After last minute preparations, TJ is there to help us drop the lines
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| Dos Libras waiting for bridge |
from the dock and head down Factory Creek. Our identical boat, Dos Libras, right in front of us. We wait for the 12:00 bridge opening with 3 other boats. With 1knt of current against us we make our way down Beaufort River towards the inlet. Around 13:30 the current turns to help push us towards the ocean. We are at the beginning of a 3 day weather window (winds less than 10knts, high pressure system and sunny skies), sadly remnants of the high winds are still showing their effects with 8' rolling waves 7 seconds apart. By midnight the seas should calm down.
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| Our sunset offshore by Beaufort, SC |
It's nice to have company when making a passage, Dos Libras is right behind us. We are 15 miles off shore watching the sunset (photos never capture the steepness of the hill or the height of the waves). Julie goes down to the galley to get dinner, a quick and easy tuna salad that she'd prepared for the journey...when suddenly around 18:30 and in the dark the engine revs drop. I pull back on the throttle and she cuts out...WTF!! I radio Dos Libras to inform them of the circumstances. Before trying to start the engine, we hoisted the main sail to help steady the boat and keep us moving, although ever so slowly. Julie was at the helm keeping the boat on course with what little wind we had. I check the engine room for anything obvious...the vacuum gauge on the Racor fuel filter is in the red...it's the damn fuel filter needs to be replaced, clogged with debris. I update Dos Libras, we share thoughts and they circle around us.
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| Engine room - fuel filter top center |
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| Vacuum gauge on fuel filter |
Twenty minutes later, I have the fuel filter changed and the engine started. It's running rough and the vacuum is still high on the fuel filter. The engine dies again. I try to prime the fuel lines but it seems I'm not getting fuel from the tank...maybe a bigger problem than I can resolve. We tell Dos Libras to continue on as we decide to call TowBoatUs (luckily we purchased the Gold membership a few months ago). Dos Libras offers to tow us but that's out of the question in these conditions...they reluctantly move on their way...both of us not happy to separate. Whenever making a passage, you always need options incase things get ugly...we discuss turning at Fernandina or Jacksonville inlets but at our speed it will take us two days! We're too far out for a cell signal and TowBoatUS is not answering on VHF16. So we had no choice but to hail the US Coast Guard who take our boat details and help to call TBUS to relay the info. TBUS will be out in two hours as we start to sail towards land at 3mph...there is little wind. After working over the hot engine down below with the boat rocking and the fumes of diesel fuel all around me, I start feeling nauseous. It feels like a nasty hangover for the rest of the passage. I call a couple mechanics, one being my brother Rick. I get a couple ideas but I need to rest and settle my stomach. With tools and hoses all over the place, I remove the fuel line for the fuel tank, suck then blow and now I'm able to prime the system; we start the engine....whatever I did worked. After about two hours, we are back underway. I call the USCG and have TBUS stand-down. Julie was a trooper throughout the whole ordeal by staying positive and helping in anyway she could....including insisting I sniff some concoction of natural herbs that is specifically for nausea caused from seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy nauseousness. We joke about buying an RV in Florida and wonder if anyone would ever want to come visit us on the boat.
The temperature is dropping to the low 30's and the rollers continue...
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| First Mate trying to rest at sea |
it's the roughest passage we have had but still not unbearable....however, it is damn cold! We do three hour shifts but the rolling of the boat makes it difficult to sleep even with the Lee clothes that stop us from falling out of bed...we both fight to stay awake during our shifts. Again, the sun brings energy and warmth. Julie always comments that she feels a real adrenal rush as day breaks and night moves on....her tiredness diminishes and a real sense of accomplishment takes over. Shortly after sunrise, the cockpit enclosure acts as a solarium and brings the temperature up from 36F to 90F...we remove several layers of clothing as we officially cross into Florida. We had tried to hail Dos Libras a few times to update them but no response...they must be too far ahead.
We had just past the Jacksonville inlet, 16 miles off shore, when Julie woke me up as she saw an email we had received from Mark Doyle with an update on the St. Augustine inlet. The USCG had a warning that morning that three buoys were out of position due to bad weather and a 45' sailboat ran aground on the rocks a few days ago in the entrance and suggested we tuck in at Jacksonville inlet and take the ICW down to St. Augustine. We immediately turned back and headed towards Jacksonville and I went back to bed. I couldn't get back to sleep, went back into the cockpit to call TBUS to confirm the email Mark had passed on to us. TBUS transfered us to the local guy who knew nothing about a boat running onto the rocks and said we would be fine...we turned back and continued on towards St. Augustine. At this point, we had this visual of a very narrow, shallow channel with waves hitting us on the side. The TBUS guy even offered to come out and escort us in. Hmmm, with our engine issue I gave it some thought.
We had heard other boats hail Dos Libras but also got no response; this time we heard the USCG responding to Dos Libras. They switched to channel 22 and we switched to listen in. We can only hear one side of the conversation from the USCG...apparently Dos Libras had spotted a whale (all whale sightings are to be reported). If only we didn't have engine problems, we would have been there with them to see the whale. Still apprehensive about the St. Augustine inlet, we hailed the USCG for an update about their warning. Dos Libras can hear us but we couldn't hear them ( it turned out they have an issue with low transmission signal). The CG relayed a message from them - their cell phone number, so we were able to communicate....they would call us once through the inlet.
Things were looking up, it was 12:30, blue sky, we were getting good Intel on the inlet only two hours away and the seas were calming down when suddenly, yes, the engine revs dropped again....our hearts sunk. We pulled back the throttle but this time the engine didn't die. I checked the vacuum gauge on the fuel filter and the needle was even more in the red zone. We put it in gear and continued at lower RPMs waiting for it to quit...I pondered the problem and opened the deck fill cap for the fuel thinking there may be a vacuum lock in the tank if the vent hose is plugged. Immediately the vacuum gauge went back down to a normal range, but we keep the revs down just in case. We shook our heads and wondered what else can happen this day. I called the TBUS guy, mentioned our engine issue and took him up on the escort into the inlet..."Call me when you see the sea buoy and I will come out and meet you". After the way this passage has gone so far, you don't how comforting that felt.
After making it in through the inlet, Dos Libras called us to tell us that they heeded all the warnings and only saw 10' at the lowest depth but most was 20-40', it was wavy but we could do it. That all sounded promising and now the end was in sight as we approached the sea buoy marking the entrance to the first red and green buoy. We called TBUS and as we approached the first red buoy, Tim was coming out to greet us...we followed him in. Tim didn't favour the Reds like all the warnings suggested; he went down the center of all the red and green buoys. Yes, green 5 and 5a were missing, but that didn't seem to matter. The channel was wide and easy to follow in...we saw no less than 22' of water below us. I felt like a pansy being escorted in this easy inlet. I wanted to tell Tim, "Thanks but we've got it from here". Tim stayed with us, waited with us for the bridge to open and helped us find our mooring ball. It was awfully nice of him. However, I knew he was looking for the $20 bill in the palm of my hand when he held on to the side of our
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| Sunset in St. Augustine |
boat to ask if we were all good now. And boy, were we good! Finally in Florida and the cold weather has now passed....what a great feeling. How differently the night could have gone if we didn't get the engine working again. Both of us were so beat, we had a quick anchor drink, made dinner and were in bed by 7:45 and slept 13 hours straight!!
Cheers
Dwayne & Julie
sv BoomDeYada
MMSI# 316026055
Skype: dwayne.sadler or Julia.sadler
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