9 hours in a survival situation

• It’s gonna be 35 knots of wind speed tonight.

35 knots?!

That’s like what? 64 kilometers per hour?

Picture this…

My family, my GF and my brother’s GF were on a sailing yacht in Greece. My dad is a certified skipper/captain. He knows his shit.

So on the 5th day, we came to the marina (the small port)… but there was no space left for us.

We see other sailing yachts and catamarans that moored in a “wild spot”. Threw their moorings over the rocks and trees. Set up an anchor. And voila!

We had no other choice. So we did the same.

After we’re done, we chill for a few hours.

It’s getting dark.

Felt like eating something so sweet I would drop dead from diabetes. So I said…

Yo dad, I wanna go with Zuzia (my gf) by the dinghy to the marina and eat some ice cream.

We wanted to go alone. But no! Everyone suddenly wants to go and eat.

*Sigh* Alright, let’s go.

But wait. Our dinghy is small as hell. It can only fit a maximum of 3 people inside.

Long story short, the skipper of a catamaran next to us tells us he can get us to the marina.

So we get there. We ordered some food. We wait 50 fuckin minutes to get the food. Even though there were barely any other people besides us.

Turns out they had their grill turned off and needed some time to warm it up.

Anyways…

We eat. Food was pretty mediocre. Nothing shocking. But not bad. We leave.

It’s already dark.

We don’t see any waves. The sea is pretty calm. So we go to where we left our dinghy (to come back of course).

My GF, my bro’s gf and my dad go in. And they go to our yacht.

Exactly 10 seconds after they left, the guys from the catamaran next to us came out of nowhere. They had a big dinghy. Easily able to fit 6-8 people.

We ask for a lift. They agree. We go in and we go to our yacht. But out of the blue…

The waves are getting big. Aggressive. Violent. The wrath of Poseidon is upon us.

As we pull up to our boat, we see our dinghy getting dragged away by the current.

Ropes were hanging on top of the water that connected someone else’s boat and the rocks on the shore. We yelled:

Grab the fucking ropes!!!

They grabbed them and moved to our boat. But boy…

Imagine the boat getting tilted left to right and lifted up and down.

How the fuck are we supposed to get on the boat?

Trust me. It’s hard to get on a yacht from the dinghy.

With waves like that, you had to precisely time when to step your foot on the deck. The boat was going up and down and only for a split second it was on a level of the dinghy.

We somehow managed to get on. We thank the skipper.

Everyone’s wet. Everyone’s cold.

Now, long story short…

It’s like 11:00 pm. Wind speed around 16 knots / 30 km/h. The wind was causing the boat to go backwards.

We were held by the anchor from the front and the ropes from the back. So to not get dragged to the shore… my dad had to turn on the engine and go full throttle.

Not to move… but to keep the boat in place.

He had to stay awake to make sure the rope didn’t snap. At around 11:30, the skipper next to us said:

I checked the weather status and it looks like the wind will reach up to 35 knots. We’re leaving and we will park in the small bay on the other side of the island.

It’s fuckin pitch black. Middle of the night.

They were lucky to have the catamaran. It’s much more stable than the normal yacht.

But we were also considering leaving.

My dad asks the guys from the boat to cut our ropes too so we can leave with them.

They agree.

1 minute.

2 minutes.

3 minutes pass by.

He suddenly changes his mind and says:

Don’t cut the ropes!

The guy stops. Goes in the water. Gets to his boat. And off they go.

This decision could mean either being safe or crushing the boat into the shore.

Now listen…

For the next 9 hours…

My dad had to stay awake. Watching the rope. Watching the anchor. Looking at the boats next to us so we don’t crash into each other.

With NOTHING…

But darkness. Waves tilting the boat left to right. Stress. Anxiety. And his thoughts.

9 fuckin’ hours.

Fortunately, my bro was sleeping on the deck. If shit hit the fan, he can quickly wake him up.

I was sleeping inside the boat, hot and feeling like throwing up. But I managed to fall asleep.

It’s 8 am. We’re leaving the place. And guess what?

The waves are as big and as violent as they were. And my dad is still at the steering wheel.

Reportedly the wind speed was as high as 29 knots at one point., but for the majority of the time, it was under 20.

Now a key takeaway for you, boy…

Do you have a badass dad like that?

No?

Then become one for your children.

~ Aywo “Soon-to-be Badass Dad” Cybulski.

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Aywo out.