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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Thu Feb 21 2002 - 09:30:40 EST
First, to you nay sayers & doubting Thomas's who said I'd never make it, may
the next camel you encounter spit in your face :)
Hi Folks,
After more adventures & misadventures I'm finally in the state of Disney &
Jeb. Got into Fernandina yesterday, am just off the ICW in the Jacksonville
area now, & hope to be in St. Augustine tomorrow or maybe the next day if the
wx is OK. I plan to spend some time in St. Augustine. R & R, and work on my 2
page 'to do' list. It's amazing the toll of wear & tear a cruise causes to
one's boat. I've made a lot of temporary fixes that have to be corrected, my
water tank (bladder) is leaking, the engine is due for another oil change, I
have a short in one VHF, etc, etc, etc. Not to mention that the boat needs a
serious cleaning inside & out.
Let's see, what catastrophes haven't I written about? One day I was sailing,
yeah!, sailing!, on the ICW. Forget what river or sound it was on & am too
lazy to look it up in my log right now, but the iron genny was off for the
better part of the day & it was sweet not to have to listen to the noise of
the diesel, just the rush of the wind & water.
It was too good to last. I came upon a fixed bridge. I was on a beam reach,
heeled & flying, life was good. My boat & I made it thru the bridge unscathed
(never realized how much side drift is generated until going thru a narrow
opening). Unfortunately poor dingbat (my fg dinghy that I was towing) failed
to use any rudder & slammed into the pilings at the bridge. Dingbat suffered
major injuries. The gunnel was completely broken thru in several places. The
water tight flotation chambers were no longer water tight. Dingbat now rests
on my foredeck. I performed emergency fg repairs to her so she's water tight,
but I did the repairs on deck (did you know resin eats those black foam paint
brushes?) and was more concerned with structural integrity than esthetics, so
she doesn't look too spiffy right now. That was a lesson learned. I had
dingbat on a tow line about 30 feet long. I should have shortened it up
before going beneath the bridge. I had been using two separate tow lines. One
taut and the other with just a bit of slack in it. The taut one tore upon
impact but the slack one held fast and kept dingbat in tow.
The only other misadventure was getting the tow line wrapped around my shaft
& prop. I should have known better. Now I do.
I spent a week in Carolina Beach, NC, slipped at a yacht club. It was not
planned. Several serendipitous meetings have occurred on the trip. In
Beaufort, NC, I was walking by a restaurant, looked in and saw a couple I
thought I was sure I knew. I walked on by, then went back & looked again. I
had to go inside to be certain. It was a former coworker and his wife. I had
not seen or heard from them in 10 or 12 years. Turns out they moved to Cedar
Island, just by Beaufort & were having a night out. I sat & talked with them
for an hour and said "maybe" when I was asked if I'd like to work with him in
his new business.
On the ICW, I was approaching the turn off onto Snow's Cut. This leads to the
Cape Fear River and bypasses the town of Carolina Beach. I bought my boat in
Carolina Beach, but had not been in contact with the P.O. since. A small
Boston Whaler type of boat with a big outboard went flying by me in the
opposite direction. I did not pay much attention to it. A minute or so later,
just as I was about to reach the turning point to Snow's Cut, the motor boat
pulled up alongside me. It was Harry, the P.O.!
He asked where I was going to stay that night. I had planned to go into
Carolina Beach State Park and either anchor or take a slip ($16.00). He said
no, that his slip (he has two) at the yacht club was vacant and that I was
free to use it as long as I liked. So, I spent a week there.
I also spent a week anchored in southern SC, in the middle of nowhere. It was
a seriously isolated area. Marsh land forever. Not even a house light to be
seen. The sky was huge and filled with millions of stars and they were
reflected in the water around me. I talked to the porpoises and to myself and
played with my cat. I did no chores, just relaxed in the sun during the day
and read or slept long hours at night. I did get a scare one night. I woke to
a loud noise and lots of lights. I went up on deck & determined it was a
fishing boat in the marsh at high tide. It was an eerie sight. Almost
surreal. I was sure he saw me. My anchor light was on & his spotlight painted
my boat several times. Just to make sure, I turned on every light I have and
called him on 13.
I think I could write a book about the things I've learned thus far. I never
dealt with tides or much current before. Singlehanding, even within the
confines of the ICW is a challenge. I've tried several different methods of
anchoring. So far, I like the Med style best. I've experimented with using a
sentinel, different weights, etc. I've gotten a lot of practice docking too.
At my home marina I had it down pat. Out here every dock is different and
often there is no one to lend a hand. I find it amusing that some dock hands
are surprised that there is only one person handling the boat. I've learned
to have lines ready everywhere, fenders ready on both sides. I can usually
let otto take the helm for a minute on the approach to a dock while I throw
out fenders & double check that lines are ready.
Today the ICW was nearly deserted. The winds were kickin'. The Amelia River
was white-capped. The wind was mostly on my nose but when I was broadside to
it I was heeled 5 degrees, with no sails out.
Well, enough blather. If anyone is in St. Augustine, look me up. I plan to
anchor there for a week or two.
Fred Fraim
S/V Lupo's Run
In The Sunshine State Somewhere
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