If It Could Happen Today, Then It Happened

 

To say today was eventful would be an understatement. It started out uneventful enough. We were up and moving by 7 AM,and we had the anchor up a little before 8 o'clock. The weather was great, and we were heading out to sea for some good sailing.

Shortly after 9, we were heading south down the coast to Charleston. We were under sail, and the day was shaping up nicely. This when on for about 45 minutes. Then the first thing happened.

The only way to describe it was a loud snap and then a crash. One side of the dinghy davit came crashing down, and left half of the dinghy dragging off the stern. In the time it took to drop the sails, and get the dighny hauled up and secured, we had lost two boat fenders and some mooring lines. Once Bill had used his mountaineering skills to secure the dinghy (that thing ain't going nowhere), we circled back and we're able to retrieve one fender. We spent some time looking around for the second fender, but eventually had to give it up for lost. 

Bill resecured this, and it is going nowhere... ever! 

By now the wind had died down a bit, so we were heading south under the power of our diesel engine. Then the second thing happened. We had noticed the engine losing power, so Bob took a look at the engine and noticed some fuel issues. It seems that the fuel filter had some debris in it (never good). We made plans to go back under sail to keep some forward motion going, in case it became necessary to replace the fuel filter under way . As you the reader may have guessed it became necessary. The engine conked out just north of Isle of Palms, and Bob went to work. He quickly discovered that the problem was deeper than just the fuel filter. There was debris clogging hoses throughout the hoses leading up to the filter. Bob, in a move that was worthy of MacGyver, rigged a system where he pumped fuel directly from a fuel tank into a gas can, and from there it fed to the fuel filter. Richard Dean Anderson got nothin' on Captain Bob! That got us home.

Capn' Bob does open heart surgery on the black dog

Just to make it a perfect end to the trip, when we got back to the marina in Charleston, we couldn't shore power hooked up to the boat. That, however, turned out to be an issue with the marina that they need to fix.

Ft Sumpter always marks our return to Charleston 

Three weary sailors unloaded the boat, and drove off to Bob's house, another trip behind them. Some people are going to say to me, "I am sorry that all that stuff happened that ruined your good time". To them I would say, "All that stuff happened, and I had a great time!"

She waits until next time 

The Wooden Boat Show

 

It was a good day to be out and about. We slept in this morning because we could, and then took the dinghy into Georgetown for breakfast and the boat show.

We went to the Thomas Cafe on front street for a delicious breakfast. We did not do anything fancy, but it was delicious and the staff was very friendly.

We spent the remainder of the morning perusing walking on front Street and the docks, looking at several beautiful wooden boats and browsing the various street vendors that came to display their wares. Although Georgetown is not big, they put on a good show. I look forward to returning to explore more of the town in the future. 

We made one last stop at the Georgetown Corner Tavern for some refreshment, and then ended our interlude in Georgetown. 

We got back to the boat, and hoisted the anchor just past 1:30. We had a pleasant motor down to McClellanville, where we have anchored outside of town. tomorrow the winds look favorable for an off-shore sail down to Charleston, but it will mean an early start.

We're Stuck (But Only for a Little While)

Last night I casually mentioned to Bill that sometimes it is difficult to find things to write about in the blog. well, someone was paying attention, or maybe King Neptune was irked that we were enjoying cocktails without pouring him his portion. But either way, I had no difficulty in deciding what to write about today.

We had a bit of a late go of things, deciding to sleep in a little bit. Breakfast came later too, in the form of ham and eggs and then we prepared to get underway. Our plan was to take advantage of some of the wind and sail around for a bit in Winyah Bay, former haunt of the notorious Black Beard. After a little sailing, we were going to head into Georgetown. The anchor had other plans for us

At 10:53 we began to raise the anchor. We pulled in about 50 feet of the 125 feet we let out, and then that was it. No more was coming up. We were clearly stuck on something, but we had no idea (an still have none) on what was holding us up. We tried several things that didn't work. Eventually, the idea was hatched to send Bob out in the dinghy with W weighted line that was looped around the anchor chain. The line sank, presumably to the snagged section. Bob did much maneuvering, back and forth forward and back. While this was happening, Bill was working the anchor chain and I, the helm. All this in an effort to wriggle the chain free of whatever had it in its insidious grip. Finally, at 12:46, we were free!

Having burned nearly two hours on thst project, we opted to head straight for Georgetown. We found a nice little spot on the far end of town to anchor, and took the dinghy in to the public dock, which gave us a chance to admire some of the boats coming in for the Wooden Boat show this weekend.

Georgetown is a nice little boating town that in a lot of ways reminds me of Beaufort, SC. It has a rich history, and is very pleasant to walk around. We spent a bit of time perusing the maritime museum, and then enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner of pizza, wings, and Holy City Porter at SoCo Wood Fired Pizza. They get five stars in my book. The jerked rubbed wings were delicious with just the right amount of kick, and the Buffalo Chicken Pizza was quickly devoured. The cauliflower crust with the garlic butter was just the right touch.

After that we walked around a bit more, and stopped off a Sweeties for a touch of ice cream. The smells in there were delicious, but I was able to retrain myself and keep to one scoop of ice cream, as did my shipmates.

When we returned to the landing, we found that our dinghy had been blocked in, but we were quickly able to free it, and get back to the boat ahead of the squalls.

The Wafflers are now relaxing below deck as we listen to the wind howl outside and the rain splatters against the cabin. Bob has mixed up a batch of Dark and Stormies, and we are looking forward to a relaxing night and some interesting sights at tomorrow's boat show.

No Luck to be Had Today

We got an early start today. Bill was up first and got coffee going on the stove. Bob and I needed to be motivated out of our bunks a little, but we were raising the anchor soon after 7 AM. It was breakfast underway, and northward to Georgetown.

The winds did not favor us like we had hoped. It was right on our nose, and no room to maneuver in the channel, so we were under power the whole day. We did not feel that the winds were strong enough to warrant heading offshore, so we kept to the ICW for the day.

One worthy sighting today. we believe we saw an immature bald eagle perched over the water on our northbound trip. We also saw several dolphins strand feeding. Unfortunatley, no one had a phone handy to grab a picture, but that akways seems to be the way of it. It may be for the best. There is a lot of interesting wildlife in the ICW, and it wouldn't be too difficult to run the boat aground trying to get pictures of it while you were supposed to be paying attention to where the channel is.

We made good time to Georgetown, and were pleasantly surprised to find that the Wooden Boat Show will be here this weekend. Unfortunately , due to the expected crowds, we could not get a slip at the marina. But we do plan to delay our trek south long enough to spend some time at the show on Saturday.

We found a nice little anchorage near town, and grilled some chicken on the little Magma grill kept on board for such purposes. Tomorrow we will try to get  little sailing in, and then find a spot close to Georgetown so we can see some sights on Saturday.

It's October and Time to Sail Again!

It seems that fall in Charleston is a good time for the Wafflers to gather and go sailing. And it is great to have the full compliment of Wafflers (Bill, Bob, and Jay). It has been about two years since the three of us have been on the boat together, although we have been sailing in groups of two. 

Before we left the house today, Bill whipped up a batch of chili, and a batch of jambalaya to reheat on the boat for meals. We will additionally do some grilling of steaks and chicken while we are out. We always manage to eat well on these trips. 

The winds did not favor us today, even though the weather was great. We made a quick stop for fuel, then motored north in the ICW. While crossing Charleston Harbor we were treated to the sight of S/V Dennis Sullivan, a fine three masted ship. we love the Black Dog, but it sure would be an experience to do a trip on such a ship as that.

The trip north was largely uneventful, which is how we like it (although we never shy away from a challenge). One thing to note on this voyage is the absence of the chart plotter. We spent some time trying to get it to function, but the previously trusty Garmin seemed to have finally given up the ghost. we are not concerned because we do have a full set of charts for the area, and the depth sounder is working well, so feel hat there will be no issues. It is like our first days with the Black Dog when we were using paper charts. It is a good exercise for us to keep in practice.

We found anchorage early, and dropped anchor at around 4:30 just off the Isle of Palms. We sat in the cockpit enjoying gin and tonic, and discussing deep philosophical topics. The sunset was amazing, and once the sun was down we struck below decks to enjoy the chili that Bill heated up.

Tomorrow we will head to McClellansville, and make a decision to either stay in the ICW, or to head out for open waters. It all hinges on the wind...

Overnight Anchorage at Edgewater and then Home

One note before I start. The ladies of the Scarlet Knights were bumped out of the State finals yesterday. Although my own personal feeling is that they got a raw deal (the reffing was atrocious), we won't dwell on that. These great fencers will take it in stride, I know, and will go on to do good things, both on and off the strip. 

Monday was an early one for us. The anchor was up at 6:55 AM and we got moving. I should note that this anchorage was not totally picked at random. It was an anchorage used back in April 2015 when Bob was on a trip with his father, and knew it to be a good spot. So it was selected for both sentimental and practical reasons.

Breakfast was served underway (scrambled eggs mixed with ham, tomato, and cheese). We usually do pretty good for food on these trips, and the gimbal on the stove makes it possible to cook underway (provided you are not in really high seas). While lunch usually winds up being sandwiches, a hot meal is always nice.

We had good winds, and got a bit of nice sailing in just using the genoa (a rather large jib sail that overlaps the main). One of the nice things about the Black Dog that I have come to realize is that when you are in the ICW, and may need to move from sail to power frequently, the genoa is a nice sail to have because in a good wind it will move you along nicely on its own.

We made good time and were at anchor in Edgewater Park by three in the afternoon. One thing woth noting was that we motored from our anchorage site through Wappoo Cut (past Bob's house) and back, and coming back the current was very strong against us. Bob commented that is was the strongest he has ever seen it, and he ought to know because he lives right there.

We had previously reached to Bob's nephew, Conor, do arrange meeting for dinner. Conor, his wife Emily, and Duke (their dog) motored out for dinner and drinks. Bob grilled chicken on a portable grill used on the boat, and a good time was had by all. There was a little bit of trouble getting Duke back on to Conor's boat, and for a moment Bob and I thought we might have an overnight guest. But it all got sorted, and they headed back.

We cleaned up from dinner and Bob read selections aloud from "The Art of Coarse Sailing" and we had a good laugh at the stories. We chatted into the night discussing future voyages of the Black Dog. We turned in with a plan to be up at 7 AM.

It was a relatively peaceful night. We awoke a couple of times during the night to what we came to believe was the noise of the anchor chain stretching out a bit, but we were felling good and ready at 7 AM. Bob made banana pancakes for breakfast, and we started cleaning the boat a bit to give us a jump on things before we docked.

We weighed anchor at 8:45 in order to be in time for a 9:30 opening of the Wappoo Cut Bridge. That drawbridge will not open between 6:30 AM and 9:30 AM on weekdays due to rush hour traffic. We made the bridge in good time, 20 minutes before it opened. We were dockside by 10 AM. We finished up cleaning the boat and offloaded stores. The feeling is that we left the boat better than we found her. Another good trip on the books.

Just as an epilogue to the adventure, Ronda's friend Erin was performing her first improv show at Theater 99 downtown Charleston with the members of an improv workshop she had taken. Everyone did a great job, and we all enjoyed the show!

A Restful Respite in Beaufort and Back North

First things first! The best of luck to the magnificent ladies of the Scarlet Knights as they face Livingston at the NJ State Fencing Semi-finals. I am sure it will be a tough meet, because no team gets this far without being good. I know the Knights will give them a hard fight. Good luck! And a special thanks to William, Christine, and Coach Lisa for making sure that I get updates in real time!!!

On to the doings off the Wafflers....

Sunday morning had us at anchor off of Morgan Island (the place with the monkeys). We had a late breakfast of eggs and toast, and raised anchor at 10:00. It was a largely uneventful motor to Beaufort. It took a bit of time because we were against the tides, but we were able to secure a dockside mooring, and we tied up by 14:00. Not a bad run. Beaufort, SC has a nice marina, and the crew unanimously voted to have showers ashore. Once we cleaned up, Bob's father, Clive (who lives in Beaufort), picked us up and we spent the afternoon chatting with Bob's parents. They are two very nice people, and this visit was too rare a treat for me. As a bonus, I was served a famous Clive Greaves' martini (delicious).  All good things must come to an end, and Clive dropped us back at the marina. We made a quick pit stop to Hemingway's, but they are sadly no longer doing the onion soup that so many of us love. We did dinner on the boat, and reminisced about old times. The evening was a bit of a blur, and there was some confusion about who served who what, but none of that is really important.

We were up at a good hour this morning, and met Bob's sister, Karen, for breakfast at Blackstone's Cafe. It is a favorite breakfast spot when we are in Beaufort. And today did not disappoint. Along with great food Bob caught up a little with his sister, who then nicely gave us a lift to West Marine for a part we needed, and then dropped us back at the marina. It is a bit of a shame that we couldn't stay longer because Beaufort is a really nice walking around town with a great deal of historic charm. But the tides do not wait for the Wafflers, and we were underway heading north just before noon. The weather was great, and we had a nice run up to St Helena Sound, even breaking out the spinnaker.

Our run came to a rapid halt when we ran aground just south of Ash Island, at the southern entrance to a channel that has a fancy name, but should really be named "The Too Shallow Channel". It has always been a bit of a hair raising channel to navigate because its extreme narrowness. But it seems like the dredging operation that has been ongoing has not yet reached the channel entrance, and we got stuck. Part of it was that we were at nearly dead low tide, part of it is that the charted depth does not match the reality (see the reference to ongoing dredging). So we spent a restful couple of hours aground. Some people will focus on the fact that we ran aground, but the real take away here is that WE FLEW THE SPINNAKER!!!

While waiting for the tide to come back in, we got some chores done, such as getting the dinghy inflated and some winch maintenance. We also regaled each other with tales from "The Art of Coarse Sailing". Eventually we re-floated and made good time to our anchorage just north of St Helena Sound.

Dinner was pasta and meat sauce, and we caught up with Bob's friend Christian, who is sailing with his wife to the Bahamas. We checked the weather for tomorrow, and things look good, but we need to leave by Sunrise so that we are not fighting a current all day. Let's see if we make Charleston tomorrow. 

Heading South By Circumstance

 First things first! Congrats to those intrepid ladies of the Scarlet Knights Fencing Team. You may have noticed a good luck message I posted for them on the past Wednesday, and not only did they perform amazingly on that meet, but they did as well on Friday too! Let's wish them luck on Monday as they go to the state semi-finals. Go Knights!

On to what the Wafflers have been doing...

Thursday and Friday were sailing prep days. Food and fuel were taken on, and things were stowed for sea. We knew Friday was not going to be good to go off-shore, so we did a little extra cleaning. We enjoy a nice dinner at Bob's home (steaks from Burbage's) and then we packed our remaining gear and headed off to spend the night on the Black Dog so that we could get an early start.

Having arrived at the boat, we stowed things and then settled in for a nightcap. We did our customary reading aloud from "The Art of Course Sailing", and readied for an early night. One side note, and accident with Bob's roll on deodorant resulted in a new one being added to the shopping list in Beaufort.

The original plan was to go north to Georgetown. However the winds were totally wrong. The new plan was this, underway by 7 AM to take advantage of the falling tide, and sail down the ocean to Beaufort. It was an ambitious plan, but we were feeling ambitious.

We were up at 6:15 and cast off by 6:55. The receding tide was swift, and we made good time. We had to spend an extra 15 minutes in Charleston Harbor recovering a pair of gloves that got blown overboard (in my defense, Bob's exact words were "throw me those gloves over there"), and also recover a hat that got blown over while recovering the gloves.

But as I said, we made good time and cleared the jetties that nark the entrance to the harbor by 8:30. The winds were initially good (15-20 knots), and it was worth mentioning is was cold. Cold enough, in fact, to drive us into our foul weather gear even though the sun was shining. We got are sea legs under us, and it was a good sail.

Sadly, it did not last. Around lunchtime, the wind fell off drastically, and we had to revise our plans. We opted to go back inland at St Helena Sound and seek an anchorage there, continuing to Beaufort tomorrow. This would keep us from navigating into Beaufort in the dark.

We made the sound in good time, supplementing the wind with the engine, and we found a nice anchorage at Morgan Island, This island is inhabited by monkeys who were released from testing labs. We anchored close enough that we could see the monkeys, was was interesting.

Now dinner has been eaten, and things cleaned up. Tomorrow we won't leave quite so early, and we will reach Beaufort most likely by lunch, or possibly happy hour.

Good Luck Scarlet Knights!

 It has been a while since the last entry, and I am kicking off this sailing trip with a message to the girls of the Morris Hills fencing team. They have their "sweet sixteen" meet in the NJ State fencing finals tonight, and I will not be there to add my cheers to the throng. However, through the kindness of some friends, I will be kept in the loop of what is going on, and I will be cheering in spirit, not only tonight, but each night as they advance.

To the girls I would like to say that my admiration and respect for each of you has nothing to do with what goes on the scoreboard, and everything to do with how you all conduct yourselves, both on and off the strip. I have never seen any of you quit, even when it seemed victory was not possible. You always push forward and just keep going for that next touch. And whether it goes your way or not, your are always gracious towards your opponent. I am proud to know you all, and nothing that happens tonight will change that. Go out there, fight hard, and have a great time. I hope you can hear my cheers from where ever I am to the strip where you fence. And I hope to see you all at Forte soon! - Jay Lefever