Ahh Sailing - ha

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OK, we bought the Morgan 60 - closed on June 27th. Loaded up our ditty bags and by July 1st we set off from Deale, MD - Herrignton Harbor North Marina for Houston - during Hurriance season - seemed like a good idea at the time.....no storms in the Atlantic or Caribbean - so no worries. In 10 days we would be in Key West and then 5 or 6 more we would be in Galveston - what could go wrong - eh? A boat we did not know, with systems that were old but working, with a skipper and crew who had never been sailing on the East Coast at all - piece of cake.....as it turns out the schedule was right - but the trip was hard...very hard.

Details:

Left July 1st at 0300 - a front had blown thru the Cheasapeake and we had a North wind blowing at 15-20 knots...we were headed south. The trip down to Norfolk was planned at 17 hours and it took about 15. We hit 9 knots motorsailing down the Cheasepeake - a beautiful day, 4-6 ft waves in the bay but it was a following sea - we were smoking. The goal was to make Old Port Comfort for the night and sure enough - we did. Dropped the hook for the first time and set it in a nice quiet area....three other boats sharing the anchorage - it was nice. A big storm blew up north of us - but we missed it. I had bought a new Garmin chartplotter with the XM weather option. I was not sure about it when I bought it - but now - I just will not sail without it anymore. What a wonderful toy. You can range out and see the whole US and what is going on or range in and see the thuderstrom that is right over you head - and it is telling you just what part of the thunderhead to ignore - the Red part is reallly reallllllly bad - don't go there. The orange is just a bit better - the yellow is bad and the light green and dark green are just rain and a little wind - chart your course for the dark green areas....works like a charm. Little did we know just how important that would be....live and learn.

So we spent a nice evening just hanging off the hook in Port Comfort - a nice dinner in the cockpit - early to bed with a 0500 wakeup planned.

0500 came and we were up and ready to start the day by negotiating the Norlfolk bridges - there is a bunch of them and many require the bridge operator to open them up for you....some open on the half hour - some when you ask and some look like they need to open but do not - that one was the first bit of trauma we had......so we wiegh anchor (after learning a thing or two about the windlass and a 60,000 lb boat) and we are off. We make it to the first bridges without incident - have to wait a bit but soon go under the bridge with the operator telling us what a fine looking vessel we have - nice start. We go thru a couple more without waiting and then hit one that needs us to wait for the half hour. The problem is we kinda got lost on which bridge was which....small issue but important.

We are coming up to a bridge - not sure which one it is. it has a lift section - but it seems really tall. As we close on it - we call the bridge operator with no results - ooops. So we bail and turn around. There is another boat behind us and we talk to them on the radio - they ahve a 50 ft mast (our clearnace is 63 ft 4inches) and volunteer to go under first - Chase - our 17 year old son - watches and says we go - no worries. Cindy and I are a bit concerned - so we timidly go forward. The bridge has grating on the deck - so the cars going over it make a horrible racket - tied to the fact that from the waterline it looks like we are not going to make it...no boards telling you the clearance anywhere in sight - we press on. As we near the bridge - Cindy yells over the racket to turn around - I say we are committed and go forward - this is what insurance is for any way - Chase says "no problems". he was right. Cindy and I were a basket case after this...stress to the max.

Then it is time for the Great Lock. This is an actual lock where you tie up to bulkhead and they open a flood gate and off you go. No problems, but the attendents told us to hustle as the bridge would open in a few minutes and we needed to be nearby. So we gave the 60,000 lb Kewl Breeze some throttle and took off. One thing about a boat this big - once she gets going - she goes - stopping is not fast. Tied to the fact that this boat backs the way she wants to without much regard to the position of the rudder - kinda has a mind of its own.

So off we go to the next bridge - perhaps a bit too much throttle - there are boats around us and we need to be careful. We get to the bridge and see we are going too fast and it is not open yet - so I slip her into reverse - nice and easy. The bridge is kind of catty cornered to the channel - we cannot see what is on the other side.....we had no idea there was a very big barge and tug on the other side waiting to go thru.

The bridge opens - by this time I have the boat moving forward at near top speed - don't want to keep the bridge open one second longer than necessary....mindful of the cars waiting on each side of the bridge. We get within 100 yards of the bridge with it open and wow - we see the bow of the barge coming at us.....gulp!! It is clear there is a problem - we are in the middle of the channel - no room to turn around - no place to go. I put her in reverse and wait for her to decide where she wants to go....she decides to go to Port - so full speed astern and see if we can get over far enough to let this barge pass without us becoming a statistic....as the stern nears the edge of the channel (remember this boat is 73 ft overall - the channel is nor more than 120 ft wide) I see that we are still too far out in the channel - the barge will hit our bow as it stands. So with time running out - I put her in Forward and turn her hard to port - we are within 10 feet of the side of the barge as it goes by...a little too close in my book. So we continue on to Coinjock with no excitement after that.....tie up to a side tie there and have a very good prime dinner - they say it is the best in the US - but certianly they have not been to Texas....not even close.

Next day we motor thru Albermarl and Pamlico sounds and stop for the night at Slade Creek. Nice quiet place for the evening - anchored out - nice dinner in the cockpit and an early nite. Next morning weigh anchor and off to Beaufort, NC.

We had decided to stay at Beaufort City Marina and placed a call to get a "T" head dock - they have lots of them. They give us a place and say we will tie up Navy style....huh? Turns out to be the slip next to the T head. So with the wind blowing the wrong way and the current screaming thru as well - we put her into a slip for the first time. Fortunatley, there was a dock hand who when given the aft spring line knew what to do - tied us off and bingo bango bongo - we are there.....perfect landing. Now getting out would be a whole other affair - but that would wait until the morrow - July 5th.

That night was a fireworks show about 5 miles away - not much to look at really - we were disappointed that the city of Beaufort did not have their own show - instead we watched Morrehead City's show from Beaufort.

Bright and early I get up and get the weather from Commanders Weather service - it seems like a perfect day to start our trip - 10-15 knots winds, 2-3 ft seas with a slight chance of thunderstorms. Boy did they miss that one.

We took off - with a big assist from Tow Boats USA to get us out of the slip and into the channel - thanks boys you did a great job. AS forecasted - it was a perfect day that lasted until we were about 50 miles from Beaufort. After that the thunderheads built up and all night long we were blasted - one storm after another. 45 knot winds, 6-8 ft seas, driving, stinging rain, the Gulf Stream and the thunderstorms pushing us towards Frying Pan Shoals....at times we were making 2 knots SOG. It was a tough night - the next day was no better - just more storms. Here is where the Garmin came to claim a place in my heart forever. It would show you which part of the storm to avoid (the dark red areas were killer). We just plotted out course around the storms when we could, and if not, just pick the path of least resistance. It worked. But after two and a half days of making little to no headway - the shoal still being an issue - we decided to head for Charleston. We set our course and were at the same time disappointed and relieved. We simply would wait this storm front out in Charleston. Eight hours later we were closing on the the first set of lights for the Charleston roads. By this time, it was morning and I ranged out on the XM weather satellite and could see the storms were simply gone. Now this i ssomething that both Cindy and I were praying for - and wham - the storms which lined the coastline the day before - were simply gone - no trace -YEAAAAAAAH thank you God!!!!!

So one more change of course and we were headed south again to Key West. We stopped at Jupiter INlet for diesel thinking it would be cheaper than the Keys - oooops wrong - $5.50 per gallon - that hurt.

Then off to Key WEst - we got in at 0130 hours and tied up to the fuel dock at Key West bight Marina. At last I could get some sleep...I needed it. As we neared KW - the Vaculush head packed up and would not work. Now this is a nice head and it is located in the aft cabin (mine and Cindy's). So we called the manufacuterer and sure enough there was a local guy - George - from Head Hancho....he came by at 1130 on aiday and went to work. 6 hours later and $1000 poorer - we had a new pump and bellows...it worked great. Thanks George you are wonderful and a very interesting guy to talk to as well!!!

So July 6th at around 0900 we headed out of the marina in KW headed for Galveston - 800 miles away. We headed northwest (due to insurance we had to stay within 100 miles of shore). Off of Tampa we ran into another 2 days of thunderstorms - but having gone thru the stuff in the Atlantic this was mere childs play - 35 knots of wind - no big deal. Now the lighting was interesting...but no hits (I did put the handheld GPS in the oven just in case).

Once thru the storms we were off Mobile, AL, and it broke off clear, calm and HOT HOT HOT!!! The next three days were just plan old fashioned NOT FUN. The Gulf with no wind in July is sweatsville - I think I lost 10 lbs in just sweat alone.

We plugged along baking in the morning, noonday and afternoon sun - night watches were a relief. We went thru all the platforms off LA - man was that fun. Crewboats everywhere, unlit platforms and lots of things to keep track of - at least there were no thunderstorms.....We finally showed up at Galveston rodes around 1800 hrs on a Thursday July 17th....bascially 17 days on the boat - tired, wore out - not wanting to even think about a boat for a while.....it was a tough trip. I am glad we did it - but next time - I will hire some one to deliver a boat - DELIVERIES ARE NO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bottomline.

I will publish pics when I get a chance. Hope you enjoyed our tale of woe....the boat is safe and sound at Blue Dophin Marina on a T head dock with plenty of room to get in and out. We are happy now.

The Morgan proved to be a solid and able boat - she never flinched as she weathered all the storms - she truly is a go anywhere boat - solid as a rock. I cannot say enough about the Perkins engine. It ran for almost 12 days straight (I stopped her mid Atlantic for an oil change, then again in Key West). Otherwise that motor just kept on keeping on. She burnt roughly 1.5 gals per hour and never used a drop of oil....what a wonder she is. Big/strong and able....what more can I say.

We have a couple of issues to take care of - a bow light that does not work anymore and a bilge pump that no longer works - other than that - she is fine. A strong boat. Buy a big boat and sail around the world....OK so we are not going to sail around the world - but we could if we wanted....nice to know.

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