Winds at our backs
30 August 2016 | Waterline Marina
Shawn Middleton / Stormy
Beware the intracoastal of the West Coast. Twice while in marked water my vessel bottomed out. The first was right after the last lock. Based on the audible bump it was a tree limb. And the second was hard sand near Vero Beach. To give you context my vessel only draws 1.5 ft of water. Most other sail boats draw 5 ft.
So L-99 caught us after all. For a solid hour and a half there were high seas, thick rain and gusts up to 24 knots. Bright side was winds were at our backs. We were making 6 to 6.5 knots with no sails up. Unfortunately this was also in a stretch of the intracoastal filled with uninhabited spill islands. (Context for those non sailors spill islands are made when you dredge out sand from very shallow waters.) Additionally the islands were very very close to the intercostal waterway. So to break it down:
1. Unfamiliar waters
2. Very shallow waters (we couldn't have anchored if we wanted to no water was deep enough)
3. This is a ship graveyard (seriously the GPS indicates where people wrecked their ships in the past and we were surrounded by them)
4. Surrounded by islands
5. Powerful gusts
6. Thick rain (only about 100ft visibility, navigated mostly off GPS)
The cherry on top was the mega yacht who was having none of this and plowed by nearly knocking us into some shoals. It sucked but we made it past.
The last 20 nm were smooth. The waters became deep and waves small and only thin rain. Almost too nice. We arrived at Waterline Marina EXACTLY as the sun was setting. This was just a tease. More on the marina later (it is a great place). The sun was fully set when I had to get into my slip of which I had no idea where it was. We bottomed out 2 more times navigating the thin waters and for some reason while in reverse the engine would pop up. My childhood friend Connor met us at the dock and helped us into the slip as did the local Harbor Master on duty, Chris. (he was great) We got into the slip with no damage. Except for me mentally, I was shot. Connor drove me and my father to the local Hooter's where I had my first meal that was not ravioli or peanut butter /jelly in three days. We shared a large order of hot wings and washed it down with the alcohol of our choice.
Good day