"It always looks calmer across the bay. It isn't always."
Steve.
Nine weeks on the water and i limped into Miami harbor yesterday. As if to mark the occaision, the bottom half of my kickup rudder, (which has worked fine all along but was do for attention once i made it to Miami), broke lose with an east wind pushing against the outgoing tide of the inlet. The worst conditions for entering these Florida inlets. After it broke it was hanging by the lift mechanism but i was zinging along at 4.5 knots when i lost steerage so that when i tried to pull it in it broke off all together. By the time i got the jib down and hauled in the anchor which fell over board( the shit is really hitting the fan now i said to myself) the piece had either sunk or was just lost in the general chop. I got 'ole putt putt going and managed to avoid the rocks on the northern jetty just as a tanker was coming out the channel. More details i will leave out, but instead of a triumphant solo sailor proudly steering his trusted friend into harbor after close to 2000 mi i was hunched over in the corner trying to steer the boat against the tide with the way too short outboard handle.
Never the less i made it, as i have managed all along and I continue to be much better at getting out of tight spots than avoiding them. I docked at the city marina for the afternoon looking for a doityourself marina where i could go to execute a repair. On the way back from the big beautifull Miami Public Library, i started looking for a scrap of plywood i could use temporarily, when i came upon a highrise under construction. The Latinos working there were more than happy to give me a scrap of a staging plank and saw it in half too. Back at the boat i had the old piece removed and the new 1 1/2 in. piece of exterior plywood installed in about 30 min. saving alot of money and time. The new rudder is a bit crude looking but it is all under water and might be even better because it is shorter, eliminating the need to have it kick up at all.
SO much to try to recount since i last wrote. I am behind and i don't really think i can catch up. Almost 100 days now and almost every one spent in a different location. I believe i have only spent 5 nights tide up to a pier or dock. Once i was too drunk to navigate anywhere( another story), once i had just hauled in the kids and their dead engine and once i was in Atlantic City where i had gone to play the tables. The other two times, it must have seemed convienient. I have not paid a slip rental yet and only a few times paid to dock during the day so i could visit the city and resupply. I have become adept at being inconspicuous on the water.
I find the urge to continue sailing south strong and i will be downloading the charts( i only brought those for as far as Miami) for the florida keys while i'm here in Key Biscayne Library. The water is clear aqua since Fort Pierce Inlet and you can see the bottom in thirty feet of water. Coconut palms are everywhere and often i can find a coco lying on the shore or floating as i sail by. Still above normal temps , near 90 most days, though there is a strong cold front pushing through this weekend which will bring very high seas, and lower temps.
I have decided to return to new hampshire for the xmas holiday as i miss my family and want to spend that time with them.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Oct. 26, eight weeks on the sea.
"The boat is like a plow drawn by a winged bull"
Henry David Thoreau
Yesterday was the 8 week mark for my trip and i felt in a celebratory mood all day. The wind has been mostly light and against, so i was ready to take advantage of a forcast day of northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. The day before, those favorable winds did not materialize and i beat against a south wind all day trying to reach the Sebastian Inlet, the next place to leave the inland waterway. I was glad to wake at 5 am to a brisk west wind that came in overnight. The west wind swung to the north and then died, but reinvigorated in the afternoon out of the east about 10 knots.
I sailed through my first drawbridge in the dark at about 5:30 am. Then later, finally, after quite a few days trying, (especially on Mosquito Lagoon, which is a little bit of water spread over a very large area) i caught my second fish, a jack, which is very common, not so big, and though a great fighter and beautifull in it's own right, i kept it to eat for my aniversary dinner. As i was circling in behind a small island to anchor for the night, i saw teenagers in small fishing boat waving at me. Their engine wouldn't start. It was a big merc cruiser, big as a truck engine, and the starter, it seemed was dead. After the usual antics to try to get it started, it was dark, and something had to be done. With their not having Seatow (like AAA for the water), i offered to try to tow them to the boat ramp where their truck was parked.
Little putt putt, my trusty 6 hp evinrude was put to the test. Though it can barely move Shamballa along at five knots( with the bottom cleaned, which is an everyother day job now in this warm water) it pushed Shamballa and pulled the other boat at just under four knots for about two miles to where his uncle was flashing his headlights on the shore. They swung into the dock and i circled around and tied up as well. They were mightily relieved to be on shore, and the uncle had a six pack, so we had a little party there on the ramp and i recounted some of my sea stories till it was time for them to leave. I filleted my fish and sauted it in butter. It was quite delicious.
Lots of beautifull sea creatures. Manatees, large herbivorous mammals, galore. They swim around these bays and lagoons eating seagrass. To me they are peace in motion. Serene, non agressive, with no predators except the furious speed boats which frequently hit the poor creatures or cut them with their propellers. There are lots of Manatee zones where speed is restricted. It seems to me, that the wakes from these ever larger and more powerfull boats are continually churning up the inland waters and the shore and shallow water creatures are suffering.
Still learning about the sailing life and new discoveries and situations continue to present themselves. For instance, in all the books i read about sailing and sail theory, none of them mentioned a very simple fact. The sail is both pushed by the wind, and pulled by the venturi effect of the wind going around the outside of the sail. Simple enough, but the fact that is unstated, is that this push pull is transferred to the mast, and the forestay, and so if you can look at these forces, and then picture them attached to the mast, it is much easier to see how the boat is put in motion under different wind and sail conditions.
I'm close to Sebastion Inlet here in Barefoot Bay, where the kids last night told me i could dock and get some gas and groceries. As i was heading in to the pier, a fog blew in , my first such experince. It was a complete and utter white out. I had a fix on the pier, and decided to speed up to keep it in place in my mind as as i did so, i hit the sand bar that was across the bay. Striped down, pushed my self off and then circled around the island in the fog. As the fog lifted i motored in to the pier. I will be heading over there this noon, and then hanging out on the beach, waiting for the wind to swing around to a favorable direction. South and southeast winds forecast for the next three or four days.
Henry David Thoreau
Yesterday was the 8 week mark for my trip and i felt in a celebratory mood all day. The wind has been mostly light and against, so i was ready to take advantage of a forcast day of northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. The day before, those favorable winds did not materialize and i beat against a south wind all day trying to reach the Sebastian Inlet, the next place to leave the inland waterway. I was glad to wake at 5 am to a brisk west wind that came in overnight. The west wind swung to the north and then died, but reinvigorated in the afternoon out of the east about 10 knots.
I sailed through my first drawbridge in the dark at about 5:30 am. Then later, finally, after quite a few days trying, (especially on Mosquito Lagoon, which is a little bit of water spread over a very large area) i caught my second fish, a jack, which is very common, not so big, and though a great fighter and beautifull in it's own right, i kept it to eat for my aniversary dinner. As i was circling in behind a small island to anchor for the night, i saw teenagers in small fishing boat waving at me. Their engine wouldn't start. It was a big merc cruiser, big as a truck engine, and the starter, it seemed was dead. After the usual antics to try to get it started, it was dark, and something had to be done. With their not having Seatow (like AAA for the water), i offered to try to tow them to the boat ramp where their truck was parked.
Little putt putt, my trusty 6 hp evinrude was put to the test. Though it can barely move Shamballa along at five knots( with the bottom cleaned, which is an everyother day job now in this warm water) it pushed Shamballa and pulled the other boat at just under four knots for about two miles to where his uncle was flashing his headlights on the shore. They swung into the dock and i circled around and tied up as well. They were mightily relieved to be on shore, and the uncle had a six pack, so we had a little party there on the ramp and i recounted some of my sea stories till it was time for them to leave. I filleted my fish and sauted it in butter. It was quite delicious.
Lots of beautifull sea creatures. Manatees, large herbivorous mammals, galore. They swim around these bays and lagoons eating seagrass. To me they are peace in motion. Serene, non agressive, with no predators except the furious speed boats which frequently hit the poor creatures or cut them with their propellers. There are lots of Manatee zones where speed is restricted. It seems to me, that the wakes from these ever larger and more powerfull boats are continually churning up the inland waters and the shore and shallow water creatures are suffering.
Still learning about the sailing life and new discoveries and situations continue to present themselves. For instance, in all the books i read about sailing and sail theory, none of them mentioned a very simple fact. The sail is both pushed by the wind, and pulled by the venturi effect of the wind going around the outside of the sail. Simple enough, but the fact that is unstated, is that this push pull is transferred to the mast, and the forestay, and so if you can look at these forces, and then picture them attached to the mast, it is much easier to see how the boat is put in motion under different wind and sail conditions.
I'm close to Sebastion Inlet here in Barefoot Bay, where the kids last night told me i could dock and get some gas and groceries. As i was heading in to the pier, a fog blew in , my first such experince. It was a complete and utter white out. I had a fix on the pier, and decided to speed up to keep it in place in my mind as as i did so, i hit the sand bar that was across the bay. Striped down, pushed my self off and then circled around the island in the fog. As the fog lifted i motored in to the pier. I will be heading over there this noon, and then hanging out on the beach, waiting for the wind to swing around to a favorable direction. South and southeast winds forecast for the next three or four days.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Daytona
"Whenever your preparations for sea are poor, the sea worms it's way in and finds the problems."
veteran singlehander Francis Stokes.
"Our anchor is our title deed to our property and we can claim our property all around our coasts and in forign countries either if we like."
Frank Cowper
So i have been claiming title to a different piece of the atlantic coast every night for the last seven weeks. Some nights i even claim two pieces as the first turns out to be unsatifactory for one reason or another. Two nights ago on the Tomoko Basin, north of Daytona, finding a place deep enough was difficult and i found the place on the basin that was charted to be 5 ft deep but it was right out in the middle, exposed to the north west wind which has brought in much cooler temps over the last few days. It was ok for awhile, and i slept for a few hours but woke with a rocking and thumping of the keel in a gusting wind that signaled the tide had turned. I tried to shorten anchor to head into the wind better, but next thing i knew i was dragging anchor and heading into the shallows from that very narrow strp of deeper water. Decided to pull up stakes and head to the Ormond Beach high level bridge lit up about three miles distant. Pulled stern anchor, started little putt putt, pulled bow anchor and then was really headed into thin water by the time i ran back to the stern and put the engine in gear and swung around heading for the Icw channel. 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 ( depth meter reading that means i am about to hit bottom) and then the engine is churning up mud and silt and i hope that i can keep enough momentum to make it to the channel. 2.5 2.6. 2.8 3.0 phew, i cleared it and made it into deeper water following the lights on the channel shore heading for the bridge. No other boats on the water this time of night and i just had to look out for the unlighted day markers, post stuck in the mud to mark the channel, so as not to hit one of them. Shivering now with this chilly NW wind I could just see them against the bridge lights about 50 ft away and steered clear of them ,following the depth sounder and the lighted bouys up to and under the big bridge. Found 5.5 ft of water on the lee side of the bridge and threw out the anchor again, crawling back into the sack until dawn.
Earlier that day i had past through an area called the Hammock, north of a very lage developedment called Palm Shores. Amazingly, i saw more wildlife in this stretch than at any other time. First, a huge flock of Cranes and Herons of all shapes and sizes, perching on the trees and resting on shore, that flew up into a wild display of winged motion as i passed. Then ahead i saw my first Manatee surface for air,an ospery take a fish and fly around with it apparently waiting for it to stop wiggling, a bald eagle, a Glossy ibis and a herd of deer on the lawn of a mansion as the channel narrowed and the development took over both sides of the channel.
i alos caught my first fish beside some channel cats and puffer fish. Cast a silver spoon near a small channel branching away from the main and hooked something big, i en thought it was dragging bottom at first. No , it was coming in little by little, and steering with my foot, and reeling in carefully on light tackle, i brought a 24 inch Redfish up next to the boat where i could net him and bring him aboard. Thinking of dinner while i was reeling in, the fact of the matter was the fish was so incredibly beautiful, i felt like a voyeur for having pulled it up from it's habitat. i layed the exhausted fish on the stern seat, grabed a needlenose from in the cabin and quickly removed the hook and having not removed it from the net lowered it back into the water and let it swim away. Will have to catch an ugly fish to eat next time...
Hitting the beach at Fernandina, St Augustine, Flagler Beach and now Daytona, have been practising yoga and Taichi and connecting myself to the surf energy. To really see the progression of beaches from LI Sound all the way to here is something that cannot be described adequately with words. Each beach is unique though the same forces of the same ocean work upon the same shore. Different textured sand, different shells, and different water color and wave pattern give each beach it's signature.
Arrived in daytona after making pancakes with our own maple syrup ( still living on the stuff) in time for the last day of Biketoberfest. Like and ag festival, with thousands of riders on their hogs wearing their cowhides, and reving up their engines. Free music and surprisingly, beer and liquor ( "jack daniels" the obvious choice) sold in kiosks all over the streets, so the bikers would not be denied. Had to admit it was fun to walk around town with a shot of jack on the rocks, and i enjoyed the music immensely, though the middle aged and older biker crowd was mostly interested in looking at the hardware parked as far as the eye could see and shopping for the harley stuff that was in endless supply.
Last night you could hear the bike rumbling out of town , and today the town is mostly quite. Traded in some books at the used book store and got some new ones for the next week or so. and oops my time is running out on this here computer. talk to you again soon...
veteran singlehander Francis Stokes.
"Our anchor is our title deed to our property and we can claim our property all around our coasts and in forign countries either if we like."
Frank Cowper
So i have been claiming title to a different piece of the atlantic coast every night for the last seven weeks. Some nights i even claim two pieces as the first turns out to be unsatifactory for one reason or another. Two nights ago on the Tomoko Basin, north of Daytona, finding a place deep enough was difficult and i found the place on the basin that was charted to be 5 ft deep but it was right out in the middle, exposed to the north west wind which has brought in much cooler temps over the last few days. It was ok for awhile, and i slept for a few hours but woke with a rocking and thumping of the keel in a gusting wind that signaled the tide had turned. I tried to shorten anchor to head into the wind better, but next thing i knew i was dragging anchor and heading into the shallows from that very narrow strp of deeper water. Decided to pull up stakes and head to the Ormond Beach high level bridge lit up about three miles distant. Pulled stern anchor, started little putt putt, pulled bow anchor and then was really headed into thin water by the time i ran back to the stern and put the engine in gear and swung around heading for the Icw channel. 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 ( depth meter reading that means i am about to hit bottom) and then the engine is churning up mud and silt and i hope that i can keep enough momentum to make it to the channel. 2.5 2.6. 2.8 3.0 phew, i cleared it and made it into deeper water following the lights on the channel shore heading for the bridge. No other boats on the water this time of night and i just had to look out for the unlighted day markers, post stuck in the mud to mark the channel, so as not to hit one of them. Shivering now with this chilly NW wind I could just see them against the bridge lights about 50 ft away and steered clear of them ,following the depth sounder and the lighted bouys up to and under the big bridge. Found 5.5 ft of water on the lee side of the bridge and threw out the anchor again, crawling back into the sack until dawn.
Earlier that day i had past through an area called the Hammock, north of a very lage developedment called Palm Shores. Amazingly, i saw more wildlife in this stretch than at any other time. First, a huge flock of Cranes and Herons of all shapes and sizes, perching on the trees and resting on shore, that flew up into a wild display of winged motion as i passed. Then ahead i saw my first Manatee surface for air,an ospery take a fish and fly around with it apparently waiting for it to stop wiggling, a bald eagle, a Glossy ibis and a herd of deer on the lawn of a mansion as the channel narrowed and the development took over both sides of the channel.
i alos caught my first fish beside some channel cats and puffer fish. Cast a silver spoon near a small channel branching away from the main and hooked something big, i en thought it was dragging bottom at first. No , it was coming in little by little, and steering with my foot, and reeling in carefully on light tackle, i brought a 24 inch Redfish up next to the boat where i could net him and bring him aboard. Thinking of dinner while i was reeling in, the fact of the matter was the fish was so incredibly beautiful, i felt like a voyeur for having pulled it up from it's habitat. i layed the exhausted fish on the stern seat, grabed a needlenose from in the cabin and quickly removed the hook and having not removed it from the net lowered it back into the water and let it swim away. Will have to catch an ugly fish to eat next time...
Hitting the beach at Fernandina, St Augustine, Flagler Beach and now Daytona, have been practising yoga and Taichi and connecting myself to the surf energy. To really see the progression of beaches from LI Sound all the way to here is something that cannot be described adequately with words. Each beach is unique though the same forces of the same ocean work upon the same shore. Different textured sand, different shells, and different water color and wave pattern give each beach it's signature.
Arrived in daytona after making pancakes with our own maple syrup ( still living on the stuff) in time for the last day of Biketoberfest. Like and ag festival, with thousands of riders on their hogs wearing their cowhides, and reving up their engines. Free music and surprisingly, beer and liquor ( "jack daniels" the obvious choice) sold in kiosks all over the streets, so the bikers would not be denied. Had to admit it was fun to walk around town with a shot of jack on the rocks, and i enjoyed the music immensely, though the middle aged and older biker crowd was mostly interested in looking at the hardware parked as far as the eye could see and shopping for the harley stuff that was in endless supply.
Last night you could hear the bike rumbling out of town , and today the town is mostly quite. Traded in some books at the used book store and got some new ones for the next week or so. and oops my time is running out on this here computer. talk to you again soon...
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday Oct. 15 2009
"No one knows how humpback whales make their songs. We don't even know where to look in their bodies for the sound making apparatus."
Rodger Payne from "Among Whales"
"The power which the sea requires in a sailor makes a man of him very fast, and the change of shores and population clears his head of much nonsense of his wigwam"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am ever opening to the incomprehensible complexities of ocean life. We know whales make songs finally after along time, but yet we don't even know how they make them or why. For me, it is ok to not know and to be ok that i don't know and to just enjoy the whole show. The sea has so many moods. Cuddly and soothing when calm, exciting and exuberant when fresh and building, and downright dangerous when storming. These moods seem to be never duplicated, and how could they be, for each day is new and different, with different weather added to the weather already past.
Here in St. Augustine taking care of some mechanical issues that have been bothering over the last couple weeks. Nothing much, shear pins and low battery and crud build up under the boat. In a great marina, Comanchee Cove, where the folks are very nice and understanding and generous.
Wildlife has been spectacular. Wood ibises , which are like the stork that brought you and me to our mothers, and pink flamencos, which my older copy of Peterson's Guide says" beware the light pink variety are escaped captives??. No matter light or dark to see these large pink birds feeding and flying across the bright blue waters is quite a sight. Dolphins which are nearly ever present since southern Chesapeake have become even more numerous and active, breaching and tail fluking and yesterday i sailed through the largest herd yet and there must have been hundreds by the number surfacing to breath. And juveniles too which are really cute. At night, when i sleep outside the cabin, which is more frequent now because it is so warm and the cabin does not cool down very soon (floating on 80 deg. water) i hear them breathing and it seem like i'm in the dormitory with lots of sighing and deep breathing.
People along my trip have been uniformly kind and interested in what i am up to. Harold, a black man on the public dock in Mayport, was surprised i was so dark and when we compared arms, i was actually darker to which he was both surprised and tickled. We both had a good laugh on that one. Bobbie, an older woman with all her belongings in her car and relocating to somewhere, had me bend over so she could kiss my bald head and wish me well. Those that help me in even the simplest ways sometimes, when i remember, recieve maple syrup from new hampshire, my thank you.
Two nights ago , i spent the night anchored across from the US Navy base at Mayport. A couple dozen battle ships and destroyers and helicopters circling regularly. Threatening looking ships that i followed out the inlet are there to keep our way of life intact. I believe they do that job well, though the cost must be astronomical. The beach at the mouth of the St. John river, which flows north (only other river which flows north in n hemp. is the nile i am told) was wild and exciting in the brisk NW wind. Last night i anchored lined up with the lookout tower of Castillo de San Marcos a 1500 fort gurding the St Augustine inlet. The fort is landscaped nicely unlike how i imagine it was five hundre yrs ago.
I did want to not leave the impression of distain for the Intracaostal Waterway. Though i prefer the outside passage, there can be nothing like a nice calm anchorage on the waterway, when the weater is brewing up a storm and that safty net allows one to use the coastal waters with a large amount of safty. And it is not to be thought that travel on the intercaostal is simple either, as shoaling and the entrance and exit form large posts and inlets make navaigating a challeng for even experienced boaters.
so ... i could go on indefinately i think, but will end here and go see if my batteries are charged... love you all, and miss you much. steve
"No one knows how humpback whales make their songs. We don't even know where to look in their bodies for the sound making apparatus."
Rodger Payne from "Among Whales"
"The power which the sea requires in a sailor makes a man of him very fast, and the change of shores and population clears his head of much nonsense of his wigwam"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am ever opening to the incomprehensible complexities of ocean life. We know whales make songs finally after along time, but yet we don't even know how they make them or why. For me, it is ok to not know and to be ok that i don't know and to just enjoy the whole show. The sea has so many moods. Cuddly and soothing when calm, exciting and exuberant when fresh and building, and downright dangerous when storming. These moods seem to be never duplicated, and how could they be, for each day is new and different, with different weather added to the weather already past.
Here in St. Augustine taking care of some mechanical issues that have been bothering over the last couple weeks. Nothing much, shear pins and low battery and crud build up under the boat. In a great marina, Comanchee Cove, where the folks are very nice and understanding and generous.
Wildlife has been spectacular. Wood ibises , which are like the stork that brought you and me to our mothers, and pink flamencos, which my older copy of Peterson's Guide says" beware the light pink variety are escaped captives??. No matter light or dark to see these large pink birds feeding and flying across the bright blue waters is quite a sight. Dolphins which are nearly ever present since southern Chesapeake have become even more numerous and active, breaching and tail fluking and yesterday i sailed through the largest herd yet and there must have been hundreds by the number surfacing to breath. And juveniles too which are really cute. At night, when i sleep outside the cabin, which is more frequent now because it is so warm and the cabin does not cool down very soon (floating on 80 deg. water) i hear them breathing and it seem like i'm in the dormitory with lots of sighing and deep breathing.
People along my trip have been uniformly kind and interested in what i am up to. Harold, a black man on the public dock in Mayport, was surprised i was so dark and when we compared arms, i was actually darker to which he was both surprised and tickled. We both had a good laugh on that one. Bobbie, an older woman with all her belongings in her car and relocating to somewhere, had me bend over so she could kiss my bald head and wish me well. Those that help me in even the simplest ways sometimes, when i remember, recieve maple syrup from new hampshire, my thank you.
Two nights ago , i spent the night anchored across from the US Navy base at Mayport. A couple dozen battle ships and destroyers and helicopters circling regularly. Threatening looking ships that i followed out the inlet are there to keep our way of life intact. I believe they do that job well, though the cost must be astronomical. The beach at the mouth of the St. John river, which flows north (only other river which flows north in n hemp. is the nile i am told) was wild and exciting in the brisk NW wind. Last night i anchored lined up with the lookout tower of Castillo de San Marcos a 1500 fort gurding the St Augustine inlet. The fort is landscaped nicely unlike how i imagine it was five hundre yrs ago.
I did want to not leave the impression of distain for the Intracaostal Waterway. Though i prefer the outside passage, there can be nothing like a nice calm anchorage on the waterway, when the weater is brewing up a storm and that safty net allows one to use the coastal waters with a large amount of safty. And it is not to be thought that travel on the intercaostal is simple either, as shoaling and the entrance and exit form large posts and inlets make navaigating a challeng for even experienced boaters.
so ... i could go on indefinately i think, but will end here and go see if my batteries are charged... love you all, and miss you much. steve
Friday, October 9, 2009
Fri Oct 9
Just made it to Jeykell Island, where i had started my trip that ended in Daytona Fla, last year. I trailored the boat to here and launched. IT was really great to come into St Simons Sound and actually know where i was. First time in what will be six weeks tommorrow. The georgia coast is different than anywhere else. Big deep sounds instead of narrow inlets and shallow off the coast instead of deeper... and hot too near 90 the last few days, maybe a little cooler on the water and i can jump in when ever i get too heated up. Water temp around 79 degrees.
Thanks for all your great emails. i really appreciate your communications. I bet BB King was great, You there Jodell? And Guy did you get anywhere with that trailor? i would make the bunks adjustable with pins and slides...
Thanks for all your great emails. i really appreciate your communications. I bet BB King was great, You there Jodell? And Guy did you get anywhere with that trailor? i would make the bunks adjustable with pins and slides...
Monday, October 5, 2009
OCt 3 continued
Almost lost all of last post, but thankfully it was saved as a draft as i didn't have the strenght to write it again.. forgive the spelling and grammer errors as i could publish it but seemingly not edit.
Oct 3 cont...
Was even trying to find direction on North Edisto and thought i would poke up Folly's River and spend the day on Folly's beach, but the tide was against and the wind was wrong, so i turned stern to the forces of nature and headed out Stono's Inlet which was gentle except for a close call with a shoal as i cut off the corner between two bouys. The weather made up my mind for me and it as Hilton Head i was pointing for.
Out on the water it was calm seas and light winds. I can see packets of wind off over the water by the way the surface is rippled, then as i get there i pick up a little speed and seem to out run the wind. As the wind picks up the bigger waves are right there with the higher gusts, so much so that it become unclear which is driving what. Wind making wave? of wave making wind. I have also learned to see the sea organize itself after a wind or tide change. We call the sea disorganized when the waves and wind seem not to follow a consistent pattern. Of course the sea knows nothing of this but it is interesting and generally a relief to see swell and waves and wind syncronize after a change in either.
When the wind totally died and i was becalmed, i thought i would take a dip and then i remember my son Claytons snorkel gear which i commandeered for this trip. I got them out, rinsed them off and took the plunge about three miles out in 32 ft a water. It was delightful with the water temp around 78 degrees. I realized i could look under my boat and got a better chance to sand off the barnacles which have been building up after five weeks on the water. i noticed i was lsoing cruising speed over the last couple weeks, and actually though i had engine problems. I don't use the bottom ablative paint that they sell as it is expensive and contains heavy metals to keep critters from attaching themselves to your bottom. With my boat being only 22 ft, i can rub the bottom clean occaisionally. Diving under with the snorkle i nearly drowned myself as the snorkel got pushed sidways while i was unde. hanging onto the side of the boat gasping for air i thought i could do better with just the mask and indded, after twenty of so dives, i had the whole bottom sanded off with floor sanding paper i had brought, including the keel. It was exhasting work to stay under long enough to get much done and then kick out and up to get air, but i gained a knot/ hour with the engine and i can feel the difference in sailing speed. Got a chance to inspect the whole bottom and keel assembly as well as the 18 1/8" holes from before. Bottom is in good shape.
I do seem to have a adventuresome spirt. Saturday at 11:30 pm, i woke in SOuth Edisto inlet and the tide had changed and the wind swung around to the NW as predicted. In less than two minutes i had hauled anchor, furled mainsail and was drifting out under nearly full moon toward open water. All was well until about half a mile out the disorganized seas began. Nothing doing to drift calmly under those circumstance so i cranked up the engine and motored out free of the worst of the kaos. Then as the wind picked up i had a lovely sail to Port Royal sound and had the best of both. I got to find the bouys while they were flashing, and then enter the actuall channel just as the sun was rising. It was even hig tisde and got to cut across the middle ground where the charts said "Breakers"
Back to Hiltonhead harbor where my boat is docked now and leave for Tybee Island Ga this evening if the rain has let up.....
Oct 3 cont...
Was even trying to find direction on North Edisto and thought i would poke up Folly's River and spend the day on Folly's beach, but the tide was against and the wind was wrong, so i turned stern to the forces of nature and headed out Stono's Inlet which was gentle except for a close call with a shoal as i cut off the corner between two bouys. The weather made up my mind for me and it as Hilton Head i was pointing for.
Out on the water it was calm seas and light winds. I can see packets of wind off over the water by the way the surface is rippled, then as i get there i pick up a little speed and seem to out run the wind. As the wind picks up the bigger waves are right there with the higher gusts, so much so that it become unclear which is driving what. Wind making wave? of wave making wind. I have also learned to see the sea organize itself after a wind or tide change. We call the sea disorganized when the waves and wind seem not to follow a consistent pattern. Of course the sea knows nothing of this but it is interesting and generally a relief to see swell and waves and wind syncronize after a change in either.
When the wind totally died and i was becalmed, i thought i would take a dip and then i remember my son Claytons snorkel gear which i commandeered for this trip. I got them out, rinsed them off and took the plunge about three miles out in 32 ft a water. It was delightful with the water temp around 78 degrees. I realized i could look under my boat and got a better chance to sand off the barnacles which have been building up after five weeks on the water. i noticed i was lsoing cruising speed over the last couple weeks, and actually though i had engine problems. I don't use the bottom ablative paint that they sell as it is expensive and contains heavy metals to keep critters from attaching themselves to your bottom. With my boat being only 22 ft, i can rub the bottom clean occaisionally. Diving under with the snorkle i nearly drowned myself as the snorkel got pushed sidways while i was unde. hanging onto the side of the boat gasping for air i thought i could do better with just the mask and indded, after twenty of so dives, i had the whole bottom sanded off with floor sanding paper i had brought, including the keel. It was exhasting work to stay under long enough to get much done and then kick out and up to get air, but i gained a knot/ hour with the engine and i can feel the difference in sailing speed. Got a chance to inspect the whole bottom and keel assembly as well as the 18 1/8" holes from before. Bottom is in good shape.
I do seem to have a adventuresome spirt. Saturday at 11:30 pm, i woke in SOuth Edisto inlet and the tide had changed and the wind swung around to the NW as predicted. In less than two minutes i had hauled anchor, furled mainsail and was drifting out under nearly full moon toward open water. All was well until about half a mile out the disorganized seas began. Nothing doing to drift calmly under those circumstance so i cranked up the engine and motored out free of the worst of the kaos. Then as the wind picked up i had a lovely sail to Port Royal sound and had the best of both. I got to find the bouys while they were flashing, and then enter the actuall channel just as the sun was rising. It was even hig tisde and got to cut across the middle ground where the charts said "Breakers"
Back to Hiltonhead harbor where my boat is docked now and leave for Tybee Island Ga this evening if the rain has let up.....
Hilton head
"The men groaned, the women shrieked, everybody called upon God, cried aloud, remembered their dear ones. Only Amarantus was in good spirts, thinking he was going to get out of paying his creditors.."
Synesius, from Epistolae. He describes the worst part of a storm during a voyage in the Mediterranean from Alexandria to Cyrene in 404ad.
Water can both float and sink a ship.
Chinese proverb.
just rode 10 miles on a bike in the pouring rain to get to this hilton head public library. am soaked and they have the air conditioning on on this cool rainy day.. but they do have internet....
I realized i have so much to write, that i made some entries in my journal and will rewrite them here.
Oct 1.
Second day of a two day "Atlantic cruise". Left Little River inlet at sunrise. Sunrise, moonrise, sunset, moonset, sunrise, moonrise, sunset, moonset sunrise on Charleston Harbor, though getting in was a challenge. Tide going out upon arrival i drifted away from the channel and napped while anchored until tide change at 2 am. Then trying to figure the bouy lights in a place one has never been before is like doing a puzzel that you don't have a finished picture of. I made it in, but ended up on the wrong side of harbor island and figured i was close enough and slept till dawn. Two night ago i was trying to find the bouy for Winyah Bay and follwed a fishing trawler way out offshore for awhile. Luckily it was fishing near the channel which i at last became aware of when the trawler was in closer proximity. It became a floating apparition with it's spot lights shinning down upon it's decks from the top of it's dual cranes and nets draped out and around itself.
Then except for the black host at the Marriot Buffet breakfast with effevescent energy who gave me "full " breakfast for "continental" price ( i tipped him the difference), Charleston was largely indifferent to my existence. No public docking except for $60 dollars/day at a marina except to buy gas at the "gas dock" at $2.89/gal. So rather than fight the "head wind, i drifted down the North Edisto River towards the Atlantic again.
I have a totally new appreciation for the explores of the centuries gone by. Even though they carried their baggage with them, they did it under conditions completely different from me. I have, and depend on completely; a boat and sails made of modern materials which are highly resilient and mostly maintenence free, nautical charts made by NOAA, the best mapping service, hourly weather reports with data collected byt the same organization and transmitted by radio waves to my boat, depth sounder/ knotmeter which is indispensible in avoiding running aground, a cell phone if i really get in a jam, and a evinrude engine, underpowered as it is but running and with gas available at evenly spaced marinas. Hence, i am able to enjoy this time on the watery world in comparitive saftey whereas the explorers had just there wits and luck to face the elements.
I am doing what i now call the "outercoastal wateryway". Sailing off the coast as much as possible, going inside on the intracoastal only to avoid the most dangerous capes or when the weather threatens. This way i get to visit as many inlets ( seems like they should be calledd outles, as it is where the water drains from the land) as possible, which are the most diverse and beautifull parts of the coast and also enjoy the serenity of sailing alone down the outside. i encounter so few boats outside it is hardly worth mentioning, where as inside there is a steady traffic stream. I think people like the inside passage because it is so much like our highway system. Markers spaced within sight at all times, marinas at every major junction, town or bridge crossing, and they can watch each other going north and south and show off their boats.
Some great aquatic life off the shore in the Myrtle beach area. Still lots of fish jumping, but here was on long, narrow fish that could skip out of the water and flip and flap its way for fifty yrds or more at a very high speed. Quite athletic to see. Then beside the large number of dolphins around the boat ( i neglected to mention that as i was waiting out the thunder storm at new river inlet they were breaching all around shambala, which i since read they tend to do before storms) but now there were stuffed ottoman sized sea turtles that would come to the surface presumable to sun themselves for i would see them with all four flippers and head and tail stretched out above the water surface.
At Lockwoods Folly inlet beach, i found a rock crab left on the shore as the tide went out and was encouraged by a local fisherman to take the claws, which were beig as a lobsters though much harder. I boiled them for lunch and they were superb. Then, standing on shore, i shaved using the Atlantic Ocean for my shaving basin.
Strange to see at three miles out, both dragon flies, and butterflies flying by the boat often heading out. The butterflies usually get drawn into the airstream around the sails and have to flap extra hard to continue on their way. What posseses these creatures to head out over the open sea? Is it just a case of mistaken direction or the same spirt of adventure that seems to draw me out there?
Oct 3 Yesterday, drifted down NOrth Edisto River more or les aimlessly after nothing doing in Charlestown
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