Yes, I fell in the water from a boat! I was getting into the dinghy at the dock and Jack pushed off before I had my weight transferred to the boat. There I was, with half my weight at each place and the gap between them widening. There was nothing for it but to fall face first into the water. Then POOF! my offshore racing life-vest automatically inflated on contact with the water. Some boys were crabbing off the dock and they thought I was the most exciting event of the day!
The root cause was a kayak that was improperly tethered to the dock; I had half my attention set on avoiding it, and Jack didn't realize this was the situation. Oh well, merely a $50 experience to get the life-vest recharged.
I thought this might be a Friday 13-type omen for our sail, but this was not the case. I changed clothes, donned a less fancy life-vest and we set out to sail almost to the Dumplings and back. We were doing about 8 knots over land at one point. On our return an onlooker said she was in awe of our sailing skills -- I don't think she saw the earlier incident!
I haven't been overboard for about 50 years when my brother and I used to race our Enterprise dinghy on the Blackwater Estuary. We capsized many times.
lol - great story. i guess 50 years is a good run without such an incident.
ReplyDelete