Chapter 3

As I said at the start of this story, my supply boat had been here yesterday and left me most of what I needed for the next couple of weeks. I saw that the skies were getting darker and didn’t need a weather forecaster to tell me a storm was on its way. I made the rounds of my cabin area making sure everything was tied down or stowed out of the wind. I fueled up the generator so that it could run for an extended period if needed. I lowered the shutters over the windows that would feel the brunt of the storm and prepared to wait it out – a situation I’d dealt with many times since coming to the island. I turned on the computer and looked at the weather forecast for our area for the next few days. Things didn’t look good as there appeared to be several storms brewing out in the North Pacific and we’d likely see them coming at us one after the other with only a few days reprieve between storms.

“Wally, got your ears on?” came a call from my two-way radio.

That was my friend Ben, on the main island. He told me that there had been reports of an ocean going sailboat having been disabled and that it was somewhere in our area. He asked me to keep an eye out and if I spotted anything to let him know so that the authorities could be alerted. I promised that I would.

There’s one high point on the island where I can look out to sea for quite a distance I put on my wet weather gear and with my faithful friend Maggie at my side, I headed out to see if I could see any sign of the sailboat. After a three-quarter hour hike to the top of the rocky outcropping and then back to the cabin, the only things Maggie and I saw were high waves and the start of the rain. Even the small forest creatures like squirrels and chipmunks had found places to hide from the impending storm. Well, I’d done what I could for now so back to the snug cabin and stay warm until the storm blew over.

The storm was one of the fiercest I’d experienced so far and lasted for three days. When it was over, I went out and discovered that a large branch had blown into my satellite dish and had knocked it off kilter. That didn’t surprise me since it had happened before and I realigned it. I went down to the water and discovered that my boat had survived well, even though I’d have to bail quite a bit of water out. I got the pump I used for this job and after about 20 minutes the water level had dropped to the point where I could use it. Maggie and I got in and started to circle the island looking to see what might have washed up that we could use.

For the most part it was logs and trash but as I reached the very northern end of the island, I could see a large, semi-submerged object in the water. As I drew closer I realized that this must be the sailboat I been asked to keep my eye out for. It was in really bad shape – the masts and sails were gone and I figured there must be a hole in the hull for it to have sunk that low. I didn’t see any sign of life and wondered if there were any bodies left inside. I pulled up alongside and called out several times. I didn’t hear any answer but just as I was about to head out I thought I heard a faint noise. Maggie must have heard the noise as well since her ears perked up as she looked at the wreck.

I found a place where I could tie up my boat and managed to clamber aboard the wreck to look around. Surely Maggie and I must have been mistaken – no one could have survived this. There didn’t seem to be any place that a person might have hidden in and survived. I looked back at Maggie and saw she was looking at the very forward end of the sailboat and barking. Cautiously, I made my way forward and there was that noise again. I called loudly and heard a faint reply. I told the person to keep talking so that I could try to find them.

After a few minutes, with Maggie’s help, I narrowed my search down to what must have been the sail locker, right at the very front of the boat. By now I had determined that I was searching for a young girl who appeared to be the only survivor. I told her to stay calm, that I wasn’t abandoning her, but that I needed to go back to my boat for some tools. I gathered up anything that I thought might help in my rescue efforts including an axe.

When I returned I could hear the relief in her voice and I asked if she was able to get away from the sail locker door so I could try to break the door in. She assured me she was away from it and I used the axe to break the door so I could pull the pieces away and get the girl out. I took a few minutes, but soon I was able to look inside where I saw the girl curled up in the extreme front of the compartment. As was expected, she was soaking wet and shivering but other than that, she didn’t seem to be seriously hurt.