It was a perfect sailing day. We were cruising down the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) using just our sails. Then came a bridge.... (A digression on my extreme fear/hatred of them. The ICW has a lot of bridges. Most too low for our 38' tall mast to fit under, and they only open at specific times. Too close you crash into the bridge. Too far they won't hold it for you and you have to circle around for another half hour while trying not to get hit by "hot dogging" speedboats!)
Back to the story.....
We came in flying. In a frantic rush to crank in the Jib sail and avoid disaster, I grabbed the handle out of the port side wench, and flew to the starboard side, then watched as the wench handle magically flew overboard. Okay I dropped it. We made it through the bridge a bit too close for the bridge operator. But being a Lemar 18 gage wench handle, translation a few hundred dollars, we decided to go back under to get it.
A half hour later back under we went. I was suited up goggles in hand about to swan dive in when a group of speedboats zipped by. Along with a mental image of me emerging from the water triumphant with the wench handle, only to have my head ripped off by a "hot dogger". The new plan, he'll motor the boat around while towing me alongside.
We never found the handle, and I'm sure that bridge operator thinks we're crazy. The real irony is we haven't needed, yet!
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