Martin County

We left Beaufort with the intention of staying offshore as far as Hilton Head, but our conditions were so favorable that our earlier than expected arrival into Port Royal Sound would be well ahead of daylight. Instead, we continued on and went into the Wilmington River in Savannah. We stopped just for fuel then made it all the way to the Vernon River to stage for the tide going through Hell Gate, an area of the ICW known for shoaling. After all of our offshore travel up to this point, we were looking forward to a leisurely cruise down the beautiful , winding wilds of the Georgia ICW. Little did we know...

The Sounds in Georgia can be a challenge to get across in some conditions, but we fared well. We had favorable currents until we got into Cumberland Sound. There our speed was slow but we had enough wind to bump our speed up a little with the genoa (our big headsail). When we got to the Cumberland River, skies started to look a little dark but radar only showed some light rain east of us and moving north. Whatever it was had more energy in it than we realized and, in a narrow section of the River, just before a sharp turn, a sudden squall caught the sail and total havoc ensued. We had another sailboat right in front of us, also under sail, who heeled so hard it looked like they laid the mast down. The next 10-15 minutes for Dave consisted of fighting the wind while trying to secure and bring in the genoa, with the lazy sheet running wild and wrapping around the working sheet. For me it was trying to stay off the river bank and the boat in front of us while also trying to position the boat off the wind so Dave didn't have to fight so hard. When it was finally over, everyone was safe but it took a little while to recover. Dave could tell the genoa had torn but we didn't know yet how badly.

We kept going, down the St. Mary's River and past Fernandina, and anchored off the Amelia River. As Dave backed down on the anchor, we heard a loud noise and the engine seized and quit. We knew we had wrapped something around the propeller. We called Boat US and they arranged for a diver to come to the boat the next morning. Fortunately, the anchor had grabbed well and we were fine until the diver came. What we were surprised by was the 4 ft section of line he took off the propeller, which we realized was a section of the genoa's lazy sheet. It had gotten cut by the prop on its wild flight during the squall and hadn't caused us any problem until we put the boat in reverse. Given the okay after the diver's inspection, we headed out again, only to hear a new loud noise coming from the engine compartment. Uncomfortable moving on until we sorted out the noise, and with Nicole approaching in the next few days, we elected to take a tow.

Our storm plan was to go into a protected marina off the ICW but the tow driver informed us that the marina where we had made reservations requires you to enter it under your own power. He towed us, instead, to a marina in Jacksonville, right off the St. John's River where there was a mechanic on site.
He made some needed repairs and was great to work with. The marina, however, was not in a great location to ride out the hurricane. Exposed to the St. John's River, the storm surge was considerable, covering the docks by a foot and bringing our lines up almost to the top of the pile we were most relying on. We saw winds of 52 kts (~60 mph). Fortunately we got through it fine.

Eager to get down to Stuart, where the mooring field filled up early last year and where we hoped to leave the boat over the holidays, we pushed hard to get the rest of the way in 4 days. We had neither a genoa nor favorable conditions for offshore travel but, fortunately, had mainly fair currents down the ICW. We arrived in Stuart 3 days before Thanksgiving.

With a new sail ordered and plans to have the motor mounts replaced while we are gone, we are enjoying being with friends and relaxing in some amazing weather that is expected to last until we fly home to Maine next week.Les mer