Saturday, February 22, 2003 is a day no one on Gritz will forget. It was a day with west winds blowing steady 20 to 30 knots.
There were two windward – leeward races that day associated with the J/30 Midwinters held at New Orleans Yacht Club. Ten J/30’s participated in the event. I don’t want to spend much time writing about the races because the lessons I learned that day happened after the race. I will say we saw lots of carnage on the race course. We saw a collision with a crew member almost washed off the boat, a hard broach, numerous torn sails, and lots of people on the race course who did not want to be there.
Gritz completed both races. As we approached the final finish, we saw the R/C boat flying the “No More Races†flag. Everyone cheered that flag. We were proud that we had finished both races, with nothing broken, no one hurt and a fourth place for the day. We dropped the headsail and headed home.
While heading home, I tried to start the motor. It started but sounded rough. After a minute or so, I turned off the engine. We didn’t really need it to get back, and I wanted to save it for the harbor.
Once we got close to the harbor, we tried to start the engine again. It would sputter, but not run. Our only option was to either be towed in, or sail into the harbor against a 20 knot head wind with no motor. We tried to hail another J/30 for a tow, but they did not hear us. With no tow available we discussed the sail up the harbor. We were going to put up the jib and tack all the way to the dock.
One we got to within a few hundred yards of the harbor the blade went back up. We started up the harbor and completed a few uneventful tacks that got us up to the SYC bulkhead even with the flagpole. We tacked and headed over toward the breakwater rocks.
We completed the tack and someone yelled, “Man Over Board!â€Â I looked around and saw Leanne Green in the water. She had lost her grip during the tack and fell through the lifeline gate backwards. She was treading water smiling and waving. I called for a headsail drop.
We were upwind of Leanne with no motor. We had to turn the boat downwind, sail past Leanne then come back upwind to rescue her. Elaine Boos was on the back of the boat getting the throw ring ready.
Somehow Elaine went over the side too. We don’t know if she was hit with the boom or fell and hit her head on the way down. Either way, she was in the water, semi-unconscious with eyes open, but not swimming or waving. She was floating and sort of rolling around on her back.
At this point, we had two people are in the water, both without PFD’s. We have no motor. The wind is howling and trying to push the boat away from both people in the water. There was no time to call for help – they HAD to be picked-up. Leanne was treading water and seemed relatively OK. Elaine was in bad shape. I needed to go and get Elaine first. We went downwind again and sailed back upwind to get along side Elaine. I stuffed the boat into the wind to stop. Ricardo Gutierrez and Pierce Wood each grabbed an arm and hoisted her up. They could not lift her over the lifelines. I handed the tiller to Buzzy Brennan and ran forward to grab the seat of Elaine’s pants and flopped her onto the deck.
With Elaine on board we now had to go get Leanne, who was still treading water, but getting tired. Land Shark, another J/30 was coming in. They were folding sails and unaware of the situation and heading straight for Leanne. We signaled them that we had a man overboard. They responded immediately. They threw Leanne a life line, circled her, and thank God! were able to pull her aboard. Thank you Land Shark – you guys probably saved her life.
After Leanne was rescued we focused on getting back to the slip. For some reason, during the hectic recovery, the mainsail had been dropped and we were without steerage. Buzzy was at the helm, I had just brought Elaine down below. I came back on deck, helped raise the main and we began the trip back to the slip. We sailed main only up to the slip and dropped the main at the last minute, and coasted into the slip.
The crew iced down the cut in Elaine’s scalp. She was awake, but still groggy and starting to show signs of shock. Once in the slip, I helper her off the boat and brought her up to NOYC. We took off all of her wet clothes, and tried to dry her off. John and Debbie David, Rick Owens, Heidi Junius, Gayle Fraiser, Joyce Sackett and others helped to wrap her up to preserve body heat. We called 911 immediately. The EMS ambulance arrived in about 5 – 10 minutes and we transported Elaine to the hospital. After a normal CT head scan, hospital staff put in nine stitches, gave her some antibiotics, and sent Elaine home.
Lessons learned
This experience has burned a number of lessons into my brain that I’ll never, never forget.
1.   Decision to Race
The decision to race, or to continue to race is solely the skippers. I sail for the enjoyment of sailing. It’s a hobby, a pastime, something I do on the weekends. Nobody on Gritz wanted to be out in the lake that day. During the races, we all discussed going in, but decided to finish both races. Next time no one is enjoying the event, or the conditions have degraded I’m going to err on the side going in. Why risk hurting someone, or breaking something?
2.   Life lines
The gate where Leanne fell through only has one upper lifeline, no lower lifeline. That leaves a gap. The gap will be filled with a lower lifeline ASAP.
3.   Fuel
In rough condition two things frequently happen to diesel engines. Over time, fuel tanks accumulate sediment. In rough conditions the sediment becomes agitated. The sediment will clog fuel filters and the engine will die of fuel starvation – just when the engine is needed most – heavy seas. Second, wave action and heel agitate the fuel tank and allow air into the fuel line. A diesel with fuel injection cannot tolerate air in the fuel lines. This is why Gritz’s engine would not run – air in the fuel line. We had a quarter tank of fuel, which got aerated and/or the boat heeled so much that the fuel line sucked air. My tanks will always be full with fresh fuel for heavy air conditions.
4.               PFD’s
I have no explanation why we were not wearing PFD’s that day. Gritz was not the only boat out that day that had crew without PFD’s. If not in 20-30 knots, then when? In the past, we’ve always asked crew to put on PFD’s in heavy weather. They were on board, and everyone on board had lots of heavy air experience. It was my responsibility to remind the crew to put on PFD’s. We all new we should wear PFD’s but for some reason it was never discussed before leaving the dock. That will never happen again.
Elaine had an inflatable harness on board. It was not the automatic kind. If she had been wearing it, she would not have been able to inflate it, because she was semi-conscious. I’m no longer in favor of manual inflation harnesses. I like the foam vests as a first choice, and the automatically inflatable harness as a second choice.
5.     Race committee “Y†flag
Next time I volunteer to do Race Committee, there will be no hesitation to fly the “Y†flag – “Wear Personal Buoyancyâ€. This is a seldom used flag on Lake Pontchartrain PHRF race courses. I now have a new respect for the “Y†flag and will not hesitate, or forget to use it.
Conclusion
The events of the last weekend’s race have driven home some basic safety procedures that I will never forget. By writing this article I hope others will realize how easy it is to get in trouble. I hope we all remember that safety is not something to be taken lightly. There’s a reason safety is rule 1 in the Racing Rules of Sailing, and hope we all learn from this. Thank God it turned out the way it did.
Sincerely,
George Hero
Gritz J/30 #31594
