A Youth Sailing Adventure
My parents allowed me to solo in our small day sailer (a Sunfish) when I was 11 years old. I enjoyed the freedom of the water. My adventures on Lake Michigan went well. There were a few exceptions. One involved a friend of mine, Howard Westbrook. We met in kindergarten and stayed friends even after my family moved to Peru, Indiana.
Howard showed up in West Lafayette unannounced a few days after both of us graduated. I went to Purdue, and Howard went to Indiana University in Bloomington. In 1982, jobs were not plentiful. My business degree qualified me to work at a local store called Arth Drugs, at the cash register.
While ringing up an order, this guy with a beer can hat looked at me and said, “Don’t you remember me, Dan?” My reply, “Holy shit, Howard Westbrook! What are you doing here?” Howard decided to stop by West Lafayette on his way home to Long Beach. I don’t remember if he was looking for a job or if he’d gotten his gig at FedEx. (Howard worked there for 32 years.) He was like that, always up for unplanned adventures.
Eight years earlier, Howard and I were hanging out at my family's home on the beach. Howard lived about a mile away in Duneland Beach. I had been working on a sailboat that my father got from a friend who didn’t want it anymore. The boat was in bad shape. We were making it seaworthy. It was a small day sailor made by Oday with a Lateen rig, a centerboard, and a tiller. The centerboard and tiller needed refinishing. I had partially completed work, and my dad had finished patching the hull. It wouldn't sink.
I suggested to Howard that we take the boat out for a test sail. It was a blustery day with one- to two-foot waves. The breeze was side shore. Sailing conditions were perfect for fun sailing. Howard and I had been sailing together on several other occasions. He trusted my judgement.
Getting fifty feet out, it was clear the wind and current were stronger than anticipated. The wind gusts were in the 10 to 15 mph range. We had to pull up the daggerboard to cross a sandbar on the way out. Once past that shallow area, the wind got stronger. When Howard tried to put the daggerboard back down into its slot, he was unable to get it back into its slot.
I tried to get it in, but the daggerboard was not cooperating. Because my sealing job was defective, the wood had swollen with water. This became a real problem. With no daggerboard, we were in trouble. Daggerboards provide lateral stability. They enable a sailboat to point close to the direction of the wind. This was the direction we needed to head to get back to shore.
We worked a few more minutes trying to remedy the problem without success. Meanwhile, we had been blown out a half-mile offshore. It was getting scary. I finally realized we’re not going to get the daggerboard back in and that swimming for shore was a viable option.
I’d forgotten this story until I thumbed through my 1975 Elston High School yearbook. Howard had signed it with a tiny cartoon. A picture of two stick figures on a sailboat.
Dan: “Howie, we are going to have to abandon ship." Howard: “Are you CRAZY!”
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Howard wasn’t into my idea, which was a sane position to take.
My mother had been monitoring our situation via binoculars. She called the coast guard when she noticed our floundering. Howard and I didn’t know this as the wind blew us farther out, but I figured my mom would summon them. She kept one eye on us when we were on the lake. Thirty minutes later, we spotted a Coast Guard rescue boat heading our way. Lights flashing. Mom had come through.
The Coast Guard towed us as far as they could go. This was around 500 feet offshore. The rescue boat couldn't chance the sandbars near shore. They watched us struggle to swim the boat back over the sandbars and to the beach. This required another ten minutes of frantic swimming. We would never have made it to shore with the stiff breeze that had shifted from side-shore to offshore. Mom and Howard’s common sense saved the day.
Howard and I haven’t spoken since 2016. I brought my family to Long Beach so my kids could experience the area. Howard came to our Airbnb and loaned us scooters. I’m going to call him this week. He’ll remember the event, and we’ll share a laugh. There were other near disasters. I’ll save them for another day.