Suddenly Overboard Read Online Free PDF

fast.
    With a crew of eight on
WingNuts
, it was important to maintain an exact balance of weight. But Mark and his crew were very experienced and had sailed her often enough over 4 years to make their movements a choreographed art. They had also added some 300 pounds to the keel ballast to increase stability.
    Sailing on
WingNuts
was very fast—and very exciting.
    And they suspected this Chicago–Mac would be an exciting one. A south wind was forecast for the Saturday start, allowing them to fly up the northeast course under a spinnaker. Thunderstorms were predicted for later on Sunday, possibly severe, but they were ready for that too.
    Winds remained fairly light most of Saturday, but they enjoyed a good pace with the spinnaker. The eight of them alternatedwatches, got some sleep, and worked flawlessly as a team. Mark was grinning all the time, and Suzanne smiled whenever she watched him at the helm. She was the only woman on the boat, one of only two crew outside their extended family, but she pulled her weight like everyone else and had earned their respect. One of the great joys of a race like this was the bond everyone felt as they worked together.
    Except for the reddish sky at dawn, Sunday began much like Saturday. The wind was still southerly but getting stronger, and
WingNuts
was simply flying under the big spinnaker. Everyone had slept at least some, and the adrenaline countered whatever fatigue might have been setting in. They all felt fine, the younger crew still excited if a little apprehensive about the radio’s thunderstorm predictions. Late in the afternoon they saw clouds building to the west.
    The storm moved in after sunset, and the wind began clocking around toward the west and building. Lightning flickered to the west and southwest. Gradually the wind increased even more as they watched the radar and saw storm cells moving in. When they put the second reef in the mainsail and changed to the smallest jib, the lightning was so bright they scarcely needed the spreader lights to see what they were doing.
    The shifting wind confused the seas and made steering trickier, but they’d trained for this and maintained good control. Except when they were below in the cabin they kept tethered to the jackline down the center of the cockpit. With 6-foot tethers from their harnesses to the jackline, there was no way anyone could go over the side.
    Then the wind rose rapidly to 30 knots and beyond and they dropped the main entirely and tied it securely to the boom. The small jib was enough to maintain steerage on port tack. Thunder cracked almost constantly now as
WingNuts
shuddered through the gusts. Windblown rain and spray blasted them from every angle. All they could do was try to keep the boat under control until the storm passed.
    Seated on the starboard side, Suzanne was watching forward when off the port bow the blackness between lightning flashes turned white, as if the air had become sudden dense fog. She fingered the titanium knife she always wore on a lanyard around her neck; you never knew when you might have to cut yourself free from a line or even your tether. Above the shrieking wind she heard shouts and saw Mark look up from the bright blob in the center of the radar screen, already scrambling for the jib furling line and jerking it back to roll in the little jib fast, when a terrible gust caught them from port as
WingNuts
came off a wave. The port wing rose up fast and Mark tumbled across the cockpit onto Suzanne as the wing lifted higher, and then they were going over. She grabbed Mark and struggled for a handhold on anything, but the wing was above them now and they went backward in free-fall as everything was blotted out above. The last thing she felt before blacking out was the jerk of her harness on her shoulders and back as the tether snapped tight.
    The mast struck the water and kept going. The righting force of the heavy keel bulb raised high above the water was no match for the