Leaving Wick we set out with the light breeze behind us giving a bit of a role. Not enough wind to get us to Helmsdale at a reasonable time so it was a motor sail all the way. We had a mixture of sunny spells and drizzle so there wasn’t many pictures.
It was a pretty straight forward trip along the coast. We were heading into the tide most of the way but being less than 1kt it didn’t cause us any problems.
As we approached Helmsdale Foreness was in front and was approaching the harbour when disaster struck. He became fouled on a Lobster pot marker. What do we do now? Trying to assist single handed could have ended up with both of us in trouble. Michael had tried to contact a fishing boat a short distance away by VHF, but got no answer. I went over and spoke to the fisherman and he immediately went over to assist. Within no time the line was cut and Foreness was being towed into the harbour. I followed in very carefully and tied up on the pontoon behind Foreness.
What next? I have a dry suit onboard with the hope of not needing it for such emergencies. Michael is too tall to fit into my Dry suit so I volunteered to have a go at freeing the line. I already knew that the neck isn’t a good fit for me, so was expecting a little leakage, but found one of the feet had started to rot. Initially I could feel my foot getting wet, but not having done any swimming for ages I was struggling to hold my breath for long. The rope was tightly wrapped around the prop. I managed to get some wraps out, but it was tightly jammed together. The knife I was using was struggling to make any impression. The fisherman that owned the pots was trying to assist us and offered us two fishing knives. I got through one turn but only managed to release a few inches. By this time I could feel water running down my back every time I tipped my head forward, and was stating to get cold, so came out of the water. I went back in a little later, but didn’t really get any further. Getting colder it was time to call it a day in the water.
The fisherman suggested putting the boat on the beach and towed the boat over to the beach, but we realised how steep the beach was and it was getting later. Foreness was put back on the pontoon.
Over a beer or two we discussed what to do. I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to be able to clear the rope swimming under the boat. The next problem was that the tides are approaching neaps and there’s very little rise and fall. We worked out if we put the boat on the beach at 07.00, just over an hour after HW there should be enough water on the next tide to float off. At 07.00 I towed Foreness with my dinghy to the beach. As the tide departed the bow started to rise to an alarming angle and late morning the prop became visible. Michael had managed to free quite a bit when I realised he was working on it. A few extra tools were needed so when I returned there was just a short piece jammed behind the prop. Gripping the rope with pliers I was able to wind the remaining piece clear.
Whilst typing the last paragraph I realised that Foreness had refloated and was approaching the pontoon and is now safely tied up again.
