We left Charleston last Tuesday and headed to Beaufort, SC on the ICW. It was a nice run with one stop on the hook just off Sam's Point. The water was deep, the night was still and we were tired. We slipped into Beaufort by 9 a.m. and decided to anchor for the night. We wanted to leave the next day to go offshore to Fernandina Beach, FL or St.Augustine.
What a day! Scott and Aidan headed into town on the dinghy for showers. While they were gone, Elizabeth and I worked on homeschooling and cleaned the cabin in readiness for the trip offshore. At the same time, the wind was building. It was to go to 15 to 20 knots which it quickly did. By the time Scott and Aidan had returned it was howling at 30 knots plus.
We didn't dare leave the boat and we watched in dreadful fascination as two boats near us dragged onshore. Our sturdy Rocna held and we kept checking it and watching the current and seas around us froth a bit.
We had plans to go out for dinner with Dave and Marilyn from Wind Sprite, a couple from Ottawa and finally by 5, it had calmed down enough for us to slip into the dinghy dock for showers and dinner. By 6 it had piped again to 15 to 20 knots. We spoke with Mirelo, a boat from Quebec who also wanted to travel offshore with us. We decided to reconvene in the morning to figure out what to do.
We got back to the boat about an hour and a half later and realized an apparently abandoned Catalina Morgan 42 had dragged a bit closer to us. It was now dark and stormy and we decided to take in some rode and watch her closely, assuming the owner would return. It was clearly a newer boat and all equipped for the trip south. THe owner never appeared. Scott was up all night checking on the boat. I got up at 6 to check on it and it seemed fine. The tide changed at 6:30 and suddenly Boom! The Catalina had slammed its anchor chain into our port quarter. We ran up in pyjamas and shoved it off. It dragged away with no owner in sight. We decided to pick up anchor and move (a bit late) and moved closer to the marina. We set the anchor facing current and the dying breeze. That was our first mistake. Messenger with her fancy racing keel likes to ride a current and race up the rode. We took a quick run into the heads ashore and came back to discover Messenger had tangled her rode between the keel and the rudder. The current had pushed the boat with such force that the rode was tight against thehull and slipped under her hull. We tried for about an hour and finally got it out when we untied the rode completely from the bow and tied it to the stern. I was in the dinghy at the back helping feed the rode around while Scott and the kids lifted it up. Unfortunately, the prop seems to wiggle a bit now and we'll have to assess.
We were exhausted and wet and muddy and following two sailboats out to sea. Yikes.
The weather window was too good to pass up.
We had a very pleasant offshore passage. Elizabeth and I had taken seasickness medication - Bonine - early in the morning - so we were a bit drowsy but with when Messenger caught the wind, she took off at 7 knots and we galloped for about 6 hours with a NW wind on our beam. At night, we furled in the genny and motorsailed all the way to Fernandina Beach.
A stout breakfast out, we took a walkabout around the historic village and did laundry.
The next day was busy as we made the 60 miles to St. Augustine, did some paperwork, homeschooling and general navigation - whew.
We're here in beautiful St. Augustine. It's lovely here. Our friends Klaus and Barbara from Toronto are here, as is Jock from Port Dover and Heather and Murray Rand - the Bahamas gurus - who are waiting to leave themselves and have a car!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment