Things were worse than before. Water kept coming up through the centerboard trunk. David R came up with the idea of covering the slot with a jib (called 'fothering' in the Horatio Hornblower series) but John T, the owner was done. He abandonded the boat, flagged down a fisherman, and returned to Ayers Reef.

We could have stopped rescue operations, but Jason would have none of it. The fothering worked, so the boat was bailed out until it could float, and they started dragging it towards the fishing cabin at Ayers Reef.

At this time, I noticed Bobby was aground again. With only Kristin and Gordo to help him, he couldn't get his boat free. I slogged back out to him and together we struggled the boat into deeper water where he could then get control of her and motor her back to the fishing camp.

We were all exhausted, and time was running out. We still had 20 miles to go, the wind was picking up, and it was getting late.