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Laura could see Dave struggling to avoid it, but there wasn’t going to be a way out.
Laura watched helplessly as the boats converged, each one trying to steer clear of the other. Dave, smartly, whipped leeward, trying to get parallel to the Ciao Bella. For a second, it looked like he might make it. Then they heard the earsplitting crunch as the Ciao Bella slid into the Tanner, the boats scraping across each other’s hulls. The impact sent the boats slipping toward the Timothy.
Were they next?
“Come about!” Mark shouted, and they all worked furiously, trimming hard to tack the Timothy. Amazingly, they managed to avoid smashing into the other two boats, still tangled together in the water and veering off course. They’d never make it to the finish line now. Laura glanced backward. The next closest boat was at least ten boat lengths away.
Mark flashed Laura a smile. “We’re going to win this,” he said as the Timothy soared past, the only leader now for a quarter mile. They churned on to the finishing line buoy, where one of the race administrative boats waited, officials’ cameras pointed at the water.
Mark, Laura and the rest of the crew fell silent as they focused on making it the last few meters. Only when the bow slipped past the buoy did the whole boat erupt in cheers.
“We did it!” Laura shouted, still not quite believing it was true. They had won! A hundred thousand dollars!
Garrett took the wheel as they eased their sails to slow down. Mark scooped up Laura from behind and she giggled. When he set her down on the rocking deck of the boat, she whirled and kissed him and didn’t even care when her hat flew off, sailing over the deck and into the water.
“Another one gone,” she breathed as she pulled away from him.
“I’ll buy you a hundred more,” Mark promised. His face shone with happiness. “We did it,” he said, and he only had eyes for her as he held her close. Tears slid down her cheeks. She was so very happy—for him. But also she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. He’ll be leaving me. Maybe these are pregnancy hormones at work, she thought as she swiped away her tears.
“Hey, what about me?” Garrett shouted from the stern. “Do I get a hug?”
Laura and Mark laughed and folded Garrett in. Gretchen and Tim joined in, shouting. Other sailboats whizzed past them, crossing the line in a parade of colored sails.
A high-pitched whistle sounded, and Mark glanced up. Laura followed his gaze, and the team stopped celebrating long enough to glance at the two boats lagging behind them. Other boats passed right by.
“That doesn’t look good,” Garrett said.
The Tanner was listing badly. So was the Ciao Bella.
“Are they okay?” Laura asked.
Mark frowned. “I don’t know.” As the other boats finished the race and then sailed easily back toward shore, nobody seemed to pay the crash much mind.
“Will someone help them?”
“There’s supposed to be a crash boat.” Mark grabbed the radio near the ship’s wheel. The radio crackled to life as he called in to the race committee.
“The crash boat is dealing with another incident on the race course,” a voice told Mark over the CB. “Near the windward mark. Two boats got tangled up and it’s a huge mess.”
Laura squinted but she couldn’t see the windward mark, as it was too far around the bend of the island. Mark shaded his eyes from the sun and glanced at the sailboats streaming in and then out at the Tanner, which was now listing even worse. Would the boat even stay afloat much longer? Even worse, the dark clouds rolling in from the west seemed to be moving faster than she first thought.
The radio crackled to life again, this time, it instructed all boats to head back inland to avoid the storm sitting on the horizon.
“With all the boats headed in, and the storm, there’s no way the Tanner gets help.” Mark slammed the radio back on its cradle.
“We’ve got to go help them.” Garrett peered at the troubled boat as his brother struggled to keep the boat from sinking.
Mark nodded. “We have to,” he agreed. “Let’s go.”
He returned to the ship’s wheel and Garrett moved to adjust the jib. Laura steadied herself as they whipped the boat around, careful to avoid the incoming boats, the wind in their face as they tried to maneuver their boat.
They managed to get alongside the Tanner, as the Jetstream circled back to the Ciao Bella to help that crew. They busied themselves hooking up the Ciao Bella for a tow.
The Tanner wasn’t going to do so well. That boat was sinking and sinking fast. In fact, Dave and Edward and the third crewman jumped in the water, swimming for the Timothy. The boat was sinking so fast half the mast was underwater. The three swam for the Timothy.
