January 15

-3 C and sunny.
Half a dozen flakes of snow yesterday. Victoria got a bit of a dusting but it quickly melted.
Went to G Grandson's hockey game then he and our Granddaughter stayed over night. A good visit with the local family here for supper.
Got a pleasant surprise when I learned yesterday that Barnes and Noble have arranged to have several of my books in their list of available ebooks, they have already sold eight copies of one and one of another. I see they also sell 'Nook Book'  - a reader.
More of Water Borne.

and lunged for the console and the ignition switch.

As he had gotten underway the storm had hit, the rippled water had immediately turned into a frothing fury. The ever present rollers had grown in size and the distance between each crest had shortened by two thirds while  seething wind waves whipped the oceans surface and heeled the turning boat!

Any thought of running straight for the distant islands had been quickly abandoned as a towering wave broke over the stern and flooded the cockpit with untold gallons of water.

The automatic bailer had switched on and a steady stream of water was swept away by the winds onslaught.

Bob had altered the boats direction so that the waves were hitting on the stern quarter, all too late he remembered that the twelve pound lead balls were still hanging on the ends of the down-rigger arms, but even remembering he had been helpless to do anything with them as he couldn’t let loose of the boat’s wheel.

At the moment he remembered, one  ball snapped the steel line and instantly disappeared, the second continued to whip wildly until that line also broke and the ball hurtled into the boat and smashed against the hull next to Bob. He had grabbed it as it rolled and flung it over the side.

He had been unable to make any speed and had throttled back until he had just been making headway. The boat was still taking on water from the breaking waves and as the storm increased in intensity even more the bailer had failed to keep up and the water had crept over the floor boards.

The weight of the water had turned the boat sluggish and he had realized that it would eventually stall the motor. He had reached under his seat and struggled into a life vest, but couldn’t tie it as he had to hold the wheel with at least one hand.

He had quickly lost track of time, he couldn’t tell any longer if he was actually making headway as the boat had noticeably started to wallow. The engine spluttered then back fired, ran smoothly for a few moments then had suddenly quit. Without power he had been unable to steer and the boat turned in a passing wave and plunged straight down and into a trough. Water surged over the cabin and filled the cockpit and as the next wave hit the boat had turned sideways and then was rolled over as it tumbled down the face of the wave.