The Escape, Part II

(Jupiter Beach, Florida, as a change from the planet, Jupiter, especially since we are talking about a beach on Jupiter.)

See The Escape.

Nictitating membranes protect Theor's eyes from the rain as he tells Mark that he is pursued by a great swimming animal with a rider:

"'Haven't you any weapon?'
"'A knife and a long pike -' What he might do exploded in Theor."
-Poul Anderson, Three Worlds To Conquer (London, 1966), Chapter 10, p. 70.

Another moment of realization!

Theor braces the pike to jut from the prow;
the anchor weighs down the butt while rope secures the shaft to the thwarts;
Mark tells Theor how to get upwind of his pursuer;
the pike strikes the monster which submerges, wrecking the boat;
Theor clings to flotsam;
he can drink sea ammonia and digest microbes from the upper atmosphere that have settled on the ocean;
(we have returned from aaf to ssf - see here).