Only close call was a sailboat
motoring along. Beautiful 50 footer headed our way about a mile off. I was dinking around on the foredeck trying to get the chute to fly as we ghosted along at a 1/2 knt. Wife was watching the sailboat motoring toward us. When it hadn't changed course at all and was a couple hundred yards away wife put the helm over and gave me a heads up on the situation. At that point it appeared the boat was going to pass down out side about 40 feet away. We couldn't see anyone on deck, so rather than sound the horn and startle someone who might just panic and turn into us, we just watched it pass. When we could see into the cockpit we saw a guy slumped over in one of those helm chairs with armrests. We yelled "wake up" and got head movement. We yelled again and two unseen crew sleeping on the foredeck sat up and headed back to the cockpit. Based on its heading I figure he came around a point to the north of us and set the autopilot for the harbor to our south, a distance of about 6 miles and met up with us at about mile 4. As maddening as this was, I was glad he was just asleep rather than dead, though I did not come to this perspective until a few days later.
motoring along. Beautiful 50 footer headed our way about a mile off. I was dinking around on the foredeck trying to get the chute to fly as we ghosted along at a 1/2 knt. Wife was watching the sailboat motoring toward us. When it hadn't changed course at all and was a couple hundred yards away wife put the helm over and gave me a heads up on the situation. At that point it appeared the boat was going to pass down out side about 40 feet away. We couldn't see anyone on deck, so rather than sound the horn and startle someone who might just panic and turn into us, we just watched it pass. When we could see into the cockpit we saw a guy slumped over in one of those helm chairs with armrests. We yelled "wake up" and got head movement. We yelled again and two unseen crew sleeping on the foredeck sat up and headed back to the cockpit. Based on its heading I figure he came around a point to the north of us and set the autopilot for the harbor to our south, a distance of about 6 miles and met up with us at about mile 4. As maddening as this was, I was glad he was just asleep rather than dead, though I did not come to this perspective until a few days later.
Alan