurried down the dock looking for transport.
Ten minutes later I had commandeered a fast powerboat with a driver and was out on the water. It didn’t look good. The sailboat Monkey was aground on the rocks and a big surf was pounding it. How did this happen so fast?
We arrived on the scene. There were two dingies with cruisers in them and Ralph was there in a small panga. We were all just off-shore outside the surf line but that was nearly 300 yards from the stranded Monkey.
edwina images-john matejczyk
There was a radio call, one of those which you hate to hear:
“Attention the fleet in La Cruz, a boat in the anchorage is dragging anchor. Can we get some help, someone in a dingy, to go get a line on it and pull it back to the anchorage?”
A chill went through my heart with those words. The anchorage at La Cruz is dangerous. Rocks and reefs lie just to leeward. When a boat drags there isn’t much time to save it. The community always responds quickly and usually someone gets there in time, often more than one person, and the boat is saved. But not always. Every season boats drag and sometimes they are not saved. Over the years we’ve had several wrecks on the reefs near the La Cruz anchorage.
The next voice I heard was someone answering; people from the boat Noeta.
“This is Noeta, we are in the dingy and heading that way.”
I relaxed. I couldn’t help anyhow. I don’t even have a dingy, but at least somebody was on the scene.
But a little while later, maybe 10 minutes, another call came through,
“Attention the fleet in La Cruz, this is Noeta, the yacht Monkey is still dragging and we haven’t got enough help to rescue it. It’s heading for the rocky breakwater
Now I had to act. I couldn’t just sit at home and listen on the radio while Monkey, the boat owned by my friend Ralph, or any boat, actually, got wrecked. I hurried down the dock looking for transport.
Ten minutes later I had commandeered a fast powerboat with a driver and was out on the water. It didn’t look good. The sailboat Monkey was aground on the rocks and a big surf was pounding it. How did this happen so fast?
We arrived on the scene. There were two dingies with cruisers in them and Ralph was there in a small panga. We were all just off-shore outside the surf line but that was nearly 300 yards from the stranded Monkey.
edwina images-john matejczyk
Monkey on the Rocks
Nothing had been accomplished. The boat Monkey had moved too fast. Now it was unreachable. Ralph was beside himself, wanting to get to his boat. Eddie rowed up in his Walker Bay plastic dingy.
He said,” I already got in there once with this boat, over behind those rocks. It’s pretty wild in there.”
Ralph said, “Let me try it” and they traded boats. Ralph began rowing towards the surf.
I got into the panga with Eddie and sent the powerboat back, there was nothing he could do, the distance too great, the waves to big, and it was shallow.
We watched Ralph make his way through the surf and then pull the Walker Bay up on the beach. He hurried along the shore to the Monkey. Soon he appeared on the sailboat’s deck. He had a radio. Eddie and I had Eddie’s radio. We had comms.
“Ralph, this is Fred on Sara Mar mobile. We need to try to set a kedge anchor to hold you from going farther up on the rocks.”
Ralph came back, “Yes, come in and I’ll give you my anchor.” I wondered how that would work, the waves were big. I didn’t think we could get near the Monkey in our panga in those conditions.
“How much line do you have?”
“Lots”
edwina images-john matejczyk
Nothing had been accomplished. The boat Monkey had moved too fast. Now it was unreachable. Ralph was beside himself, wanting to get to his boat. Eddie rowed up in his Walker Bay plastic dingy.
He said,” I already got in there once with this boat, over behind those rocks. It’s pretty wild in there.”
Ralph said, “Let me try it” and they traded boats. Ralph began rowing towards the surf.
I got into the panga with Eddie and sent the powerboat back, there was nothing he could do, the distance too great, the waves to big, and it was shallow.
We watched Ralph make his way through the surf and then pull the Walker Bay up on the beach. He hurried along the shore to the Monkey. Soon he appeared on the sailboat’s deck. He had a radio. Eddie and I had Eddie’s radio. We had comms.
“Ralph, this is Fred on Sara Mar mobile. We need to try to set a kedge anchor to hold you from going farther up on the rocks.”
Ralph came back, “Yes, come in and I’ll give you my anchor.” I wondered how that would work, the waves were big. I didn’t think we could get near the Monkey in our panga in those conditions.
“How much line do you have?”
“Lots”
edwina images-john matejczyk
Directing the Rescue
We tried to get in there but we could not get Ralph’s anchor into our boat, and then the rope on it broke.
John from Edwina showed up in his dingy and brought his own big anchor and a lot of line. Maybe we could use that as a kedge. Another boat came with more line. Then two men in a red panga from the Chica Loca arrived and their boss Gill in his center console. For the next hour we all worked to set the kedge and get a line to Ralph on Monkey. It was tricky because we had only a few moments at a time to work between wave sets. Get in as far as you can, work fast keeping an eye out for the next set of waves, then when we saw them coming, speed out before they got there. We knew we had a total of 450’ of line but how far was that out in the surf? Eddie used his phone to get a GPS position and we had the red panga drop the kedge right at 450’ from Monkey. Twice we got in close enough to catch a line from Ralph. Once it broke. The second one was 20’ short. Finally we joined it to another long line from the kedge anchor and Ralph pulled it to Monkey.
It was tricky out there. Gil found a large boulder in the surf when he bounced his center console off if it. And all of us cut it close escaping from the waves a few times and launched off the face, but luckily we all landed right side up.
Now we had an anchor set and a good line to the Monkey. But the tide had been going out and the boat was stranded. There was no way to use the kedge to pull Monkey off the rocks. We had to wait until the tide came in.
While all this was going on several people were listening in on the radio, including Judy, who was not happy about my being out there in these waves, and Greg Raume who was monitoring the situation from his high rise condo and warning us about incoming breakers.
Mike Danielson told us on the radio that he had arranged another powerful panga to try to pull Monkey off at high tide, at 10:00PM.Right now there was nothing we could do but wait.
Ralph was still aboard Monkey and now he reported that he’d been knocked around some and hurt himself.
I said to Eddie, “Can you get in there and help him?”
Eddie didn’t hesitate, “Yeah, sure.” We took Eddie in as close as we could and he swam through the surf to reach shore. I kept Eddie’s radio.
It was getting dark. The panga I was in was low on gas, I didn’t realize how low but I knew it was low, and we had no oars or anchor. In the dark we couldn’t see the breakers coming. I needed to get out of there. So we told Ralph and Eddie that Mike was coming and we left the scene.
Our panga ran out of gas about three minutes after we left, before we’d gotten very far. Fortunately we were out of the surf zone. I tipped the gas tank and got it running again and we made it back to the marina in the pitch black. That was a close call. If we’d run out in the surf there would have been two boats to be rescued.
The tide was coming in. We heard Ralph and Eddie report that the surf was bigger and unrelenting. The Monkey was really being battered. It was hugely dangerous to be on that boat at that time. Mike Danielson had sent a guy, Waz, down to the beach to help but he couldn’t get close to the boat. The surf on the rocks was too dangerous.
Sometime after 10:00PM Mike and the rest of his guys arrived in their bigger panga and they managed to pick up the kedge anchor line which we’d left buoyed and they began to pull Monkey.
Ralph’s voice on the radio was weak and the radio was fading out. He sounded like he was far away.
“I’ve got water inside, it’s up to my waist. I’ve got to abandon ship.”
Then his radio went dead.
Mike reported that were stopping the tow, the boat would just sink if they pulled it any farther. They could do nothing and they stood off for a while then they started back towards the Marina.
Waz on the shore found Ralph in the surf. He was OK, and they collected his ditch bag which was floating nearby with his valuables. It was all he saved from the boat. They said they were taking him to get dry and warmed up. There was nothing that could be done with Monkey, it was now a wreck.
But I was worried about Eddie. Where was Eddie?
On the radio I called out, “Anybody seen Eddie? He was on the boat with Ralph.”
Silence.
“We have to find Eddie.” There was fear in my heart. I was so worried he might be in the surf somewhere, in the darkness, alone, hurt, or worse. I had sent him in there, then I left him.
Mike’s panga team said they would go back and look for him. Waz and the guys on the shore turned back to the beach.
A few moments later we heard another radio call, “We have Eddie, He’s OK, he was rowing around by himself in the dark.”
Thank God.
So we lost a boat, the Monkey was wrecked, but we didn’t lose any sailors.
edwina images-john matejczyk
We tried to get in there but we could not get Ralph’s anchor into our boat, and then the rope on it broke.
John from Edwina showed up in his dingy and brought his own big anchor and a lot of line. Maybe we could use that as a kedge. Another boat came with more line. Then two men in a red panga from the Chica Loca arrived and their boss Gill in his center console. For the next hour we all worked to set the kedge and get a line to Ralph on Monkey. It was tricky because we had only a few moments at a time to work between wave sets. Get in as far as you can, work fast keeping an eye out for the next set of waves, then when we saw them coming, speed out before they got there. We knew we had a total of 450’ of line but how far was that out in the surf? Eddie used his phone to get a GPS position and we had the red panga drop the kedge right at 450’ from Monkey. Twice we got in close enough to catch a line from Ralph. Once it broke. The second one was 20’ short. Finally we joined it to another long line from the kedge anchor and Ralph pulled it to Monkey.
It was tricky out there. Gil found a large boulder in the surf when he bounced his center console off if it. And all of us cut it close escaping from the waves a few times and launched off the face, but luckily we all landed right side up.
Now we had an anchor set and a good line to the Monkey. But the tide had been going out and the boat was stranded. There was no way to use the kedge to pull Monkey off the rocks. We had to wait until the tide came in.
While all this was going on several people were listening in on the radio, including Judy, who was not happy about my being out there in these waves, and Greg Raume who was monitoring the situation from his high rise condo and warning us about incoming breakers.
Mike Danielson told us on the radio that he had arranged another powerful panga to try to pull Monkey off at high tide, at 10:00PM.Right now there was nothing we could do but wait.
Ralph was still aboard Monkey and now he reported that he’d been knocked around some and hurt himself.
I said to Eddie, “Can you get in there and help him?”
Eddie didn’t hesitate, “Yeah, sure.” We took Eddie in as close as we could and he swam through the surf to reach shore. I kept Eddie’s radio.
It was getting dark. The panga I was in was low on gas, I didn’t realize how low but I knew it was low, and we had no oars or anchor. In the dark we couldn’t see the breakers coming. I needed to get out of there. So we told Ralph and Eddie that Mike was coming and we left the scene.
Our panga ran out of gas about three minutes after we left, before we’d gotten very far. Fortunately we were out of the surf zone. I tipped the gas tank and got it running again and we made it back to the marina in the pitch black. That was a close call. If we’d run out in the surf there would have been two boats to be rescued.
The tide was coming in. We heard Ralph and Eddie report that the surf was bigger and unrelenting. The Monkey was really being battered. It was hugely dangerous to be on that boat at that time. Mike Danielson had sent a guy, Waz, down to the beach to help but he couldn’t get close to the boat. The surf on the rocks was too dangerous.
Sometime after 10:00PM Mike and the rest of his guys arrived in their bigger panga and they managed to pick up the kedge anchor line which we’d left buoyed and they began to pull Monkey.
Ralph’s voice on the radio was weak and the radio was fading out. He sounded like he was far away.
“I’ve got water inside, it’s up to my waist. I’ve got to abandon ship.”
Then his radio went dead.
Mike reported that were stopping the tow, the boat would just sink if they pulled it any farther. They could do nothing and they stood off for a while then they started back towards the Marina.
Waz on the shore found Ralph in the surf. He was OK, and they collected his ditch bag which was floating nearby with his valuables. It was all he saved from the boat. They said they were taking him to get dry and warmed up. There was nothing that could be done with Monkey, it was now a wreck.
But I was worried about Eddie. Where was Eddie?
On the radio I called out, “Anybody seen Eddie? He was on the boat with Ralph.”
Silence.
“We have to find Eddie.” There was fear in my heart. I was so worried he might be in the surf somewhere, in the darkness, alone, hurt, or worse. I had sent him in there, then I left him.
Mike’s panga team said they would go back and look for him. Waz and the guys on the shore turned back to the beach.
A few moments later we heard another radio call, “We have Eddie, He’s OK, he was rowing around by himself in the dark.”
Thank God.
So we lost a boat, the Monkey was wrecked, but we didn’t lose any sailors.
edwina images-john matejczyk
posted by wingssail at 12:52 PM
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1 Comments:
That's really nice post. I appreciate your skills. Thanks for sharing.
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