The Great Loop: A well seasoned crew

     Jeff came down with me a few days early to help clean the boat up and change the oil and filters.
As we were getting ready to leave port this morning Jeff pulled me aside and said "Dick I really like Walter and Dave, but after having spent the night with them and watched them help get ready to cast off this morning, I think I should have planned to stay on board for a few days". This is Walter and Dave's first trip on board "Whatever It Takes".

                          After the day we had today, these guys are seasoned.

  Twenty minutes into the voyage and just after the sun was fully in the sky our depth sounder stopped functioning, ten minutes later the generator overheated. I can deal with the generator problem, (even though I had the damn thing completely rebuilt over the summer), but the depth sounder is somewhat necessary. This particular area of the ICW features a 10 mile stretch of treacherous, rock infested narrows, (where I lost two props in 2011) plus several inlets from the Atlantic which are prone to shifting sand bars. I reassured the crew that we would be fine and would fix the problems at our first port (70 miles away in North Carolina). Dave was fine with that, Walter had a worried look that only got worse as the day went on.

I piloted the boat the entire day, explaining that if someone was going to run her aground; it would be me. Walter was fine with that, Dave was sitting in the deck chair on the bow enjoying the breeze. We passed through the rocky narrows without incident (I think not having the depth sounder was actually easier, now it was just a matter of luck). Walter was reading the chart for me, Dave was now dozing in the chair on the bow.

Next came the inlets and sand bars. We passed the first inlet without incident. By the second inlet the tide was at it lowest point. I held close to the red buoys but felt a drag on the rudders. I turned to Walter and said " uh oh, that doesn't feel good". Walter responded "WHAT !!!" Dave was in his chair on the bow. I slowed the boat to a crawl and we gently slid directly onto a sand bar in about 3 feet of water. The problem was the draft on "Whatever It Takes" is 4 1/2 feet. We were stuck at the mouth of the inlet staring out at the Atlantic Ocean. Walter asked "What now?", to which I responded "We sit here and wait for the tide to come in and lift us out" ( we could actually see the tidal current rushing over the edge of the sand bar). We were very close to a large red buoy so I went out on the bow and asked Dave to let me know if we started moving toward the buoy. Dave said "Are you worried your anchor line wont hold?". Dave thought we had anchored to view the ocean. Five minutes later the tide carried us off the sand bar and we travelled the last 15 miles without incident.

We are docked at Southport Marina in North Carolina and scheduled a mechanic to be on board first thing in the morning. Tomorrow will be even more fun now that I have such a well seasoned crew.