With the wind the sea was building
fast and the waves were washing over her. She would be swept away
in minutes. Glancing at the wind indicator he saw the wind at
thirty-five knots and building. It was going to be a williwaw.
He brought the boat around into the
wind and furled the jib, then ran to the wheel and concentrated
on positioning the boat. Because he was upstream from the woman,
the current, the wind, and the breaking sea were sweeping him
toward her. With the sails down the boat rolled even worse in
the building chop. He added power.
According to the GPS, the current was
pushing him at seven knots over the bottom. Sam was accustomed
to risking his life but there was still an adrenaline surge.
In the distance the roar of the overfall
filled his ears. Even from his location he couldn’t escape
the white wave that sat just ahead of the largest saltwater whirlpool
and undertow in the world. The boat would be drawn into it and
the treacherous rocks all around as surely as the moon pulls the
oceans. He wondered if his boat
could survive the water that might fill
it or bash it against the green-tinged jaws of rock that guarded
the Paradise Channels.
The wind was rising fast under a black sky. Forty-one knots the
incandescent numbers blinked.
“Harry, go to your bed.”
The little dog jumped up on the bulkhead,
then dived down the hole of the companionway hatch into the pilothouse.
Sam pulled the hatch shut. There would be water everywhere once
they hit the overfall. He could see the woman, still clinging
to the rock, thrashing with her legs obviously trying to get a
better purchase. She couldn’t climb out of the water and
with everything but her shoulders and head immersed she would
develop hypothermia in minutes. She was still looking in his direction,
waving one arm.
I see you,” he muttered. “Just
hang on.”
With less than two hundred feet to
go he swung the boat into the wind and current, letting the rushing
water push him backward against the
