Sad Happenings

It started as a beautiful morning!  The sun was shining, and there appeared to be a sailboat race setting up.  Boats were milling about, and Viking Star was right in the middle of all the action.

One went by and I noticed its pretty sails.  They were kind of translucent and shimmery.  Then the boat turned around, and headed straight for us!  I was standing at the sink doing the dishes and they were headed straight for ME!  Even though I knew they couldn't hear me I said aloud 'Pick a side.  You can't go THROUGH us.  Pick a side.'

They did, and in plenty of time.  It was a white-haired man at the helm, and a few younger people as crew.  The blond pretty woman looked up, smiled, and waved.  I raised a sudsy hand and waved and smiled back.

Then the horn blew and the race was off!

Not long later, we heard sirens.  I looked towards the public dock and noticed a fire truck at the head of the ramp.  I saw a sailboat at the end of the dock, in the space reserved for seaplanes.  Oh no.  It's the particular sailboat we had noticed.  And there was a crew of people in yellow pants with red suspenders -- were they firemen, or just sailors?  I couldn't tell.

We wanted to make a garbage run and pick up a few last fresh groceries.  It looked like the scene had calmed down  -- an ambulance left, with no lights on -- so we made our way to shore.  We noticed police on the dock as well, and determined that the yellow pants were indeed firefighters.

We struck up a conversation with a man at the top of the dock and learned that the helmsman of that sailboat -- he joins the races most every Saturday -- had apparently had a heart attack and had perhaps not even survived the trip to the dock for help.  It was the pretty young woman I saw and waved to who had run up the dock for help.

For a sailor, you probably couldn't ask for a better way to go -- quickly, on a beautiful morning, doing what you love.

But I think of that poor crew and what THEY went through.  This afternoon Al and I took a dinghy tour of some of the harbor, and passed this same sailboat again, now moored at a private dock.  Several people were sitting in the cockpit, heads together.  I hope they know people are praying for them -- even strangers like us.