Flipping a Dinghy and Taking a Hike

Monday 18 August 2014 ~ Echo Bay, Sucia

The day started with I.'s commenting in the Log:

I woke up with everything else as the sun rose. I had slept outside in the cockpit well. It's like camping out, except a little ... worse, with a cat jumping on you all night. But it was fun anyway. 

The wind was gusting this morning (15 knots?). In reality it wasn't that much, but the gusts seemed stronger after all the calms we've been having lately. 

About 1300, we went to shore for a picnic lunch. We cut through the outlying rocks into Ewing Cove. Here we wanted to practice what to do if a dinghy got knocked down or capsized. J. also wanted to know if there was enough floatation. 

First, the picnic lunch (complete with melted chocolate bar). Besides there were some folks around, and frankly it is nice to have some privacy when you are unsure how something is going to go. J., for one, didn't want to hear comments like, "You'd put your kids in boats that don't even float?!" So we ate our lunch and waited for things to clear out. 

In the meantime a mom and daughter came to the beach and called out to one of the boats on a mooring ball. No response. The mom tried again. No response. After a bit of time, and a few more tries, the mom approached us asking if she and her daughter, "who is a helluva rower" could borrow one of our dinghies to row out to their boat? "Sure" we said, and enjoyed watching the daughter who is used to rowing crew shells row our dinghy out to their boat. E. and M. decided to sail out and sail the other back, and save the mom and daughter a trip. About the time they got almost there the mom was coming back, towing LONGSTOCKING behind their power dinghy. She stopped the kids and E. got into LONGSTOCKING.  The mom continued to tow LONGSTOCKING behind her, giving E. the ride of his life as she treated LONGSTOCKING like an inner tube. Turned out that the dad and their son had gone to shore with their friends in their friends' dinghy. There was no one home to greet the mom and daughter when they returned from their walk, nor bring them back to the boat. Mom was not pleased, but very grateful for the use of the dinghy. We think she was alternatively mad and humored by the adventure. When the friends and dad and son returned we pretended to not hear the conversation. 

After this it was time for the capsize testing. The girls bravely volunteered. They climbed in PIPPI and J. pushed them out into water deep enough for the test. Thinking that Ewing Cove is generally warm, he was surprised to find it slightly warmer than freezing. Thinking icebergs were shortly to flow into the Cove, J. tried to flip the girls out and PIPPI over without getting his knees wet. It took two tries, slightly deeper water and he still surprised the girls. L. commented that her heart stopped momentarily. At any rate, the girls swam around to the bottom side, checked in on each other, and then righted PIPPI by adding their weight on the lee-board. She popped right up. Then it was time to practice bailing and entering PIPPI from the water over the stern. Both went well. At this point, J. helped them by bringing PIPPI into the beach to complete the bailing process. 

So far success. She even floated high. 

The girls were then curious if they could tip PIPPI over by standing on her gunnel. Back into the deeper water she went. Both I. and M. stepped up on her gunnel. Water started to pour in a little (the gunnel being at water level), but she would not go any further. At this point, the girls lost their balance and in they went, and back up to normal went PIPPI. 

The end result of all this is, as E. summed up, "We now have lots of confidence in these boats. They are really stable and float well." This is just as J. was hoping when he designed them. 

For the next hour or more, J. and L. read, E. sailed around the Cove, and I. and M. explored the rocks, jumping into the water, etc. What a great day! 

After air drying (we didn't bring towels), we all decided to walk down towards the neck between Echo and Shallow Bays to see what we could see. We'd already seen two old friends, who else might be there? 

We had a nice hike there and back, but didn't see any one we knew. If fact we've never seen Shallow Bay so empty of boats. There were even moorings available. It was a nice hike there and back. 

As we rowed back out to MERGANSER through the rocks, we passed a group playing instruments (complete with portable amp) and singing on the beach. One guy was even videotaping the party with his iPhone. (Later we watched as they headed out to a 150 foot motor yacht and wondered if they were the crew.) 

So ended a wonderful day.