Emergency Repair

Near Little Cumberland Island, GA
30 58.591N 081 25.416W

If you've read any books about cruising, you'll recall that the skipper should be prepared to repair anything and everything on an instant's notice. We had an example of that today.

Yesterday, I wrote that the transmission felt funny. Last night I checked the oil level in the transmission. It was fine. It hadn't gone down a drop since I first filled it, and the oil is as clean as new oil from the bottle.

This morning, we were heading south, sometimes under sail only, and sometimes with help of the engine. I started the engine one more time and it wouldn't go in to gear. Moving the control lever forward or back just made the engine rev. "OH NO!" I thought. My mind always jumps to the worst in such situations. I remembered a note in the Beta installation manual that said that if you did not install the control cable just right, that the clutch would wear out prematurely and that this would not
be covered by warranty.

Fortunately, we were in a position to continue sailing for some time without the engine. I pulled up the floor of the cockpit, and crawled down in there and started moving the throttle control lever back and forth. "Aha!" Good news. It was not the transmission, it was the control cable. I investigated further and found that the place where the cable was anchored near the control box, had loosened and that the cable was slipping back and forth making it ineffective. I had it fixed within 10
minutes. Tonight, I have to readjust it to balance the motion forward and reverse, but for now we're OK.

From the sound of the weather, we can't go offshore until at least Friday night, and perhaps not even then if that nasty tropical storm heads our way. However, the good news is that we'll have all day Friday to walk on Cumberland Island National Seashore. That walking tour has been on our wish list for some time.

Wahoo

The Wahoo River, GA
31-36.16N 081-12.84W

We're still very frustrated. On the ICW, the winds seem very managable (and of course the waves are zero). Yet the weather radio says there is still a gale blowing along the coast with very big waves. Even when we passed Saint Catherines Sound today very close to the ocean and exposed to the winds, conditions didn't seem bad. I very much want to disbelieve the weather reports and go out there to see for myself. But, sigh, engineers are trained to be prudent, never reckless, and that's in
my nature.

Therefore, we'll stay on the inside tomorrow also. We still have 70 miles to go on the ICW to reach Florida. The ICW through Georgia meanders 250 linear miles to transport you 90 miles as the crow flies. That's a big part of the frustration.

On the other hand, the salt marshes in Georgia are wonderful. We sailed all day long using only the jib. At one point it appeared that we were in a huge lake, the size of Lake Champlain. However, a closer look shows that the huge open area is almost all covered with marsh grass, and it is only crisscrossed by narrow creeks and rivers. The illusion was heightened today because it appeared that the onshore winds have blown so much water inland that we had only high tide and higher tide. Much
of the marsh grass showed only 3-4 inches above the surface of the water, it was nearly submerged. That state persisted for the entire day. I think this is what the TV news calls low-level-coastal-flooding. Never mind, the marshes and the unpopulated barrier islands mean that there are few or no man-made structures to get flooded. In fact, this is probably the most isolated area along the whole ICW. There are not even marinas nearby. Tonight, we are anchored in a remote spot, and there are
two 50+ foot motor yachts anchored here with us. Those type of yachts almost never anchor out, they go to marinas if possible.

Our Lowrance GPS cursor button broke today. I'll have to fix that. The engine transmission also felt funny so I'll check the oil level. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't checked that oil level since the engine was new. Shame on me.

Venerable Old Ladies

Wilmington Island, Georgia
No LL

As we passed through Norfolk a couple of weeks ago, we saw two notable sights, both involving very old ships.



Just south of Newark we passed by a ship breaking yard. This is a place where they bring old ships, and where they are reduced to shredded scrap metal. The ship you see in the picture above was just starting the breaking promise. Here name, visible on the stern, was the SS Empire State. From the proud name and from her nice white paint job, she was obviously an object of great pride. It just seems rather tragic to me to witness such a once proud ship meet such an ignominious end. If Hillary wins the next election, they might pass a bill to send old conservatives like me to the breaking yard.

The ship below is the NS Savannah. She is a unique and once famous ship. She was the first, and last, nuclear powered cargo ship. She was commissioned in the early 1960s, a period of unbounded optimism about the future of nuclear power. Unfortunately, she was a huge failure. She was retired and no second attempt was ever tried, as far as I know. We last saw NS Savannah on the James River anchored with the US reserve fleet. Now she has been moved to an active navy yard. No doubt they are doing some kind of work to keep her afloat. Her reactor components must still be radioactive and hazardous, so she can't be sunk or abandoned or broken up.

p.s. It's so frustrating. The picture below shows the conditions we can expect if we go offshore right now, and for the next week. It just sounds too uncomfortable; I'm afraid we're stuck on the inside for a while. Look at the wave heights (click on the picture to see it full size.)

Twarted Again

Turners Creek, GA
N 32 00.776 W 080 59.329

Whew. There's a lot to tell about today; much of it having to do with seamanship.

We got to Charleston Harbor around 1630 and immediately departed to seaward. I had resolved to use the short cut. You see, there is a stone jetty in Charleston that runs out about 3 miles. Always before I had to fight wind and current to get out through that jetty. It seemed to take forever and I hated it.

Last year, I discovered on the chart a pair of red-green buoys that mark a shortcut exit from the harbor. They mark a spot between the shore and the jetty where one can exit in deep water. Then one continues in 15 feet of water for about 2 more miles before coming to really deep water. I planned to use this exit.

This time, it was low (very low) tide as we exited. There was a full moon last night leading to spring tides (extra high and extra low.) I noticed breakers on either side of the red-green shortcut buoys. That was OK, it meant that I had to navigate carefully. I passed through the exit and headed on the charted path of deepest water seaward. I was disturbed though to see more breaking waves two miles out. As we approached the line of breaking waves, the depth became much less than that charted on my chart and on my GPS chart plotter. We were supposed to have 15 feet. It went down to 10. Down to 8. I began passing through breaking waves. Down to 7 with only 200 feet to go to smooth water. Down to 6. That was too little. I did a 180 degree turn and we went back in to the exit, then out again between the jetty arms. We lost an hour or more on that false start. I guess I'll never try that short cut again; the shoaling and sand bars can change too quickly to chart.

When we got past the jetty and set sail, I rechecked the weather report. It had been saying 10-15 NW wind tonight, 15-20 tomorrow, then 20-25 for 4 more days. Perfect winds for a fast passage southward! Alas, when I rechecked they added the prase, "A gale warning may be needed. This is a significant marine event. Mariners take warning." Ay ay, that sounded ominous. Should we change our minds? Libby said, "No. They only said maybe and they've fooled us before."

Soon after leaving, I got a surprise phone call from Chris and June on Albion. They were on the ICW just south of Charleston. Too bad. If I'd known they were there, I would have gone that way to meet up with them.

Through the night the wind picked up and we started really flying. I had a double reefed main sail and a reefed jib yet we were still doing 7 to 8 knots. The waves weren't bad, although they were building. (p.s. I have an old fashioned jib with jiffy reefing points just like a mainsail.)

At 0700 this morning, I rechecked the weather. I knew that this report would be decisive. Either they would back off the maybe gale warning, or they would confirm it. When I turned the radio on I heard. "Gale along the Georgia Coast. Winds NW 30-35 with occasional gusts to 45, waves 8-13 feet. This is a dangerous event. Mariners should seek immediate refuge." That did it. I resolved to put in before the really bad weather hit.

Which inlet to put in to? Georgia has many. However, all but one of the inlets require a 3-5 mile approach to the NW. That would be nearly impossible for Tarwathie against a 30 knot NW wind. I've demonstrated before that I can't hold her nose to the wind under power with more than 30 knots of wind against us. If the tide were against us, it would be even harder. Fortunately, the Savannah River inlet was only 6 miles away, and it was the only one that didn't need a NW approach. We changed course for that.

I double checked on the paper chart for hazards. Good thing I did. I found a "submerged breakwater" directly in my path. Yikes! That would be unpleasant to hit by surprise. I altered course to miss that. On the other hand, the tide was 9.7 feet above minimum at that time and I probably could have gotten away with sailing over it. No thanks. We had another lucky advantage. We caught the end of the incoming tide and we had a 2.5 knot current helping us to get in. In no time at all, we were in the river and out of the ocean. After passing three container ships coming out (one of them named The Singapore Express, cool) we reached the ICW and turned south.

Tonight, we are at Hogan's Marina on Turner Creek. A marina is a good place to be when a gale blows. I remember from experience that anchoring here was difficult. 10 foot tides, 6 knot currents and 45 knot winds don't make it any easier, so this is one time I'm more than willing to pay the marina fee. Tomorrow, we'll check the weather again and see if we should depart. Turner Creek is a place originally recommended by June on Albion. It has a Publix market only 300 feet from the dock. That's the second closest supermarket to the water on the east coast.

I feel like a wus for chickening out on the gale. Some day we have to expand our horizons and ride out a gale or a storm while at sea. If we hadn't put in this morning, and just continued, we could have been in Florida by Sunday midnight, and all the way to Cape Canaveral by Tuesday morning. What a wasted opportunity.

I'm confident that Tarwathie is well up to the challenge. Three things hold me back. First, I worry about injuring Libby. She gets bad back pain after a period of hammering heavy waves. Second, my instinct tells me that we should have a crew of three when we meet that challenge. Libby and I are not enough. I need my sailing buddy Carmello. How about it Carmello; would you like to come down here and help me sail through a three day gale? I know that you'd be excited by the challenge.

The third thing is the scary language they use on the NOAA weather radio. I know that they exaggerate, they are overly cautious, and their triggers are too low. Still, the suggestive power of those warnings is strong indeed. It is likely that if I just looked at the raw numbers and did not hear their scary words, that I may have made the opposite decision.

Inside Or Outisde

ICW, near Cape Roman
N 33 05.033 W 079 26.041

We really want to go on the outside, we're bored with motoring on the ICW. But the weather is not cooperating. The SE winds that we were hoping to get never materialized. Two days in a row we planned to go to sea, then canceled the plans. Now we hope to try again to go outside at Charleston tonight. There are strong NE winds forecast, maybe even too strong. If it sounds too much we may have to cancel again.

Anyhow, we're in the pretty stretch. We are in the middle of Cape Roman National Wildlife Refuge it is a beautiful and huge salt marsh with very little evidence of mankind. Last year when we passed through here, it was opening day of duck hunting season. Today there are no hunters around, but neither are there ducks.