High Sea Pluck Up (10/14)

K, YK, and YH rafted up in calmer waters, facing the China seas, less than 300 meters from Basco.

At 7.30pm, the ITRANSA was nearing the evac co-ordinates, Amos stood out of the cabin onto the deck. The kayakers would be marked by strobe lights. But with the waves the size like buses rolling up and down, it required luck to meet their lights when they are on top of the waves. 

Amos motioned the steersman to slow the boat. As the engines stalled, the rest of the crew stood up and took positions around the boat, tip-toeing on the edge of the gunwale for a better look.

The 3 kayakers had long suspected the light of the ITRANSA some half an hour back. To them, the boat could not come fast enough for them to verify.

"Go there!", Amos stepped inside the cabin and pointed the steersman towards faint reddish and whitish flickering strobes in the darkness

The ITRANSA was built by CPT Delfin as a sturdy cargo boat to survive and excel the harsh 35km Batan-Itbayat crossing. Its hull was craved higher than most, or depending on how you see it, the cabin was lower than most, such that one is almost cocooned inside the boat. It was like a traditional Ivantan's house, which was built inside a hole in the ground, so that only the roof is exposed to the wind.

On the gunwale of the ITRANSA, the drop to the sea is between 2-4 meters, depending on whether the boat was on top of a wave or not.

When the kayakers saw the boat, they thought of it as a Vietnamese pirate boat, with dangling pirates ready to mount. The crew had hooked a leg to the gunwale and dangled by its side, ready to snatch the kayakers out of the water. The kayakers could hear many people shouting on the boat. Then they thought they heard Amos shouting "rope! rope!". It was a confirmation and relief to them that it was the evac boat.

The ITRANSA went around them, putting its search light on them, as if surveying a prey, All the kayakers could see were many hands stretching out towards them against the bright yellowish search light. As the ITRANSA leaned closer, they were shocked that the boat was so high, and wondered how on earth - even - were they getting up.

The steersman turned the boat to face Batan Island, and on the kayaker's port (left) side, to shield them from the pounding waves. All the crew immediately clambered over the starboard (right) side to reach for the kayakers. This caused the boat to list, and the kayakers could see the entire deck of the ITRANSA whenever the starboard dipped into the sea. The mighty ITRANSA looked ready for capsize.

Such high waves were more risky for the boat than the kayaks. CPT Delfin knew it had to be pluck and go. He had full confidence in his crew. The boat was rocking violently, so the pluck up had to be precisely timed - at that moment the boat heaved low enough for the crew to touch the outstretched hands of the kayakers.

The crew worked their way into the raft. YK, nearest to them, was hauled up first, then YH. When the last kayaker was plucked up, CPT Delfin was shocked to see it was K. He made an instinctive gentleman apology for bringing her up last. He could not believed a girl to be among the kayakers in these conditions. 

On the ITRANSA, the kayakers were kept in the cabin and heaped with straw mats and blankets. A crew lowered the blinds to protect them from the incessant sea sprays. Amos directed the crew to retrieve the aimless kayaks, which can weigh more than 100kg when flooded. 

At one corner of the dark seas, one kayak broke away from the grip of an eye, and like a message in a bottle, began it's long journey home.