SURVIVAL
up into a life raft, the theory being that GerryWinks was also in the water,Ward
a floating boat, even a dismasted one, is hauled him on deck and revived him,
bigger and more visible than a dinghy. but only for a matter of minutes.Ward
The bigger the boat, the easier it is to cradled his crewmate as he breathed his
spot from a rescue helicopter, and as last, leaving him alone with a dead body,
Ward’s father had told him, you do not a broken leg, and a half-flooded boat with
become a survivor until you have been no food, water or means of contacting the
rescued. outside world.All he had was his own will
Ward pleaded with the panicky to overcome.
Sheahan, but another knockdown
interrupted the discussion, and when “All along he talked to
Ward next came to, he was in the water,
tethered to the boat by his lifeline. and screamed at his dead
Scrambling back on board with a broken
leg, he was alone.The life raft was gone, crewmate, who lolled
an empty cavity left under the cockpit
floor.The other lifelines were eerily still lifeless in the cockpit. He
attached inside the cockpit, left behind
in the scramble to abandon.Noticing that countedc buckets, measured
progressp by a notch on the
companionwayc , and kept Ward decided to go below decks
and begin bailing out the knee-deepini n mind his sailing heroes
water in the cabin, bucket by bucket.
All along he talked to and screamed atanda what they would do to
his dead crewmate, who lolled lifeless
in the cockpit. He counted buckets,
measured progress by a notch on thekeepk his focus squarely on
companionway, and kept in mind his
sailing heroes and what they would do tosurs vival.”
keep his focus squarely on survival.
“A state of half-madness came in,” “My heroes were people like [Eric]
ssaaaaaidWard,“where I knew I was in a Tabarly, Joshua Slocum and Sir Robin
sissitui ation on my own, with a dead man, Knox-Johnson, who used self-reliance –
aannnnnnd I knew that if I didn’t do something they were true seamen.
wwwwwwwithin a few hours the boat was going to “When I was lying on the bunk
sisssink.I had no means of communication, between bouts of bailing. I was thinking
soo it was very difficult to fight that about what they would do. If I had the
ffeee eling. I fought it by hearing music in physical strength, and perhaps had Gerry
mmmmmmmmy head, hearing my father’s voice, that survived, perhaps we could have made a
sossort of thing.” jury rig and sailed the boat back.”
(Mainpicture)The scene at the 300-boat start of
the 1979 Fastnet Race in the Solent.
(Insets)Grimalkin took a heavy beating inside and
out in the near-hurricane winds.Visible is the blue
bucketWard used to keep Grimalkin afloat.
24|June-July|OUTSIDER
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