The hot soup and sandwich was a perfect break from the wind and constant attention to other vessels, gauges and charts. Again, the engine performed well and was little or no worry.
The 53 miles we traveled today seemed like twice that. Winds at a steady 20kts with gusts up to 27kts made it tough going especially since most of the time we headed into the wind. This however, isn't all bad because crossing Charleston harbor (near Ft. Sumter) we managed to head directly into the wind and therefore, less rolling just a little more pitch up and down. We covered most of the harbor before we started taking the waves on our port quarter. The waves were so much smaller since there was little fetch for them to build!
The Wapoo Creek bascule bridge just past Charleston Harbor closes from 3:30PM to 6:30PM weekdays for rush hour traffic to flow more smoothly! We arrived and requested an opening at 3:22PM. Otherwise our wait would be at anchor for the three hours of closure and would have kept us on the water after dark. I don't like to be out in the dark because there are too many variables most importantly the inability to accurately see what's ahead of you. Also, the St Johns Yacht Harbor is directly past the Wapoo Creek bridge and Elliott Cut. There are certain times one is able to pass through the cut and approaching low tide is not one of them. We made it through at about 4:30PM and registered at the marina shortly after.
A quick call to Karen, our life-long friend, and we were soon on our way to laundry, shopping and dinner! Our two nights stay at St Johns Marina was reasonable and they have the best showers I have used on all our trips. Also, they give a discount for being a Boat US member. It is a well-kept marina with friendly staff there to help. Interestingly, it's amazing the amount of tide and current there on the Stono River. We always cleat our lines with the intention of when we return Fiu will still be there!
Wednesday, our college friend, Gloria, of Gloria and Ralph, invited us to her house and to lunch at their local marina. We drove over to the Isle of Palms and spent some time catching up on our children, their activities and families. Gloria, Karen, Bon and I were all classmates at Cortland State from 1967-1971. That was when you entered college and then graduated
four years later.
Captain Sid
As we travel on Fiu it's amazing how the kinds of boats, size of boats and the names of the boats are so diverse! I am sure when boaters hear our "Fiu" they wonder, "What the heck?" Well, Fiu may be unusual but when you hear the story of what it means it makes sense. There is one boat name that no matter what the story is it doesn"t make sense. As we moved from Beaufort, SC to Thunderbolt, GA we kept hearing the boat named "Breaking Wind" over the radio. I'm sorry, but don't be that guy! All I could think about were other more ridiculous names associated with Breaking Wind. Here are a few: Stinky Feet, Bad Breath, and, well,you get the idea. The long time tradition of naming your ship with a woman's name is somewhat limited these days. The large luxury power cruisers and the sport fishing boats have been difficult to deal with on this trip. Both of these boats are designed in such a way that a huge wake is delivered outward ready to swamp any small craft and roll the "ba jeepers" out of even larger sailboats! Often you will hear some say that the faster they go the less wake they deliver! Not true! For many designs this is true. However, there seem to be just as many designs where this is also not true. The hard part of all of this is we all have a right to be on the water in the size of the boat, the design of the boat and of course, even the name of the boat we choose. Getting sailboats to understand they need to slow down and move to the right when possible and more importantly, to get power boaters to pass on our port side at a reasonable speed that produces the smallest wake for that design is what really needs to happen.
