From all ower Europe and the world lovers of saling gathered in Slovenia's sea town Portoroz. Americans, Russians, Spanish, English, Australians, Slovenians, Croats, Austrian, Swiss, Belgians, Norwegians, French, the guests where hosted in them most beautiful of the Portorsz hotels. The weekend opened with speeches from boat designers, from victorious world sailors, and was followed up by sailing magazines. I had just started working for the company who designed, constructed, and produced the most beautiful carbon sailing yachts that I had been on in this lifetime. My colleagues where proud young designers from all ower Europe, working to produce boats which looked like Lamborghini's on water ,made with the most expensive materials. Our company was all about teak wood, hydraulics, carbon and being cool.
The first night, there was a dinner and ball. The second day we spread out the guests on to the boats which had been transported by their owners from all ower Europe to the matrix Portoroz port, as so that the owners of this rare species of cruising-sporting yachts could compete against the same breed ships within a regatta and so that owner wanna Be's could experience and order a ship of their own. But the sun was out, a lethargy of the weather made the regatta into a pretty glide about sun taning on the flat waters between Italy and Slovenia. There was no wind. This made for a cheery dinner that evening, and a team build up in which the team on the boat i sailed with decided that we will wind the regatta next day.
In the morning harsh southern wind had picked up. Drizzle and clouds and wind charged about the waters darkened the sky and picked up speeds making the weather ideal for a regatta. A lot of ladies backed off, but as I love the adrenalin of riding the wind i was all the more excited for this boost of weather and picked up champagne determined my team would win this regatta.
The boat belonged to an Austrian gentleman, who was all about sports and had made sure that the interior of his boat was designed to take extreme weather. The team constituted the man who had won awards sailing the world by him self, Michael Desjoyeaux, carbon sail company producers,yacht interior designers from London, hobby sailors and my self. It did feel as if there was a team strong enoguht to take the award.Being the only girl aboard, the interior designer sat me down and warned me about keeping my fingers and toes away from ropes and hydraulic winches.
There where about 9 yachts in the water and as the horn announced a start my team sped into the winds and promptly took the lead.
We rode the wind westward down the Slovenian coat, took the first boa, very excited at out own success. Above our heads a helicopter filmed the event live, and speed boats flowed the journey by sea. It was all very exacting. Boats where pushing for the lead and changing sails of beautiful colors. Everyone was puling at some sort of ropes, winding winches.
As we prepared to take out the spinnaker sail to speed our descend down wind I rushed to the front of the boat to help with the release of the sail from its giant sock. The boat designer pulled at the sail and i held on to the sock. The spinnaker is made out of 390 square meters of cloth, which is hit by an enormous force of wind and can propel the weight of a man holding on to a line high into the air as if he where an ant.
Our spinnaker got tangled, we where loosing vital speed, the men on deck started shouting commands and than the designer jumped towards the mast and attacked the lines which where choking the sail. As he pulled at lines above his head to free the sail he placed a foot into a coil of rope without realising, and as the sail filled with monstrous forces of the win the coil of rope was pulled trough the hydraulic winches to catch the force. Very quickly the man felt his leg being pulled at by the ropes. He started smacking at the eclectic winch to try stopping it, but the force of the wind was such and hydraulics stopped listening to the commands, they just pulled at the rope regardless of all pressing of buttons. The man began screaming in panic and pain- Everyone on the boat was screaming not knowing how to stop the hydraulics. suddenly amidst the screams a sound of wood snapping an moisture cut trough the calamity. It was the sound of the mans leg being snapped off beneath the knee. His screams where the worst i had ever heard. The sail designer jumped with knife ad cut of the ropes holding the spinnaker and freed the mans from the deathly grip.
We veered off the race course. The designer was bleeding on the deck his leg separated from him. He was falling into shock and started to fade out, losing a lot of blood. I was shaking, in shock my self, needing to vomit, not knowing how to help, not really wanting to near the dying man but needing to help him.
A professional nurse had noticed something going wrong from another ship and jumped aboard taking charge of the situation. Bring something to tie his leg with to stop the blood. Bring something clean to put the served foot in so it can be put back together later. All I had to help tie his leg where nylon tights I had worn earlier. And for the foot the was only the bag in which the champagne was brought, which I filled with ice, to put his foot in it. The wind had picked up and the other men where fighting to take control of the boat which with a served sail was being thrown about with all of us in it.
The nurse asked for his name "Jonathan" and kept repeating it, talking in a very sootihng voice, " Jonathan it is not time to sleep now.Jonathan what are the names of your children? " She was trying to keep him awake for if he fainted he was going to die. "she told me to do the same. I kneeled by Jonathan stroked his hair talking to him, finding out aobut his children and wife and life in this way inbetween sturrets, my eyes filled with tears and I shook all ower. Other ships where unaware of what had happened and carried on racing past us.
We tied up the boat in the nearest port and had Jonathan transferred by helicopter to the Ljubljana hospital. He lived,the doctors where unable to salvage the severed leg. My boss joked after how he was going to make him the best carbon prosthetic available. A plastic sergeant from another ship also jumped into help with the accident assuring that Jonathan was going to be fine, but the those who saw the accident happen are a little closer to having a heart attack.
I did not really know how to finish the day. In shock I become hysterical and hyena laugh aimlessly. My boss sent me off to see the award giving of the regatta. The Australian captain had won the award. Everyone was eating from a buffay. No one really knew what had happened. They thought some had a headache. All sorts of false stories where emerging, and the marketing director told me i am not under any circumstances allowed to tell the truth of what had happened to any one. There where too many journalists around. They did not want any bad press. I felt really sick and simply could not be alone that day. Whilst my boss kept trying to get rid off me, telling me to go sleep, take the day off, I begged him to keep me working.I spent the rest of the day suggesting interior yacht design solutions to a women who was a snake charmer, and wanted a steam and yoga rooms in her husbands future yacht. .
Late the evening I bumped into the Australian and American captains and bunch of good old English sailors who where celebrating their victory,and after insisting on knowing what had happened they took it upon themselves to get me drunk and partying and get it out of the system. Until that day I had never though of sailing as dangerous at all.
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