“The Sixth Day of the Delivery to Fort Lauderdale” by Captain BullDog
We took Calvin under our protected wing after leaving Charleston SC at daybreak.
The strong projected winds turned into a full Winter Gale. He was getting beat up. We were getting roughed up in a big behemoth 70' 120,000 lb boat. I called to him to turn back and wait for another day. Calvin is an ex-Alaskan Crabber and an ex-marine with 2 hours of duty in Iraq. "MARINES DON'T TURN BACK, C'MON Captain BullDog.
I told him then to snuggle up close to our transom and we would slow down to accommodate him in our wake. Conditions continued to deteriorate. While riding off a big wave, the Big Hatt caught Big Air and caught a 45 knot gust and rolled close to 30 degrees. Cal said our Tuna Tower was wobbling. WHOA!
I had laid in several "Cut off points"...You have to when traveling the North Atlantic in the winds of December. The only thing predictable about the weather in November and December is its unpredictability! The decision was made, "no Jacksonville today"...we headed into St. Simon Sound, Golden Isles Marina. I called Chic and Penny to make room for two more. Then I relayed our plans to Jacksonville to cancel our recent reservation there. We will make the run from St. Simon direct to Fort Lauderdale, 150 nms in what was forecasted as improving conditions.
Something I wanted to point out was that in making Beaufort the night before, I chose Beaufort Town Docks because I knew I could make a request for Nelson to stay and wait for us. When I had cell service I had told him that we would pay for his time from normal off season 4 pm to 7 pm. Well as it turned out, in the moonless night 7 pm started to look like closer to 10 pm. None of the crew had any cell signal. What do you do?
I employed an old radio technique called a "Relay.” I hailed the U.S. Coast Guard.
Cal was our dockmate at Charleston City Marina. He turned out to be an extremely affable delivery Captain of a 33' Rampage with two CAT C7's about 450 hp each.
Till the next time and remember to file your float plan.
This entry was posted on June 8, 2017.