We kept our distance from the shores as we made our way up and around Long Point. The seas soon started to come from the stern, following seas. We would climb up a given wave crest over the top and surf down the face. I had increased the speed enough so that we were comfortable and able to maintain control of the boat while it surfed. Then, as we rounded Long Point, we saw it in the distance and there was no way to outrun it….a squall line was headed straight for us. I turned on the radar at this time (now I know that I am required to have the radar active at all times when moving) and we closed up the windows as the storm approached. We kept an eye on our position in order to keep from running aground. The squall arrived and the sky turned black with heavy winds, thunder, lightning and blinding rain; to our surprise the force of the storm had flattened the seas completely. Unfortunately, we also discovered that the canvas top was not quite waterproof. We must have looked silly with our foul weather gear on under the canvas, but the alternative of being dripped on was not terribly appealing. Visibility had been reduced to about 60 feet, if you think about that, the boat measures 41 feet, the helm position is roughly in the center of the boat so, that gave us 40 feet ahead. The squall passed and as I looked over to the port side I saw the Long Point light house, we had drifted far too close to Long Point for comfort, but with a quick correction we were back into safe waters again making our way around the point and towards MacDonald Turkey Point Marina. The ride on the Eastern edge of Long Point was uneventful and quite comfortable until we made our way into the marina.
Entering the marina at Turkey Point, you are faced with many channels and one wrong turn will have you turning around in shallow weedy waters. The first wrong turn had us heading down a channel that was a dead end, so turn around the first time. We finally found the correct channel and as we approached our slip I attempted to back in. The wind was not being terribly co-operative, and after a few attempts I decided to head into the slip bow first. There were a few people who saw that we were having problems and came out to the dock to assist us, but our neighbors just sat there, drinking, laughing and commenting as armchair captains, this was a sign of things to come. After we were tied up, I shut down the engines and noticed that the opening of the slip allowed for 6 inches to either side, I didn't feel so bad. We had arrived!
In hindsight there were some good lessons we learned from this trip.
The first lesson was never to assume that a task has been carried out properly. Always check your systems with engines running (navigation lights and all running systems).
The second lesson was, make sure that bits and pieces don’t go missing from the boat after work has been carried out. For some unknown reason the previous owner removed the hot water tank, when I approached him about this, he claimed it was leaking so he removed it as a favor to me. Gee….thanks!
Third, be flexible on your departure date and time. Although the boat did handle the seas well enough, as crew we were uncomfortable and upon our arrival we were tired.
Fourth, take an inventory of all the systems on the boat. Measure hose diameters, know where all of the through hulls are, make a spares inventory list and check it. We were lucky that we didn’t have a mechanical failure, broken hose, broken fan belt, etc.
I’ve also learned to keep more detailed logs that I can refer back to if needed. The small amount of time it takes to log details of a passage is well worth the effort. If you ask most people I do have a pretty good memory, but for applying to the coastguard for my captains license, my memory doesn't really help. I’ve also put together an engine log book to keep track of maintenance and engine room checks. Every day I learn something new and future blogs will also highlight other lessons learned.
This trip also set us on a search for a bow thruster to help with manoeuvring in challenging conditions.
May the winds be in your favor and the seas carry you gently to your Tropical Horizons!
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