Fog and Water

I took ten days off after Christmas.  The 27th and 29th were warm and foggy days and I spent them both on the water.  A friend and I went out sailing on the 27th, in very light wind.  We set at the marina porch for thirty minutes debating whether or not to go.  A little after noon, the visibility wasn't much over a mile (it had been much less in the morning).  The flags were barely fluttering. Had the winds picked up, the fog would have been blown away.  As we watched, there appeared some ripples on the water.  We then saw another boat host its sails and make their way up the river, so we decided we'd give it a try. The tide had just turned and was rising, so we sailed out on the Wilmington River, into Wassaw Sound, toward the north end of Wassaw Island.  The wind picked to maybe a sustained 5 knots with a few puffs of maybe 8 knots, nothing exciting but enough to allow us to make decent headway against the tide.  We talked and watched dolphins feed.  After an hour or so, we turned around.  Shortly thereafter enough of the fog was burned off or blown away that we saw the sun for a few minutes.  Running with a spinnaker and being pushed by the tides, we quickly ran back toward the marina  But about a 1/4 mile from the marina, the wind died.  We let the tide pull is in and then used paddles to navigate through the break wall.  We'd come back just in time!

Paddling out as the fog lifts

The next day, I took off in my kayak at 10 AM from the Delegal Creek marina on the south side of the island.  As I launched, the visibility was maybe a quarter mile.  I paddled out of Delegal Creek on the falling tide and headed out toward Ossabaw Sound.  I hug as closely as possible to the shore as I didn't want to get lost, but I had to be careful to be out far enough that I wouldn't be caught on a mudflat with the falling tide.  In the soupy fog, I thought I heard someone talking and wondered who would be out on the water with such fog, but it turned out to be gulls squawking on a sandbar.   Later I would hear a motor as a boat made its way out of the river and into the sound. I couldn't see him for the longest time, but could hear it through the fog.  Then he stopped for a few minutes, would run for maybe 30 seconds and then stop again.  I thought maybe he was trying to find the channel, but later, as I approached the south end of Wassaw and the fog had lifted to where I could see a mile or two, I realized he was pulling crab traps.   

lunch on Wassaw

The paddle out was one of the smoothest I've had on these waters (as was the paddle back).  Bottle-nose dolphins were all around me, some of which appeared to dance on the the water as they played around, gracefully jumping as they fed on baitfish.  I arrived on the island, ate lunch and took a nap on the sand, before walking around the island for maybe a hour.  This was the first time I've been on the island since Hurricane Matthew.  I was surprised that there were few down trees, but there were a number of pines that had died from salt water, but these were mostly in wash areas that would have been flooded for a long period during and after the storm.  The trees growing on top of dunes appeared to have done well.

Sand Dollar on the beach

At 3:30, I decided I'd better be getting back.  The tide was running in hard (low tide was a little after 1 PM) and it would be getting dark a little after 5.  I made the five mile paddle back and had loaded my boat on the car as the sun set.  It was another good day. 

Below are a few more scenes from my trip.

Bottle Nose Dolphin (taken from Wassaw Island)

Wassaw Island

Wassaw Island

Last Week

Graduation

  I'm going to break one of my blog rules and talk a bit about my family as I share with you some photos from last week.  It was a lovely and crazy week as my daughter graduated from high school on Wednesday, in a very impressive service.  It was one of three evening events that started on Monday night, when we gathered in the gym for honors night.  She received a number of awards and accolades including a special honor for her achievements in history and government.  She also received one of the two music awards and honors as the top student in AP statistics.  She also received her cord for having an "A" average throughout high school.  She attended a Catholic all-girl's high school operated by the Sisters of Mercy.   On Tuesday evening was baccalaureate which, like graduation, was held in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.  The photo from the left was taken by the school photographer as I was sitting to the right in the crowd.

Coming into town for graduation was her brother and his family from Utah.  It was great to see them.  The oldest of their boys had several things he wanted to do:  see an alligator, see a turtle, see "my fire trucks," see the railroad museum and sail.  We accomplished it all.  The week was a lot of fun!

Heading out of the harbor
Photo by daughter-in-law as I'm at the helm

Little Sage

A future sailor?

Have a good weekend.  Any exciting plans?

Weekend Roundup

Resting on Burntpot Island

The weather has finally turned cool, with the mercury dropping to just above the freezing mark overnight.  Finally, a change in the weather.  On Friday, I was paddling in a kayak with just a t-shirt and shorts.  It was a great day even if it was a little windy (12 knots) as I made my way north through the Skidaway Narrows along the Intracoastal Waterway.  Heading south were at least a dozen sailboats, many of which were flying Canadian flags.   Toward the north end of Skidaway Island, I explored a creek around the backside of Burntpot Island and, as it was high tide, paddled through the marsh.  I also got to watch a bald eagle watching me from its perch high in a pine tree.  Paddling back, I was passed by the Savannah Fire boat. 

Bald Eagle

Enlarge to notice the snails on the grass (spartina)

Savannah Fire Boat

Another boat coming out to race

 Saturday afternoon was a day of sailing.  We had strong winds out of the north and the weather was a little cooler.  I still was wearing shorts, but with a long sleeve shirt and a rain jacket.  As soon as we sailed through the marina’s break wall, a wave splashed over the bow and I found myself wishing I’d brought a pair of rain pants.  The racing was exciting.  In almost every race, there were several boats in contention at the finish line and in one, the distance between us and another boat was only inches.  I thought we had taken it, but the committee boat gave the race to the other boat.  Still, it was a great day of sailing and thankfully, we only received a few drops of rain.

waiting for the gun to sound

Sanders in Savannah taken from my iphone

Bernie Sanders was in town last night and spoke to an overflowing crowd (2600 seats and not everyone was able to make it in and the publicity in advance wasn’t that good).  My daughter wanted to go and so I went along with her and a friend.  It was interesting to watch him live.  Personally, I believe the only candidate that has as much energy as he has is Trump (and interestingly, they are both on the extreme of their parties).  He spoke for nearly 90 minutes on pretty much every topic.  He was also funny, but I doubt he has a chance.  It was a pleasure to go with my daughter as she’ll be voting this year and would like to see all the candidates.  I remember in my first election to vote (1976), I got to see Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan (and even shook hands with Nancy) as well as Jimmy Carter and his challenger Eugene McCarthy (with whom I had a cup of coffee).  She shares that same excitement.  

This is Thanksgiving week and it is going to be a crazy week.  My dad is facing potential surgery so I may be making a trip to North Carolina in the middle of the week.  Keep him in your prayers.  

Final view
Sailboat heading south (Friday)

A pretty good weekend

movie from the comforts of a car!

It was a pretty good weekend.  On Friday, I did a lot of trimming shrubs and yard work.  My daughter and I had plans to go see the new movie, “The Martian.”  When I realized it was on a drive-in theater in Beaufort, we decided for an evening road trip.  I haven’t been to a drive-in since high school and she’d never been one.  It was kind of neat even though they no longer have speakers at each car (now they tell you which station to listen in on your radio).  The photo was taken from the front seat of the car, but you can’t really tell it was from the car (I was hoping to get the steering wheel in the scene but it was too dark).  The movie was pretty good and my daughter thought she preferred the drive-in to regular movies (it was better staying inside the car than to go outside due to the number of bugs outside in the wet ground). 

Close haul

I was supposed to be on the committee boat on Saturday for sailing, but there was rain and some lightning and no wind, so we cancelled.  I did go out on the water with some folks on Sunday afternoon.  Instead of racing, we practiced a number of procedures and generally enjoyed being on the water for a few hours.

Another boat running with a spinnaker 

T. R. presents me with the door prize

Sunday evening, I attended “An Evening with TR” sponsored by the Friends of the Savanah Wildlife Refugees.  There are seven refugees in our area and this was a fundraiser.   Joe Wiegand played T.R. and put on a wonderful show. If he is in your area, I would recommend you seeing him!  In addition to top notch entertainment, I made out nicely as my $20 entry to the lecture resulted in winning one of the door prizes, a $40 book:  The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  

Librivox and Sailing Alone Around the World

The Spray

For years I have used Audible.com as a source for audio books that I listen to in the gym and while on long drives. My snobbishness makes me insist I only listen to unabridged books and I probably listen to eight or ten books a year on audible.  I read a lot more but listening to books make the workouts and the long drives go faster and I learn new things.  That said, this summer I learned of a new service, a free service, for books that are in the public domain.  Librivox uses volunteers to read books and as they are in the public domain (ie, published before the 1920s) there are no royalties to pay.   The first book I listened to was Mark Twain’s Roughing It, which I had read twice before and read parts of it many times.  Listening to it again allowed me to get it into my head since I was teaching a class on it this summer.  I was impressed with the quality of the reading and looked around for other “old books” that I’d interested in reading and that’s where I saw Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World.  As you may remember, I have read other books about those who have sailed around the world (the Dove, the Faith, and the Unsinkable).  I knew of this book, but have never read it.  I was in for a treat.

Joshua Slocum was a semi-retired sea captain when he “rebuild” and old sloop that was used for bringing oysters to market.  He pretty much had to redo all the wood on the boat, working on it in a pasture in Fairhaven Massachusetts.   When completed, the boat which he named "The Spray" was 36’ 9”.  On April 24, 1895, he left Boston to sail around the world.  Sailing in the Gulf Stream, he headed north, stopping in Nova Scotia (his childhood home) before crossing the Atlantic and stopping in the Azores and Gibraltar.  At night, when he was not on the helm, during a gale, he had a vision of a Spanish captain from the Pinta at the helm.  This mysterious crew was his only companion.  

Slocum decided against using the Suez Canal (the Panama was not yet built) because of the danger or Pirates and sailed south along the African coast where he was chased by pirates.   A gale was blowing and he was doing well, but was afraid his mast might break from the strain so he finally decides to reef the sails (shorten them).  The boat (whom he felt were pirates) began to gain on him.  The other boat left their full sails up, but before they could catch Slocum, their mast snapped.  Slocum heads back across the Atlantic, stopping in South Africa and sailing through the dangerous passages in the Straits of Magellan at the bottom of the continent. He sailed up the continent, stopping at Juan Fernandez Islands off Chili, before turning west and sailing across the Pacific to Australia.  In Australia, he began to give talks that help provide income for his trip.  

After Australia, he heads into the Indian Ocean, made several stops in as he rounded the Horn of Africa (and giving talks), then sailing north across the Atlantic.  On this last leg, he was nervous as he learns the United States is at war with Spain.  He doesn’t encounter any Spanish ships and returns back home to New England on June 27, 1898.   The book is a mixture of humor, descriptions of sailing and navigating (he used crude methods), adventures in gales and from natives off South America who tried to slip onto the ship at night but found that he had placed tacks on the deck and the stealth of their night adventure was loss as they cried out in pain and jumped overboard.  He recorded many conversations including the Dutch settlers in South Africa who did not believe the world was round and provided it with the Bible.  However, Slocum spoke in awe of God’s providence and creation just as he brought up many marine myths and legends.  It was a pleasure to listen to this book.  The narrator also incorporated the sounds of seagull at the end of each chapter that was a nice touch.  If you are interested in the sea, in sailing or in adventure, I recommend this book.  You might also like this video of Slocum’s life (I am not sure he thought of himself as Canadian, as the video indicates, as he sailed with the Stars and Stripes, but nonetheless, it's a good video: