We need to remove the shackles from the deck fittings. With the use of a stopper knot, I think we can use some of that old line and tie them to the pad-eyes. It won’t be perfect, but it will help give the mast support. We can’t do anything about the spreader so we’ll have to bypass it and come straight to the deck.”
“I don’t suppose you have the old wires?” Frank asked staring up the mast.
“I do. But there is no way anyone is going up the mast to replace them. Not under these conditions anyhow, but this will work. The good thing is, we still have our sails.”
“And it wasn’t the forestay or backstay that broke.”
Ellen laughed without humor, “Don’t remind me.”
By the time they had finished with the shrouds they both had a multitude of scratches and punctures in their hands and fingers from the shredded ends.
By loosening the port shrouds, they were able to attach the line to the wires and then to the pad-eyes on deck. They pulled the line as tight as two people could get them and tied them off.
Frank could see that Ellen looked worn out he told her, “How about you see if you can round up some coffee for us and I’ll tighten up the portside turnbuckles?” He waved the crescent wrench at her to emphasize he already had the proper tool to tighten them.
She smiled at him gratefully, “I can do that. I can also holler when the mast looks straight.”
Frank began the process of tightening the turnbuckles taking turns with them so he didn’t tighten any one too tight to begin with.
He was happy when Ellen finally announced the mast looked as straight as it was going to get and he had tuned his final turnbuckle. His fingers hurt from the many pokes and scrapes on his skin. The rag he had used to wipe his hands on was red with his blood. He wiped them a final time and went to the cockpit where Ellen had raised the table. Two cups of coffee sat beside a flour tortilla rolled up with what looked like strawberry jam oozing out the ends.
His mouth began to salivate at the thought of the sweets.
They sat in companionable silence while they drank and ate the sweet treat. Alan and Rob came topside after they had finished.
“You guys took your sweet time coming to offer help.” Ellen said. However, they didn’t take her seriously because she grinned as she said it. “I’m sorry if I was a bitch or said anything bitchy to anyone.”
“We understand. You have an emotional attachment to this boat and now it’s broken. Hell any of us would be upset too.” Alan told her as he surveyed their repairs. “I’m going to miss that bimini top when it begins to rain in the middle of the night.”
“We all are.” Ellen said and then she got that little glean in her eyes. “I do have an umbrella somewhere.”
“We don’t have much farther to go. We’re past the Columbia which was our biggest hurdle, so I’m thinking maybe 36 hours to Neah Bay. I’ll do a sighting to make sure of our position, but…” Alan had caught Frank’s attention by pointing at the sky above them. He looked up. Clouds were building again overhead. They sat low and were dark gray. The temperature had dropped noticeably.
“I guess I won’t be able to take a sighting right now, but when we get closer I’ll use the handheld bearing compass and we’ll know exactly where we are. I don’t think we drifted too far away from the position I took yesterday. Maybe 60 miles at the most.” He wished he’d taken a sighting when they’d first come outside, but the time had already come and gone. Now they would have to make do and head north. The next morning would be soon enough to head in.
“Rob came outside and rubbed his hands together and blew warm air into them. “Is it my imagination or is it getting colder? The girls were complaining about how cold they were.”
“It’s January in Washington. What can you expect?”
“Be fair Ellen, everyone but you are from Florida. We don’t know what to expect. Hell I thought it rained everyday up here and that’s about as much as I do know or thought I knew.” Frank was staring up at the sky. “And it snows here.” He added softly.
They all looked up and a snowflake landed on Ellen’s eyelash forcing her to close the eye. She sighed loudly, “And it snows.”
Frank looked at Alan, “You may as well tell the girls to bundle up. I don’t think it’s going to get any warmer for a while.”
“Close the doors behind you. Your combined body heat will warm it up some.” Ellen advised. “Make sure to tell Ellen and Maggie that if they decide to cook anything to open one of the ports.”
It’s probably a good idea to open one anyway with all of you down there.” Frank said. “If you don’t, the humidity will make your clothes and cushions feel damp. There is nothing worse than climbing into a damp bed.”
“Do you need us up here?” Alan asked, but Frank and Ellen could see it was a question Rob wanted to hear the answer to also.
Frank looked to Ellen, she shook her head no. “Nope we’ve got it. You guys just keep the coffee coming and we’ll handle it for a while.”
She looked at Frank, “We need to pull everything out of the aft cabin. That’s the only way to get to the quadrant.”
“What about through the corner hatch?”
She looked behind her. “Do you realize how small that opening is? The only person who could fit through that hatch are one of the girls. I’ve always had to take the wall out of the aft cabin to get to it. We don’t know if the steering cable broke or jumped the quadrant track. Either way one of us has to go down there.”
“Have you looked in the mirror lately? I’ll bet you’d fit right through there.” He saw the doubt on her face. She actually looked embarrassed by his assessment. He figured since meeting her she had dropped 30 or 40 pounds. Now she was bordering on skinny, but he knew from watching her work she was all muscle.
“Come on I’ll prove it to you.” He opened the corner hatch. The only things left in there were the remainder of their hose and some line. Way down at the bottom was a couple old spare life jackets. The battery charger was mounted on the aft wall of the locker because it needed to be easily accessible. He pulled out the rope and hose and waved her over. “Come on. Once you get in there and see what’s up I can get you whatever you need to fix it.”
“This isn’t going to work. I tried this one time before and my butt was too big.” Ellen put her feet through the opening and slid in without a problem. She looked up at Frank with a huge grin on her face. “Well shit! I guess there is something to be said about a good diet.”
She disappeared from sight and Frank could hear her mumbling. He heard some thumps and bangs. He heard a lot of cussing. Ellen’s language could be called offensive if he was the kind of man who worried about such things. He’d been known to string words together that made no sense and had no business being put together a time or two himself.
He stuck his head through the opening. “Is it broke or what?”
“No! I need two of the small crescent wrenches. I can fix this in a few minutes. The cable must have been loose and with the pressure against the rudder from the waves it jumped out of the quadrant track. There’s probably a proper name for it, but track works for me.”
Frank handed down the wrenches. “Here you go. Anything else I can do?”
Frank put his hands in his pockets. He couldn’t believe how cold he was and Ellen had told them it would get colder before spring. They would all have to find warmer clothing if they hoped to survive in Washington. He had been cold in Iraq and they had been equipped for the weather. He looked down at his feet and was grateful to Chuck for the gear he had given them in Panama. His hadn’t been a great fit, but they did allow for extra socks.
“You want to give me a hand out of here?” Ellen called. Only the top of her head was visible in the opening.
She put her hands in the air and Frank grabbed them. With one pull she was sitting on the edge of the hatch.
“Before I get all the way out want to try it?”
The wheel no longer turned easily. He could fe
el the pressure of the rudder against the wheel. “Feels good to me.”
Ellen climbed out and stuck her head down. “Try it again.” She watched and it looked perfect to her. “That does it. Thank God we had the cable and chain system and not rack and pinion system. We’d have had to use the emergency tiller.”
“I guess we should be grateful it didn’t break.”
He saw the grin on her face. “You could have fixed that too right?”
“I could have. Now let’s go below and warm up.
Dang, I forgot how cold it gets here. Makes me wish we could have stayed in the Dry Tortugas.” She started for the hatchway and stopped. She looked back at Frank.
“Actually, that’s not true. We would have missed out on knowing Rob, Dana, Maggie and Olivia and all the other good people we’ve met along the way. If the only price we have to pay is being cold…I can accept that.”
“You said you have another anchor somewhere?”
“I do. It’s not as good as the cqr but it will have to do. There’s a Danforth on top of the water tank.” She opened the hatch and yelled, “Alan look under the seat you’re sitting on. In that compartment there’s a Danforth anchor. Can you get it for me please?”
“Sure enough.” He said and began removing the blankets and cushions. With the board out he saw the anchor strapped flat on top of the tank. He went to pull it out and realized there was a lot of chain attached to it. “Hey Ellen, do you want the chain too?” He fingered the shackle that held the chain on. With a screwdriver he could have the shackle off in a few seconds.
Ellen looked at Frank. “There’s a big shackle in that black toolbox. We’ll shackle the two chains together and we’ll have a longer chain road.”
“Send it all up please.”
Frank set the shackle on the cockpit table and used his arm to move Ellen aside. “I’ve got it. You don’t have to do everything.”
“In that case I believe I will go and warm up. Whose idea was it to come up to the cold anyways? They should be drawn and quartered or at least keel hauled.”
Frank took the anchor and chain forward and using the shackle he fastened the two pieces of chain together settling one chain on top of the other and put the anchor on the bow. He put a clip to hold it from sliding off.
Chapter Twenty-nine - If it keeps snowing.
With the hatchway doors closed the cabin warmed up quickly. Rob remembered to open a port in the V-berth. Alan and the girls had put the inside of the boat back together and everyone had their own space back again. They had used more discretion when returning things by securing them by shutting doors and lids. The books from the shelf had been packed into an empty tote and stored in the aft cabin. Alan had hung netting along the hull in the V-berth to put all their new clothing in.
Other than being so much taller than the other two men, Rob’s clothes fit them all. They didn’t cut off pant legs or sleeves; they simply rolled them up.
With all the weight Ellen had lost, she fit into Maggie’s clothes. If not for her tummy bump, Hannah would have fit into Dana’s clothes. She followed the men’s example and rolled and tucked.
Fashion wasn’t a priority these days and as long as the clothes were clean they wore them. Ellen did mention that they would no longer be able to hang clothing on the life lines to dry them so wearing things a few days longer would have to be the new norm. No body minded as long as they could all stay warm.
Maggie had brought some of Dana’s clothing and with the aid of safety pins and rolling; Oliva had warm clothes to wear.
Maggie mentioned they were going to have to repurpose things rather than throw them out. Replacement was not going to be an option in the future. She had taken note of what had seemed to work back at the trading center in Eureka and she thought it could work for them on the farm.
“It can,” Ellen had agreed, “if there is anyone still there to trade with.”
By the end of the day the girls were ready for sleep and went willingly with no complaints when Maggie told them it was time. They put the now dry towel back into the little tote and Holly on top of it and off they went. Maggie didn’t get past the second page of Fantasy Castle before they were both fast asleep.
She put the book aside, put on one of Rob’s heavy sweatshirts and joined the others in the cockpit.
Frank had strung a piece of line from the mast to the backstay and Ellen had put their Sunbrella rain catcher over it and pulled out the four corners and tied it down to what was left of the life lines. The impromptu shelter kept the falling snow off them.
The snow had fallen continuously all day and shown no sign of letting up. It was wet and heavy which meant someone had to remember to knock the snow off of the tarp before it slid into the cockpit.
The ocean water was the direct opposite of the day before. Flat as a mill pond. Frank thought that maybe the snow falling had something to do with it.
Without so much as breeze they only had the current to deal with. Frank thought they could be doing as much as four knots.
“Tomorrow, we’ll change our course and head closer to shore. Hopefully we can recognize some kind of landmark.” Frank said. He had one of the old charts out that Ellen had purchased from a retiring sailor. It wasn’t a great chart or filled with detail because it was the main chart you used to select the charts you did need. He had folded it so only the west coast of Washington showed.
“We should be able to see where Neah Bay comes out into the ocean.” Ellen said. “I think we should think about going in and seeing if we can find some more fuel. We’re down to three jugs and the tank is less than half full.” She looked at Frank, “What do you think?”
“If the wind would blow at all we could make it all the way, but if this shit keeps up…sorry Margaret. If it keeps snowing, we probably won’t get much wind.”
“Would everyone please call me Maggie. I really prefer it over Margaret. I left Margaret back in my old life and Maggie seems so much warmer.”
“Well okay then Maggie, sorry about the swearing.” Frank said.
“You haven’t seen one of our west coast blizzards Frank. However, this time I agree with you. This snow is packing a lot of water and if it was to warm up even a few degrees it would turn to rain.”
“What’s in Neah Bay?” Rob asked. Frank held the chart out to show them where it was and what the piece of land looked like.
They all looked to Ellen because none of them had ever been there. “Last time I was there…not much. They had portable docks they would pull up in the winter, but I heard they built nice floating docks. I don’t think they would pull them out. It’s a real small town on part of the Makah tribe Indian reservation. It’s pretty much out on the point of Cape Flattery. It’s probably changed since I was there, but we might find fuel though. There used to be a store and a gas station. I’d have to think they have diesel with all the fishing boats that go in and out of there.”
“I hope the guy with the radio was able to contact someone up north,” Hannah put in, “But what if he does contact someone, and it’s the wrong kind of someone?”
“Hopefully, they did and it was the right kind of people. If the good guys can have radios, there’s nothing to prevent the bad guys from having them too?” Frank answered. In fact, he had been having the same thought after learning that Alan had left a standing request for the guy in Eureka to try and see if he could raise anyone up north and tell them they were on their way up.
“I wish we had talked before we went out to the farm. Alan did what any of us would have done without knowing what we wanted. He saw the opportunity to maybe make a contact up north and he took it. We could get lucky but who knows.”
“I guess I should have thought first, but at least I didn’t say when we would get there. I only asked him to see if he could contact anyone and that a group of us were coming up. I didn’t give out names or anything like that.”
“Well the thing is we only have two real choices of where we land at. Two that make se
nse anyhow. They both are owned by the Port of Bellingham. I prefer we go into Blaine which was my first thought. Bellingham is a metropolis compared to Blaine. The walk is about the same no matter where we go in.”
“It’s your call you know the area and we don’t.” Frank yawned loudly and stretched his free arm above his head, bent at his knees and groaned. He’d been standing for most of the day and his body was beginning to protest. I don’t know about you but I’m getting darn tired and could use a rest.”
“It stopped snowing!” Hannah exclaimed. She stood up and lifted the center of the tarp up. Heavy wet snow slid of the material and landed on the gunnels. Alan used one hand to push it out the back.
“Rob, Alan how about you two doing a couple of hours.” She pointed at the compass. “Keep it on the same heading and we’ll be fine for that short time.”
Both guys nodded, and Frank passed his gloves off to Rob who had immediately jumped behind the wheel.
“Are you going down?” Ellen asked Hannah. Maggie had already turned in.
“In a bit. I think I’ll sit here for just a while.”
“Don’t get overly cold. I don’t think it would do for either of you to get chilled.” Ellen rubbed a circle on her tummy to show Hannah who she was talking about. Hannah smiled and acknowledged
Alan woke them up four hours later. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and still he shivered.
The hand Alan put on his shoulder to wake him felt like an ice cube to Frank. He shoved the hand away, “Geez, didn’t you have any gloves on or something!”
“Sorry, I do, but you won’t believe how cold it is.”
“Yes I will but let me find out on my own.” Frank grumbled and groaned, but he sat up wiping at his face.
Hannah pushed an insulated cup into his hands, “Here, drink this. You’ll feel more human. The good thing is, it’s not snowing and the bad thing is it’s colder than hell out there. Rob says you two should double up on clothes. There is ice everywhere that there used to be snow so be careful.”
Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road Page 18
