Friday, June 1 Friday Harbor anchorage to Friday Harbor marina

We knew we could not stay rafted to this sailboat any longer so we prepared to let go of the lines.  Fred went aboard the sailboat and loosened the bow line.  Of course, the bow of the sailboat moved out and away from us.   Fred then let loose of the stern line, planning to jump back aboard Emerald Star.  Fate had other plans.  While Fred’s hands were on the gunnel of our boat the sailboat drifted quickly away with Fred’s feet still aboard.  The inevitable happened.  Fred saw that he was suspended between both boats and said “going into the water”.  Fred was convinced he was going to die, really..  He was wearing sweats and they tried to pull him under.  The water is very cold up here this time of year.  He moved to the swim platform and I rigged up a line for him to hang onto so he wouldn’t be pulled away by the current.  Our swim platform is too high off of the water for anyone to get back aboard.  Our swim ladder is secured in the lazarette.  I went down there as quickly as I could to get the swim ladder and attached it to the swim platform.  Poor Fred was frozen when he got out.  He stripped and headed for a hot shower.  The swim ladder will remain in a location where it can be quickly deployed from now on. Little did we know that the fun was only beginning.

We were so frazzled by last night and this morning we decided to go onto the dock at Friday Harbor for a good night’s sleep.  As we were pulling up the anchor we reached a point where it was stuck.  We had to call Boat US for a diver to come and release or anchor.  There is always the possibility that that anchor cannot be freed and we would have to leave it.  Fortunately, the diver was able to free our anchor.  Apparently, there are sunken boats here and we hooked up to an anchor.  These wrecks are not on the chart plotter!

We are now safely attached to the dock on the inside of Breakwater D.  Fred is recovering well.