How did that happen!!??

"There's a line in the water. You'll have to get it in!"
Who me? Moi???
"Hurry, now quickly!!!"


We set off this morning from Datca with the intention of having a short, pleasant and, hopefully, uneventful sail to Knidos where we would spend the rest of the day and night before tackling the dreaded Datca peninsula.  At first the day was kind to us, blue skies, a gentle breeze, the kind of days WAWAWs love.
Three hours into the journey that had changed to slate grey waters, a herd of white horses and WIND!
But I'm OK. I settle myself into my tiny corner of the cockpit, arms wrapped firmly round the nearest winch and think that in an hour or two we will be at our destination. I can cope with this bit of rough!

The call to arms comes just as we are rounding into the Knidos bay. The cliffs loomed large on our starboard side and the waves have increased alarmingly.

"You'll have to get that line while I stop the engine and WE ARE IN A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION HERE!"

As if he need to tell me that! Sod's Law has it that I am not wearing my harness or life jacket so am not clipped on to anything on the boat. If I go over it's hello blue seas here I come!

Nevertheless I relinquish my love affair with the winch and crawl forward.

"On your feet not your knees!"

"I can't stand up in this!" I scream back but eventually I stagger upright and somehow reach the trailing line.

"QUICKLY, QUICKLY. YOU'LL HAVE TO BE QUICK!"

What does he think I"m trying to do. Knit a jumper?

I wrap myself round a stay and pull in the sodden rope with a speed and strength I didn't know I possessed and stow the line safely behind a stay.

"It's in." I yell..

Without a moment's respite the engine is restarted and we are off, plunging our way through the foaming sea with me clinging to anything I can get my hands, arms, and legs round.  Spray drenches me, I am sodden, my hands are wrinkled with sea water and going numb and I am seeing more of the sea at an unfamiliar angle than I like. There is no way that I can get back to the relative safety of the cockpit! However, I, me moi, did save the day and I am surviving this roller coaster ride surely my husband must be a bit proud of me.

"And just how did that happen?" I hear the accusation in my captain's voice. My reply goes unheard, words whisked away by the wind.

"Well actually it was the line that you brought in at Datca and stowed on the deck."

For once it wasn't me to blame and there is a small victory in that. After all we WAWAWs must gain points when and where we can!

So we arrive in Knidos. My hair is standing on end and I look like an entrant for 'Granny in a Wet T-Shirt but another day, another harbour and another night to contemplate the next Big Adventure.