With Gabriel at the helm, I hung off the side of the boat flashing a spotlight. “Hazak, Hazak… Do you see us?! over…”
“Negative!… Negative!… Nav instruments soaking wet… (fuzz)” came a faint reply.
At this point we were about ten hours from reaching the end the Cuban coastline, where we would then enter the Windward Passage. The serious concern was not only the inexperience of Hazak’s captain and crew, but the fact that they were in a rainstorm, with zero visibility, about to loose their navigation instruments, while running two to three miles off a rocky Cuban coastline.
“Watch your magnetic bearing… 130!… 130!… 130!… STAY AWAY FROM THAT SHORE!!!” I shouted over the radio.
“Bad copy… Bad copy… Bad copy… (Fuzz)…” Came a faint response.
I tried desperately to communicate with Andre and his crew for several hours with no success. We too, had our own serious issues to deal with, but they paled in comparison to loosing Hazak in the middle of the stormy night. Lisa had fallen asleep due to sheer exhaustion, and I wouldn’t dare wake her up to share what was happening.
Navigation instruments use GPS to show your global location, as well as your heading, speed, ocean current variance, depths, etc… With the possibility of having his nav instruments shut down, Andre would have to remember what bearing would bring his vessel safely past the Cuban coast line. And the only way to do that was to use his magnetic compass. Many experience captains had gone down under similar conditions.
What else could go wrong!!!! Was this the epidemy of Murphy’s law? Heck NO!… I would take Murphy’s law over anything we experienced on this journey. At least, that law says: “anything that can go wrong, will.” What we were experiencing since the beginning of our trip was: “Anything that can’t possibly go wrong will, and then it will get worse.”
On top of all we had suffered to get to this point, I was now contemplating the possible loss of our first born son, our nephew, and our daughter in law… I was sick at heart.
Then, amidst my desperation, a memory came to me. Andre was in his teens and getting into all kinds of trouble. At the time I was at a complete loss as a father, not knowing how to reach him. I cried out to Ad-nai for help. I remember taking a copy of Psalms 91, and set it on fire in a desperate attempt to send up a prayer on his behalf. The paper caught on fire and burned until there was a small piece left. That piece would not burn, though I put it back in the fire several times; It just twirled in the flames and fell back to the ground next to the fire. Curious, I picked it up… On this small remnant of paper were the last two verses of Palms 91: “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”
Suddenly, I had peace. Not because the dark night got brighter, or the rain and the winds subsided, but because G-d’s promises are irrevocable.
To be continued