Best laid plans....

 We awoke Thursday morning to fog in Carrabelle and we realized the tide had gone down about 2 feet. It was a new moon and the tides and current were both in the extremes. At around 6am Brent had to retie the boat and pull it back about 3 feet in the slip so we would stay afloat and not touch the bottom. When this picture was taken, we had about 7 inches of water beneath the bow thruster but we were still floating. Not something we needed just prior to leaving.

We did our final engine fluid checks, tied down anything that could take flight while we were underway, created a "ditch bag" just in case we needed to abandon ship quickly, and got the mega life vests out. Brought pillows, blankets, coats, gloves, food, and drinks up to the flybridge since that was going to be our nest for the next 24 hours.

We started the engine at 1:30 and by 1:50 we were off.  We waited until that time of day so we would arrive in Clearwater, FL around noon on Friday near slack tide. Also because there are tons of crab pots as you approach Clearwater. We wanted to be sure the sun would be high enough in the sky so as not to create a glare on the water and blind us as we tried to see them and steer around them. Lori from the sailing catamaran Randy Jo sent me a text as we were approaching the crab pots and said "Eyes wide open and start looking for crab pots" and she was exactly accurate.

   

This is Manatee and she was anchored out in Carrabelle behind our slip. She has done the loop 28 times and is on lap 29, oh geez!!

Anxieties were running a bit high as we left the Carrabelle River channel. Even though it was still foggy, we thought surely it would lift since it was already late in the day. Well, we were wrong (and the forecast was wrong too!).  The foggy conditions didn't change for the entire Gulf crossing. We endured 20 hours of dense fog throughout the night and 2 hours of the most beautiful blue skies as we came into Clearwater.

We traveled with 2 buddy boats, one the same make and model as Second Wave, and the other a slightly larger motor yacht.  We all traveled at the same speed which was very helpful when doing a crossing like this as we managed to stay together. We ended up using most of what I carried up to the flybridge except things we had hoped not to use like the mega life vests (although we wore our other life vests the entire trip) and ditch bag. 

Oh, I forgot, we didn't use the pillows or blankets because we were too scared to go to sleep and leave the other one in charge.  It was pitch dark, 100% humidity, thick fog and a constant mist.  We both had sweatshirts, winter coats, gloves, 2 layers of pants, wool socks and we were still cold and wet. Cruising blindly across the water in the dark was one of the weirdest feelings ever.  Most of the time we could barely see past our anchor. We set our course and turned on the auto pilot and prayed a lot!

We also had some drama. About 30 miles out of Carrabelle we crossed paths with a Shrimp boat displaying no navigation lights in the fog, he wouldn't respond to hailing requests on the radio, and then proceeded to drag a long line across our paths. The three boats had to scramble to avoid the unexpected line in the water. Fortunately, we'd seen him on radar several miles in advance so we at least had a heads-up.

About at the half way point, we spotted an AIS target. It was a Tugboat towing two barges that stretched a quarter of a mile behind him. He was on an intercept course with our fleet. We alerted our buddy boats and adjusted our course to avoid a collision. This is exactly why our buddy boats had waited for us in Carrabelle - our AIS ability. Without it, the other boats might surely have had a much less fortunate experience with this Tug.

And, finally, the drama climaxed. At about 3 in the morning the larger motor yacht in our fleet (a Jefferson 42) broke over the radio with the announcement, "We've just lost our rudder"!

WHAT?!

How do you just lose a rudder? If you have no rudder you can not steer the boat. Oh crap!

Brent responded on the radio and tried to get clarity. Did the rudder just fall off? Did they hit something? Did the hydraulic steering fail? What exactly happened?

The truth was that, at the time, they didn't know. The first mate (Ellen) was now on the radio. Her husband had gone into the engine room to find the problem. To say the least, tensions were high for all of us. Our minds began to think the worst. If they became disabled, do we leave them to drift in the Gulf alone as we continued on to get help? Do we try to tow them? Would we be within radio range of the Coast Guard? What if a second boat in the fleet had such a disabling problem?

We all exhaled when Ellen came back on the radio with, "I think he fixed it". Of course we were greatly relieved but still had to wonder what exactly the problem was. Or for that matter, what was the fix? Did they just happen to have an extra rudder in their ditch bag? Did he lash the refrigerator door to the rudder post? We didn't know and didn't ask.

When they said they were making 10 knots and were catching up we just shook our heads and gave thanks. To make a repair, certainly that kind of repair, to a major piece of equipment in the middle of the Gulf at night that quickly was quite impressive and we told them so. 

The photo above was taken as we were leaving Carrabelle and fog was beginning to surround us instead of burning off as forecasted.

This pic was taken about 8am when the fog was beginning to lift as daylight began to break. If you look close enough you will see water droplets on EVERYTHING! The blurry part is all wet including all of our electronics.  I couldn't find enough towels to keep things dry so I just gave up.  Oh, I almost forgot, we had cell service the first 2 hours and the last 2 hours but not in between and that added to the anxiety.  You just feel like you are in the middle of nowhere with no communication.

This is when the fog finally lifted! Oh what a glorious sight! The one part of the forecast that was exactly right was the prediction of calm seas. As you can see above, that's precisely what we got for the duration of the voyage.

Approaching Clearwater (already past the crab pots).

I needed a different vantage point and took off the 2 coats and gloves I had on and tried to collect some Vitamin D and dry out.

We are so happy to be here and you're not going to be able to beat those temps anywhere!! We've arrived exhausted and ready for sleep as we've both been up all night without so much as a nap. But we've decided to only rest for a couple of hours because we don't want to waste the gorgeous weather! We will catch up later tonight.