So, if you recall from the last blog entry, all was idyllic on the lovely Tiki Blue. And it was - momentarily...
Sometime around 03:30, Dennis noticed our speed had reduced from 6 to 3 knots, in investigating why, he played with the engine throttle and discovered that we had something wrapped around the prop. The crew came up and we saw fishing net floating behind the swim step. We knew we'd have to wait until sunrise to do anything so we stabilized her as best we could and talked about a plan. At 06:30, Andy tethered up, put on the motorcycle goggles he just happened to have and, knife in hand, went into the water to check things out. He discovered that we had a serious problem - he spent 45 minutes in the water cutting away what was around the prop. What floated up was a wad of fishing net that if you spread it out would be twice the footprint of the boat. We kept it attached to the boat because it acted as a drogue to minimize boat movement. When you see the pictures, the mass is actually longer than Andy is tall. He also found about 12 foot of 1 inch rope entangle in both the net and the prop shaft. What ensued was 4 hours of Andy and Joe taking turns diving to the prop and cutting away at what they found. Dennis and Michele ran things topside. What they cut away was an incredible amount of rope, plastic, and netting. As we bobbed, we were all appalled at the amount of garbage and debris we saw float by. We had clearly entered a large debris field. Ironically, as we mentioned in an earlier blog, we are recording the garbage we see for a survey - we had lots to enter in the log today. But, back to the boys - they did an outstanding job. It wasn't an easy task. At 10:30, the final rope was cleared and we started clearing the the lines and tethers in the water. A silver lining to the morning - as we cleaned up, we spotted a large (16 in?) Japanese glass fishing ball. We fired up the motor and went after it. Another irony, if we hadn't gotten tangled in the debris field, we probably wouldn't have found this treasure.
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1 comment:
The return crew, Warlord Dennis, Andy, Michelle and Joe are doing a great job getting Tiki Blue back to RYC. We had some emails going back and forth and a SAT phone call regarding this run in with a wayward fishing net. For a while it seemed like a serious issue but their fortitude and underwater skills prevailed! Watching and reading from afar on land is a different kind of sailing experience! Go TIKI
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