This Past Weekend
So I don't know if you've ever felt like you were going to die. Now, I'm not talking about "oh my gawd, i broke a nail, i'm goona DIE!" kind of feeling like you're going to die. But serious, honest to goodness you didn't think you'd make it out. That's how I felt this past weekend. It's not a pleasant experience.
It all started on Saturday afternoon when my brother's boss, Won, and I decided to go fishing on his boat for the afternoon and night, and return the next morning. We left, despite weather warnings of light south (Kona) winds. Usually the swells and winds come from the north side of the island, which means the waves on this side are small, since the island blocks the swell from the north, but the north shore gets hit hard.
So we left on the boat, and it was a little bit choppy going out, but nothing too bad. We get out about 20 miles to the Molokai channel out in the middle of the ocean and drop the lines, and nothing's biting. It stays like this until about 10 at night when we just decide to move the boat, try once more, drop the anchor, then sleep. So that's what we did, but the boat wouldn't steer. It turns out a bolt that holds the rudder to the steering mechanism on one side had come off so it wouldn't steer at all. We couldn't do anything about it that night, so decided to sleep.
Little did we know that in the morning it would be really choppy with the winds getting worse. At about 7am, the swell was coming from the southwest, and getting back to Honolulu would be too hard, so we decided to take the shorter route to Molokai, "the friendly isle" to the east of Oahu. Taking the boat all this distance was hard, though. Won was hanging off the back of the boat pushing the rudders with this feet while I was working the throttle. The real trouble came in as we approached Molokai, because the swell turned into whitecaps about 8 feet high. And with no steering, the boat going spinning this way and that, it wasn't fun. When Molokai was in view, I breathed a sigh of relief. When we were close enough that people could see a flare, I breathed another. And when we were close enough to swim in just in case, I felt much better about the situation. After 25 miles and 5 hours of this type of boat driving, we finally pulled into the tiny Molokai harbor, miraculously not harming the boat on the rocks that lined the thin entrance. We got the boat pulled in, tied off, and got out onto the land, which felt really good.
Perhaps you haven't heard of Molokai. That would be because not many visitors go there, because there is nothing there. Nothing. We were lucky to find a few guys fishing who we went to talk to about finding some way to fix the boat. They had seen us coming in and were as amazed as I was that we actually made it. These guys were really cool, about my age, total hawaiian, and kind as hell. Daryl, Matt, and Malcolm were nice enough to give us a ride into town, which was 45 minutes of dirt roads and beautiful country. They said we'd probably be out of luck since it was Sunday, and everything's closed on Sunday. But one place was open, so we bought some food, beer, and a couple bolts and a wrench for the boat. Things were looking better.
We get back to the boat and the guys took off to go came down the beach a little ways. We gave them beer and some poki for their troubles. However, by now it was about 2pm and the waves were getting worse, clouds were coming in, and the bolts didn't fit on the boat. Finally, Won manages to "fix" the boat with a few zipties. However, by the time it was fixed, there was no way we were getting out of there that night. We were stranded on Molokai, cellphones dead, and no reception even if we could charge them.
We walked up the beach a little ways to meet back up with Malcolm, Matt, and Daryl since we were stuck. They all agreed that it would just be stupid to leave that evening, with the sun setting soon and the storm getting worse. So we sat, talked, drank, and told them the story thus far. They also agreed we were pretty lucky, and said "at least you're alive, that's alright, so just kick back, relax, and don't worry since you're not getting out tonight. Hey, by the way, what do you call a guy with no left arm and no left leg? Awwwwllllllll Riiiiiiiiiight!" Their company was much needed as was the kokua they gave us earlier. After a few hours and a few more beers, we bid them farewell, since we'd hopefully be leaving around 4am for home the next morning. They suggested we leave our names, in case people come looking or something happens. We just laughed at that, even though I think they were serious. We thanked them again, and went back to the boat and slept.
The next morning at 4am, the waves were no better. But by 7, there were some breaks in the sets, so we decided to stupidly try out luck, and with a boat held together by zipties, went on our way. By this point nobody knew where we were, I would be late for work in an hour, and everybody back home was really worried. I would later learn that (bless their souls) my brother and his girlfriend were starting to look for travel to Molokai, and had even called the local cop to check out the harbor, which he did, but looked at the wrong one.
So we set out, and got out of the harbor okay. The waves were still big, but we made it out with minimal problems. But once we got about 2 miles off Molokai, where it was too late to turn back, the waves got HUGE. I'm talkin 16 foot swells that luckily weren't breaking. I'm scared as hell because I know the only thing our lives are hinging on are a few 1/8" zipties holding our steering together. If I could have called people to say "I love you" one more time I would have. These swells lasted for about 10 miles, me praying the entire time. I mean the ENTIRE time, except for when Won handed me the last of two beers and said "fuck it, we drink" as we climbed up and slammed down on the steep swells. Thankfully, the beer helped a little bit to calm me down. This is when I really felt like I may not be able to see my family, friends, or even land again. You know when you're in this position because it is very emotional, surprisingly. Choking back tears and a scared disposition in order to give us both strength, I held on for my life, thinking what I'd do, what I'd try to grab if the steering broke again, the boat turned sideways then capsized due to the swells. I was glad I was wearing jeans, as I was remembering from my boy scout days how to make a life vest out of them. There was a flare gun that was right close and ready to hopefully grab on the way down if the boat flipped. I can't express how frightened I was, because I had never felt that scared in my life.
As I said earlier, these waves lasted for about 10 miles, or about 1/3 of the way back to Oahu. The next 10 miles were significantly better, but I knew that if the steering broke again, we'd still be in some major trouble. Thankfully though, it didn't, and the last 10 miles were just a little bit choppy, except for when we got past the edge of Oahu, where the swell shifted to a north swell which was blocked by the north side. Again, as the island was coming closer, I was beginning to relax just a little more. When we were in sight and finally swimming distance, did I finally think we were going to make it. We kept going, and after 5 hours and countless near-in-pants bowel reliefs, finally got back into Honolulu harbor. We stepped off onto the dock, and I have never been so glad to see homeless people and druggies.
So that's what happened, and I can't express how glad I am to be writing about it now. I really think that God helped us through that, because thinking back at everything, there were just so many "lucky" factors that played together into what one may consider a probable impossibility. I missed work on Monday after calling as soon as I got back, only to be met with people humming the tune to Gilligan's Island which I hated, but again, I'm just happy to be around to put up with assholes. I just hope one day to meet back up with those guys on Molokai, they were really cool.
Oh, and I'm seeing on the news that California beaches will see sets of up to 20 feet tomorrow. That's the same set of south swells that I was in. So be careful.