I know we're supposed to enjoy wind but it seems like we've had WIND! for the past month or two... first gale force in Titusville, 30+ knots in Fernandina, then came THE STORM in Charleston...it seems to be the talk of the waterway... many people got thrashed, and thrashed, and thrashed. It was supposed to blow 25-35 and occasional gusts to gale force. Well, it blew 30-40 with gusts to 68! (and some we're sure were higher but we weren't in the cockpit looking at the wind instruments then...) We were much too close to two tornadoes, less than one mile than about 5 miles, respectively. The first and closest happened about 4am and the second the next day. Earlier, at about 0230, another boat dragged down on us in the wind. In tighty-whities and a t-shirt armed with an air horn and 2 million candlepower of spotlight, Brian awakened the other boat and they took to action. We both fendered up and the drama was minimized though drawn out by those pesky winds. So Heather and I started an anchor watch of 2 hours each. About 4 am, I was listening to NOAA give reports of the incoming weather, hail going from dime size to quarter to golf ball...I look out to see the other boat coming for us again...it was raining buckets and the hail was fortunately small but the wind was blowing from multiple directions. Even though we had no tornado there was rotation in the winds. Boats were everywhere and in the swing their bowsprit wedged into our cockpit and trying to remove it from our shrouds, I crunched a finger...middle one, very convenient. Boats swung and they t-boned us onstarboard. It was a dramatic few minutes...we escaped with minor damage, some cosmetic scratches and the other boat bent their bow roller. It could have been much worse. We settled the issue between ourselves and it caused some unfortunate hard feelings but to be honest, while they were out the first time, we were the only ones on deck in the heart of the strorm. I am proud of Heather for handling herself calmly and sensibly in the midst of battle. We both remained calm and did what was necessary and through the next day, at times it took both of us and all of our strength to inspect and renew chafe gear as we were getting 3-4 foot short chop waves in the harbor. I can only hope that in time the other boat will leave this issue in Charleston... we are good people...
Here's the good part...in the midst of blowing the horn and making noise, we awakened another boat who was getting drug down on...all in all we counted 8 boats that tangled that night. It was wicked. The smaller boats (30-40') on the Megadock were taking boarding waves and spray into their cockpits. It was a challenging 24-36 hours.
We got our window to Cape Fear and fled Charleston. It was a very good trip offshore, beautiful sunrise, sunset, sunrise and lots of dolphin playing in our bow wake.
We met up with John and Mary on OZ here in Southport, NC and they took us around town...actually they played Taxi. 4 boats (2 sail, 1 trawler, and 1 power) were represented in the run to: Auto Zone, Bank, Liquor Store, and Grocery. Everyone needed something so we dogpiled in the car and went off in search of Adventure.
We're in Southport waiting for wind to die down, it has been 25-35 from last night all through today. When it does die down we're off to Wrightsville Beach and then outside to Beaufort and as quick of a run as we can make to Annapolis for waiting work.
Well, Crosby, Stills, and Nash (can't remember if Young is here or not) have been playing happily on the background but I think we're going to turn off the stereo and take a walk (it's bad when you have to tack back and forth across the road on a stroll...) |
