Cat as Trophy

Once he threaded us past the shallows, he gave me the helm and
we sailed into the whale playground a couple miles out. After a
few tacks, he wanted to show me how to right a tipped boat
because that happens, so over we went in a controlled roll
until...SNAP! Something broke for real and instead of lying
on its side, we completely capsized. He told me earlier how yesterday he'd been pursued by a tiger shark, and about the
kayaker almost overturned by a great white last week, but my
first thought was for my phone--did the waterproof case
work? Calm, we straddled the hull, got our bearings,
then righted it and clambered aboard. The mast
receptacle had snapped the fiberglass deck but it
was still possible to hold it partly upright in the
hole. Luckily, conditions were favorable and we
limped downwind back to shore, a chance en-
counter with two humpbacks for consolation
prize, close enough to get rocked by their
wakes. I felt bad about the mishap but
John counted himself lucky--better to
have it break where it did than in
that storm. For all the drama of
the morning, the most exciting
part was still meeting that cat!