Report From Onboard Jenny

[KI6...@winlink.org]

Monday, May 18, 2009 5:36:09 PM
Location: St Marys
Latitude is 30 degrees 43.046 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 33.083 minutes west.

This weather observation was taken on Monday, May 18, 2009 5:35:24 PM local time.
Observation location: St. Marys GA USA.
Latitude is 30 degrees 43.043 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 33.082 minutes west.
The air temperature is 61, and water temperature is 75 degrees fahrenheit.
The forecast is Storms.
The current weather is rain.
The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds).
The wind is 10 knots from the north.
The visibility is 5 nautical miles.
The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells.
The barometer is 1021 millibars and rising.

What a grand finally to this voyage. The past 52 hours (260 miles) were like the last 5 minutes of the Forth of July fireworks show. We had everything.

Friday night was tedious because our anchorage was not well protected and the wind was howling. So, as I tossed and turned, I thought I would check out the weather report for the banks and Port Canaveral first thing in the morning. So, Saturday morning I was up at 5:00 AM and turned around three BuoyWeather reports. They were for Great Issac at the east end of the Great Bahamas banks, Port Canaveral and St. Augustine. They showed reasonable weather through end of day Sunday. However, Monday showed bad weather moving into Brunswick. So, I figured I could at least get to Port Canaveral and we got the boat ready and hauled anchor.

It was down wind and down wave from Chub Cay to the beginning channel across the banks. I was hoping we could do this 12 mile leg with the birds up, so that I would not have to take them up again as we got onto the banks. And, we were pleasantly surprised that we could, with comfort. We saw a sailboat about 6 miles ahead and made contact with Excalibur 12. They were headed across the reef too, only they planned to stop at Bimini for the night. So off we went on slightly different headings.

The banks were blowing around 20 knots, but because it is only 15 feet deep most of the time the waves do not build much. We were comfortable with the birds up for the 60 mile leg across the banks. Excalibur 12 called and said they caught a mackerel and a snapper. So, I threw the meat hook over the side. We were doing about 7.5 knots so I did not think we would have much of a chance. But I was wrong. We landed a 3 ft barracuda. So, I got him back in the water and quit fishing.

Going over the reef with 10 ft of crystal clear water under the keel is a trip. You can see the bottom go by in waves of dark and light aqua colors. After a while you begin to trust the route and stop worrying about ramming into a coral head.

By 6 PM we were at the Great Issac lighthouse and had to get the birds down while we had the protection of the reef as soon as we were in 30 ft of water. We did without a hitch and then worried about what kind of seas we were going to be in. The first couple of hours were fairly rough as we crossed the Northwest Providence Channel, but then it settled down and got settled in. As we approached our first waypoint off of Vero Beach, we started picking up the Gulf stream and speed. We gradually built up to a consistent 10 knots.

As we did, I needed to constantly revise the plan. Sunday morning I replaced the bulb in the starboard navigation light, pulled down the Bahamas courtesy flag, and loaded the detailed charts for St. Marys into the navigation computer. We could have put into Port Canaveral that afternoon, but that would mean a week or two of working our way up the intercostal, or going back offshore for another overnight or two. The seas were really nice, so we calculated St. Augustine and St. Marys. I got another weather report and all was good for Sunday until Monday morning. At our current speed, we would have had to enter St. Augustine in the dark and the entry was a little tricky. I calculated that we could get to the St Marys channel at 8 AM Monday morning and I hoped that would be early enough to avoid the bad weather.

With all this heads down work and anxiety, I got sea sick, and this was after breakfast. UGH. The motion on the boat was not even that bad! I was mortified. Later in the morning Nicholas got sick too. I think he was really getting frightened because I was so nervous trying to figure all this out. I was really sorry to have him in this.

After that, Monday was a perfect day on the ocean. Deep blue water, small swell with a long period. As good as it gets. The night was good to. At around 4 in the morning we were off of Jacksonville and had to ask two freighters to acknowledge they saw us and they both were very nice. They altered course to make sure we had a couple of miles between us.

Then the trouble began. The radar showed a large squall (thunderstorm) building off the coast ahead of us. By 6 AM we were in it and seeing 25 knot winds and the seas beginning to build. Then we heard our buddy Noel from Panama in Ketching Up call the coast guard to find out about the conditions in the St Marys channel. It turned out he was only about 4 miles behind me. How strange to be hooking up with him again after not seeing Ketching Up since Cartagena.

The squall kept building and my instruments showed winds just over 30 knots. Ketching Up reported winds over 40 knots. The seas built into a chop with 15 ft waves breaking over the side of Jenny, throwing water through the window and door cracks. It was uncomfortable. But, I had been in this kind of stuff before in Jenny and knew nothing bad was going to happen. Jenny is so solid, she just shrugged off the punishment and plowed on. We were still on the autopilot as we approached the long channel leading into St. Marys.

This channel is wide and deep. With a 45 ft depth all the way in, I could keep the birds in the water. Thanks God. It was obvious that I now had to hand steer down the channel. This was a wild ride. The wind was pushing us south and waves were bashing us from the side and back. As we got more shallow water on each side of the channel, the water got more frenzied. Nicholas puked again.

I lost contact with Ketching Up and battled our way down the channel. It took an hour to get inside the breakwaters. Wow. Now I had to get the birds up before we got into shallow water. I got that done and decided to go up the St Marys river to the town to anchor. It would be much more sheltered and also let Nicholas and I go to town.

We made it up the channel, got our anchor down in good holding with 20 ft of water under the keel. The wind is howling, but there are no waves or swell. We could play pool on the galley table. After tidying the boat up a little, Nicholas and I crashed. But, it is cold here. It is only supposed to be 55 degrees here tonight! I got up and broke out a blanket. More sleep.

Ketching Up came in about an hour later and anchored nearby. Around 4 PM I heard Ashley, Noel's wife calling Noel on the radio and he did not reply so I did. She drove down to meet her husband and send a boat from the marina out to get him. Tha was nice.

Nicholas are going to have a quiet evening, and maybe a movie. Tomorrow I will put the dinghy down and we will go to town. Hopefully the rain will have stopped. The weather is supposed to be bad all week, so we will stay here at least until Friday. I think they have a nice Memorial Day celebration here, so we may stay through May 30th. We can take the intercostal up to Brunswick from here.

And that pretty much concludes this epoch of Jenny's Journey. It has been quite an experience.

David
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[Da...@schramm-family.net]

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:37:43 AM Location: St. Marys, GA The boat position was not recorded. This weather observation was taken on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:34:30 AM local time. Observation location: St. Marys GA. Observation position was not recorded. The air temperature is 67, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Rain. The current weather is rain. The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds). The wind is 22 knots from the east. The visibility is 5 nautical miles. The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1023 millibars and falling. Below is the account from Noel on Ketching Up about his trip back to the states. ======================== Hello All,This is the long lost captain Noel. I am alive and well after a good nights sleep in St Mary's, Georgia. It was an excitng final 18 hours to an otherwise great 10 day sail. The weather for the first 8 days was perfect, sunny warm and breezy. The seas were behind me at 6-8 feet the wind 15-25 knots of the starboard quarter. I was sailing under genoa, reefed main and full mizzen. Really did not even neet to touch the sails for the first three days. Perfect! Made great time and entered the Gulf Stream through the NW Providence channel on Saturday morning. The only real adventure in the first 7 days was when genoa head blew out in 25 knots of wind. I was able to get it down and lash it to the deck without any real difficulty, but was now without a headsail.When I called Ashe from about 10 miles off West Palm Beach on saturday morning, things could not have been better. The winds were 10-15 knots out of the SE and the Gulf stream was running at 3.5 knots. So,as soon as I hung up with Ashe, I headed straight back out to about 15 miles off shore and was making about 10 knots over ground. The way the east coast curves and the gulfstream runs, the rhumb line from WPB to Charleston, where I intended to check back into the US, takes you about 120 nm off shore. It should have taken me about 3 days to sail to Charleston, check in and then sail the last night up to Little River. Everything going according to plan.On Sunday morning at about 4:30 am I was about 80nm offshore and winds had dropped to less then 5 knots. The sails were slating back and forth making an ungodly amount of noise. So I got up and pulled down the sails and raised the spinaker. I sailed all day Sunday without ever touching the spinaker. Ketching Up was only making about 3 knots through the water but with the current were averageing about 6.5 knots over ground. Nothing to complain about. I was having my evening Rum and Coke (I am a sailor) and trying to decide whether to bring the spinaker down, so I truned on NOAA radio to listen to evening forecast. I was suprised when I heard that there was a gale warning issued, that seas were building to more then 20 ft. I had been listening the to forecast a couple of times a day, but the reports are local, not the full coast, so I had no warning this was coming. The reception was poor that far offsore and I was not able to here it clearly and had no idea how far north or east the weather would reach. I was now about 100 nm offshore and needed to get out of the way of the weather, but was not sure which direction to head. It didn't take long to determine the best course was to duck and run for cover. I dropped the spinaker, and fired up the engine for the first time in over a thousand miles. Ketchig Up ran at full speed for St Mary's. By 1 am we were out of the GS and and the worst of the potential risk. The weather was fine during the night but by 4 am was blowing 40 knots from the NE. Luckily I was out of the Gulf Stream where seas were likely already 12 ft and very steep. It took 16 hours to reach the harbor entrance the last 4 hours were very rough, not dangerous, but no fun. Waves were washing over the deck from the side. "Black Max" our on deck generator ripped free from its tie down, breaking the hatch glass over the aft stateroom. Waves in the channel entrance were coming into the cockpit soking everything. We made it into the Harbor around 11 am and immeadiately everything settled down. Ketching Up is anchored off the town. I have a days worth of repair work to do once the weather clears. When the forecast is good all the way up to Little River, we will head out and finish the trip. Hoepfully we will be in our slip by tuesday next week.Thanks for all you interest in my little adventure!-Noel David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com

[Da...@schramm-family.net]

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:51:43 AM Location: St. Marys, GA The boat position was not recorded. This weather observation was taken on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:34:30 AM local time. Observation location: St. Marys GA. Observation position was not recorded. The air temperature is 67, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Rain. The current weather is rain. The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds). The wind is 22 knots from the east. The visibility is 5 nautical miles. The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1023 millibars and falling. Nicholas and I have been sleeping well and staying on board while the gale, now in its third day, blows itself out. Fortunately, the anchorage here is really good. I have a good free internet connection on the boat through our PortNetworks box and high gain antenna. So, I have been taking care of a bunch of tasks necessary to get re-established in the states. I am set to fly up to Detroit on the 10th to pick up the bike and start driving it back to Florida where I will register it. I hope to stop at Derek's and Chris's on the way back. I will stay at Laura's while in FL and get my residence change completed. I'll also go over and visit mom and see how she is doing. I don't have a cell phone yet. The nearest store is over in Fernandina so I'll need some wheels to get there. I might have a ride from a fellow boater who lives over there and has been following the journey. Hopefully this weather will begin to clear tonight and let us get the dinghy down and to shore. It really isn't supposed to be nice until Monday though. I talked on the radio with the folks on the next boat over. THey are locals and related that this is really unusual weather. They are on a mooring and came to the boat to make sure it was OK through all this. They also warned against going on the ICW over Memorial weekend because of all the drunk crazies that will be out. They are heading up to the Chesepeake for the summer, but not until after the Memorial Weekend is over. Meanwhile, I shut down the watermaker and pickled it. I need some fresh DVDs though. The onboard TV is worthless because of the digital conversion and I've seen all the DVDs onboard a hundred times! Oh well. I want to thank all the people who have written and welcomed Nicholas and me back to the states. It is really nice to know you are all out there and care. All is well. David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com

[Da...@schramm-family.net]

Thursday, May 21, 2009 11:26:29 AM Location: St. Marys GA The boat position was not recorded. This weather observation was taken on Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:48:10 AM local time. Observation location: St. Marys GA. Observation position was not recorded. The air temperature is 72, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Thunderstorms. The current weather is dry. The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds). The wind is 11 knots from the east. The visibility is 5 nautical miles. The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1020 millibars and falling. The sun peaked through the clouds for a few minutes today and the wind died. So, the dinghy came down and Nicholas and I went for a long walk on shore. It was GOOD. We both needed it badly. Walking along lanes with regular grass, deciduous trees, familiar weeds, and American style homes was a real treat. It gave me a boost and Nicholas was really smiling. Joe who has a boat here, I think named "Dreams Float", is picking me up at noon to go shopping. He contacted me via email as soon as as I arrived. It is a really nice offer as he is coming from Fernandina Beach and we have to go all the way back there to get to the AT&T cell store. We are also stopping at Publix to pick up some box-o-meals, dairy products, beer etc. On the way I will ask him to pull over at the first Burger King so I can indulge in some junk food. Yum... I realized yesterday that this weekend has been declared Memorial Day weekend, and the weather looks like it will be at least reasonable. That will be nice. Then I plan to stay through the next week. There is a ferry from here to Fernandina Beach. It has not been running because of the weather, but I think I will take it over next week. I believe the Publix is in walking distance from the ferry dock and I'll pick up more stuff if I need to. The work boat tending the crab pots just made its round. They caught a couple in the one I saw come up. This is a nice boat and cruiser friendly place. I like it here. David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com

[Da...@schramm-family.net]

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:33:02 AM Location: St. Marys, GA The boat position was not recorded. This weather observation was taken on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:45:12 AM local time. Observation location: St Marys GA. Observation position was not recorded. The air temperature is 74, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Thunderstorms. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 3 knots from the east. The visibility is 8 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1017 millibars and rising. This is a nice quiet little town to stop and stay in for a while. It has been a nice break to unwind and get some initial things done to re-enter the US. My plan is to move Jenny down the river to Cumberland Island Friday afternoon, catching the flood tide turn. The ebb current is too strong to ride out, so we will catch the last of the flood and the beginning of the ebb tide. Then, because we want to ride the tide into Brunswick, we will anchor overnight by Cumberland Island and head out the next day. The weather is supposed to be perfect with 1 ft waves and no wind on Saturday. That will be nice. I discovered you need to add tidal planning to all the other considerations for making a passage. It's easy, but just another step. I have been thinking about my initial impressions of being back in the USA and I guess small town Georgia is a good place to start. So, here they are. First, I more easily recognized the preditory practices big companies use on us. It is pricing based upon a person's vulerabilities rather than any sort of cost / value evaluation of the product. Whether it is an airline ticket that is priced based upon the urgency of your need, or cell phone companies that demand 2 year contracts even if you have your own equipment, or banks that arbitrarly raise your interest rate when you need money the most, it is very preditory and designed to exploit your weakness. I believe in capitalism, but think its power has been corrupted by the size we have let companies get. Small airlines, small phone companies, small banks would never get away with this. They would have too much competition just down the block. On the other hand, people here are very friendly and seem happy. The south's history and heritage is based upon blacks and whites working together. The form of that relationship has obviously changed over time, but non-the-less the south is defined by both populations and their relationships. NPR had a very interesting story about this and one point really struck me. The author said that the southern accent is unique across the entire British Empire. Not only that, but it is also unique as a class of change. All other English speaking people have a British accent to some degree or in the case of the rest of the US, an accent that reflects the various nationalities that came together. The author attributes the southern accent to the black women who raised the children of the whites in the south. So, even the speach here is a reflection of this joint history and is much more integrated than perhaps even it recognizes. Ashley on Ketching Up commented on the unfriendly natives of the Leeward Islands and even the reverse discrimation that they encountered in St. Thomas. Their boys were surprised when they got to the states and found that black people actually talked to them. I saw the same difference v. the Bahamas. It is refreshing and I think the USA is in a good state of integration even though it still has a couple of hundred years to go. Finally, I found that Americans do not share like people in less fortunate countries do. We do not share transportation. We do not share food. We do not share our lives. Maybe because we can afford to be materially self sufficient, we withdraw. In all the other countries I have been to, busses, taxi's, even taxi motorcycles are the norm. People share their wheels. Here it is all private vehicles. I have yet to see a taxi or a bus in St Marys. In the evening, people in other countries go out to the public square to socialize. They might pick up food from a street vendor, or in wealther countries an open air resturant. In a town the size of St. Marys, most everyone would be in the park every night. There would be food trucks along the street with pizza, hot dogs, chinese food, etc. There would be some local people playing music. Children would be on the swings. But, here, I guess everyone is home watching TV. No one goes out at night. So, there it is. David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.com