Alisio
Lost in Hawaii
April 1 – Manele, Hawaii
Some accounts of the loss of the Lapworth
40 Alisio have been circulating which may be inaccurate,
so owner Ron Martin has written in to tell the story.
“I left Wahiawa Cove on Kauai,
a mile east of Port Allen, the morning of March 10 bound for
Manele Harbour on the island of Lanai. I was singlehanding
again and had been since early February. There was absolutely
no wind and I motored the entire distance, 33 hours. The sea
was flat calm all the way. The entire first night I was off
the busy waters of Oahu, limiting my ability to get much sleep. At
daybreak I was abeam of Waikiki. I thought about going in,
but the calm conditions offered an excellent opportunity to push
eastward.
“As I approached Lanai I calculated
that it was going to be tight getting there before dark. I
programed an alternative harbor on the south coast of Lanai into
the GPS and pressed on to Manele. Closer, I made a decision
to rev up the engine and go for Manele. I arrived just before
dark. The inner harbor seemed too tight for me to maneuver and
Med-moor alone so I opted to go to the outside anchorage. I anchored
in 12 feet of water in a spot outside the entrance and rode very
comfortably through the night.
“I awoke around 6:30 a.m. and proceeded
to get ready to go in and see the harbormaster. During my shower
the boat began banging into the rocks. Getting on deck I tried
to pull the boat to deeper water with the windlass and then
the engine, but Alisio was trapped in the rocks. I got
a line out to a large RIB that was heading out of the harbor,
but he gave up after a couple of tugs and yelled that he
had to go to pick up some people. Some people in the water were
trying to help and they got a line from one of the large
day trip cats to me and I attached it to my main halyard.
I thought he was going to try to crab me off but his plan was
just to swing Alisio stern to the sea. She was laying
on her port side and was taking on water big time. We were
so far up on the beach at this point that there was no danger
of sinking, however. It was obvious that her fate was sealed.
It took only 45 minutes from the first bang on the rocks to being on
her side with a big hole in her.
“My first mistake was not going into
the alternate harbor, leaving myself a safe margin of daylight
time. Instead I arrived just at dark, in a strange harbor and
dog tired to boot. The combination caused me to misread the cruising
guide and anchor in the wrong place. Second, I put 90 feet of chain out
(too much, it turned out) and it was fine until the tide
went down and waves came up in the shallow water (still
no wind) pushing her toward shore to the end of her chain, and
into even shallower water. Not checking the depth and
looking over the side in the morning also was an error.
After that I’ll leave it to be God’s choice.
“I called a Mayday and spoke briefly
to the Coast Guard, but by that time it was too late for them
to do anything, and what it mostly accomplished was having
some lieutenant badgering me over the harbormaster’s cell phone
later about my responsibility to get the one gas jug and six
diesel jugs off the boat or I could be subject to heavy fines,
and about my responsibility to get the boat out of there as it
was an environmental protection area, with the threat of
more possible fines. All this while in the first stage of shock
of having lost my lovely boat, my nest egg, (no hull coverage)
and way of life, watching her die on the beach.
“The harbormaster, Sherry Menze, took
over. She gave me her small sailboat to sleep on, washed and
folded four loads of my laundry, fed me for three days,
made all arrangements, made her cell phone available
and introduced me to Pat Ross of Sea Engineering who happened
to be there with their salvage barge dredging the harbor.
“He sent two divers over to check
it out and their report was that there was a 3-ft by 5-ft hole on
the port side with a huge rock stuck in it. I hired his
two divers to help get as much gear off the boat as possible
before dark. They worked like maniacs, and we salvaged a lot
of gear. Fortunately most of the electrics were high and dry
on the starboard side. The high tide that night pushed her broadside
to and higher on the beach, butting up to the keel that
was all that was left of a boat that suffered the same fate
less than a year ago.
“I was able to walk aboard without
getting my feet wet and took more gear and personal effects off
for the next two days. Sherry and a few other locals helped me
carry this heavy gear 100 yards down a boulder-strewn beach to
the road. She also allowed me to sort out this gear
on the lawn behind her office. Her cohort, Terry, built
a shed to store it all until I could get all it transported
to Oahu. As harbormasters go they don’t come any better than
Sherry Menze – she’s a sailor herself and therefore has
the understanding needed for the job but more important
has a very large heart.
“Fortunately I did have liability
insurance, and Sea Engineering was hired to dispose of the
boat. Yes, I did say dispose of. I did not stick around to witness
that. Pat told me later that it was ugly but spared me the details.
I was offered a picture of her laying on the beach but declined.
The picture, I assure you, is in my mind’s eye constantly.
“Will I get another boat and go back
out? I would love to go, but the answer is ‘probably
not’. Money is a problem, and I don’t think I have the energy
to make another boat ready to go. I will be offering
a plethora of great gear for sale on Oahu in mid-April. Meanwhile
I am staying with my son here, spoiling the grand-babies.”
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