THE SOUTHERLY BUSTER
There was no one to take out fishing,
Which was usually the case,
So I packed my rods and spinners,
Some lines and wire trace
The day was clear and sunny,
With a light nor'easter breeze,
The sea looked calm and running,
Right for a little time at ease.
My boat a fifteen footer
Rigged with a 75 horsepower heart,
I launched from the boat ramp,
In the early morning dark.
I headed out past the bombora
Towards the south solitary light,
And was clear of the harbour,
As day said goodbye to the night.
She rose to the wave crests
And sped willingly to sea,
I tied myself to the gunwale,
Because on board there was only me.
I threw out a long line spinner,
And dragged it along behind,
Hoping I would hit a winner,
Of the King fish or Mackerel kind.
I got out over my marker,
About an hour from the shore,
But the fishes were not biting,
So my catch was pretty poor.
Then around the boat came flashes,
Of silver red and blue,
As a school of *dolphin fish,
Came dashing into view.
I quickly dropped a bait among them
And in a frenzy they did bite;
Soon my deck was completely covered,
With quite an interesting sight.
I pulled them in one after the other,
And their blood was flowing red,
And I realized they would weather,
If they were not properly bled.
I caught about a dozen,
Before I decided it was enough,
And anyway the weather,
Was making the sea a little rough.
I could smell the southerly buster,
Long before I felt its breath,
And I could see the clouds cluster,
I knew it could mean my death.
So I secured my equipment
And fired the engine into life;
I had for half an hour been drifting,
With the current running south.
She lifted up as usual
onto the choppy waves,
and I gave her a bit more throttle,
though less petrol it saves.
We sped across the big wide swells
That were rising pretty fast,
Shortening to the foamy slopes,
As the sky became overcast
I steered across them just slightly,
And we leapt from wave to wave,
But getting swamped was likely,
I cut back the speed, not being brave.
The going was real tough,
As I fought to keep a line,
It would be easy to capsize her,
But I was having a wonderful time.
We nosed towards the harbour,
Where the waves were leaping high,
Across the mouth to south island,
From where I heard the seagulls cry.
I was halfway through the entrance,
When the steering cable snapped,
And I make no pretence,
Fear in my heart was firmly trapped.
Immediately I was drifting
Towards the harbour entrance rocks,
I was still a good mile out,
From the seashore docks.
I had to find the cable,
It was underneath somewhere;
Even then I might not be able to,
Manufacture some repair.
The cable ran round the vessel,
From beneath the wheel to the stern,
Fixed with several little D-clamps,
To make the engine with the wheel turn.
It ran over a series of small pulleys,
But the cable had pulled right through
One of the loosened d-clamps,
That had a broken screw.
Another clamp was missing
So this one had fallen to the deck
if I did not find it in a hurry,
We were going to end up a wreck.
I tried to steer with a paddle,
But it wasn't any good,
The boat was far too heavy,
To push through the surging flood.
Closer to the island rocks we moved,
Drifting in the turbulent wind,
As I crawled about beneath the wheel,
Where I could hardly see a thing.
Then my fingers touched something,
Ah! Yes it was the clamp,
But it had no pin to hold it,
And it was getting rather damp.
The rain was slashing at me,
And the waves were rearing up,
The spray from choppy white tops,
That would fill more than a cup.
The wire cable had six strands,
And the end of it was splayed,
If I could hold it tightly through the pulley,
I might be able to splice it in a plaid.
With all the strength that I could muster,
I held it as taught as I could,
While I wrapped a strand at a time,
That was now covered in blood.
The wires cut my fingers,
As the boat reared and jumped,
Ever closer to the island rocks,
Where I did not want to be dumped.
At last I wrapped the last one,
Around the main cable line,
Turned the wheel left and right,
It seemed to be working fine.
I powered up the motor,
But as we surged ahead,
The cable slipped off the pulley,
I thought, "oh shit! I'm dead"
The boat spun around in a circle,
I quickly shut the engine down,
We had moved closer to the rocks,
Hell I did not want to drown.
I forced it back onto the pulley,
And pushed my foot against the line,
This time when I gunned the motor,
The steering really did work fine.
I got the nose pointed into the harbour,
Thank God there was not much of a bar,
And helped by an enormous back swell,
We were lucky to get this far.
Soon in the shelter of the harbour,
We were free of the Southerly blow,
Powering across the water,
As a cruise craft should you know.
I was pleased to reach the boat ramp,
And to drag the boat ashore,
From where I hurried off into the blue,
To be seen no more.