Explore 360! Explorations of the World and Mind

Nov 12th ICW Mile 136: Belhaven, NC

Hooked A Champion!

Look closely at the above picture and you’ll see a five foot long log. It is hooked underneath the anchor, our trophy from last night. Here’s the story:

Went to bed just south of Cypress Point last night in perfectly calm, glasslike conditions. We knew there was a forecast for increased wind overnight starting at about midnight and we were in a relatively exposed position to north or south wind. There aren’t any well protected anchorages in this area for quite a distance. We weren’t too worried because the anchorage was recommended as having good holding, the forecast was for wind from the northeast, not north, and it was very peaceful early in the evening. What could go wrong?

About midnight, the wind picked up and the boat started rocking a lot. We got up to check things out and it was very wavy with lots of wind under the full supermoon. We noted our position by looking at the slow flashing red lights of the navigation beacons off the port side. They were in the same place as where they were when we went to bed, so the anchor was holding. Shelly got a bit worried and so got dressed just in case we needed to get up and take care of the boat in the middle of the night. I just went back to sleep.

It continued to rock quite a bit but we did get some sleep. I woke up at about 2 a.m. and went up to check our position again. The wind had picked up even more and the water looked very chaotic. Our position was still ok, the red flashing navigation markers were in the same place off the port side. I went back to bed.

The rocking action of the boat decreased somewhat for the next hour and changed from front-to-back to side-to-side, a much easier ride. After a while I got a bit curious about the side to side rocking and wanted to check the wind speed, it seemed higher than predicted. The time was 3:15 a.m. I looked out and did not see the red flashing navigation beacon where I expected and noticed the moon was setting behind the boat. I thought the wind must have shifted direction and we were pointed more to the east. If that were the case I should see the red flashing light off our stern and there was nothing back there. Hmm. I looked some more and saw a red light in what I thought was the correct place and so my concern subsided. But why was the moon in the wrong place?

I went below to turn on the chart plotter which would show me exactly where we were. Well, it told me we were about one mile from where we started. A nautical mile. On top of that it showed we were drifting at about 1 mile/hr, dragging the anchor. That was NOT good. These “magic moments” always happen at 3:30 a.m. for some reason.

I got Shelly up and we donned full battle gear, including life jackets, and went to work getting control of Good Karma. It was rocking quite a bit and the wind was blowing over 20 knots. The moon was almost down so not much light. Shelly went forward and worked on getting the anchor up, a tough job made more difficult by the cold, high wind and rocking waves. I got the motor going to take pressure off the anchor chain. After about 10 minutes Shelly got the anchor onto the deck.

AIS Track

The pic above was taken from our AIS track and shows how far we dragged across the channel. We’re moving south, toward the bottom of the pic. The drag part of the track is the right-to-left going down slant in the “Z” shape in the center. We anchored at the top corner of the Z and got control at the bottom corner.

It was then 4 a.m., first light would be at 6:10. We decided to continue running down the channel at slow speed rather than try to anchor again in those conditions. Off we went, navigating by instruments and the few lighted navigation beacons, hoping not to run over a crab trap. Every time the chart plotter showed an unlighted navigation pylon, we would spot light it with our powerful flashlight. It was very difficult to keep in the channel with the waves and the wind, but not impossible. We slowed down as much as we could so as to not try to cover a lot of unseen territory, remaining in the channel and waiting for daylight. The wind was freezing, but we had fairly good protection under the cockpit canvass.

We had two hours of dark navigation. We heard on the radio other boaters who “went to sleep on one side of the channel and woke up on the other side.” Adding to the eeriness, the Coast Guard was periodically broadcasting a “pan-pan,” to be on the lookout for a boat in distress further down the channel, based on a signal flare seen at 2 a.m. The sky started to glow as we got to the Alligator Canal, our next canal section about 15 miles long.

The wind died down to near zero in the canal and the sky brightened. Our moods brightened with the sky. Shelly made some hot coffee and a breakfast snack (thank you!) as we calmly cruised down the channel. She said, “check out the log on the anchor.” She had told me about it long ago but now it was very visible. Our anchor hooked that log and is likely why we drug so far, the anchor couldn’t dig into the mud.

Lastly, as if that wasn’t enough excitement, we were approaching the notoriously low Wilkerson Bridge. It is the bridge that has a reputation as being lower than 64 feet. The waterline scale showed on approach that it was about 63.5 feet. We approached and things otherwise looked good, no other boats in sight to cause wake waves and bounce our mast into the bridge. We held our breath and passed under it. Did not even touch the top of the antenna! My measurement of our top-of-antenna mast height was 63.5 feet was accurate. Just slipped under!

Wilkerson Bridge Behind Us!

Today we’re anchored at Belhaven, which looks like a cool little town to visit but we’re  too cold and tired to get off the boat tonight. Some other trip.

Posted in Sailing by Mark with 2 comments.