saving winsome

VV insome, an Acapulco 40 cutter, was one of 18 boats that went ashore in Puerto Escondidowhen HurricaneMarty hiton Monday, September 22. She ended up about four miles south ofthe harbor, higher and drier — and by far the big¬ gest challenge to refloating — than any¬ one else.

Immediately following the hurricane, 30 or more cruisers formed themselves into an ad hoc boat recovery team and started getting boats back into the wa¬ ter. In the first three days, they recov¬

ered Toy Boat, Allie, Debutante, La Sirena, Distant Vision, Wild Flower and Mahayana from their unplanned trips ashore, and helped in the raising of a sunken fishing boat from its spot next to the dinghy dock. With each §uccess — and no failures — the team learned more and more 'tricks ofthe trade'.

Then came the biggest test: refloat¬ ing Winsome. In addition to being the 'hardest aground', herrudderwas badly damaged. Within hours of the storm's passing, a few items had been stolen from the boat before John and Victoria from Chez Moi began guarding her. Col¬ lateral damage included broken stan¬ chions and lifelines, and numerous scratches on the hull. But the hull ap¬ peared to be sound.

Winsome's owner and builder, Irwin Layne, arrivedThursdaynightand spent the night aboard the boat, despite the awkward sleeping accommodations of the boat l3dng on her port side.

Plans were made to try to refloat her Fridayeveningwiththehigh tide. Abackhoe arrived in the morning and dug a trench around her. With this. Winsome began to stand upright and rolled over onto her starboard side. Unfortunately, the beach shoaled out a ways and the baekhoe could not cut a trench all the way to deepwater. The teamwould have to tiy to pull her out backwards.

At 6 p.m., as the tide began rising, the team arrived on The Cat's Meow, a 52-footcustom converted fishingtrawler with an 800-cubic-inch, 280-horsepower International Harvester marine engine spinninga 42-inchpropeller. Three pow¬ erful dinghies fromKindredSpirit, Spring¬ bok and Chez Moi were also brought down to act as bow and stern 'tugs' for The Cat's Meow to keep her in perfect alignmentas the towlinewas hooked up, and also to bring the towline ashore.

Cat's Meow captain Martin Hardy steered fromhis top deckwith Dario from Ballena beside him directing the dinghy tugs. Katya of Kindred Spirit sat at the main steering station and relayed water depths to Martinvia radio. Champagne's Larry, Tim of Casual Waterand Richard from Mahayana manned the fantail, handlinglines. Robin Hardycoordinated the fantaU action, and Erinfrom BaUena, Stephanie from Summer Wind and Carolyn of Que Tal were available to do anything else that was needed.

Also on hand were Elvin and Connie in

theirpanga SeaLover, with Dave of Que Tal aboard to handle lines. Johnny Johnson of Topaz, a 15-time off-road Baja 1000 winner turned cruiser, brought his 4x4tothebeachtotry to help push. Dee, from the nearby settlement at Juncalitio, was with him to handle radio dutieswhile he drove. All in all, cruisers from 12 boatswere on hand to help in the operation, plus Dee and a group of help¬ ful locals.

Tnhe Cat's Meow, which had silready helped save most of the other beached boats, circled into place offshore. Patrick and Diane ofSpringbokhadbrought the towline out, and now handed it to Larry on Cat's stern. A group of Mexicans on the shore, led by Adrian, the Assistant Port Captain for Loreto, were in place to pull on the staysedl halyard to heel Win¬ someoverwhile The Cats Meow tugged. When everything was in place, the steadyingdinghiespulled awayand Mar¬ tin put Cat's big engine in gear and took up the slack. Everyonewaitedwithbated breath.

Slowly, Martinpoweredupand smoke be^an billowing out of her stack. POW! THUNK! Cat surged forward as the towline —400 feetofweek-old 1" gold mega¬ braid with a breaking strength of over 33,000 pounds (amdwhich had success¬ fully pulled most of the other beached boats back in) — parted and recoiled smack into Cat's dinghy hanging on the stern davits. Although the outboardwas damaged, the dinghy absorbed most of the shock and probably saved the fantail crew from serious injury. The din¬ ghywas quickly lowered and tethered in a safer position. The fantail crew hurriedly pulled the towline in as Martin circled around for another try. Now that he knew the line's breaking point, he would try not to pull so hard. Springbok moved in to retrieve the Winsome end of the towline, Dario directed the dinghythruster-tugs to hold Cat in position, Katya relayed depths to Martin, and Dave aboard the panga tied the linebacktogetherwith twobowlines.

When everything was in place, the dinghies again moved a safe distance away, andthistime the fantail crewscur¬ ried inside The Cats Meow. Adrian and his crew pulled on the staysail halyard. Again, the roar of Cats diesel filled the air as Martin took out the slack then revved her up and began to pull.

No movement. Martin nudged the throttles a little higher. No movement. Another nudge. BAM! The line parted in the loop ofthebowlinewhere it hadbeen tied together. The whole crew groaned. This was going to be a lot harder than anticipated. Theygathered to rethink the strategy.

Lrt was clear that Winsome would havetobe heeled overfartherforthenext attempt. Her rhalnsall halyard had been removed for the hurricane season, but she had mast steps. Mike from Kindred

Above, 'Winsome'ashore, butnotforlong. Note thepile ofsanddug by the backhoe. Left, get¬ ting ready forapull.

Spirit, who has to be half monkey, climbed the mast and strung a line through the masthead sheave. To get a sufficient length, another line had to be tied to it. Then an smchor was hedged outas fcir as possible offWinsome's star¬ board side. When Irwin tried to tighten the line using the halyard winch, how¬ ever, thelineJust stretched untilthe knot was at the masthead.

Okay, Plan C: Mike would dinghy in as close to Winsome as he could, then hang on the hedge line as another at¬ tempt was made. At this point, Adrian and his crew left. It was now dusk and they had to find theirway along thevery rough track back to the road.

Erin from Ballena and Carolyn from Que Tal were ferried ashore in a dinghy to coordinate communications between

The Cat's Meow and Winsome, and to try to push or otherwise do what they could to help get her off.

Erin relajdng information. Catmoved into place forathird attempt, the thrusters sped from their st3md off positionswhenDarioyelled forthem, and Katya's voice came over the radio say¬ ing, "Martin, the depthsounder says 4 and a half." We all knew that Catdrew 6 feet, and wondered how much of£m off¬ set the depthsounder had. If she went aground, therewasn'tanotherboat pow¬ erful enough to pullher off. "Okay," came Katya's voice. "It says 8 now." \^ew!

Since one ofthebowlines had parted, John from Chez Moi suggested using a rolling hitch to tie the tow line back to¬ gether. Thatdone. Cottookupthe strain. Milie pulled on the masthead line, the, shore crew of Johnny and Carolyn pushed onthebowsprit, andErinrelayed the progress to Martin. "We're feeling a little wiggle . . . may be moving a few millimeters ... no more movement. . . try a little more power . . . it's wiggling again. . ." Then another big BANG! and the line parted again. This time, though, the crewwas optimistic — Winsomewas standingup straighterand was moving slightly with the motion of - the water, plus the tide was still coming in. (High tidewas forecast at 11:01 p.m.) The rolling hitch had held, so the new broken ends of line were put back to¬ gether with another one.

It was now about 8 p.m. The team decided to wait for a little more tide to come in. The tidal range was only about 2 feet from low to high, but eveiy inch would help. In the meantime, SeaLover made a quick run back to Puerto Escondido forwhatwas hoped would be a stronger tow line, and a radio call was made back to the anchorage to ascer¬ tain howmuch more the tidewould rise. As darknessand mosquitoes descended, dinghies returned to The Cats Meow for a quick plate offood, then ferried plates to the shore crew alongwith flashlights. As the panga returned and radio calls were completed, there was good news and bad news: the bad news was that the othertowlinewas too short; the good news — the tide would rise another half foot.

While waiting for the tide, the team tried putting on slow tension with the pangain the center ofthe towline, pull¬ ingoutto one side. While the shore crew could feel Winsome moving backweird a fraction of an inch at a time, no major progress was made. Then Johnny put a line fi-om Winsome’s bow to the trailer hitch on his 4X4 to pull the yacht's bow around so she'd have a straighter run back into the water. Along with the panga's steady tension, and Mike hang¬ ingonto the mastline. Winsome's move¬ ment could now be measured in inches instead offractions. Aha.'Theywereonto something. The next try would use The CatsMeowplusJohnny's 4x4. Theteam also decidedthat Winsomeneeded to heel over more than what Mike could do, so the panga was called in to cleat off the line to its stem and use its larger engine to provide pull.

Irwin, who had watched the backhoe dig the trench, became concerned that

The Cats Megw was trying to pull Win¬ some over a shallow area that the back¬ hoe had not been able to reach. At first, the shore crewtried to direct Catby say¬ ing, "Head more north" or "Head more south." Martin would try to jockey into position, and Dario could be heard yell¬ ing directions to the dinghy thrusters, trying to be heard above the roar of the boats' combined engines. Fmstration greiv as the line up was never right and the shore crewhad difficultly explaining whatwasneeded. Finally, the shore crew hitontheideaofusingthebirmacle com¬ pass on Winsome.WhenMartinmatched the called-for course, instantly everyone was working together again.

Well, almost. Turns out Cat had an¬ chored inwhattheythoughtwasthe cor¬ rect spot for the pull — only to find that it was about 10 degrees south of opti¬ mum. It was almost high tide, so an emergencyre-anchordrill ensued, as the fantailcrewcastoffthe towline to Spring¬ bok, cmd Catreanchored. With the towlifte reattached and the bigboat in posi¬ tion, theywere readyfortrynumberfour. The Cats Meow directed her monstrous spotlight on Winsome and Erin directed the action. "Startpulling, Elvln ... okay, Johnny, nowyou pull. . . Cats Meow, alittle pull . . . Elvin, keep rocking it . . . Johnny, forward and back, not too hard .. . she's moving a little . . . keep pulling . . . keep pulling.she's moving . . . BAM!

Optimism was barely dimmed. Johnny's 4x4 seemed to break the suc¬ tion around the hull and this time she had moved a few feet before the towline parted. Spirits were much higher as Johimy repositioned his 4x4 a little fur¬ ther up the bank for the next try, and everyone sprang into action to rig the now ragged and knotted towline for the next try.

n the next pull, Winsome moved about 4 feet, started to pick up steam, and then stopped sharply with a shud¬ der. At Erin's yell. The Cat’s Meow and SeaLover went into neutral instantly, while the shore crew assessedwhathad happened. Because of the bottpm con¬ tour, she was now hard aground again, more on her side, and off to the south side of the trench that had been dug. PatrickandDianeofSpringbok, whowere manningthe dinghythatwas ferryingthe tow line between The Cat's Meow and Winsome, had a portable depthfinder aboard and sounded the entire area be¬ tween Winsome and deep water so that the team could figure out the best way to try the next pull.

Now, as the tide peaked, morale be¬

Most tTuiscis will probably m-\(T liave to dealwith refloatinga 1 loaidri\on as hatxl agtound as Winsairie. But you neverknow when Uie lessonswelearned nilght (ome In handy.

Get llie longest, .iroiigc.st low line possible. TTie weight ofthe iioat plus Ute Bijotion and friction ol the bnitom pul a huge load onll Our towline Iiail a brcaliing strength of over 33.1100 pounds mid yet kept breaking It .s 400-fo(it length wasjust limg r-nongli to i each The Cat's •VfPfin;withunt jiiilUnghei m d<in(.eiou6.1y ^a&owwater. * If the towllne breaks, tie n iijgethrv with rolling hiti hes. not ho\vliiii;s * A very powerful power boal is key. Without TheCal's Vlcom's pulling]lower all Ihc Ollier etioj-ls would have been for

* We hatl thiee dmghie.s and a pmuja available tohelpout. We could Ifaveused more .small ciafl. parlicularlv as thrust¬ ers to line up The Cat's Meow. As the tide and a light bree/e r;ame up, Martin hail a hard time kw-pmg her In po.sirion *Weneededmorehandheld VHF-s. EJvciy boat needs to have one, plus every Station on the tow boat, and every sta¬

PHOTOS BY CONNIE ON SUNLOVER, VICTORIA ON CHEZMO! AND STEPHANIE ON SUMMER WIND

gan to ebb. This was a lot harder than anyone had dreamed. Could theygether offtonight? The team decided that Winx, some was enough to the south side of the trench that they might be able to hook the towltne to her bow, swing her around and pull her outbow first. Irwin quickly moved the bridle as Martin re¬ positioned Cat with help from the per¬ sonal 'tugdinghies'. Since the lliie hadn't parted, wewere shortlyreadyforthenext attempt. ,

Cheers erupted as the turnaround worked, but Winsomewas no furtherout to sea when the line parted again. How¬ ever, with thebowfirst, less damagewas likely to be done to her'^as she was dragged overthe shoal. With herfullkeel and cutaway forefoot, she would also be more likelyto slide overthe shoalinstead of cutting into it with the rudder stock.

Itwas nowalmostmidnight, andthe tide was beginning to drop. There was time for one more try ifeveryone worked fast. All stops were pulled out to get her to heel over as far as possible and the radio was filled with ideas. The panga, SeaLover, had notbeen able togetasolid 90-degree pull on the masthead line by going to the west. Further, the deep part ofthetrenchwas nowon Winsome's port side. So she'd be heeled to starboard for the final try, whichwould putthepanga on hereast sidewithmore room towork, and would hopefully let the keel slide more easily through the trench.

The shore crew climbed aboard Win¬ some. Johnny, his 4x4 no longerneeded, wung out the boom and shimmied out to the end of it, clinging to the topping lift with his feet braced on the preventer line. Carolyn, from Que Tal, crawled out and laidatoptheboomnexttohim, cling¬ ing to the boom for dear life. SeaLover repositioned and pulled the mast line.

Cats spotlightcamebackon and Erin called the action from the deck of Win¬ some. Panga, start pulling . . . the gun¬ wale is going, under . . . the water is al¬ most to the portholes. . . "

The spotlightshowed Winsomealmost on her side, with the boom tip under water, Johnny up to his chest and Carolyn sliding down theboom headfirst

tion on Uie shore un-w We should htive asked people tn the anchorage who wcreiiL Involved In the at lion to loan theirs, ami we should all ha\c taken spare harteries along. * 'file more iQashkgiits. the better. Again, we should have borrowed iiuire although when we staitcsl no fine ewi thought we would stiB be there after dark: As niglu fell, with no moon, wineeded liglits everywhere! • We hod learned e.irlicr in ib'’ week that lliinfis seemed to lake I'litgcr ih.ui expected, and many people came with large dishes or drinks lo sh.iie. As Hie rescue extended into the night, the ex¬ tra food was quickly consumed '• Having one person rckiying mforinatjon from Uie shoi«-1 rew .uidbetween all boats ami Ihe shoii- lai-w wa*^ tiiii eal 'Hu; improved u-mniiMt irion:. le ally gol cicjyone puliiiu, logciber We could havt done a better job of lept at Ing orders back lo »of.firrn ih..i .•!] riu ssages wen* iindet-i'o.jd ' We may have started foo .-toh for the stateof Uio tide. However, by .start¬ ing shoi-Uy after low tld.., wt had time to .isse.ss« Uie siuiaiionand try a numbei ot

LESSONS L&\RNED i

different Umig-, •'flu .hoifwaskfyloj bteak 1 iiig the suciioii, Wc were lucky that Win sPtnevi&Blyingin a'vvoyds tomafce, |

n possibli- for Johnny lo liclp pull b'-r — aiid re.illj luclij- to Imve an expeiieiiced off-road driver al thewheel * • Ifcr'iiig enougj-i' wa,s the mughesi p.'irt of the procedure, 11 aiiferniigmirpull hoe tu llr?masthead Instead ofIhf .sia\ sailhalyurd, usjngthe , par^a, gettUv? a ffO-degree'li|ie _of, puU\ .iiid the people on thehuiim wW- .ill mi portant, Wc couldnt^ecl far ” enough imlil we did nil of those things. * Getting UTiusuriit lunied drouml so sh( w,i« b.)w-i)ut was another fiirkal *; Btep Tht.s made it miieli. much cai^icr Jorherto .slide over Uw Mnd and ivduccd the sfa-aln on the towiine. ' '

‘ 'Hic \erdU t ts out 11.S to whether the b.it khof lielptxl Ol not. With tlie ttetieh, J W T7.A()m. was p.irfjaHi m the walei wid M dirt tlivii 111 her own little ’potifl is tht '"m !idi- lose Howevei. hei k.'i.l caught on 1 the edge ofthatpondas we tried to i<w' ^ hi.r ba< kw-iid-,. Overall hfiwiwei, the I b<i(khee , woik probably nlluwt d us gel J he'i till ned bow-out 3

but still holding on. "Okay, Cat's Meow, start pulling!"

A sound like a car skiddingon agravel road could be heard over the distant throb of Cat's engine. "She's moving . . . she'sreallymoving!.. . we're going!" Win¬ someslid overthe gravel and sand, pick¬ ing up speed. She was free!

Just as the cheering started, Dave's voice could be heard from SeaLover. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" The Cat was already inneutral, butthe damagewas done. The elasticity ofthe towline had caused Win¬ some to shoot forward as she came off the sand bar. As the mast popped verti¬ cal, itjerked the panga backwards and swamped it. Before Elvin could cut the line, Dave managed to uncleat it, but the damage was done — SeaLover was al¬ most underwater.

The tugdinghies rushed over to the pangaand held hersteadywhile the bail¬ ing began. Once stable, they left to help Winsome again, only to hear mayday over the radio as a slight shift in weight causedwater tobegin flooding thepanga again. With SeaLoveralmost totally un¬ derwater, but her motor still running. Though not part of this story, this dramatic photoshows 'Mirador'ashoreatPuertoRefugio and getting pounded by waves during Hurri¬ cane Marty. Miraculously, aftertheeyepassed, the windswung 180degreesandbiew 'Mirador' offthe beach, little the worse for wear.

Elvin pointed her toward the hole leftby Winsome and ran her onto the beach. Johnny's 4x4 came to the rescue again, pulling SeaLoverout ofthe water so she could be bailed out completely.

It was now after 1 a.m. on a totally moonless night. The wise decision was

* We should have had a knife un sheaihed and ready at eveiy suiUou that had a Ifiie under lerrsion This would have saved the panga. * Using compass courses lo tlireci where to pull worked much beiter than using landmarks on shore or instruc¬ tions like 'A Utile more north.' * s [)(in ihli d pili -.ouiiiiM m.ulc a bm f'.itli u c m hi Ijurti; u- it; un; out the scope of the problem. We wc only had a small hump to get Winsomeover, when we actually had to drag her over about 80 feel of shoal before deep water. This information caused us tochange strategy. Obviously, we should have done, this in the aAernoon before the. first attempt.

The people on thi- boom, in partictilar. should have had PFD’s on in ca.se they slipped — or were flung off — as Winsome straightoited up. Actually, ev eryone in the small boats shoul<^ have had PFDs on or at least at hand. * Tlianklully. Wii-tsomehadbugspray for tliP shore crowrl.'i'he mosquitoes w'tarc vicious after Uie rain that accompanied the huiTfcane. know ntil just when ihc higli tide was. but how high it was af various times. Summer Wind had computfr program widi tide graj)h.s and Bill srelayingofthis mtoiTiiatJon was very helpful (he had been listening on the rescue's workirtg cliaune] apd knew we needed it), ' ’ Wj- should have reduced the weight of Winsonif' as mueb as wc t ould Ijefore {jying to refloat her: emptyingwaterand fuel tanks, removing the anchors and cluuns, n;nto\ing the dinghy lashed to thedeck, possibly takirjgpail ofherbat¬ teries out. and so fortli. It would have raised her waterline slighUy. but more IniptirfanUy, it would have reduced the strain on the towUne. * Our quick succc.s.s witti the otlicr grounded boats made tlie team anxious to pull Wirusome off. We probably would havebeenbetter otTlo sj)endanotiierd^^y preppingherand a.s.se.ssing the situation laefore railing in the backlioe. Once the trench was dug, wc had to act on the next high tide asthe j istngwaterquickly htartcrl filling in the trench.

Sheer detcrnunalion makes a large part in ultiraafe success. We were not going to give up!

made not to tow Winsome back to the harbor until daylight, especially with no rudder. Irwin put down Winsome's an¬ chor and turned her anchor light on, thenchecked again forleaks. None. Good news for all the crew!

^^nce thepangawasbailed out, the dinghies towed itbackto The Cat'sMeow so that the engine could be washed out with fresh water. After seeing them off, Johnnyand f)eebegan their drive home. The next radio transmission left every¬ one astounded as Dee said: "Don't leave yet. We're not sure we can get off the beach. We might have to leave the truck and get a ride back on the boat."

Turns out the backhoe had appar¬ entlygotten stuckgettingfrom thebeach to the road, and had dug its way along the road, leavinga series ofsquare holes right down the center! Johnny scouted the area with a flashlight and reported theywere going to try offroad — through the mangroves! Johnnytold Dee to hold on tight. Then he hit the gas, and some¬ how found his way through as man¬ groves kept whacking his face through the window he'd forgotten to close. The final report confirmed everyone's faith thatJohrmyhadn'tlosthis touch: 'We've reached the highway and are on ourway to the harbor."

i3y the time The Cat’s Meow and her tired crew finally anchored back in Puerto Escondido , itwas after3:30 a.m. — the rescue had taken almost as long as the hurricane!

Early Saturday morning, after only a fewhours' sleep, the crews ofBallenaand Springbok dinghied back down to Win¬ some and brought her 'home' to Puerto Escondido'sinnerharbor. Welcome back! — Carolyn shearlock, que tal