Still I need GA
25 May 2017
• Sap Elon Island, New Tea Kettle Creek
by Mike/ windy
Let's just say that today didn't work out as planned, shall we?
The plan was for a simple two days and a night at sea and we were to have been in Southport for Friday night. We had even booked into a marina so we could get fuel, groceries etc. and be there when our friends aboard Iolanthe arrive on Saturday.
That didn't and will not happen.
When we set off we had already checked the weather and had a bit of excitement as we exited St Mary's River. One of the US nuclear subs was coming back into harbour and the flock of mother hens, Coast Guard and Navy, were bustling around her and shooed us off to one side of the channel. Still, we were within a stone's throw and to see one of them that close was very exciting. A sleek, glistening, underwater arrow!
We checked the weather with the USCG and NOAA and heard a small craft advisory with 15-20 mph winds gusting to 30, which, at home, if we let that put us off we would never leave the dock. Please note that this, being the US, the forecast was given in mph. So off we went. Until noon everything was going fine and I was in the process of congratulating ourselves and trying to figure out if we were going to get to Southport in the open hours for the marina staff. We were motor sailing downwind with only our No4 Jib deployed and were bombing along at 7-8 knots. Everyone knows the big problem with downwind sailing is that you don't really know how strong the wind is until you fall off. In our case the problem was further exacerbated by the fact that I had completely forgotten or overlooked or whatever the effect that the shallow water south of Cape Fear has on wave build up. Any sort of a wind at all and the was become very confused and that's what happened today. At around 1100 the over stressed autohelm popped the circuit breaker on the 24-12V transformer and we quickly rounded up into the wind. Simple fix but it happens again shortly thereafter. Clearly Able Seaman Auto wasn't happy with what we were asking of him. Also when we rounded up it was very obvious that the winds were considerably more than 30 mph. Our alarm is set for 30 KNOTS and it was pinging off constantly. The idea of trying to get through a night at sea in those conditions with the autohelm shutting down regularly had no appeal at all. Neither of us would have gotten any sleep. So, port turn, left face, whatever and we headed back towards shore. Of course that meant motor sailing almost directly into those 30 kn winds so it took us 3-4 hours to get there. The inlets in GA are notorious for shoaling but once again Captain Joe from TowBoatUS rescued us with some good Intel and directed us into Dolby Inlet. We are at anchor in a little back creek, 68 miles further north which is what we would have done if we had decided to stay in the ICW and simply motor our way here.
Poor Barb had he worst of it with a very queezy stomach. It must have seemed like hours. It was, but I mean more.
I had been wondering what that metallic taste in my mouth was and why I was having trouble swallowing. Turns out I have horseshoes stuck firmly and deeply, you know where. The special swivel anchor fastener for our secondary anchor, the Davis had come undone and the anchor was no longer attached to the boat. In spite of all the pitching, rolling, yawing and pounding the anchor was still aboard when we stopped. The cap screw was missing. It had come out and allowed the main fastening to back out.
Whew.
Grateful we are both ok. Grateful Nelleke is ok. And grateful we still have two anchors on the bow.
We will stay in the ICW until we come across a marina where we can top up the fuel and water tanks and until we get a much better weather forecast. Then we shall try again.
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