IT WAS A spring day when I set out in my ten-foot dinghy from Guemes Island to cross Bellingham Channel in Washington State. I was headed for Sinclair Island, where our family has a summer cabin, to plant a small tree. According to the United States Coast Guard, the springtime water temperature in Bellingham Channel is usually around 46 degrees, and anyone in water that cold for longer than 15 minutes can be in trouble.
Bellingham Channel is known for its strong rip tides, and on this day there was an exceptionally large one. I'd crossed the channel before and was used to dealing with these circumstances. However, I was just entering the rip tide when I noticed that my boat's bow was riding higher than usual, and the stern on the port side was lower than usual. In fact, there was hardly any free-board left. I immediately turned around and started back toward shore, but it was too late. A large wave swamped the stern. The boat flipped over, and I was thrown out and down under the water.
When I returned to the surface, I looked for the boat. It was already quite a distance away. The wind and tide were moving it out to open water faster than I could swim to it, so I started swimming to shore.
