Slow Going

Rattlesnake Creek N30 34.47 W81 28.33

Today (5/24) the plan was to leave the slip in Jacksonville and to head up toward Amelia Island where Tiger Point Marina is. Still no work on when Tiger point can haul me out.

I couldn't leave till 10AM because the tidal current had me pinned into the slip. I left at 10 and right away I notices that Tarwathie was slow under motor. The antifouling paint must have worn out and the bottom covered with gunk. I'll soon know. The knot meter paddle stopped spinning.

Soon I noticed that the engine temperature was high and the RRMs low. Damn. I forgot to check the raw water filter before leaving. Bet it's clogged. I hastily anchored in the channel, dove below and opened up the raw water filter. The filter was clean, but I stuck my finger in the hose and came out with two little fish! Damn. I forgot to close the seacock before leaving in March. Must be critters hatching in the cooling system. At the boat yard I can clean the seacocks and the cooling system hoses.

I got off the Saint Johns river back into the ICW at Sisters Creek. Now the tidal flow was against me. I only made 0.5 to 1.5 knots against the ground. The drawbridge had to wait quite a while for me. After a while, I managed to get a staysail up (hard when you're navigating a narrow channel single handed.) That was better and I average 2.9 to 5 knots.

Late afternoon I came out of the creek onto the Nassau river. There was a big open stretch and 20 knots of headwind and 1-2 knots of current against me. I couldn't hold the bow into the wind. I was forced to drop back out of the channel and anchor in 20 feet of water. After 90 minutes the tidal current reversed. I could have 5 knots of current going my way. But wait, the wind against me picked up to 25 knots. I had visions of careening down the river out of control drifting with the current but unable to steer. I bit hard and waited for conditions to change. After 3 hours the current and the wind both subsided and I resumed my trip. I was still able to make my intended anchorage before dark.

So I finally did the right think and forced myself to be patient and wait. Boy was it hard. I'm just too indoctrinated to take action. When inactive, I worry and fret and think about how things might get worse as I wait. It's going to take some time to unlearn the habits of a lifetime.