An Action Packed Night

 Sailing Vessel TUAQ in Tow Behind FIONA

07/04/02

    When I came on watch at 0200, Eric pointed out the things he was keeping an eye on.  A freight ship was coming up on our port quarter, about 2 miles distant.  There were a couple of faint lights off starboard, but did not show up on the radar.  Also, there was a light far ahead, which probably belonged to another sailboat which left Lajes for Horta about half an hour before we did, and was visible on the horizon for the entirety of our trip. 

    David had overheard the two guys from that boat on the phone earlier that day, talking about some engine troubles they were having.  They wanted to haul out the boat in Lajes, but the facilities there are too primitive to handle a yacht of their size.  They decided to press on to Horta, which is much better equipped for yacht repair. 

    I kept a close eye on the freighter to make sure it missed us, and was safely gaining distance away, then I noted the presence of another light, which just appeared on the horizon at the 8 o’clock position.  I decided to listen a little more to “The Perfect Storm” book on tape, as it appeared this would be a pretty quiet watch.  About ten minutes later, I stopped the tape and popped my head out of the companionway to have another look around.  I no longer saw the light directly ahead on the horizion, and there was a new light that appeared right on our port beam!

      Radar showed that it was a little more than a mile distant.  As I looked at the light, which was green, I noticed a spotlight shining around under it.  I decided to turn on the VHF radio on channel 16, to listen in case the boat tried to contact us.  I did not hear anything on the radio, and I watched as the lights passed to our stern.  Perhaps it was a fishing boat doing some work on deck, and nothing to be concerned about. 

    About ten minutes later, I heard this announcement on the VHF: “All stations, this is the sailing vessel TUAQ requesting assistance.”  I responded to the call, and got their position and nature of  their problem.  They indicated their position, which was about two miles from us.  They were indeed the strange lights I had seen off our beam.  They said they were traveling from Flores to Faial (island where Horta is located), and appeared to have a broken drive shaft.  They were drifting in the ocean, as there was absolutely no wind blowing, and requested a tow into Horta. 

    I felt this was a situation which needed to be addressed by the captain, so I woke Eric (it was 0330 at the time) and informed him of the situation.  Eric contacted TUAQ on the radio, and informed them that we are low on diesel fuel, and may not be able to handle a tow.  TUAQ replied that they had plenty of diesel fuel available, which they could provide us.  Eric agreed we could do it, and we turned the boat around and made way towards the lights. 

    At this point we were 47 miles from our waypoint near Horta.  Eric got all hands on deck, and we prepared for setting up the tow.  First, we had to take Victor apart, as his presence on the stern would interfere with the towing bridle.  We took off the wind vane and folded up the rest of the mechanism.  Then we set up fenders on the port side and long bow and stern lines to throw across to the other boat when we came aside.  After that we took a long, heavy docking line (referred to as a “warp”), and with a shorter piece of line, rigged a bridle so that we could attach the tow line to each of the stern cleats and hang it over the transom.  We brought the other end around and got it ready to pass over to the other boat. 

    By that time we were very close to the other boat, and Eric carefully planned his approach.  The sea was pretty calm, but there was a gentle swell which caused both boats to roll back and forth enough to make the rendezvous challenging.  We came up alongside and passed over the bow and stern lines without incident.  There were two guys on the other boat, and they had three jerry jugs of diesel fuel ready, which they handed over to me.  I then handed over the towing warp, and they fashioned a bridle and attached to their  bow cleats.  We disconnected our bow and stern lines, and I paid out the warp, untangling it from the fender, and making sure there was tension so it didn’t get fouled on our propeller. 

    We agreed to monitor VHF channel 68 for further communications, and from then on it was business as usual, except that our estimated time of arrival has slipped from 1145 to 1500, as we can not make the same speed while towing a large sailing yacht.  On the positive side, the sea is almost flat; perfect weather for towing.  We will take the boat up to the area outside Horta harbor, at this time we can call local professionals to come bring them into port (What’s Portuguese for “Sea Tow”?).