Blake Island Part 1 光頭歷險記（一）

From Seattle to Blake Island is a short trip, and it should be easy.

Blake Island State Park lies 8 miles from Seattle's downtown waterfront. Accessible only by boat, Blake Island is the perfect beginner's cruise. With such easy access to civilization and built out with State Park facilities, going to Blake Island is a simple trip that requires only the barest essentials of seamanship and equipment. Like I said, it should be easy.

My first trip to Blake Island began easily enough--a sunny Fall day, enough breeze to sail by, and friends waiting for me at the other end. It was a beautiful sail across Puget Sound, with a view of the Seattle skyline the whole way. I arrived at sunset on a dying breeze with just enough way on to make it up-current to Julia and Casey's boat. I landed softly and easily with no need to resort to the engine. Syzygy and Nycteris looked a pretty picture tied up together. The perfect beginning to my first overnight sail trip.

We hung from a single anchor off the bow of Nycteris, our two boats rafted. As night fell we went below to have dinner and watch a movie. The current on the back side of Blake island is usually benign and fairly steady. But this night was special, one of the lowest tides of the year. As the ebb reached lower, the boat began to make some odd movements. Casey popped his head out of the forward hatch to have a look and said, "Rob, you've got to see this."

I popped my head out of the rear hatch and was stunned to see the boat spinning a fairly quick 360 degree circle. We marveled at the unexpected movement.

From inside, the boat seemed still save for a little bobbing, but looking outside, we could see whirlpools welling up from the depths and traveling up the West side of Blake island, grabbing our two boats and spinning them.

All of this would have been fine, except that the last time Casey had anchored here his anchor had fouled on something on the bottom and he had great difficulty retrieving it. So this time he rigged a float to a line attached to the head of the anchor, a trip-line that would pull the anchor straight up, claws down if it got caught on anything. This is a very wise and cautious choice to make, a good decision.

Except this time we had two boats spinning willy nilly around the anchor. In a slow motion dance choreographed for maximum visual effect, our two boats spun around and perfectly straddled the trip-line float. The trip-line worked beautifully, and our two boats lifted the anchor cleanly from the bottom. Slowly but undeniably we began drifting down-current toward the large power boat moored North of us.

We had no time for niceties. It was time to get out of there. We started our engines and began to motor against the current to stay off our neighbor's power yacht. Those of you who know boating are sure to know what happens next. It had to happen to one of us. This time it happened to me--the trip line wound itself snugly around my prop and stopped my engine dead.

Now with one engine between us, amidst swirling current Casey towed my boat to a mooring buoy. Julia caught the buoy and we settled in, they to roam the beach and me to fret about the line around my prop. I asked Casey, "Ever get a line around a prop before?" "Yep," he answered. "Ever get it off without swimming?" "Nope." "Did you bring a wet suit?" "No."

They went on to the beach, I went back to my boat to figure out how to get the line off my prop without swimming.

Back on my boat I made a happy discovery--my Clearwire Internet connection gets great reception on the back-side of Blake Island. The first thing I did was start Skype and give Jiayu a call. It was wonderful to see her face on my screen.

It's so strange that I can be stranded without a working engine on the back side of an island in Puget Sound, and at the same time have a face to face conversation with my sweetheart in Taipei on the other side of the world. And at a trying time like this, it was a true luxury.

With a warm heart and a calmer mind I took on the job of finding a solution to my predicament. It turns out that the secret is a serrated knife. The wisdom on the net was unanimous, the line had to be sawn, and no matter how sharp the blade, a regular knife would not do the job.

The next day found me laying face down on a rubber dinghy sawing at the rope around my prop shaft. I taped a borrowed steak knife to the shaft of my boat hook and reached under the boat, Casey and I taking turns doing the cold work. Finally, with no other choice at hand, I borrowed a pair of hot pink and orange swim goggles from Julia and stuck my head under the water to have a look. Damned cold work, but rarely have I felt such a sense of success for cutting a piece of rope.

Casey and Julia assured me many times that this is not what cruising is like. But my next trip to Blake Island does not back this up. In fact, it was even more challenging!

（翻譯）
從西雅圖到布雷克島並不遠，甚至應該很容易。

布雷克島靜臥於距離西雅圖市中心8英里遠之處。由於僅能搭船抵達，布雷克島是航海生手的完美航程。此島接近城市，且具有州立公園規模，所以航行至布雷克島只需要基本的航海技術與設備。如我所說，應該很容易。

我的第一次布雷克島之旅開始的輕鬆：陽光普照的秋日，適切的微風，好友在城市的另一端等待。這次跨越普結灣的航程如此美麗，一路都有西雅圖市中心的天際線相伴。黃昏時，伴隨著幾乎消逝的微風，我頂流抵達Julia和Casey的船邊。我停泊的如此輕盈，完全不需開啟引擎。Syzygy和Nycteris二艘船並排形成一幅美麗的圖片。我第一個過夜的航海之旅完美展開。

我們兩艘船靜靜漂浮著，藉由Nycteris船首下錨綁住我們。夜晚來臨，我們在船艙中用餐、看電影。布雷克島後端的水流通常十分穩定，但是今晚有些特別，今晚是一年中水位最低的時刻。隨著潮水的消退，我們的船開始詭異的搖動。Casey從前方艙口向外探頭，他轉頭說：「Rob，你得來看一下。」

我從後方艙門伸頭一望，驚訝的發覺整艘船做了360度的旋轉。我們對此出奇不意的轉向瞠目結舌。

在船裡，小小的擺動仍然感到安全，但是往外一看，由深處湧上的漩渦往布雷克島的西岸捲去，順道的抓住並旋轉我們二艘船。

其實，這並不算太糟。只是，上一次Casey在此下錨卻無法順利起錨。他的船錨被海底異物卡住。所以這一次，他將船錨頂端以繩子綁住，與一浮標連結，以備在必要時可以將錨連根拔起。這是個聰明與謹慎的決定，一個好的選擇。

但是，這一次卻有二艘船圍繞著船錨。我們二艘船慢動作似的舞動、旋轉，完美的纏繞住綁著漂浮物的繩索，乾脆俐落的將船錨連根拔起。雖然緩慢的，但是無可否認的，我們順著潮水往北邊停泊的一艘大型動力遊艇漂移前進！

說時遲，那時快，我們得趕快離開！於是，啟動引擎，準備逆流駛離鄰居的動力遊艇。精於船舶的人大概可以猜測接下來的噩耗──來不及拿上船的繩索被吸入，緊緊的纏繞住水底的推進器而迫使引擎停止。這一次，我的船中了樂透彩。

在二艘船只有一具引擎，漂浮在迴旋潮水的情況下，Casey拖著我的船至浮標繫泊處。Julia抓住浮標將船繫好停泊，他們愉悅的到島上沙灘散步，我則為纏繞在推進器的繩索發愁。我問Casey：「你發生過這種事嗎？」「當然」，他回答。「可以不要入水游泳就把繩索解開嗎？」「不行。」「那你有帶防寒衣嗎？」「沒有。」

他們到沙灘去了，留下我在船上苦思如何不需入水就可解開纏繞推進器的繩索。
我回到我的船上，驚奇的發現我的無線上網居然在布雷克島可以清楚收訊！我不加思索的連上Skype與Jiayu聯繫。能夠在螢幕上看到她的臉龐足堪欣慰。

想想，這真是奇怪的感覺：我在普結灣一個小島的南端，一艘引擎損壞的船上陷入困境，然而卻同時可以和我在台北心愛的人面對面的談話。在如此試煉的時刻，這無非彌足珍貴。

在我的心感到溫暖後，我平靜下來尋找解套之道。而答案竟是一把鋸齒利刃。網路上眾人口徑一致：只有鋸斷繩索才是王道！然而無論刀子多麼鋒利，一般的刀子是無法割斷這種繩索的。

第二天，我躺平在橡皮艇上，臉朝下的試圖割斷與我的推進器緊緊相繫的繩索。我將借到的牛排刀綁在長棍上，伸入船底割著繩索。Casey和我輪流，冷得直打哆嗦。最後，急中生智，我向Julia借她的燦爛粉紅橘泳鏡，將頭探入水中….天啊！刺骨的冷，但是我從來沒有因割斷繩索而獲得如此成就感過！

Casey和Julia向我多次保證航行並非總是如此驚險。殊不知我下一次的布雷克島之旅竟然更具挑戰！