Port O’Connor sailors JJ Ault and grandson Spencer, who set sail for Florida on September 9th, (Dolphin Talk, September 23 issue) had their trip cut short when their boats capsized at Galveston on September 26.

They survived their mishap without injury, but their boats were too badly damaged to continue on.

JJ and family would like to thank all those who were concerned for their well being.

Following is an excerpt from the e-mail he sent to his family following the accident:

“We had 20 knot tail wind from Freeport to Galveston. We sailed across part of Galveston Bay following the Inter-coastal-waterway. The radio had out small craft warnings. It got really exciting. We had to bail and could only run downwind, which was lucky because that was where we wanted to go. We camped on an island about two miles from the bridge on Hwy 45.

Today we got to a little less wind and made for the bridge. To get to Galveston Island we had to turn right at the bridge. We saw a shrimp boat go that way right before we went under the bridge, so we followed because we knew he would give deep water. Before we got to the end of the bridge we began to encounter a very strong tidal current going out to sea. When we realized we wouldn’t make it we tried to turn around and tack away from the bridge. The current was too strong to sail against so we got sucked under the first tall bridge (the south bound lane for autos). The north bound bridge was a different story. Our masts would not fit under the bridge, but we were going anyway. Right before we got sucked under I told Spencer to Abandon Ship. I always wanted to say that. The only thing I saved was my wallet.

My boat turned over as it went under so I took off swimming to try to beat the strong current to shore. We were being sucked out to sea. Spencer saved three bags as he got sucked under. We both swam as hard as we could and finally beat the current and made shore on the Galveston side. We had most of our stuff sealed in five gallon buckets we found along the way. We watched as they spread out across Galveston Bay. Then suddenly we saw Spencer’s boat come out from under the bridge and take off sailing away empty in a twenty knot wind. Apparently his shorter mast and higher freeboard made it under the bridge. We laughed about that but we had to keep swimming hard so we would make it.

We walked till we finally found a McDonalds and a city bus stop. This message is from the Galveston library.”