The amazing 'unbeaching' of Donna Lange's boat
by Sail-World Cruising/James Wieland on 21 Sep 2010
Donna sailing for her life SW
Usually, when a boat ends up on a beach, it is crushed to death by the beating of the surf, buried in sand and is removed, piece by piece, by truck. That was until resourceful solo circumnavigator Donna Lange came along.
We followed Donna's inspirational journey around the world on her yacht www.donnalange.com!Inspired_Insanity to become the fastest American woman ever to complete a circumnavigation, and now she is the face of New Zealand-born organisation www.oceanswatch.org!OceansWatch in America.
But her successful 'unbeaching' of her yacht after it ran aground in North Carolina must top everything.
Most people would give up, not Donna. Here's the story, as told to James Wieland of http://www.wptv.com/!WPTV:
Last month Donna set sail from Rhode Island for a 12 day, 1000 mile journey to West Palm Beach. About half way through the voyage, Donna was sleeping and the boat was under engine. She suddenly woke up to being thrown out of bed. She ran on deck to see what was going on. And when she got there, what she saw was a sailors worst nightmare.
'I knew something was really wrong, I came up and I couldn't believe it…I was literally on the beach. At that very split second I got the engine stopped and jumped off the boat.' Lange said.
The odds of getting her boat, 'Inspired Insanity' off the beach in one piece were very slim.
Heartbroken about the thought of her sailboat being destroyed on the beach, Donna needed a miracle.
Lange said 'These young fellas from the surf shop across the street, they come up to me and they were like, what can we do?'
She explained to them 'I really need to get these anchors out as far as I can out to sea and drop them. Because then tomorrow when the tide comes in we can pull the boat out to the anchors. And these guys were well we can do that and I'm like well do you have a boat? and they're like, no, we have our surfboards!'
With anchors on their boards, they paddled out in the middle of the night to help a stranger.
Then in the morning, with no tow boat in sight and no other options, a big crowd gathered on the beach and decided to work together to push the 4-ton sailboat.. back out to sea.
'They would push the boat, and then there would be slack and I would winch it forward, and they'd push it and winch it forward and we were easing the front of the boat and it was moving back out to sea'
Just when she thought she was home free..a big wave came up and lifted the boat up; it came down on the other side.
'I'm feeling my boat just crunch and bash though the seas, it was really scary.'
Donna doesn't scare easily. she and her boat have been through a lot together. But, this was her first time being beached..and hopefully her last!
Lange said 'The relief I felt when I was driving away and my boat was in one part and nothing was broken. The boat was almost unscathed its unbelievable and these people were, I still couldn't believe that they have done it. They single handedly pushed my boat back out to sea! They are terrific folks!'
More about Donna Lange:
Donna, a gifted singer and a nurse, was involved in a horrific car accident in which a number of people lost their lives. She was extremely lucky to survive the crash. She was traveling home one night from her job when the accident changed her forever.
Unable to return to her earlier career and lifestyle, she eventually bought and outfitted a Southern Cross 28 yacht, which she called 'Inspired Insanity' and set off as a sort of 'sailing minstral'. She ended up on a solo circumnavigation, and became a committed environmentalist, eventually becoming the Executive Director of Oceans Watch. These days she teaches nursing and has written a book and several songs.
For more information about Donna, go to her www.donnalange.com!website
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