Another longer than expected Day
14 May 2011 | Charleston, SC
Mike
After spending an extra day in Beaufort to rest up, our plan was to proceed about 30 miles to the South Edisto River to anchor for the night. We left the dock after taking on fuel about 1100 AM. I realize it was kind of a late departure, but we were only going 30 miles right?
Well we had strong winds due to several squalls in the area being caused by a stalled low pressure system. We arrived at our "perfect can't-miss" anchorage to find it very exposed to 30 knot winds and about 3 knots of current from the same direction. Still, it was only about 14 feet deep and I have a 45 pound plow anchor and 100 feet of chain..... There's no way I'm going to drag right?
I had Becky take the helm while I ran the windlass and dropped and set the anchor. We were in the process of preparing the boat for a night at anchor when I noticed that we WERE dragging our anchor and were headed for shore. Becky got a crash course in running the helm while I got the anchor up in the strong winds and current and we avoided going aground.
We tried setting the anchor again and it started to drag again as the wind continued to howl. CRAP! We got the anchor up a second time and moved on. With the wind and unsettled weather, we decided to press on for Charleston. Fortunately, the municipal marina there has staff working late but we were going to arrive after dark. Still, I had been there enough times that I felt fairly comfortable in doing so.
When we got to Charleston, the wind was still blowing pretty hard but we were safely tied to the dock by about 9:45 or so. **whew** Then, a brisk walk to Andolini's Pizza for Calzones... I think we earned it!