Landfall: Islands in the Aftermath (The Pulse Series Book 4) (7 page)

It took another hour and a half, but once they had everything off the boat that could be removed without tools, Larry was ready to begin setting up the tackle to haul her out. That he considered it doable at all was largely because of the ideal slope angle of the beach above the tideline, and the fairly good tidal range for these latitudes, judging by the high water marks on the nearby rocks. There was just enough room on the powdery sand of the beach directly ahead of the
Casey Nicole’s
bows to accommodate her full length, which would get her high hulls high enough to dry out at low tide. All he wanted to do was fully inspect them and lay up some fiberglass reinforcements over the cracked and damaged areas. It was important to keep the water out of the plywood core under the fiberglass, so these kinds of breaks in the sheathing had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

“Is it going to work?” Casey asked him as Larry double-checked the set of his anchors on the high ground beyond the beach while they waited on more water.

“You can count on it, Casey. She’ll come out the same way she went in. Once we start winching her up, she’ll have no choice. We’ll put the big fenders under the bows and then more under the keels as she goes. It’ll take a lot of fiddling back and forth and we’ll have to go slow, but we’ll have her high and dry before the tide goes out again.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m so glad the damage wasn’t worse.”

“Me too. The reefs just a bit to the north would not have been as kind to her.”

“I wish Scully was here, Uncle Larry. I don’t like the idea of you sailing back to Florida after what my dad said about that gunboat.”

“I don’t like it either, Casey, but you know I’ve got to find him. Scully is like a brother to me. I’m not leaving him behind, but I’m not going to put any of you at risk to look for him either. I’ll do it myself.”

“How? You can’t go back there all alone! You know that. I’ll go with you if you like. You’re gonna need help sailing the boat.”

“No, Casey. You’ve
got
to stay here with your dad. We’ve put him through enough worry already. Practically all he’s been doing since the grid went down is looking for you. Now that you two are together, you are
staying
together! I can do this alone. All of you can wait right here on Green Cay.”

“What about this Russell guy? He gives me the creeps. Jessica said the same thing.”
 

“Yeah, I know, but I’m pretty sure he’s harmless. I’ve seen his type at every marina and boatyard I’ve ever been to. Typical know-it-all boat bum. Likes hanging around boats but has never managed to own one. I’m keeping an eye on him. I don’t know yet what we’ll do about it, but we’ll deal with that later. I’m sure he’s hoping for a ride off the island.”

“Right now it sounds like all he wants to do is get high,” Casey said. “And he’s had an eye on Jessica since he saw her. He was looking at me and Tara too.”

“Well, you can’t blame him for that,” Larry grinned. “He
has
been stranded on a desert island for weeks, you know.” As he said this, Larry saw that Russell was sticking as close to Jessica as he could, while she was in turn doing her best to make sure she was following Grant with every move he made. Casey wasn’t oblivious to that either, and had to comment to her uncle about it:

“I gather that Jessica would have preferred to keep sailing with Grant. I see she’s doing her best to pester the hell out of him.”

“Well, from what your dad said, he had every opportunity if she was what he wanted, Casey. They’ve been at sea together long enough. I don’t see him hanging all over her the same way though. I think he still likes you better.”

“Maybe. I just wish Jessica wouldn’t act so stupid sometimes.”

“Women!” Larry laughed, touching Casey’s shoulder as he did. “
Some
women. Not you! I guess Tara’s happy to see that I’ve got my own boat back. I’m sure she was just elated that I wasn’t on board the
Sarah J.
last night.”

“If so, it’s her loss, Uncle Larry. But I think she’s forgiven you by now. Maybe you two are just too much alike. Do you really think two captains with two boats can ever agree on anything?”

“Hell no! But I would have enjoyed making up after the fights! Maybe the two boats part would have made it work. We wouldn’t have to deal with each other until we made port. Then when the fun was over, we could set sail again!”
 

“It’s a nice fantasy Uncle Larry. I’m sure the two of you would get along better that way. Maybe it could still work out?”

Larry didn’t get a chance to answer before Russell made his way into the middle of their conversation, hitting Larry with half a dozen questions at once about the design of the catamaran, while at the same time telling him what he would have done differently if he had built it.

“I don’t like that idea of tying the beams to the hulls. That looks pretty sketch to me. I would have glassed them in and made it all one piece. And dude, you’ve got all that deck space. Why not build a big main cabin over it? Think of all the room you’d have! If the beams were glassed in, the deck cabin could open into the hulls. Most catamarans I’ve seen are like that. Every been aboard a Gemini?”

Larry did his best to ignore Russell’s questions and comments. He’d heard them all before when he was building the big Wharram cat on Culebra. Most people didn’t get it, but he didn’t care about that. He had his reasons for liking the design and the last thing he had time for was discussing the intricacies of multihull parameters with a typical boatyard know-it-all.

“If the hulls were round-bottomed, it’d be a lot easier to haul her out. She would draw less with centerboards that could be lifted than with those deep Vs. It’s going to be hard to get her up on the sand, the way they’re going to dig in. That’s why they got damaged on the reef in the first place.”

“We’ll get her out, don’t you worry,” Larry said.
 

“Yeah, and I’m going to help you do it. I’m just sayin’. Could be a lot easier with a few small changes. That’s just the way I would have done it. And it’s what I’ll do when I build
my
boat.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it figured out then,” Larry said.

“Yeah, man. I’ve been around boats all my life. I’ve seen all kinds come and go. Got a feel for what works and what doesn’t. That’s what I’ve been doing; studying them and keeping the best ideas I’ve seen in my head. I didn’t want to compromise with my own boat, so I’ve been biding my time until I’m ready. When I build one, it’s going to be the best! Then, I’ll circumnavigate on her. That’s always been the plan.”

“Is that so?” Larry asked. Russell’s spouting off was going in one ear and out the other. Larry didn’t care what his plans had been or what he thought of the
Casey Nicole
or anything else for that matter. But as long as he stayed out of the way and maybe provided a bit of extra muscle when they began winching her out, he could tolerate his presence to a degree.

“Looks like we’re about ready, little brother,” Artie said, checking the taut anchor lines that were in place.
 

“Yep. When the tide peaks, in less than a half hour, we’ll start cranking the big winch and see if we can make this happen. If you and Grant don’t mind, you two can help me with that. We can spell each other when we get tired. I’m still working with one arm, you know, Doc.”

“Yes, I
do
know. And if you’d listened to your doctor and kept it in a sling to give it more time to heal, you’d be farther along the way to recovery than you are now!”

“Probably. Kinda hard to do though, you know, the way things have been… gunfights… storms at sea… getting beaten up by an angry mom….”

“Dude, somebody nearly cut your arm off!” Russell said, noticing the long scar where Artie had sewn up the gaping machete wound that had indeed cut nearly halfway through his arm just below the elbow.

“Nah, it’s just a scratch.”

“Right…. Hey, I can work a winch handle. But I’m still so weak from the last two days of being sick. And not having enough to eat for a month.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve got enough muscle between the three of us to do the grinding. You can help the girls with the fenders as she comes out. It’ll probably take two people on either side of each hull to hold them in place until they get some weight on them. It’s going to be slow, but slow is better than nothing.”
 

Larry looked at the gentle waves lapping at the rocks and decided it was time to get started if they were going to make this work.

“Okay, if everybody’s ready, let’s do this.”

Grant was already in the cockpit, standing behind the centrally mounted winch that served as the anchor windlass when it wasn’t needed for the sheets. Larry gave him the go ahead to start cranking even as he and his brother were still climbing aboard.

Nine

R
USSELL
WAS
QUITE
CONTENT
to stay on the beach and work with the girls on the placement of the fenders. He followed Jessica, the brunette that had caught his eye from a distance, seizing the opportunity to talk to her by offering to help her. The other girl, Casey, and the blonde named Tara, who owned the other boat, were busy getting their half of the fenders ready for the other hull.

“So where are you from, Jessica?”

“L.A.” She said, without asking him the same.

“Wow, you are a long way from home then. How did you end up on a boat in the Bahamas? Were you in L.A. when the pulse hit?”

“No, I was in New Orleans. Casey and I were roommates there.”

“Cool! I
love
New Orleans. I used to go every chance I got! It’s a party town.”

“Not anymore, it isn’t.”

“No, I guess not. I didn’t realize until I talked to Larry that the effects of this thing went that far. What about the West Coast? Have you heard from anybody back home?”

“How would I?” Jessica asked, giving him a look that suggested she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Sorry, I guess that was a stupid question. Nobody’s got a phone that’ll work. I just thought you might have gotten word somehow.”

“No, and I’m just trying not to think about it. I don’t know what will happen to my parents and my other family and friends out there, or if something already has. I’m afraid it’s as bad as New Orleans, or worse.”

“Yeah, big cities are the worst in something like this. That’s why I didn’t want to go back to Florida when it happened. Some people living on boats in Nassau said that’s what they were going to do, but I knew it was crazy. We’d already heard from others who’d arrived from Ft. Lauderdale since it happened and they said things were insane on the mainland. I wanted to stay the hell away. That’s why I waited until I could find a ride with somebody going to the out islands. I knew it would be better to be somewhere with fewer people and where the fishing was good. You guys did the right thing, coming here.”

“We never planned to stop here. It was just dark out and we didn’t see the island.”

“Maybe it was just fate then,” Russell grinned at her. “I’ve been waiting all this time for a boat to show up, and now, there are two. What are the odds of that?” When Jessica said nothing, Russell went on.
 

“I hope I can get a ride with you guys. I’m a good sailor. I can help Larry with everything. You think he’ll agree to that? I’ve got to get off of this freakin’ rock. Wherever you guys are going is fine with me. I don’t even care. I’ve just got to get back on a boat. It’s in my blood and at sea is where I belong. I’ll sail
anywhere
, just as long as I’m moving, I’m happy.”

“You’ll have to ask him. All I know is that our boat is already too crowded as it is. We never planned to sail with another boat, but he wanted to help Tara out because she was alone with her daughter, and she had her own boat. But they didn’t plan to stop here at this place anymore than we did. Larry only did because they had engine trouble.”

“I can help him with that, no problem. I’m a good mechanic; gas engines, diesel engines, all of them. I’ve never run across one I couldn’t fix! I’ll help him get it going just as soon as we get this catamaran out of the water. I’ll show him what I can do. He’s going to want me as crew when he sees, believe me.”
 

Russell was excited. So much was happening in one day after all those days of nothing. Now, not only was he no longer alone on the island, he had the prospect of a ride off of it. And on a sailboat with Jessica, at that. Russell had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her as he stood there in the knee deep water beside the hull, waiting on the boat to start moving. He heard the clicking of the winch on deck above and saw the main anchor rode from the bow begin to vibrate as it went taut. Before starting this phase of the operation, Larry had taken his biggest anchor some one hundred feet from the water’s edge and buried it in a pocket of deep sand among the rocks. The lead of the rode was as straight as possible off the bow, so that there would be no binding as the winch ratcheted up the tension.

Larry had said the catamaran was light for its size, and Russell believed him, because he knew all catamarans and trimarans had to be lightweight to sail at the speeds they did. He still thought the design was too minimal though, and like he had told Larry, he would have built more cabin space onto it if it were his boat. It just seemed a waste to leave all that deck area open like that. But he would sail on it, no question about that. He didn’t care if it was a raft if it was a way off this island and a way to go wherever Jessica was going.
 

The hull beside him began to move, and Russell followed it, wading forward to the point where the keel curved upwards in a gentle sweep to the bow stem. He held the line attached to the big inflatable fender in one hand as it floated next to the hull. Larry wanted them to stuff the first fender under that forward rocker area of the keel, so that the hulls would lift up over the sand as the boat was winched forward. Russell aligned the fender perpendicular to the bow and passed the rope attached to the other end to Jessica, who was across from him on the inner side of the hull. He could see that Tara and Casey were doing the same thing on their hull. It took some effort to force the fully inflated fender into position, because of its buoyancy, but with Jessica pulling and pushing from the other side to help him, at last it was done.