Yesterday could have been the end of ORION.
As Tropical Storm Isaias skirted the western part of Connecticut, it brought some rain and a whole lot of wind to Niantic. I was confident in the three-point anchor mooring system ORION was tethered to, despite the fact that I was pretty sure one of the anchors had been fouled some weeks back. I had also spent the day before preparing ORION for rough weather by tying down the mainsail, unshipping the rudder, and securing the jib. As the wind picked up during the early afternoon, my mother took this photo of ORION bouncing around on her mooring and sent it to me. (I live about 45 minutes away from the Niantic River where I grew up and where my parents still live today.)
It’s hard to tell, but almost out of sight at the very right of the picture, you can see that ORION’s mooring pennant had wrapped itself around the mooring ball chain underneath the ball. I didn’t like the look of that at all. If the chain was severely fouled, it might dislodge the anchors with the motion of constantly jerking up and down.
Within a half an hour, the wind had increased substantially and was gusting over 50 knots. I received a frantic call from my mother telling me ORION was dragging her mooring and was slowly heading for the beach. If she hit the rocks, it wouldn’t take long before the waves would pound and grind her into a pulp. My father was going down to the beach to see if there was anything he could do. My heart went into my throat and I jumped in my car.
It was a very long 45 minutes to Niantic as I dodged leaves, branches, and trees scattered on the back roads and the highway. When I finally got to my parents’ house, my mouth dropped as I saw the boiling cauldron of the Niantic River, a sight I had never seen before. I ran down to the beach, expecting to see ORION in pieces on the rocks. Instead, I saw my father onboard, the motor churning at full throttle, the mooring pennant still attached and straining.
As it turns out, my father - at nearly 70 years of age - had managed to swim out to the boat just before she hit the beach, hoist himself onboard, started the motor, put it in gear to keep the immense strain off the compromised mooring, and maneuvered ORION through the waves all the time it took me to get to Niantic. It was a superhuman effort on his part.
I dashed to the beach, jumped in the water, and swam out to ORION. I hung on to her starboard gunwale as she thrashed around, the motor whining and the wind howling in the rigging. I told my father I thought the best course of action would be for me to cast off the mooring and head to Three Belles Marina (ex-Bayreuther Boat Yard) up the river in Smith Cove where my father could meet me with ORION’s trailer and haul her out. (Something I should have done yesterday.) He agreed that was a sound plan.
I climbed aboard and took over the motor while my father went forward, cast off the mooring, and swam ashore. The force of the wind and waves was something I had never experienced. ORION nearly broached a few times, despite the centerboard down only about half-way. Fortunately, the wind was behind me the whole way to Three Belles, but it was still a harrowing and dangerous journey as I fought to prevent ORION from broaching. A number of residents along the shoreline came out of their homes to watch me as I hung on and roared up the river to Smith Cove.
The extremely-protected Smith Cove is a perfect place for a boat yard - partly why my grandfather and his brother built one there back in 1947. Although it is usually calm even in strong winds, there were whitecaps all over, and maneuvering over to the small-boat launch ramp in between all the other boats was extremely challenging. It took longer than I anticipated for my father to get to the ramp, and I ended up fighting my way to the very southern end of the Cove in the lee of the shoreline to get a bit of respite. When I saw my father arrive at the ramp, I carefully brought ORION to the floating dock, allowing her to gently drift forward even though the motor was in reverse. Like on the River, a number of residents had come out of their houses and were watching me, so I had to be that much more careful I didn’t screw anything up.
ORION got to the dock without incident, and my father and I were able to get her on the trailer. We pulled her out and backed her up into the parking lot of where my grandmother still lives, adjacent to the Boat Yard originally built by her late husband so many years ago. There she will sit until Thursday when I have a chance to go back up to Niantic, reset the mooring, launch her, and prepare her for the 2020 Rendezvous this coming weekend.
There’s no doubt about it: My father saved ORION. If he hadn’t gotten to her in time and started the motor to keep her off the beach, I would be thinking about how to salvage her remains right about now. I only hope I can be as helpful, generous, and good a father to my son as my father is to me.