Rarely in the history of mankind has anyone shown such bravery in the face of insurmountable odds.
The drama began with a Sunday felucca trip from Ramla on the West Bank of the Nile to Banana island for Sunday lunch and the outward voyage was nothing but routine, but who was to know that the return trip was to turn into a nightmare.... The captions tell the story thus far...
Continuing the story the English tourist said, "I did think as we left the mooring that we were carrying a bit too much sail, and that the keel should have been lower, but as the only sailing experience I have had is on Piddinghoe Pond some 50 years ago, I did not like to criticise."
"As it became obvious that to continue and risk another swamping would undoubtedly sink us, the captain made the wise decision to head for the nearest land which was a small uninhabited island in the middle of the Nile."
"Distress signals were sent up, (the first mate got out his mobile phone), several times until somebody responded. By this time we had only half a bottle of fresh water left, and no facilities for making tea so as you can imagine I was getting just a tad tetchy, let alone the fact that I was obviously going to be late for my afternoon nap."
"Meanwhile other craft sailed past completely unaware of the difficulties nearby, especially as by now the captain and first mate had smoked nearly 40 cigarettes between them and were beginning to argue about who had smoked the most."
''Fortunately the first mate retrieved his Bluetooth speaker system from the water on the deck and finding it still worked was able to provide some calming music while we waited and the captain went ashore and finding an old 2 litre water bottle which he cut in half, he was able to start bailing out while we waited to be rescued."
After what seemed like eternity, but was actually about 30 minutes, help, in the shape of Mohammed, arrived."
The story continues in the photo captions......
And the lone passenger, a British tourist enjoyed the outward trip..
the shape of a very pregnant cat which appeared the same time as lunch...
Our captain who is very tall with flowing (to say the least) robes only needs a turban to look like a magician from the Arabian Nights! "The return voyage began well and with the the wind against against us we completed the first couple of tacks with no problem, but then an unexpected gust of wind caught us and the starboard gunwhale briefly dipped below the water and we shipped a small amount of water, but we went on with no problem.....
"The waiting for rescue seemed to take for ever but we kept our spirits up with lively banter...."
"Passing traffic seemed unaware of the drama unfolding quite close to them..."
"Finally the rescue boat arrived with Mohammed on board. It appears that Mohammed is actually the man that built the felucca and if I am not mistaken he is giving the guys a bit of a dressing down for not sailing it properly.... Mohammed literally runs up the mast, bare footed as you can see, and furls the sail and in no time t all we are underweigh being towed by a motorboat. Underway back to Ramla, although I think many people were a bit confused as to why a felucca should need to be towed"