Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Fleetwing Saves Italian Relations!

We sailed most of the way to Stonington with temperatures somewhat higher than yesterday but the wind died several miles out. We were relaxing on the back of the boat when we saw two kayakers off the stern. They seemed to be paddling around without a problem until the man tipped his kayak over. We didn't think much of it since we've seen kayakers on the Hudson River do the same and quickly got back in. However, he seemed to be having trouble and after a bit we hear calls for help! We got the dinghy going and motored over to find out that the man, who was visiting from Italy, could not get the water out of his kayak and was getting chilled. We hauled him into the boat, he was shivering and shaking with relief. He thanked us profusely and even kissed me on the cheek (Italian custom?, I was a little surprised). His wife was in the other kayak trying to tow him ashore, over a mile away, with little luck. Once in the dinghy, we bailed the kayak and then towed it to a house on shore. We were thanked again and we departed with the memory of a good deed done!


Meanwhile we discovered we were included in the local sailboat regatta but only as a buoy.
See Maine Cruise for our progress.

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