Saturday, December 29, 2018

December 7-11, 2018 NC and MD road trip to help friends

 Friday
Our friend Sylvia, from St Paul, MN, took us to the Enterprise dealer so we could be there earlier than they would have been able to pick us up.  We were on the road to NC by 8:45am.  

With a couple stops along the way, we made it to their boat by 5:30pm.  Their boats were at a  Marina on the Alligator River off of the Albemarle Sound.  It was dark by the time we got there and only had an address, no landmarks to look for.  We missed the marina and were on a 3 mile bridge before we realized it.  Of course, there was no turning around until we were were on land again.  Would be nice to return in the daylight.

Patti had a nice chicken dinner waiting for us.  After dinner, we got settled in on their catamaran for the night.

Saturday
Patti and I left at 6:20am for Cambridge, MD to pick up their car.  It was at a nautical electrical business they used while they were in MD.  We thought if we were there by noon, we may be able to return the rental car and save a day on the rental charge. 

We arrived by 11:30, and thought we would make the deadline.  I was going to drop off Patti, then she could meet me at the Enterprise office.  Their car had been there about 2 months, so it was parked off to the side in their parking lot.  It was blocked by some of their service vehicles and they weren’t open on Saturday.  Well, I wasn’t going to leave her until we knew she would be able to get the car. 

I thought I’d call the Enterprise office to see if we could drop it off after they closed at noon.  WELL, they weren’t open at all on Saturday.  I don’t know how I mixed that one up.  So I figured it wouldn’t matter what time I drop it off now.  After making a few phone calls, we were able to get someone to come and move vehicles so their car was able to move. 

After all this, we dropped off the car by 2:00.  We called the national Enterprise to see if they would only charge us through today.  They said it was up to the local office, but she would let them know the time we dropped it off.  So we’ll see what happens when we get our bill. 

We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Too bad we still had to drive somewhere.  We were ready for a couple margaritas.  We had to have crab burritos since we were in Maryland.  We packed bags to spend the night in a hotel because the guys were moving the boats.  We called them to see what the plan was.  The weather didn’t look cooperative for them to leave in the morning.  So we decided to head back to NC.

Patti wanted to stop at Trader Joe’s on the way back.  We found one in Virginia Beach, not for out of our way.  But that put us back at the boats by midnight.  After unloading, we were in bed by 12:45.  In hind site, we should have gotten a room, had our margaritas, and gone to Trader Joe’s in the morning before heading back. 

Sunday
We ended up with a string of crappy days for moving the boats.  We spent the day on their trawler helping them with projects and organizing things.  It was a windy rainy day.  By the time we were heading to bed, the winds had picked up to gale force winds, even gusts to 50mph.  Dave, Patti and I worked at adding additional fenders and lines to secure both boats.  As we headed to the catamaran to go to bed, I asked Dave “what would they have done if we hadn’t been here to help with that?”  His response was “they probably would have had some damage to their boats.”

Monday
Patti and I were headed into town, about 10 miles away, for parts.  There were about 4 other boats in the marina that came in to wait out the weather.  We knocked on hulls to see if any of them wanted to go in for groceries or anything.  One boater joined us.  He was a marine mechanic and ended up giving Fred and Patti his name and number in case they needed help with something.  After our parts and grocery store run, the 4 of us ended up back in town for dinner at a little local diner.

Tuesday
Originally, I was going to leave on Sunday and pick Dave up somewhere in SC on Thursday.  Since they didn’t have the weather to go anywhere, I stayed and just brought Dave back with me.  I have lab work in the morning, so we needed to leave on Tuesday.  We were up early to help Patti and Fred take off by 7:30am.
Fred on the trawler


last minute prep

Captain Patti

follow the leader

!
and they are off!
On the way back, we received a text from Fred saying that Patti had hit something and was taking on water on the catamaran.  And Fred had grounded the trawler in a shallow area.  We received one other text saying everything was fine. 

We finally connected with then after they were settled at the a marina at 8:00pm.   Patti thought she his a log in the water, she never saw what it was.  One of the two engines stopped.  She went below and found water in the bilge.  She called Boat US to tow her, but they patched her into the Coast Guard.  They came to her boat, checked over everything.  The bilge pump had removed the water.  So Boat US towed her to the nearest marina.  In the meantime, Boat US had towed Fred off of the shoaled area.  He then followed them into the marina in Belhaven, NC.  They took the catamaran out of the water to be evaluated the next day.  Wow!  Glad they were both ok.

December 6, 2018, Brunswick Landing Marina and tallship Lynx

We left our anchorage at 8:00am and traveled about 5nm to Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, GA.  That put us at the marina about 9:00am.  The marina is hosting the tall ship Lynx for a couple weeks.  We actually followed it into the marina.  As we approached the marina, we contacted them by radio.  They said they would have to get the Lynx docked first, then they would give us our dock assignment and meet us there to dock.  We were getting close to the marina, so Dave was out on the bow getting fenders and dock lines ready.  As the Lynx approached the marina, they fired a cannon.  I could see the smoke and then heard the noise and was chuckling.  Dave had his head down and didn’t see the cannon fire.  He only heard the noise and thought something had blown up on OUR boat.  I got an even bigger chuckle out of that. 
sunrise over Jekyll Island
Sidney Linear Bridge
Tallship Lynx


sunrise behind Sidney Linear bridge

interesting to see how the deck raises when loading or unloading a ship

Lynx at Brunswick Landing Marina
Once we were docked, we walked to the office to get checked in.  We also picked up the new power cords that were waiting for us.  Of course, we had to chat with people we knew as we ran into them. 

We both got busy doing necessary chores before leaving to help Patti and Fred with their boats.  I lined up a rental car to pick up in the morning.  I used another friend’s car to go to our storage unit, twice.  I also did laundry, which is FREE at this marina. 

Dave had to install the new outlets for the new power cords.  We wanted to hook up power before we left.  We wanted heat, but especially wanted to run the dehumidifier.  This was an outside job at the stern of the boat which was close the dock.  SO, everybody that we knew and didn’t know had to stop and talk to Dave. 

Dave had to put the dinghy in the water to get access to the power cord outlets.  So he ran the outboard to make sure it was fine.  He emptied most of the fuel bladder into the fuel tank.  There is a little remaining that he will probably give to someone.  Then we’ll be able to store the bladder again. 

2 other couples we knew were going to dinner downtown at Tipsy McSways and invited us to join them.  We walked about 3/4 of a mile to the restaurant and back.  Fun evening getting caught up with them.  One couple was Duane and Peg, who we saw in Rhode Island this summer.  I actually did laundry after we returned.  Whew, busy day.
love the sunsets at BLM

December 4-5, 2018 Beaufort, SC to St Simon's Sound Inlet

Tuesday
We left Beaufort, SC about 10:30 am.  We estimated the trip to take 14-16 hours.  We made the decision to leave well rested and then anchor after dark.  It took about 3 hours to make it down the Beaufort River and to the ocean.  Then it was a beautiful day on the water.

There was a lot of shipping traffic in and out of Savannah that we had to be aware of.  About 2:30, I took a nap.  Dave saw a pod of over a dozen dolphins that swam with the boat for quite awhile.  I saw a similar pod in this area 4 years ago and about the same time of day. 
Dave's letting that ship know  who is boss
We had dinner about 6:00pm.  After dinner, the wind finally picked up enough to set the sails.  The wind was about 15-20k and we sailed at about 7k (with motor assist).  We entered the Saint Simons’s Sound inlet and anchored near Jekyll Island by 1:00 am.  Great to be back “home”. 

Wednseday
After anchoring, we decided to have some hot chocolate and spiced rum to warm up.  We ended up talking for a few hours about the summer and our future plans.  Therefore, we slept in.  It was a windy day, which would make it difficult to put the boat in a slip.  So we napped and were lazy for a day. 

We have friends moving 2 boats and a car down the coast, trying to get out of the cold weather.  We talked to them and made arrangements to help them out.  They are in North Carolina now.  Their car is in Maryland.  We thought we would need to rent a car for about 10 days in December for Dr’s appointments, etc.  So we decided to rent a car to drive to NC, drop it off, and bring their car back to use for less than what we would have needed anyway.  Weather permitting, Dave will help them move one of the boats for 5 days and I will pick him up again.  They own a catamaran, but bought a trawler this fall in Massachusetts.  Each one is captaining a boat.  Fred is physically disabled, paraplegic, and Patti had heath issues this summer that had left her weak.  So the Roths are off to the rescue :)

December 1-3, 2018 waiting for weather window

Saturday
We had a lazy morning on the boat.  We enjoyed listening to the Oklahoma Sooners win their college football championship game.  Dave and our niece, Melanie Krause, text back and forth during their games.  She went to college there. 

I had thawed tuna steaks for dinner last night.  But we went out for dinner.  So we had them for lunch.  Dave has turned me on to seared tuna.  He made a great sauce for them.  I cooked vegetables and rice.  We make a good team. 

We walked to a local sports bar to watch the Alabama-Georgia championship game.  The crowd was split between the 2 teams.  Georgia was ahead until the 4th quarter where we tied and then won the game.  It was the most exciting game of the year.  But I have to admit, I think I enjoy listening to the game more than watching it in a bar.  It was hard to hear what was happening most of the time. 

We met another young sailor at the bar.  Kyle seemed to be in his early 30’s.  He was single handling his boat, but his girlfriend was joining him soon.  He bought a 1959 37 foot Pearson.  He had lots of sailing experience, but was fairly new to having his own boat.  I guess he could get into boating cheaper by buying an older boat, so good for him. 

Sunday
It was raining with lightening and thunder today.  So we decided to spend another day in the marina.  We did some work putting the boat back together.  We still had the bed in the salon area for our overnight passages.  And Dave had moved several things out of the aft cabin and put them in the v berth to make room for the boat mechanic to see our area where water was coming in.  After putting everything back in place, we had a dining room table again!!

I made a great spaghetti dinner from scratch.  While I was cleaning last week, I got into the bilge in our v berth where I had some canned food stored in ziplock bags.  Moisture on the walls of the hull had run into the bilge.  Some of the bags weren’t sealed, so the cans were rusting.  I was glad I got to them before they were a bigger mess.  It was a luxury to be able to sit at the table with our salad, spaghetti, garlic toast made with Dave’s homemade Artisan bread and a glass of wine.  Things most people take for granted. 

Monday
The weather was ok for taking the ICW today, but not for going off shore.  We decided to stay one more day and go on the outside to Brunswick, GA on Tuesday.  It’s about 100 miles off shore, which will take us about 16 hours.  If we take the ICW, it will take us 3 days to snake through the Savannah’s.  It’s a beautiful trip, but we are ready to be at our destination.  Plus we don’t have to time bridge openings or look for shoaling. 

We went out for Dave’s favorite meal, breakfast.  I spent most of the day on the computer and Dave on projects.
awesome caramel roll

Electrical problems
At a marina, we hook up 2 power cords.  One is for heat/AC.  The other is for the house panel with the battery charger, electrical outlets, water heater and the water maker.  After hooking up to the power pedestal on the dock, our house panel wouldn’t stay on.  Dave would check the cords, switch them with each other and back and they would work again.  This kept happening, so we gave up earlier.  Today he talked to the service rep for the company that made the isolation transformer that he added in August.  They thought since they were new, there may be a connection that came loose in the rough seas. 

But first of all, the guy was a real jerk to Dave.  First Dave called the dealer for Victron in SC.  He said he just sells them, not fix them. So then Dave looked for a dealer with a service rep and found one in Florida.  When Dave told the rep he was having some trouble with his new transformer and had a few questions, he responded with “why did you call me?”.  Dave said “well….., it says you are a service rep, so I thought you might be able to help me.”  Again he said “Why are you calling me if you are in SC?”  He had to explain that they only sell them, not service in SC.  Then he asked why Dave didn’t call the people he bought them from.  Dave had to explain that they only sell them, not service.  Then Dave explained that he was the closest service rep in a state we were headed towards.  It would have been real easy for Dave to become a jerk or hang up, but he really wanted to talk to the guy.  He finally came around and answered Dave’s questions. 

After further evaluation, Dave thinks the problem is in the power cords.  If the current is weak when it comes into the isolation transformer, it may be shutting it down.  So Dave researched online for the cost of new cords and found cords more expensive than what we paid 5 years ago, but much cheaper than West Marine.  They are a different company from what we have, Smart Plug, and come with a new outlet for the boat.  The cords will lock in nice and tight.  They will be waiting for us at the Brunswick Landing Marina when we arrive there in a couple days. 

We both enjoyed long hot showers in the marina bath house.  Simple pleasures. 

November 30, 2018 ICW south of Charleston to Beaufort, SC

While we were getting ready to leave in the morning, Dave noticed that one other boat had anchored near us.  He had a chat with him on the VHF radio and found out that he had tried to enter a cut just south of our anchorage and it was too shallow.  So he came back here and anchored waiting for a higher tide to go through.  He has a 6 foot draft, and we have a 5 foot draft. 

The other boat at our anchorage had been in radio contact with him.  They had the coordinates from the Coast Guard to go through where a new channel had been dredged but not updated on charts.  They went through this spring with no problem, but they had a 4.5 ft draft.  So we all followed each other through out the day.  The lead boat would radio back to us what depths they were finding in the shallower areas. 

We came to a cut that had a dredger working on the channel.  He gave us instructions on which side to pass and to stay close to him.  Then he resumed his work after we passed.  There has been a dredging on the ICW this year.  The federal money had been cut with our last administration, which made it pretty hairy for most boaters.  So it was nice to see the waterway being kept safe again.  There is a lot of shipping traffic on barges, not only pleasure boats. 

 
We decided to get a slip in Beaufort, SC for the weekend.  The weather is supposed to be bad-wind and thunderstorms.  Plus it would be fun to watch an Alabama football game in a bar.  There is a swing bridge right before you get to the downtown marina.  It opens on the half hour.  We figured the timing would be perfect to go through at 2:00.  About 30-45 minutes out, we saw a barge ahead of us.  The bridge will open for them whenever they come through.  We tried like mad to catch up with them, but we were fighting a current.  The barge and the other sailboats made it though, but the bridge tender said they couldn’t hold it for us.  That was about 1:50, so they didn’t open it at 2:00.  We had to wait for the 2:30 opening!!  At least we had lots of water to circle around for 30 minutes and plenty of daylight. 

The current is really strong at this marina since they are on a bend in the river.  Just as I was ready to call the marina on the radio, Dave said he didn’t want to get a slip if it was tough to get into it.  He would rather have a mooring ball.  So I handed the microphone over to him to decided what to do.  We had already asked for a slip.  Now we were just asking for instructions.  Luckily, they offered to let us tie up on their outside dock.  It’s easy to pull up along side of it.  Trying to turn the boat and get into a slip can be hard with wind and current.  I told the dock hand he made a good call giving us the outside dock.  He understood our concerns. 


US Coast Guard joining us for the night
After getting the power hooked up and the heat turned on, we decided to head into town for happy hour/dinner.  We also had to celebrate the end of hurricane season. 

November 29, 2018 'Splash" back in the water at Charleston City Boatyard

We woke up freezing again and decided to head out for breakfast again.  This time we went to a nearby coffee shop at 7:00am.  The windows on the car were all frosted, but they didn’t have a scraper in the car.  So we just sat with the defroster running for awhile, better than in the boat. 

When we came back, we checked with the office about when they would put us back in the water.  They said they plan their lift schedule 4-5 days in advance.  And since we were an add on, they couldn’t give us an exact time.  They said it would happen before 4:00, but if anything changed in the schedule, they would put us in. 

There was another couple in the office.  They’re boat had just been brought in yesterday on a trailer and placed next to ours.  The man had a sweatshirt on with Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, so I had to ask if he was a dentist.  Yes, he and his wife were both Pedodontist.  And he had been an instructor, then Dean of the dental school in Buffalo.  They had a 50 foot sailboat in the British Virgin Islands for 20 years, but it was destroyed in hurricane Irma last year.  He showed me pictures that were really sad to see.  He said looters had taken all the teak inside the boat within the first 24 hours.  So here they are with a new boat.  My previous dental partner, Liz Tarby went to dental school in Buffalo, NY while he was an instructor.  So I had to get his name to let her know.  This small world always amazes me.

We walked down to the dock to see the 36 foot hunter that the North Dakotans bought.  They said they were to be hauled out at 9:30.  No one was at the boat, so we just checked it out form the outside.  The boat yard crew came down to the boat to haul them out.  Since they weren’t there, we said we were ready to go.  We hustled back to the boat and prepared the few things we needed and were ready by the time the lift was to our boat.  There wasn’t time for another coat of paint over the new fiberglass, so Dave added Lanacote to seal it.
replacing the straps to lift the boat
removing the stands
I stopped in the office to pay our bill.  By the time I headed to the dock, the boat was in the water and Dave and 2 boat yard hands were trying to hold it against the dock.  The current trying to pull it away from the dock.  I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  I came running yelling “don’t leave with out me!  There’s no place like home!”  We were so excited to be in the water and on our way by 9:15.

Just as we were pulling away, the ND couple showed up.  We told them we kept them out late last night so they would sleep in, and we could steal their slot for the lift.  They were happy it worked out for us. 

We decided to go past Charleston and take the ICW today. We thought we were leaving at 4:00 and were going to anchor nearby.  So we hadn’t made a plan for going off shore, or even checked the weather.  The timing was good for us to get to the draw bridge and the Elliot Cut with the proper current.  So once again, we had the “luck of a fool”. 

While we were heading to Charleston, I decided to book my flight to SD while we had decent wifi.  We’ll be in remote anchorages for a couple days and may not be able to pick up a signal.  We talked about having our son join us in GA for Christmas, but that would involve taking time off for work.  So I decided to go to Rapid City instead.  Dave will stay at the boat and do lots of projects.  We want to get new canvas, which takes a several weeks.  While I was looking at flights and how long to stay, Dave suggested I stay until the end of January and go to Ski for Light.  For anyone who doesn’t know, that is an event I volunteered for between 1990 and 2013.  It is a week long skiing event for visually and physically impaired people.  I guide someone cross country skiing.  So that’s what I did.  I don’t think that is what Pete had in mind when he said I could stay with him for Christmas.  But I have lots of friends to stay with if our mother/son time gets to be too much. 

We found a lovely spot to anchor with one other boat along the ICW by 4:00. 



November 27, 2018 Charleston City Boatyard

We had to go about 12 miles up the Wando River to the Charleston City boatyard.  They scheduled us for 12:30, so we didn’t leave our anchorage until 9:15am.  We passed the area where some of the cargo ships are unloaded.  When our son trained in the Merchant Marines, he said it costs $10,000/hour to rent the cranes to load or unload a ship. 
I love the Charleston water front
Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge

 
 
 
We arrived about noon.  We could see that they were taking out another boat, so we decided to just tie up on their outside dock and wait.  Since everyone was working on the other boat, we didn’t have any help docking.  I was at the helm and Dave was ready to jump off the boat and onto the dock to tie us up.  The current was so strong, that we circled around twice to get a better approach.  No big deal, it was good practice and we had plenty of room.
On the third attempt, Dave was able to get on the dock and tie our spring line to a cleat (from the center of the boat).  Then he was able to get the bow tied.  But the current kept pulling the stern away from the dock.  I was finally able to throw Dave our stern line, but he had to muscle the boat over to the dock.  It was quite a job, but we did it.  In hind site, we could have pulled up to the dock against the current.  Then we would have just turned the boat around when it was time to put it in the lift for the haul out. 

We met Eddie, the repairman that would be doing the work on our boat.  He used to work at the Beneteau factory.  Now he prepares new boats for launching.  And he does repairs like ours. 

Since the boatyard was behind schedule on their haulouts, Eddie had time to come aboard our boat before the haul out.  We discussed our water leak with him.  He crawled around the boat and checked other typical areas for leaks on Beneteaus.  Everything else looked really good.  So he was pretty certain the leak was from the shaft tube extension.  He also answered any questions Dave had about our boat.  Great guy. 

They finally hauled us out by 2:45pm.  Eddie said they always run late at this boatyard.  They moved our boat into the boatyard and put the boat on boat stands.  It’s always scary to watch them do this.  Eddie was able to peal the 5200 off with no trouble.  You could see a gap between the extension and the hull.  Eddie plans to fill it in with fiberglass, but it was too late to start today.  He’ll be back in the morning.


 
 

The zinc on the prob was mostly gone, shaft zinc was missing
 
 
We used the boatyard’s courtesy car to go to a nearby restaurant they recommended, Swig and Swine.  We had an awesome BBQ dinner with leftovers.  Dave has a hard time passing up a dinner platter to be able to sample everything. 

Back at the boat, it was pretty chilly.  I think the boat was warmer surrounded by water than air.  It was supposed to get down to 29 degrees, so Dave drained the hose on the outside stern shower.  I think that’s the first time we’ve worried about lines freezing. 

Monday, December 3, 2018

November 24-26, 2018 Myrtle Beach, SC to Charleston, SC

Saturday
We left about 7:30 am to put some miles on the ICW today.  It was a rainy morning, but not too cold.  There had been heavy rains and flooding in this area this summer and fall.  There was a full moon, which makes the tide more extreme.  It was sad to see the water up over the banks and into peoples yards and homes.  There was also a lot of debris from trees in the water. 
swing bridge
heavy rain at times
water dripping on the ipad made it hard to use.  When he touched it, it acted like there was already a finger on it, so it would go crazy expanding or moving
flooding along the ICW in SC
When we approach a low clearance bridge, we call ahead on the VHF to request an opening.   We try to time it so we are close when it opens.  Today, a swing bridge wasn’t opening as we expected.  The bridge tender even came outside of his tower to look at it.  We tried to back up, but the current turned us sideways to the bridge.  By the time it opened, we were able to straighten out an go through as usual.  Little scary there for a minute.


We anchored at Winyah Bay by 3:30.  We enjoyed listening to AL beat Auburn in football.  The wifi wasn’t very strong here.  As the boat would swing at anchor, the wifi would go in and out.  That was frustrating.  We’ll have to be sure we stop where there is good wifi on Saturdays during football season.

Sunday
Today we went out the Winyah Bay inlet and sailed on the outside to Charleston.  It was a beautiful day on the ocean.  The seas were flat and the wind was light, so we motored.  We left at 8:30 am and were anchored in Charleston harbor by 5:30. 

As we were coming to the anchorage, there were a couple sunset cruises.  One on a tall ship and one in a catamaran.  I happen to catch to catamaran in the sunset.  I sent them the photo, but didn’t hear back from them.  Thought they might want to use it in their advertising. 

there is some sunshine on the horizon, let's go there

Charleston skyline with the Ravenel bridge

Charleston Sailing Adventures on their sunset cruise
Monday
We spent the day connecting with the Beneteau repairman.  He wanted us to move to the Charleston City Boatyard for the repair work for our water leak.  We talked to the boatyard and planned for them to haul us out tomorrow.  We were feeling pretty good about this.

I spent the day cleaning the boat.  There is so much moisture on the inside walls. 

November 22-23, 2018 Cape Fear to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club

Happy Thanksgiving
We decided to take the ICW to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and get a slip for the night to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We set the alarm for 6:00 to get there early afternoon.  When the alarm went off, we could hear the wind blowing pretty hard and neither one of us wanted to get out of bed.  Eventually, we got up and were raising the anchor by 7:15 am.  We had both strong wind, 20k, and strong current at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

When we raise the anchor, Dave directs me, with hand signals, to move the boat in the direction of the chain.  You actually take the boat to the anchor vs pulling the anchor up by pulling the boat to it.  Today, I had to power up the engine to get the boat to turn.  I would be fighting wither the wind or the current.  We spent 24 hours at anchor here, so the anchor chain moved when the boat moved with the tide change.  Since we’re on a river, we changed directions every 6 hours.  The routine is to move the boat in the direction of the anchor, put it in neutral while Dave brings in more chain, then move again in the direction Dave tells me.  All of this is with hand signals and what sounds like yelling, but you’re just trying to project your voice over the wind and engine noise. 

I could tell Dave was struggling with something.  Later, I had him explain the situation to me, so I could put it in the blog.  I told him he may have to write this part, because I won’t remember the details.  So he said to just say “he had trouble with the anchor”.  That wouldn’t do, so here goes.  We had about 150 ft of chain out.   When there was about 25 feet left, I could tell something was stressing Dave.  There is a bow roller that the chain runs across as it goes in and out of the boat.  The bolt that holds the roller had loosened and was coming out.  He was trying to catch it before it came all the way out and splashed overboard with one hand.  He had to lift the chain off of the roller to relieve the pressure with the other hand.  Once the bolt was out, he had to catch the roller before it went overboard.  So he had to throw the bolt onto the deck and hope it stayed on the deck and not go overboard or in the anchor locker.  And he’s doing this hanging out over the bow pulpit.  Once he got ahold of the roller, the bushing inside was jammed so he had a hard time removing it.  All the while, he can’t give me hand signals, because his hands are busy with the chain and the roller.  At this point, the anchor was no longer holding us in place, so we were dragging with the wind and/or current.  That didn’t cross my mind.  I was just waiting for his instructions as usual, which he was finally able to signal that we were free to move.  It wasn’t until he came back to the cockpit holding the roller and bolt in his hand that I figured out his frustration. 
bow roller
bow pulpit with Mantus anchor
Ever since we replaced our windlass last June, Dave hasn’t likes the angle of the chain to the gypsy that’s part of the windlass.  And our bow roller is new and larger.  It’s at a different angle and doesn’t grab the chain we have as well as our old gypsy.  This causes a lot of vibration, hence the roller bolt coming loose.  He’s just glad it happened while he was there to see it, not during the night.  He is going to look at raising the windlass further off the deck to get a better angle for the chain to cross the gypsy and grab the chain better.  So, another project goes on the list. 

Once we were on the ICW, intracoastal waterway, the water was calm.  It was a beautiful day.  There were a few unusual things along the way.  I didn’t get a photo, but we saw a guy using a leaf blower to fan his campfire in his yard. 
ducks in a row on docks in a row
dry storage of boats
Strange to see the boats stacked for winter storage.

We made it to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club by 1:00.  We planned to do laundry, get fuel, cook Thanksgiving dinner and leave in the morning.  The dock master had to help another boat into a slip before he could meet us at the office to check in.  While we were waiting, we checked out the restaurant on site.  Since it was a holiday, we decided to stay two nights, do our chores tomorrow and just take the rest of the day off.

Dave has never been a big turkey fan, so we had chicken wings and a flounder sandwich and pumpkin pie. 

Friday
Today I did laundry at the marina.  They also had a copier/printer, so I made copies of our new passports.  Back at the boat, I cooked our Thanksgiving chicken dinner.
Dave washed the boat using the marina’s water.  We had a lot of salt water, now dried salt, on our boat from the splashing waves on our rough night at sea.  He fixed the bow roller and remounted our spare spade anchor.  It had come loose on the deck when we had the rough seas.  He took the fuel cans to the fuel dock in a dock cart to refill them.  They have about an 8 foot tide here, so the ramps were pretty steep. 


Spade anchor remounted
dry salt on the companionway from sea waves splashing into the boat
There is some weight in those full fuel jugs
This was a nice marina with good rates.  We had heard good things about it from other boaters.