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

 

At Last, Under Sail!

Today was the day we were waiting for since Friday! It wasn't perfect, but it was really great. It was a cold morning, in and out of the boat, but we managed to getup at first light and got breakfast. We took a while at breakfast, but we weren't in a hurry. We pulled up both anchors and got underway.We still had yet to make a decision about whether or not to go back down the ICW or go back to Charleston the ocean route.

We motored down through McClellanville to take in the sights. It is a nice spot to go through on the water. It is a town that makes its living from the sea, and the working craft outnumber the pleasure craft here. We have been through here before, but I never get tired of seeing it.

While motoring through we were listening to the Coast Guard weather reports. Although the skies were fair, and the temperature was considerably warmer, there were gale force wind warnings in effect. Caution seemed to be in order, and we opted to head back down the ICW.

The good news was, once we got going down the channel, the winds were in a perfect position to allow us to raise our sails and navigate the narrow confines of the ICW under sail. It was a bit of a challenge, but good experience for boat handing. Bob also performed the amazing feat of changing out the jib sheet while actually flying the jib!

It was a good bit of quiet solitude letting the wind drive us southward. We saw the occasional boat out there as well, and I like to think that we inspired our fellow sailors in the ICW to raise their sails try the winds as well.

Alternating between motor and sail,we made good time on our southward cruise back to Charleston. But the real excitement was yet to come.

Once we hit a point in the Waterway where channel was not  quite so constrained, we determined that it was time to fly the spinnaker! It is a sail the we do not get to use nearly enough. You need a certain amount of wind going in the right direction to use. It is a big, colorful, fun to use sail that can really show off a boat. One doesn't really get the full visual effect when viewing from ones on boat, but when the wind fills it, the speed difference is more than apparent. We had a great time putting this sail to its proper use, until we closed on the Ben Sawyer Memorial Bridge. At that time, we had to take it down so that we could better approach the drawbridge. Fortunately, we time our approach well so that we did not have to wait 45 minutes for an opening (like we did on Saturday). After that, it was an uneventful trip back to the marina. We were tied up just after five when the sun was setting.

We hustled to get the boat unloaded of our gear and unused food, and found we had time for a quick trip to the Gin Joint for a round of drinks and appetizers before dinner. Overall a good trip. And we acheived our goal of testing the chain plates! We hope that the weather has not soured John on sailing with the Wafflers!

Sun Sets Over McClellanville

Readers will note that a day has been skipped on this voyage. Truth be told,wind and freezing rain sucked out any desire to do any writing. But let me back up a bit...

Friday night at anchor was cold and windy, We were able to stave off the cold, though, with the help of s portable generator that enabled us to run heat on the boat. It was a warm feeling sleeping below under the covers while the wind howled outside. But morning came soon enough, and decisions needed to be made.

We checked the updated weather, and had a quick pow-wow on what we were going do. The weather, it turned out, was going to get worse instead of better, as initially forecast. We knew we could not make Beaufort, and would have a long, hard day to get to our next anchorage. OR, we could go back to Charleston, and spend an evening in comfort at the Greaves' residence. It was a pretty easy call to make.

Foul weather gear was donned, and the anchor was raised. We were underway quickly.  The wind was biting, and it was cold sitting at the helm, even bundled up in gear. It wasn't raining, though. I remember that because Bob was sitting in the cockpit with me, and said "Well, at least it's not raining!"  That was shortly before the rain started.

We got back to Charleston by lunchtime, and got our gear off in record time, and beat it to Fuel in Charleston (great food and great service). We also did a trip to the liquor store for supplies. and anchorage the previous night, there was much discussion about the proper ingredients for a "Dark and Stormy". John was pretty insistent that Gosslings Black Run be used, so we needed to acquire that. We were fortunate that Ronda did not turn us away at the door, and we had a pleasant evening in conversation and enjoyed a nice steak dinner.

This is a good group to sit around and chat with. There is a great diversity among the group, and the conversation is always good.

We knew today's weather was to improve, so we made a plan to set out for McClellanville and anchorage, and then a return sail on Monday. We were out of the house before 9 AM to get an early start to make our goal. The parking lot at Ashley Harbor Marina was well flooded, and all of our boots were, of course, still on the boat. So we stripped down to bare feet, and waded our gear over to the dock and on to the Black Dog. We loaded the boat back with our gear and some jambalaya pre-made by Bill. While disconnecting shore power, we noticed some boaters in trouble, and hustled over to assist.

One of the great things about the boating community is that everyone helps each other. We had noticed that a 34 foot Legacy Grand Banks was being forced into the dock and and another boat by the current. We were able to assist them with a little muscle, physically pushing them away and providing some steering direction. They were very grateful, and we felt good helping.

Once we got underway, we a tense moment at the St John's Island Connector. Normally, we slide under it quite comfortably. Today, however, the weather had added considerably to the high tide, and we inched our way up to it, until we were sure we could clear the bridge. We made it,but just. Once we cleared that and made it to Charleston Harbor, we ran the jib out for  great sail across the harbor to the the ICW. It was a great pleasure to be under sail, even for a bit.

It is a nice scenic stretch on the ICW from Charleston to McClellanville, and aside from concerns about water depth at low tide, it was a pleasant motor to where we dropped a hook near Town Creek.

Both anchors were set as the sun dropped and we settled in to a pleasant evening aboard. We were all set with good food, good drink, and great storytelling. Bob and John are long time friends, and Bill and I are enjoying stories about the wild times, and of course we have stories to tell John about Black Dog adventures.

Tomorrow, we will need to come to a decision about returning to Charleston by sea, or by ICW. The weather offshore will be a factor, but a short blue water cruise could be in order. Fingers crossed!

Shakedown Cruise!

 The chain plates are done,the Wafflers ave converged on Charleston for a shakedown cruise. Of course in true Waffler fashion, we picked the coldest, rainiest weekend we could. We haven't actually gotten to sail yet, bur we got out.

We got up early, but it took a while to finally get moving. We did a quick trip to ... you guessed it ... West Marine. After that is was breakfast and a provisioning trip to the local Harris Teeter. Thus being well stocked, we headed back to Bob's house for the purpose of getting the dinghy back to the Black Dog. One person needed to motor the dinghy about three miles back to the boat. The general consensus was that Bob should test his own patch job, so we sent Bob off with the dinghy and we went to load the boat.

A short while later, with the dinghy stowed on the davit and the provisions taken aboard, we set out from our slip the fuel doc for some diesel. The temperature was cold, but undaunted, we headed south down the ICW (intra-coastal waterway). Heavy winds and high seas prevented any off-shore activity, so we motored south, towards are eventual anchorage off of Edisto Island. Somewhere along the way the rain came. Dropping anchor was challenging because the windlass seems to not want to work.So we will have to raise the anchor by hand tomorrow. Fortunately, we are not in a rush.

Once we securely anchored, we holed up in the main cabin to try to get warm, no easy task. The cabin temperature started at 54 degrees, but has crept up now that we have closed everything up. Of course Bill did the cooking, and we had a nice hot dinner. It should be noted that we are joined on this trip by John Keena, Bob's  long time friend and overall good guy. We are all enjoying some post dinner chat and cocktails. We can hear the wind whipping up, but we are comfortable down here. We will see what tomorrow brings...

The 2019 Holiday Parade of Boats in Charleston Harbor

After quite a few years of discussing it, I was finally able to get down to Charleston and do the Holiday Parade of Boats, put on by the America's Boating Club in Charleston.Bob had done it before, but it is a lot of work for the boats involved, and he needed a crew to help do it right.

Friday was a bit worrisome but the the rain was coming down in buckets, but Saturday came with clear skies. Bob had done quite a bit of prep work in advance on the turtles, and making sure all the lights worked. So we were able to just load the car and head to the boat and get her decorated. The wind was up during the day, and we had to wrestle with the decorations a bit. But the doves and the turtles were successfully mounted. The LED's were difficult to see in broad daylight, soto  when we ran our initial test, it was difficult to see if all lights were functioning. After much squinting, shading , and deliberation, we were able to determine that the green lights for the turtle carapaces were not lighting. But we were able to resolve the faulty connection without too much angst.

We fell short on making a string of blue lights look like waves though, and had to return to the house to get Ronda (who seems to have all the artistic talent) to bail us out. While Ronda made waves for the turtles to swim it, finale preparations were made to get under way and on station for the parade. We were also joined by Bob's nephew Conor and his wife Emily around this time.

We cast of and got on station in a timely fashion. Finding our place in line was a bit tricky, because all the parade numbers were mounted on the starboard side of the parade boats, but to get on station the incoming boats were seeing the port side of the boats inline. But after hollering "WHAT"S YOUR NUMBER" over to other boats once or twice, we found our spot and slid in to formation.

Once the parade command gave the call over the radio to fire up our our decorations and begin the parade, it was all very exciting. Bob and I traded off the helm multiple times. Manning the helm on this run was a challenge for multiple reasons. For starters, boats were not moving a inconsistent speeds due to the issue of having all types of boats in the parade. Additionally, being surrounded by bright lights and looking at other brightly lit boats made it difficult to see objects in the dark in between all these boats. There were spectator boats that were anchored precariously close to the parade route, as well as unlit nav markers and other hazards. To top it all off, there were other boats not associated with the parade sliding into the line, and some boats cutting across the parade route! But we kept our eyes sharp, and kept ourselves safe. There was a brief moment when we thought we had fouled the prop on something, but it turned out we were all clear, and we were able to finish and get back to the dock.

To bring this post to a successful conclusion, we attended the awards on Sunday, and the Black Dog was voted First Place in the Sailboat category!! Now we need to up our game for next time!

SAVE THE TURTLES!

Secured for Heavy Weather!

 



Yesterday turned onto quite a productive day. Bob was trying to get back into a workout schedule, se in the morning we got ourselves into gear and headed to Gritbox Fitness, where Cody (the owner) gave us an intense boxing workout and a smoothie.

 

Out next stop was the Black Dog and our unfinished project. When we had knocked off work yesterday, we felt we might need to temporarily abandon the project in favor of securing for the hurricane. Although we weren't expecting a huge impact, its better to be safe than sorry. Once we arrived yesterday though, we felt we only needed an hour to finish it off, and through ourselves into it, and finished it in about 45 minutes. The aft head is now working again!! After that, we cleaned up a bit, and unloaded unnecessary items from the boat and headed back to the house to clean up for dinner.

 

The night before, we had suggested a bit of a "hurricane party" so that we could have a night of fun before weather situation got bad (if in fact it was going to). Plus we thought Ronda might like a little fun after a day of evacuating patients. A small group consisting of Bob, Ronda, Cody, Ashley, and I descended on Zen Sushi and feasted! The restaurant is a very nice Asian fusion place, serving Thai, Malaysian, and Chinese cuisine as well as Sushi. It was good food and enjoyable company all around.

 

 

Of course no trip to Charleston is complete without a trip to Kaminski's, so I prevailed upon the group to retreat there for dessert. To mix it up a little, we went to the West Ashley location as opposed to downtown. They have so many great desserts, but for me I always get the Bourbon Pecan Pie, heated, with a scoop of vanilla. And I was very happy to be attended by so many friends to share the experience.

 

Today was another early day. Bob's parents were getting out of Beaufort to avoid the storm, so we needed to do a quick clean on the guest room in advance of their arrival. And we were done in plenty of time to greet them on their arrival.

 

One they were settled in, Bob and I went down to finish up on the boat. We ran the engine a bit, just because it hadn't been run un a while, and then secured from shore power and added lines. Right now, the prevailing concern is not wind, but storm surges. SO fingers crossed, but we fell like the appropriate precautions have been taken.

 

While there, we met Bob's neighbor at the marina, Mike. He owns a lovely 31 footer, and we all took a break from out labors to enjoy some water together on a hot day, and swap sea stories. He also let me take a little tour below decks. He is the latest in a string of nice people we have met while on or out on the boat. That is one of the enjoyable things about the sailing community, so many really nice people who you can share travel stories with, and who make you really feel like you are part of a large community.

 

Until next time...

Working the Boat, and Dorian Too!

The trip started out with the best of intentions of getting many projects done, and we started yesterday morning on the right foot. We got out to breakfast before 10 (ish), and stopped off at West Marine before heading to the boat. Our intent at West Marine was to acquire a new chart plotter, as our trusty GPSMAP 4310 has been misbehaving recently. In the end, Bob decided to let me have another go at the 4310, and we headed off to the Black Dog. It would not be our last trip to West Marine that day.

Once we got to the boat, we jumped right in to the task of fixing the aft head. The nylon tubing for the sanitation system was causing us some struggles, and we did everything up to and including using a heat gun to make it more pliable, but in the end, we felt like perhaps we didn't have the right fittings, so back to West Marine we went.

By that time, it was getting a but late (and we hadn't had a cocktail all day), so instead of heading back to the boat, we headed to the supermarket for supplies for dinner, and retired to the Greaves residence to dine. While we were out and about, Ronda cooked a roast beef of some sort. I have to say that for someone who doesn't eat meat at all, she did a bang up job with the roast! Bob and I accompanied our dinner with some gin and tonics made with Irish Gunpowder Gin, and garnished with thick wedges of grapefruit. We felt ready to hit the town after that.

And hit the town we did! Waffler friend and associate Ashly (Ronda's sister) got us tickets to the Forte Jazz Lounge. The had a nice wine and beer menu, and the performers were top notch. We met Ashley and her friend there, and we enjoyed ourselves for the final two sets of the evening, after which we stepped out for one last libation before calling it a night.

It was a pancake breakfast this morning and the straight to the Black Dog to finish up the two projects that we started. Unfortunately a third project cropped up. The heat pump for the A/C failed (yes we have the luxury of air conditioning while on shore power). Bob tackled that issue while I went to work on the chart plotter.. I am happy to report that one software flash upgrade later, and the device seems to be working as expected again. Bob was equally successful in getting the A/C working as well.

We resumed our previous days project with the aft head, which resulted in another West Marine visit and lunch at the East Bay Deli, and we continued to make progress on getting things repaired until we tried to install the new pump. The rigidity of the nylon tubing continued to frustrate us. Out last act of the day was to remove the whole apparatus to give us room to work on setting the hoses in a better position. The idea was to return tomorrow with the right tools to widen a hole in the cabinet, but it is not to be. Because the South Carolina Governor has ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts of the state, we are shifting gears, and I will be helping Bob make some preparations around here. The good news is that so far United says my Tuesday flight will not be impacted (Dorian is not due to arrive until Late Wednesday or early Thursday, and the current model is the impact being not to severe here). That is a good thing, because getting an earlier flight out is next to impossible.

The upshot is we may have a small informal hurricane party tomorrow!