The old sailor attached the halyard line to the back of our dingy. “Ok, now pull slowly at first, then increase the pressure as the boat begins to lean.” He instructed.
The principal was actually rather simple, and in fact we had successfully attempted a similar maneuver with Aleph Tav, when we leaned her under a bridge. Only this time, it was to raise Hazak’s keel off the bottom. I began pulling the halliard line gently, then with a bit more pressure as Hazak began to lean over. Then the dreaded unthinkable… Snap, snap, snap!!! All three shrouds on the starboard side snapped in unison, and the mast came toward me in an uncontrollable freefall.
Andre managed to jump and hurdle over all the cables and lines that whipped in every direction across the deck. The old sailor with his hands raised to heaven, shouted obscenities. I just buried my head into the palm of my tired hands and asked: “Why…”
Hazak was now not only stuck, she was demasted. A mess of tangled cables and lines laid on the water, the boom was snapped in two, and the mast slowly began to vanish into the deep. The old sailor helped us pull the tangled mess out of the water and onto the deck. “Sorry guy, that wasn’t suppose to happen…” He mumbled as he floated off on his dingy. And so, yet a new project was added to the list. New shrouds, as well as front and back stays, for Hazak.
Finally the day came. A good weather window opened up and every one scrambled to wrap up last minute projects.
“Maa gaash Rabbi, what do you recon’ we go’n do with Rambo Ray? He’s fix’n to sail into Haiti with us, and he’s serious…!”
“Can his boat make that crossing?…” I asked
“Says it can… Don’t know Rabbi, he’s convinced he has been sent on a special op mission to protect us, or some nonsense like that.” Continued Captain.
“Cimeron, Cimeron, Cimeron… This is Cimeron, calli’n La Victoria on this 07 civilian line. Do you copy? Over…” Came a voice over the radio.
“Gaash… There he is right now!… Go head!” Responded Captain
“Pastor, I just wanted to let you know my sources told me every one has checked out affirmative, but I’m telli’n you right now, I’m not risking my life for those psychotic ungrateful evil Justin and Chelsea kids, or that delusional Smokee old idiot!… If they compromise the mission, I’ll turn them into fish food first chance I get! Cimeron, Cimeron, Cimeron standing by on this maritime 07… out.”
It was Rambo Ray on the radio. For some reason, he had a very strong dislike for Yod Hey and her crew, and he was not timid about it.
The next day, I went for a dingy ride to admire the beautiful vessels anchored all around us. I’ve always been fascinated by the design and rigging of sailboats. Way down at the end of the harbor, there where several abandoned boats laying on their side at low tide. Near them was an old boat with several other small boats attached to it. The boat had rust stains running down it’s side where the shrouds came into the deck, and the hull was incased in three inches of marine life. Several friendly dogs and a fat cat emerged out of the companion way to greet me. On the stern was a faint hand painted name, it read Cimeron.
To be continued