SearayPaul
Active Member
We went from Charleston to Hilton Head's Harbor Town Marina this past weekend. This has been a trip I have wanted to do for a long time, twelve years to be exact.
We went to Charleston Thursday evening after my wife got off of work. We knew that this would be quite an adventure as we were leaving Simpsonville with the trailer in tow. We had just gotten on the toll road when a state car rolled in behind us with the yellow lights on. It seems my electronic pass had not been picked up as I went thru the toll gate and he wanted his money. Now on to the fun.
We left Charleston Friday morning with 12 other boats for the 95 mile trip to HH. Care to guess which boat was the smallest by far? The entire day we stayed one step ahead of all of the thunderstorms and 20 knot winds. We were routinely encountering two foot chop all the way to Beaufort. Beaufort is a no wake zone for a good long ways between the two bridges. The lead 450 Sundancer got on the radio and suggested that the small boat get in behind a big boat as we cleared the second bridge into Port Royal Sound. Who was Searay1 talking too? I got behind a 320 Sundancer that walked away from me and was quickly on my own in 3 to 4 foot steep waves coming off the ocean on the bow and the port side. Just for good measure an occaisonal 5 footer came rolling in.
My mistake was trying to run too hard to keep up and not trusting my GPS and myself to get me where I was going. My wife was ready to give up boating at that point as we got pounded pretty good. A 36 Sedan Bridge, GiveitUp. came along side and let me drop in on his stern which helped a lot. The water was easily clearing his flybridge.
After that exciting crossing we motored into Harbor Town for a shower and a relaxing night. We ate in the reasturant at the light house. The crabcakes and shrimp were delcious. The Fighting Irish was docked and had a party until the wee hours of the morning.
Golf was great on Saturday on Dufaski Island until the lighting and rain showed up after five holes. We were out of there in a flash. Did you know that you can go four wheeling with a golf cart? The shortest distance between the club house and where we were was an old trail so off we went as the club house tracked us with a GPS . I told them I had a GPS too and was not impressed. The weather never improved so we went home after the best chicken salad wrap lunch I have had in awhile.
Bullbats were offered over by the big boats. The Sara Jane was docked off by herself in a lonely corner of the marina so as not to upset the tourists. I have heard not all people have big boats despite what the tourists think. We strolled over to the center dock where we were welcomed by one and all. GiveitUp got a big thanks for allowing us to ride his stern across Port Royal. All of the big boats were extremely nice and teased about our little boat going the distance. I retorted with wait until you fuel up tomorrow. Dinner was a catered affair that Hall Marine put together. At dinner we met some people and generally had a good time.
Sunday we fueled up at Skull Creek at the rate of 3 gallons per minute. It took better than four hours to fuel everyone. Gallons for the Sara Jane... 33. Gallons for the big boys 175 at least. Knowing what I know now I would have gone to Beaufort to fuel. On the way across Port Royal the slop was only 3 footers and I slowed to my pace to have an easy crossing. Lesson learned. I can catch the big boys later. One fellow lost a water pump so I proceeded with another big boat on the way home while Searay 1 escorted him back to port for repairs. It was now time to return a helping hand. The big boat I was following, he shall remain nameless, made a wrong turn and was on his way to the ocean. We discussed it on the VHF and then he dropped in behind me. I am not sure why his GPS was not on as there were no markers to get a visual on in that area of the ICW. Now my VHF stopped recieving. Transmit works fine. Icom says the radio is fine after I talked with them today. I am going to solder the ends on again to see what happens.
In Charleston Harbor about 500 yards short of the Ravenel Bridge the air tempeture dropped about 10 or 15 degrees as a huge storm was moving in. You could feel the front moving in. We had seen it coming as we made the turn by the coast guard station and the weather radio started going off. We got the boat on the trailer just as a huge storm let go to wash all of the salt off Sara Jane.
A few pictures follow. No I have no pictures of the big stuff as I was too busy hanging on. It also would have been hard to get a picture as GiveitUp's transom kept going out of sight.
Next adventure is Myrtle Beach.
Searide has a knew AlumaCruiser
Big Boys
DockTails
Fighting Irish
GiveitUp
Sunset
Sunset
Harbor Town
Sails
God Bless America
We went to Charleston Thursday evening after my wife got off of work. We knew that this would be quite an adventure as we were leaving Simpsonville with the trailer in tow. We had just gotten on the toll road when a state car rolled in behind us with the yellow lights on. It seems my electronic pass had not been picked up as I went thru the toll gate and he wanted his money. Now on to the fun.
We left Charleston Friday morning with 12 other boats for the 95 mile trip to HH. Care to guess which boat was the smallest by far? The entire day we stayed one step ahead of all of the thunderstorms and 20 knot winds. We were routinely encountering two foot chop all the way to Beaufort. Beaufort is a no wake zone for a good long ways between the two bridges. The lead 450 Sundancer got on the radio and suggested that the small boat get in behind a big boat as we cleared the second bridge into Port Royal Sound. Who was Searay1 talking too? I got behind a 320 Sundancer that walked away from me and was quickly on my own in 3 to 4 foot steep waves coming off the ocean on the bow and the port side. Just for good measure an occaisonal 5 footer came rolling in.
My mistake was trying to run too hard to keep up and not trusting my GPS and myself to get me where I was going. My wife was ready to give up boating at that point as we got pounded pretty good. A 36 Sedan Bridge, GiveitUp. came along side and let me drop in on his stern which helped a lot. The water was easily clearing his flybridge.
After that exciting crossing we motored into Harbor Town for a shower and a relaxing night. We ate in the reasturant at the light house. The crabcakes and shrimp were delcious. The Fighting Irish was docked and had a party until the wee hours of the morning.
Golf was great on Saturday on Dufaski Island until the lighting and rain showed up after five holes. We were out of there in a flash. Did you know that you can go four wheeling with a golf cart? The shortest distance between the club house and where we were was an old trail so off we went as the club house tracked us with a GPS . I told them I had a GPS too and was not impressed. The weather never improved so we went home after the best chicken salad wrap lunch I have had in awhile.
Bullbats were offered over by the big boats. The Sara Jane was docked off by herself in a lonely corner of the marina so as not to upset the tourists. I have heard not all people have big boats despite what the tourists think. We strolled over to the center dock where we were welcomed by one and all. GiveitUp got a big thanks for allowing us to ride his stern across Port Royal. All of the big boats were extremely nice and teased about our little boat going the distance. I retorted with wait until you fuel up tomorrow. Dinner was a catered affair that Hall Marine put together. At dinner we met some people and generally had a good time.
Sunday we fueled up at Skull Creek at the rate of 3 gallons per minute. It took better than four hours to fuel everyone. Gallons for the Sara Jane... 33. Gallons for the big boys 175 at least. Knowing what I know now I would have gone to Beaufort to fuel. On the way across Port Royal the slop was only 3 footers and I slowed to my pace to have an easy crossing. Lesson learned. I can catch the big boys later. One fellow lost a water pump so I proceeded with another big boat on the way home while Searay 1 escorted him back to port for repairs. It was now time to return a helping hand. The big boat I was following, he shall remain nameless, made a wrong turn and was on his way to the ocean. We discussed it on the VHF and then he dropped in behind me. I am not sure why his GPS was not on as there were no markers to get a visual on in that area of the ICW. Now my VHF stopped recieving. Transmit works fine. Icom says the radio is fine after I talked with them today. I am going to solder the ends on again to see what happens.
In Charleston Harbor about 500 yards short of the Ravenel Bridge the air tempeture dropped about 10 or 15 degrees as a huge storm was moving in. You could feel the front moving in. We had seen it coming as we made the turn by the coast guard station and the weather radio started going off. We got the boat on the trailer just as a huge storm let go to wash all of the salt off Sara Jane.
A few pictures follow. No I have no pictures of the big stuff as I was too busy hanging on. It also would have been hard to get a picture as GiveitUp's transom kept going out of sight.
Next adventure is Myrtle Beach.
Searide has a knew AlumaCruiser
Big Boys
DockTails
Fighting Irish
GiveitUp
Sunset
Sunset
Harbor Town
Sails
God Bless America
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