Log Entry: Friday, July 2nd, 1999

Auke Bay (Juneau) to Taku Harbor: 33 nm

Jane's log:

"Left Auke Bay after loading up on fuel at about 9:00.  The winds were with us but were too light for sailing except a few short spells.  Ian rigged the spinnaker pole so we could use it - it will make running with the wind much easier.

Spotted two minke whales on the way, and a bunch of seals on the rocks.  One whale seen by Ian on our way in to anchor.

Busy spot!

Set the prawn trap, even though we didn't figure we'd have much luck.  On retrieving it in the morning I found 1 baby king and hundreds of tiny shrimp!  All returned.  On coming alongside Ilari, rowing, I did something really stupid and stretched a little too far.  I lost my footing in the dinghy but managed to keep a hold of Ilari, and worked my way around to the stern with only a short swim.  The dinghy was headed to shore, and luckily was retrieved for us by a guy who spotted it from a house on shore.  Lots of lessons learned.  Lucky for me the water was not as cold as expected.  The crabs looked promising: we'll try to get a king crab the next time using our ring trap."

So where was I during this episode?  Well, when Jane "stretched too far", she started banging on the hull, but I didn't hear her, because the generator was on.  Ching, however, saw what was happening, and came down into the cabin, meowing anxiously and making very strange gestures.  I came up on deck to find Jane hanging onto the side of the boat.  I tried to hold her, and haul her over the lifelines, but I couldn't raise her up high enough.  So, she worked her way along the side to the aft corner of the hull, hanging onto the rail, then just let go and swam around to the swim ladder.  Luckily it was in a calm bay, the water was reasonably warm, and there were people around.

Two other boats were in the anchorage.  I tried to radio them to get them to rescue our dinghy, but there was no response.  Someone from shore luckily spotted the problem, and came out to rescue our dinghy.

It was a scary experience, and we tried to figure out what could have been done differently once the stretch too far had occurred.  Perhaps we should have one of those plastic over-the-side ladders to deploy in a hurry in such situations.  Perhaps the man overboard gear should have been deployed, although that wouldn't have helped here.

One of the things we are planning to upgrade is our man overboard gear.  We have an older Lifesling^tm which we plan to replace, either with a newer model or something different.  There used to be a throw bag on the stern with floating line in it, but the bag fell apart, so we'll replace that also.