Days 9-17
The evening after Alan left, Bobby, Art and I had dinner at “Poogans Porch” a “low country” restaurant featuring local food. Dinner was OK, but the end of dinner was somewhat of a surprise. Bobby announced that he was thinking of not going on. He said that he was surprised at the poor state of the boat and didn’t want to continue He didn’t elaborate on the “poor state”. In point of fact the boat had handled the heavy seas coming down the Chesapeake (somewhat better than the crew) without any hint of problem and excepting for complaining that there was no connection between the chart plotter and the autopilot (which would have let the autopilot follow a pre-determined route without any intervention – as opposed to occasional manual course corrections to minimize cross-track error) Bobby had never mentioned any concerns with the state of the boat. Actually, that is not entirely true. He spent much time cleaning the boat, even scrubbing the floor of the salon and galley. He also spent much time putting things away (hiding things as Art and I referred to it). But this is different than any lack in safety or functionality.
Nothing more was said that night and I expected we’d talk about it in the morning (Monday morning).
As it turns out, at 6:30am, before the sun came up, Bobby left, taking all his belongings (as well as the EPIRB and a GPS that Alan had left for our use). He abandoned us, without another word
His actions were, to say the least unconscionable, and some would say despicable. Without a hint of concern as to our welfare, he left us 600 mil.es from Baltimore and 500 miles from Miami. He didn’t offer to help us find someone else to get the boat to Miami, he didn’t voice concerns for what we might do, he just stole away like a thief in the night.
I have thought much about what his true reasons for leaving might be. Given the way the boat took care of us getting to Charleston (and given how well it handled the subsequent trip to Miami) it was not, as he said “the sorry state of the boat”. I assume it was related to Alan’s leaving that morning, and perhaps his concerns about Art and my abilities to handle the boat. But he didn’t articulate such a concern and I remain puzzled and much disappointed. While he is a talented sailor and great at maintaining and improving equipment on a sailboat, he has proven himself to be a despicable human being and not someone to be trusted with any responsibility.
Within a few hours of Bobby’s leaving I had found 3 delivery captains able and willing to help. Jim Stengel had responded to my calls first and would be able to get to Charleston the next day so we could continue the voyage on Wednesday He also was able to bring a co-captain, Al Jones to help. Both Jim and Al are licensed captains with many years of delivery experience. I had known Jim from thee Island Packet email list and had been impressed by his knowledge and his “curmudgeonly” view of the world (which I share). His willingness to drop everything and show up in a day amazed and gladdened me. As it turns out Bruce Gregory talked with me later in the day (I had called him as well) and he too would have been willing and able to help, but by that time Jim and Al were already in transit. Bruce is another Island Packet owner and the creator and maintainer of the email list and also a very experienced Delivery Captain. The list has many exceedingly good people who are more than willing to help a fellow sailor in need.
Learning that I would be getting two very experienced crew, Art and I agreed that he should go home. He stayed that evening (we had a very good steak dinner at Hall’s). As might be imagined we spent much time trying to understand what motivated Bobby, but failed utterly.
Art left at 7:30 on Tuesday morning.
We had noticed that the diesel fuel, which had been perfectly clean and clear when we left Baltimore, now looked black. Clearly our boisterous ride down the Chesapeak, and the short but equally boisterous arrival to Charleston had caused the sediment that is normally attached to the inner walls and bottom of the fuel tank to break free and float in the fuel. Not wanting to use up the 5 filters I had on board I arranged to have the fuel “polished”. This is a procedure in which the fuel is sucked out of the tank, passed through a set of filters and put back in the tank. This was repeate 3 times, with ever finer (ultimately down to 3 microns) filters, rendering the fuel once again clear and clean. We had no problems with fuel on the trip from Charleston to Miami
Jim and Al arrived at 6:30 Tuesday evening, having flown from Miami. We had a nice but not elegant dinner at the restaurant next to the marina and planned an early departure the next morning.. We went to bed early – they were tired from traveling all day, I was exhausted by the tumult of the last two days. They slept well. I didn’t
I had received a report from our weather service that Wednesday would be a good day. There was some concern about a front coming through on Thursday night, but it was felt it would be brief and we should be OK…we were advised to check Thursday morning to confirm.
We cast off at 7am as the sun was rising and sailed (well actually motored) out of Charleston on a beautiful, cold, sunny morning. It was much better - weather wise - leaving Charleston that coming in. Passing Fort Sumter at the inlet to Charleston harbor we were soon out to sea and setting a course to Miami.
The day, and the following night, was beautiful. Winds were light, sea a little high (3 – 5 foot swells) and things were looking up. The hope was for landfall in Miami late Friday or early Saturday. That night (Wednesday night) we stood 3 hour watches. Leaving 6 hours off which worked well, especially considering the relatively good (as compared to coming down the Chesapeake or coming into Charleston) conditions.
Thursday morning I used the rented satellite phone to call our weather service and get the update. We were now told that the cold front coming from the south would interact with a high over Bermuda and conditions Thursday night would be very bad – gale force winds, high seas – and we were advised to seek shelter for the night.
Our options were limited. While we had made good time during the night, Port Canaveral was 100 miles (~16 hours) away and we wouldn’t make it before the storm hit. Fernandina beach or the St. Johns River were close but behind us and we weren’t anxious to give up the progress we had made going south. St Augustine is a poor inlet in bad weather, but the weather was good now and once the storm passed should be good again, so we turned due west and headed for St. Augustine, now 40 miles (~7 hours) away, which meant we should arrive before sundown.
Even with the good weather we were concerned about getting into St Augustine because it is known for shoaling, to such an extent that no channel markers were shown on the charts. The Coast Guard has not been able to keep up with the dredging necessary to maintain the channel so they just move to channel markers from time to time! We decided to take advantage of my membership in Towboat US (sort of a AAA for sailors) and ask them to guide us in. Turns out they don’t really offer this service, but rather can help if we had mechanical or other problems, so I told them we were having intermittent problems with overheating and were concerned with engine failure. This worked for them and us.
When we arrived at the light guarding the (approximate) inlet channel the towboat was waiting and asked how our engine was doing. We said (over the radio) that it was working at the moment but we were still concerned with failure and so could he stay nearby and lead us in? He laughed (obviously aware of our subterfuge) but did indeed lead us in.
Realizing that it was unlikely that we could be led out again the next day, I turned on a “tracking” feature in a navigation program (Navionics) that I had loaded onto my iPad. It made a perfect track of our twists and turns as we were led through the surf and over the bar that marks the St. Augustine channel.
TowBoat had recommended a marina (Commachee Cove) not far from the inlet and it proved to be a very nice, very large and very protected marina . We fueled up (which let us estimate that we were using about 0.8 gallons per hour) and were then guided into our slip. After a nice dinner at the restaurant in the marina (the marina was so large that we had to be driven by go cart from our slip to the restaurant)
After arriving at the slip and after some very welcome showers we planned the trip from St. Augustine to Miami. It would be entirely coastal, staying on the 3 mile limit (which is nicely marked on the charts and so served us as a route) and would just graze the gulf stream. Consulting the tides and currents (which takes but a click on the computer) it turned out that it would be best if we left at noon (we actually arrive quicker than if we left at dawn since we wouldn’t be fighting adverse currents earlier in the day) and so we slept in!
Friday morning was sunny and cool. The wind had howled during the night but started tapering off around 10 am (another reason why we waited till noon) We cast off at 12;05 and headed for the inlet, with the iPad showing the path we had taken in (sort of like following bread crumbs). As we came into the inlet we were greeted by a following current and pounding surf. Jim was at the wheel, Al and I looking for the markers and watching the course on the iPad. It was a tumultuous ½ hour ride out! The boat was making great speed (6 – 8 knots because of the current) but was being tossed about by the surf as we plowed into it. From time to time waves crashed over the boat, once crashing over the dodger but Jim held on to the wheel and the boat soldiered on. Once we were over the bar (why the heck don’t they just dredge it?) Things quieted down and we were able to assess damage. We were all OK (but Jim had been drenched by one of the boarding waves) but things were a mess down below. My laptop, which serves as a chartplotter had left its usual spot on the navigation table and was lying on the floor (and amazingly was till running, showing our position perfectly). Jim had bought club soda that morning which unfortunately had come in glass bottles. They weren’t stowed away as well as we thought and two had broken. Happily we were able to clean up the glass and everything else and soon turned south.
Going to St. Augustine was a learning experience. The decision to go in someplace was a wise one. Choosing St. Augustine was not.
Things decidedly got better once we got on the 3 mile limit roadway. The seas were high and the ride was “lumpy bumpy” with constant rolling, but the weather was clear and even started to warm up (we were heading south after all). Given that we were relatively close to shore we would see more boat traffic and so decided to change the night watches to 2 hours on, 4 hours off, which worked well
For the next 40 hours we watched the coast of Florida pass by. I was on watch as we passed Cape Canaveral and saw what appeared to be 3 launch towers, never to be used again. Daytona beach was surprising built up, and by text message Josh assured me it was a great party town (a nice thing about being so close to land is that we had good phone and text service – no wifi though).
As night came we could see the loom over Fort Lauderdale- Miami and at one am were passing the inlet to Port Everglades, with enormous cruise ships and cargo ships coming in and out…we paid close attention as we passed, not wanting to bounce off a large ship so close to our goal.
At 3am we came to the channel going in to Miami (called Government cut) and at 4:30 we were tied up at the fuel dock of the Miami Beach Marina. A security guard on duty was pressed into helping us tie up.
We all took a brief nap, waiting for the office to open at 7am. After fueling up (37 gallons added to our 85 gallon tank) we moved over to our new slip (K-6).
We adjusted the lines, washed down the boat and headed off to the showers. Jim’s wife Michelle drove up from Homestead and helped empty the refrigerator as well as all food containers that had been opened along the way.
By noon they were gone.
I spent the day cleaning up…doing the wash, scrubbing the bathroom and galley floors and putting some stuff away.
Had a nice dinner at Smith and Wo;;ensky (just a 5 minute walk away…I’m going to like South Beach!) and so to bed…very early
Finished straightening up the next morning…the boat is reasonably ship shape and ready to sail again..
Met a Craig Olsen who, with his wife lives on an Island Packet 350 (much like mine, but a little smaller) just two slips away. Turns out he supports himself by working on boats in this and other marinas. He will fix the damage to the bow pulpit and add a few features to make being in Miami Beach even nicer
It was a long trip..much longer than I had anticipated and impressively tiring…it is hard – at least for me – to sleep when I’m off watch and so I felt sleep deprived for much of the journey, excepting for our long sojourn in Charleston. One thing wrong about the trip (besides the personnel issue) was the drive to get there, which interfered with the enjoyment of the voyage. We didn’t really get to explore Charleston for example, even though we were there for 4 days. About the only enjoyment off the boat was the occasional restaurant ( the prime rib at Coinjack was one of the best I’ve had..including those at Abe and Louis’ or at the Prime Rib)
The next trip, if there is one, will have to be more leisurely and will have to include time to enjoy the passage, not just seek the destination.
