The Destiny of Escape

Slowly, over the next two hours, a knot at a time, the wind was building. Daniel had not noticed the change. He was lacking the honed instincts Emerald had acquired from the many months of being at sea. The smallest indications, such as the change of the way the boat moved, the slight increase of speed, the swell heightening gradually. He was busy writing notes on his tablet that he wanted to send along with his manuscript. Suddenly a much larger swell rolled under the side of Escape causing her to jerk sharply. The violent action woke Emerald with a start, making her heart beat rapidly as if she had been running. She found herself standing beside the settee before she was fully awake. Daniel, in turn, was about to go wake her to help make the necessary sail changes.

“What’s happening, “ she shouted from the darkness of the cabin below. She made her way up the steps cautiously.

“Looks like the seas are building,” he replied, startled at her unexpected appearance.  “The wind has picked up a little also. Guess it’s time to put a reef in the main.” He stowed his tablet under the dodger, so it would not blow away and started preparing to shorten sail.

The sudden rush of adrenaline allowed her to think clearly and she was able to access the situation quickly. The wind was now blowing twenty knots. She peered into the darkness and saw the moon hanging low on the horizon. It was partially hidden by wind swept clouds making it too dark to judge how high the waves were. However, she guessed they had increased considerably by the confused action of the sailboat.

“I think we can still let the auto helm steer while we reef the main,” she told him.

“I’ll go forward and drop the sail down some if you want to handle it from back here.” He clipped the safety line he was wearing onto the jack line that ran the full length of the deck. Ten minutes later the changes were made and he joined Emerald back in the cockpit.

“I’m sorry you got woke up so abruptly. That bigger swell to hit the boat at a weird angle. Made quite a noise didn’t it?” He apologized thoughtfully.

“I thought I’d been shot at again. Strange, I remember the dream I’ve been having now.” A vivid picture of being chased by a faceless man who was shooting at her filled her mind and she shivered from the terror she had felt in her sleep.

“Want to tell me about it?” he asked, concerned.

“No. It’s only a dream. Doesn’t mean anything. I dream all the time. I wish I didn’t,” she answered flatly.

“Do you want to go back to bed now?” he offered.

“No, I’m wide awake. How about you?”

“To tell you the truth, I am pretty sleepy. Guess I’ve had enough excitement for tonight.”

“I think you should get some rest, especially if the wind continues to pick up. If it does, we may both have to be up here to put another reef in the main. I’m really glad we changed the head sail to the smaller one before we left Fiji.”

“Yes, me too. The way the roller furling is set up on this boat, it would be impossible to change it in a very strong wind. Good thinking Captain.”

“Go to bed,” she teasingly ordered.

“Aye, Aye.” He saluted her and went below.

Thin clouds parted allowing a luminous orange moon to draw Emerald’s full attention. It’s narrow beacon radiated across the water toward Escape like a giant spotlight. The beam of light cast an eerie elongated shadow of her sails on the other side. Suddenly, as if someone turned off the light switch, it disappeared into the ocean. Emerald settled herself in a corner of the cockpit under the dodger, where she had an unobstructed view of the radar screen. She turned off the tiny hand held reading light Daniel had been using. The darkness surrounding her became absolute, making her feel like a tiny dot in space. In a few minutes her eyes adjusted to the change and she was able to see a short distance across the threatening water that surrounded her boat. It appeared the swell was continuing to build. The recent sail change had placed Escape on a comfortable point, so she rode out the perpetual motion of the sea with the effortless rhythm of a pendulum. The sky above was scattered with dark ominous hulks that floated across it as if fat witches were riding their magical brooms, followed by jagged milky white streaks. She imagined the streaks were playful ghosts trailing along to join in the nightly fun.

Emerald’s foul mood, she awoke with, was disturbing to her. For some reason she felt completely alone while she stood her watch. She glanced at Daniel’s shape sleeping peacefully in the dark cabin below. A sense of uneasiness hung over her as if she were being warned by some unknown entity of terrible things about to happen. She told herself she was just tired and anxious about the last twenty four hours of this passage. The closer they were to New Zealand, the more unsettled the weather typically could become. She had to search for her inner voice; the one often called on for courage, to tell her to snap out of it.

Daniel was asleep almost the minute his head hit the pillow.  It was always that way for him. He and Emerald were very different in many ways. He seemed to be able to let the world drift by him like lazy clouds in a summer sky. Emerald was serious about everything and spent countless hours worrying about things she could do nothing about, when she should have been getting her precious sleep. In the daytime while traveling, she busied herself with various projects, while he was content to read or fill his laptop with endless words.

An hour passed, and Emerald went below to grab a snack. While there she sensed the motion of the boat was slowly changing. She thought to herself, it is definitely getting rougher out there.  When she went back to the cockpit, she clipped the harness she was wearing to the safety hook and changed the heading on the auto-helm a few degrees, making the ride a little smoother. She adjusted the sheets on the sails slightly in order to achieve the best speed with the new course change. Afterwards, Emerald stood for a few minutes, while holding onto the dodger, and scanned the water for signs of ship’s lights that might be lurking in the darkness. She thought about Ron, and the terror he must have felt when he fell overboard and watched his boat as it left him to fight for survival alone in the churning water.