WHAT WENT RIGHT

• We ended up on a perfect beach. There was sufficient but not too much grade, with pure soft sand and the Coast Guard station a block away.

• Our boat, Averi, is exceptionally strong. She stood up to three days of pounding surf after being run aground. I can take some credit here, spending the better part of two years rebuilding her and making sure she was right and tight.

• There were people on the beach watching the full moon rise. On any other night there may not have been anyone. Leo, our particular savior, called the Coast Guard before we hit the shoal offshore.

• Although down with the flu, my wife, Nicola, was up on deck when she had to be, thinking of things I could not!

• We were insured.