LETTERS

our host villagers. My heart recovered.

Roger Briggs San Luis Obispo

Roger is commenting on the March 3 'LL with the same name as this letter.

⇑⇓ SWIM STEP FAIL, DINGHY… GONE

We lost one north of Cedros bashing north on a motoryacht with a hydraulic swim step. Swim step failed. Had a brand new Yamaha 40 — boss was not pleased. But probably made some fishermen happy.

Murphy Sackett SoCal

⇑⇓ WHEN THE DINGHY IS INCARCERATED

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It was 1988, and we were slowly making our way up the Tonga Archipelago after surviving Cyclone Dovi. My wife, two daughters and I were aboard the Bristol Channel Cutter #12 Nutra, and we were buddy-boating with friends aboard the 50-ft equal-mast schooner Saudade, as well as Ron and Jackie Zanefeld and their two boys aboard their 33-ft sloop Saga. The Ha'apai Group, with its barrier reef to the east, afforded fabulous sailing on flat seas, but there weren't many places to anchor.

One night, we all convened aboard Saudade for a party while anchored just east of Tonga's "prison island," which was clearly marked "No Entry" on our New Zealand charts. It was a strenuous row for Ron and I as we returned upwind to our vessels after the party, and alcohol and fatigue probably affected my own knot-tying skills. I awaked near dawn to find our Fatty Knees 8 totally absent from her usual transom tie, and I envisioned the dink on its way to Fiji.

Before giving in completely to panic, I fetched the binoculars and spotted the dinghy on the beach of the prison island, about a half mile to windward.

What to do?

Knowing that Tongan prisons are pretty casual affairs, I decided to take a chance and swim to the beach and retrieve it. Just as the sun peeked above the horizon, I double-tied the dinghy painter and sighed with relief.

Paul Mathews

⇑⇓ MAKING THE ROUNDS WITH NO LUCK

In 2012, our Achilles LSI88, with her pink painter, was stolen off the beach in Hanalei Bay, Kauai. We filed a police report, walked the neighborhoods and monitored Craigslist, but never saw her again.

Steve Latitude Nation