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...