--- On Fri, 7/10/09, Phil Prater <sailaway_78@...> wrote:


From: Phil Prater <sailaway_78@...>
Subject: [Singles Sailing] Back Home
To: singlessailing@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, July 10, 2009, 12:54 PM








Hi All,
Here is the latest on our little excursion. After our butt kicking leaving Ft.
Meyers, we went back to same. Met up with Mel there, the next afternoon, and had
a nice chat. He is one of the good guys, and has lots of local info. Got the
damages on the boat taken care of, and decided to do some more coast hopping,
heading south, and hoping the forecast would change. Made Charlotte Harbor next
day, no problem. Next day headed out for Marco Island. Got kicked around some
getting into there, another now familiar afternoon thunderstorm. Sitting there,
anchored up, we watched every weather forecast we could find, and tried to
decide what to do. That little depression was coming over the Yucatan at that
time, and it did not look good. NOAA was saying a 50% chance it would become a
tropical storm, or worse. So, the Tortugas were certainly not an option at this
time. Key West and Marathon were an option, but with the thundestorms, and the
shallow waters of Fla.
Bay, not an attractive one. There was no change in the forecast for as far
ahead as we could find. Thunderstorms forecast for every day. Ended up deciding
that the best option was to get the hell out of there, and head back north. Left
Marco Island about noon on Sat. headed to Appalachicola. I figured three days,
and wanted to make the best chance of getting into there in daylight hours. We
had 15 knots of wind, and three to five foot seas, close reaching, and it was a
lot of fun for a while. Making 8 knots, and saw nine regularly. After about 24
hours of this, got kind of tiring though. Hard to rest and eat and sleep with
that much boat movement, plus a four hour watch was somewhat tiring. So, Sunday
we slowed the boat down some, and tried to take it a little bit easy. This
helped, and it was pretty decent Sunday, Sunday night and Monday. Monday night,
around 11, the first of the thunderstorms got us. Couple of hours of basically
nasty wind and water,
but not really too bad. Then around 3AM Tues. morning, it really hit us. NOAA
radio was saying 40 to 60 knot winds, heavy rain and frequent lightning. Advised
mariners to seek shelter. YEAH right. 40 miles offshore in a sailboat, WHAT
SHELTER For once they were right. The storms were all around us, and the wind
was changing directions as much as 90 degrees or more every few minutes. Were
sailing with a reefed main, and couldn't control the boat. Wind would shift,
wave would knock boat speed to below steerage way. Just about get things back
under control, and another shift, and start all over. So, I did the last thing I
wanted to do at this time. Got up on deck, doused the main completely, and
relied on the Yanmar. Fortunately the seas were not that big and nasty. We were
in fairly deep water, and the wind was shifting so much the seas just couldn't
build up very large. Just 6 or 8 feet, very confused, and nasty, but not
breaking. Just the wind kept
shifting all over, and the lightning was horrible. For the first time ever, had
a ditch bag packed, sitting out and ready to go. The waves were not as big and
nasty as off Ft.Meyers, but much more confused, and much more wind. Good
seamanship, good luck or whatever got us through it though, and we made
Appalachicola a little after noon Tuesday. Checked into the marina, counted our
blessings, checked the boat over, and rested. And rested some more. We were
pretty beat up, physically. Boat was fine, and nothing needed to be fixed or
repaired.
Stayed two days just relaxing and resting up, then headed out, making for home.
West winds, on the nose all the way. Three to five foot seas. So what else is
new. Worst part was crossing Mobile bay, which is approx. 20 miles wide, and
very shallow. Were in severe thunderstorms over half of it. Really choppy 2 to 3
footers, rain so hard it hurt and visibility was virtually zero. Weather bouys
were reporting winds of 20 to 25 knots. Boat speed often less than two knots. We
did an 80 mile day that day. From Ingrams bayou in Fl. over to Biloxi. Around
sunset the weather finally started to settle down, and by 11 PM when we made
Biloxi it was actually pretty nice. The next day we were going to make the final
run over to Slidell, Came out from behind Deer Island, and more of the same.
Zero visibility, nasty chop. The hell with this. Went back and waited another
day. Then on to home. Only one minor thunderstorm all day. Made it back in here
late Wednesday
afternoon. Nothing else torn up, but most everything in the boat wet.
Physically pretty well exhausted. Not a single thunderstorm since we tied up.
FIGGERS I really think that if we had been even a week earlier things would have
worked out differently. But now not going to plan on any long distance stuff
till at least the end of hurricane season. Still want to meet up with those we
had planned on meeting from this board. Lots of you we missed. But some rest,
some minor boat maintenance, and we will more than likely be ready to go again.
The storms and bad weather stand out now, but we had overall a very good trip,
enjoyed most of it very much. So, hopefully in a couple or three months will be
off again.



















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