Hilton Head Island: sailed and provisioned

 

I went sailing Wednesday and Thursday.  Well, sort of.  At least I left the dock.

The weather was just as forecast:  sunny and very light wind.  I pushed GANNET out of her slip at about 9:30 and it took me an hour and a half powering with the mainsail up but not assisting much and 50% of the battery against an incoming tide to cover the 1.8 miles to the mouth of Skull Creek.  Once on Port Royal Sound I set the jib as well and sailed slowly down the sound and then half way back and anchored in the middle a mile from either shore.  The best part was sitting in the cockpit at 5 sipping some tequila that was on board and listening to music.  I also ate my freeze dry beef stew on deck and some cookies I brought with me.

The sound was completely flat that night and I slept well.

I waited Thursday morning for wind and some came up about 11.  I raised anchor and sails and made it to about a half mile outside the mouth of the creek when what was only very light wind at best, died completely and the water went glassy, so I powered the rest of the way.  This time with the tide with me making more than three knots and using only 30% of the battery although I powered father than on my way out.

I am beginning to understand these waters and while the currents here are nothing like those of Northern Australia with its eight meter/26’ tides and other places, they must be taken into consideration.

I had to adjust to the current when docking as well, feeling it trying to push GANNET sideways.

It was good to be on the boat and the water, even if the sailing was not great.  The condo is seductive.  My eye and mind are repeatedly drawn to the changing beauty outside. Skull Creek rising and falling, covering and uncovering spartina.  The light reflecting off it differently as the sun moves across the sky.  The live oaks and Spanish moss hanging still or moving in the wind.  The birds and squirrels and occasional raccoon and even more occasional alligator.  I like living with the minimum membrane between myself and the natural world and for a land dwelling this condo is that.  I can be outside on the deck or on the screened porch in a few steps and seconds.  But looking at the water, however beautiful, is not the same as being on and surrounded by it and being the only boat anchored on Port Royal Sound.  That there is so much room on the water here and that you can anchor almost anywhere are great virtues.

That is the longest the boat has had hatches open for months.  GANNET feels the heat, too, and needs to breath.  The summers are too hot, but the next eight months should be good.  I need to do this more often.

I have written that you never really know a boat until you live on board her for an extended time.  Even in my two days on board, my to do list has increased.

The new main halyard did not solve the problem of clutch slippage.  It has a softer cover than the old halyard which I thought the clutch might grip better.  It didn’t.  There are solutions, but none that I yet consider acceptable.  I will give it more thought.

I biked down to GANNET this morning to put her in order.  After docking I had removed the Torqeedo from the transom, but left it on the cabin sole and I had left the anchor and rode bag on the v-berth.  I brought the Torqeedo battery up to the condo to charge overnight.  I had also refueled at anchor, taking the battery down below to charge.  GANNET is her own fuel dock.

I have been wanting to turn GANNET in her slip so I can scrub the starboard side of the bottom with the extension broom and when I got to the little boat at about 10:30 this morning I realized the conditions were perfect.  Near low tide slack water and no wind, so I did it, tying a long line around a stern cleat, pushing her out into the fairway, then turning and pulling her back in with the stern cleated line.  Why not just have backed her in when I returned?  Two reasons.  One, I don’t like to use reverse under power and second my flawed depth perception makes it difficult for me to judge close distances well.  So I keep it simple and go in bow first.  GANNET is so light that it is easy to push her out and around.

While sailing I saw several dark spots on the mainsail and some black crumbly clumps of dirt on the deck.  I don’t know where they came from.  You may recall that wasps started to build a hive in my dock box.  Perhaps they or a bird tried to build a nest in the furled mainsail.  In any event, I raised the mainsail and scrubbed the spots which mostly disappeared.  I expect exposure to sunlight under sail will do the rest.

I properly stowed the Torqeedo and battery and anchor and rode and then scrubbed the deck.

The temperature was only a maximum of 81F/27C, but I was pouring with sweat by the time I was finished and biked with relief to the air conditioned condo.

While I was away my order of freeze dry food was delivered, as was the replacement Pelican flashlight and Capt. Tully’s Creeping Crack Cure which Jim recommended as a possible fix for the leak around the compass.  Porch pirates are not a problem inside this gated community.

Those packs in the photo represent over 100 meals.  I will sort them into three bags of about 35 meals each.  This will be a bit more complicated than usual because many of these packs are two meals rather than one.  I expect that my aged brain will figure it out.