Mother Nature reminded us who was boss this morning. We left Georgetown mid morning yesterday and dropped the hook in a low lying marsh area around mile marker 435. While we thought we were about as well positioned as we could be given the options, about 4:00am this morning the winds pick up and told us otherwise.
Dave and I had been up checking on the anchor and our position twice in the morning but around 4:00am we felt the winds shift and the gusts grow more intense. This caused us to get up and check again and within two minutes of doing so we found ourselves dragging anchor and at peril for hitting another sailboat. I am sure you have never seen two sailors leap for the ignition of the engines as quickly as we did. We successfully started the engines, hauled up the anchor and moved out of harms way.
But that left us in darkness with 30 mile an hour winds and no ground tackle down - a bit intimidating even with two 30 hp engines purring beneath us. Nevertheless, we did get the hook re-secured. Of course with the adrenaline rush of the incident neither Dave nor I was ready to go back to bed. Instead we sat up in the cockpit making certain we were not going anywhere (again). While on watch we observed 3-4 other boats in the basin also start to drag - just not a good night for remaining in one spot on the hook.
Given our morning and the knowledge that even worse weather was approaching, we made a bee line for Charleston today to get a dock. The ICW has been incredible the last two days as we’ve observed spots of extreme low water where the channel markers have been on land and extreme high water as the channel markers have been nearly underwater. Just amazing. Notice the attached photo of a dock that is all but a dry dock!
We will be in Charleston the next 2 weeks playing tourist. Unfortunately, the camera has decided to quit working so I am not sure if we will be able to get photos in the near future but we will certainly try.
More to come.
The Admiral
Dave and I had been up checking on the anchor and our position twice in the morning but around 4:00am we felt the winds shift and the gusts grow more intense. This caused us to get up and check again and within two minutes of doing so we found ourselves dragging anchor and at peril for hitting another sailboat. I am sure you have never seen two sailors leap for the ignition of the engines as quickly as we did. We successfully started the engines, hauled up the anchor and moved out of harms way.
But that left us in darkness with 30 mile an hour winds and no ground tackle down - a bit intimidating even with two 30 hp engines purring beneath us. Nevertheless, we did get the hook re-secured. Of course with the adrenaline rush of the incident neither Dave nor I was ready to go back to bed. Instead we sat up in the cockpit making certain we were not going anywhere (again). While on watch we observed 3-4 other boats in the basin also start to drag - just not a good night for remaining in one spot on the hook.
Given our morning and the knowledge that even worse weather was approaching, we made a bee line for Charleston today to get a dock. The ICW has been incredible the last two days as we’ve observed spots of extreme low water where the channel markers have been on land and extreme high water as the channel markers have been nearly underwater. Just amazing. Notice the attached photo of a dock that is all but a dry dock!
We will be in Charleston the next 2 weeks playing tourist. Unfortunately, the camera has decided to quit working so I am not sure if we will be able to get photos in the near future but we will certainly try.
More to come.
The Admiral
11/15/08
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