do it for long since the difficult position kept her head under the water more than above it. Well aware of her situation, Stratton quickly aimed once again. The angle was crucial. Too high and the wind might blow it back once it had reached its full length of cable. Too low and he risked hitting the span itself or having the grapnel fly beneath it.
He felt Rowena go under but waited until they rose to the top of a wave, reducing the distance to the span by a third. As she surfaced he fired.The butt of the launcher punched into his shoulder and they both went under the water. When they surfaced at the bottom of a trough, Rowena almost choking, they could see the all-important double cable lying over the span, the ends still attached to the launcher. The grapnel had got over the spar.
Stratton let go of the gun, kept hold of the lines and pulled on them as quickly as he could. The lightweight tungsten grapnel came out of the water up towards the span and one of the claws snagged hold of a corner. He gave it a firm jerk to ensure that it was secure. ‘Hand me your caving ladder,’ he said.
Rowena unhooked the rolled alloy ladder from her harness and handed it to him. Stratton attached the karabiner on the end of the ladder to the end of one of the lines and pulled down on the other. The line passed through a one-way device on the grapnel and the ladder rose out of the water towards the span.
Jason and Binning watched somewhat helplessly as they rose and fell on the swell. A huge wave slammed against the leg sending water cascading over them, the boom that it made sounding like thunder. It jolted the line powerfully and as Jason traced the cable back to the leg the dropping swell exposed it. To his horror he saw that it was fraying. ‘Stratton!’ he called. ‘The line!’
Stratton recognised the danger. He’d seen it before, a bad combination of extremely heavy seas and barnacles. They had to hurry. He released the line and it sank immediately with the weight of the launcher on the end of it. The lone caving ladder hanging from the spar was now their only way out of the water. Its end dangled in the water several metres away. It was across the tide, a high-risk quick burst away to bridge the gap. If he missed it he would float out to sea.
Stratton unhooked the karabiner that held him to the snag line, waited for the next trough and finned hard towards the ladder. As he came off the line Rowena got dragged closer to the leg by the greater weight of Jason and Binning.
Stratton caught hold of the ladder. ‘Binning,’ he called out immediately as he ripped his fins off and let them go. ‘You. Now. To the ladder. Let’s go.’
Binning did not hesitate. He unhooked himself and made a supreme effort to reach Stratton, which he did more easily than he had expected to. Stratton grabbed him at the same time with a free hand.
‘I’ve got it,’ Binning spluttered.
‘If you can’t carry your gear, hook it to the bottom rung of the ladder. We’ll haul it up later.’
Binning shook his head. ‘I’ll be fine.’
The climb. Not a simple affair in calm conditions. In a storm a bad dream. Requiring a combination of iron strength and real skill. In a heavy swell the trick was knowing when to begin.
‘Dump your fins,’ Stratton said. ‘Wait until we’re at the peak, then climb as fast as you can.’
‘The line’s going to break,’ Jason called out.
‘Move your arse!’ Stratton urged Binning.
As they rose up the next swell Binning unstrapped his fins, frantically wiggling them free, and at the same time struggled to grip the ladder. They went up as if they were on an escalator.
‘Grab high as you can! Now!’ Stratton shouted.
The wave peaked and Binning reached for the highest rung he could. When the water dropped he dangled like a fish on a hook, his hands bearing the weight of his body, suit and equipment. He fought to get a foot on a lower rung to take some of the strain from his fingers.
Some forty feet below him now, Stratton watched Binning cycling in the air. ‘Climb, Binning! Climb!’
If Binning did not gain a few feet before the top of the next wave arrived it would punch him off. He climbed for