Ship's Log - Kidogo

Page 4

9/25/99 - Saturday - Harbor Pirates Ahoy!

What a beautiful day for a cruise! We put in about noon without incident from Remley's Point. The Merc 5 actually started on the very first pull, if you can believe it. Going with the outgoing current, we sailed under the Cooper River Bridge and into the harbor. We decided to make a circuit of the harbor, so we turned to starboard and swooped down like pirates along the Battery, one of the most beautiful stretches of real estate in the entire country. Homes along Charleston's Battery remain virtually unchanged since the Civil War, when residents held parties on the rooftops to watch the bombardment of Fort Sumter! When we reached the Ashley river, we made a turn to port and just skirted James Island and Fort Johnson to starboard. Historic Fort Sumter lay dead ahead on an island at the mouth of the harbor, still standing guard over our beautiful city. "Avast ye maties! Prepare to storm the guns!" As we sailed by the fort and out into the Atlantic, we looked up to see a stealth fighter flying directly overhead, a participant in a local air show. We were struck by the juxtaposition of the old and new military technologies, contrasted here in such a beautiful setting. At this point we were passed by two harbor tour boats, with dozens of tourists leaning out over the rail taking pictures of...us!?! "Smile, Anna Kate, and stop poking Daddy in the head with that banana!"

We continued on out into the Atlantic, past the south jetty where we saw lots of people fishing. I had forgotten the fishing pole, but next time it definately comes along. On our way back in, we saw many shrimp boats making their way back along Sullivan's Island and past the impressive beach houses along its shore. As we rounded Patriot's Point, we were flying wing and wing, with the breeze directly astern. The WWII aircraft carrier _Yorktown_ is docked at Patriot's Point, and is now a fantastic floating museum. I have spent the night on the carrier while a Boy Scout leader, and I can tell you that it is just as impressive on the inside. Coast Guard ships and a WWII submarine are also on display. We raced two other small sailboats back up the Cooper River, and past massive container ships heading out from Charleston's huge dock terminals. Reading the book_Waiting For a Ship_ really made me appreciate these vessels, and the crew that runs them. Anna Kate loved watching the large ocean tugboats maneuver the huge beasts upriver. "That boat is dirty, Daddy. You go wash it!"

As usual, there was quite a crowd at the ramp with lots of boats coming and going, but at least we weren't the only sailboat around. And for once, we had plenty of gas, too. We actually enjoyed circling and watching the the pelicans and dolphins. We got to see close up the damage that Hurricaine Floyd had done to various structures in the area, including the Cooper River Marina and many unsheltered docks and sea walls. When we finally saw an opening at the ramp, we gently nosed in and halued ashore a pirate's booty of memories we will never forget.

5/6-7/2000 - Saturday and Sunday - Mambo (With Green Buoy) Number 5, or The Bed Sheet Bimini!!

Friday afternoon rolled around, and I suddenly had a great idea (rare for me) to get Kidogo in the water for the first sail of the 2000 season. We have been on a waiting list to get a permanent slip for months, but this time when I called, I instead asked for a transient slip for Saturday night. Bingo! At 60 cents a foot, you can't beat the price for weekend waterfront accommodations.

We put in at Remley's Point early Saturday morning, and setup went very quickly. I was eager to show off all the improvements I had made on the boat and trailer during the winter. I had redone the teak on the boat, installed a new trailer jack, and had a new GPS to try out. Remley's Point has added a new low dock to the right of the existing ramp, so put in was a breeze. Finally, a decent ramp for the Charleston harbor! At the bottom of the ramp, I pushed and heaved the boat, but it would not float off of the trailer. After explaining to Emily for the third time that the bottom paint tends to stick on the trailer bunks if the boat sits too long, I finally looked down and noticed the safety strap. "Ahh - one of my new trailer improvements, working perfectly," I thought to myself. After a quick glance around, I felt lucky that there were no witnesses. I unhooked the strap, and Kidogo slid right into the water like an otter.

We got in and were ready to go before I discovered the next problem. The keel had rusted to the inside of the centerboard trunk! We pounded it with a hammer, drove flathead screwdrivers in between the trunk and keel, and sprayed on WD-40. I finally worked the keel loose while Emily cranked it down, and we got it moving relatively freely again. I definitely need to get the keel sandblasted and galvanized.

We motored with the current under the Cooper River Bridge and then raised sail. Wow - finally underway in 2000! We were enjoying the perfect day - temperatures in the low 80's with a 10 knot breeze - and I was playing with my GPS, keeping track of exactly where we were. Suddenly Emily said, "Hey, look out, you're going to hit that buoy." "Yes," I replied, "I can see it right in front of us here on the GPS. Cool." "No, YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO HIT THAT BUOY!!" Too late. CRUNCH! Before I could turn, the current swept us broadside into a huge green sea buoy. Emily actually leaned out and put both feet onto the giant, looming monster to push us off. The only excuse I could think of when I looked up to see the white painted number 5 on the side of the buoy was, "Great aim?" When we finally got off, we surveyed the damage. We were lucky - the only problem we found was a partially displaced rub rail, which we snapped right back on. When things settled back down again, Emily, ever the realist, said, "Maybe you should stop watching our position on the GPS, and look around to see where we actually ARE." Excellent advice, I decided, as I pretended to ignore her in a vainly unsuccessful attempt to save face. "Anna Kate, look at that big pelican," was my brilliantly enlightened reply. "Daddy, that buoy was big! We hit it hard! Can we do it again?" "Uh, no honey, it's time to give those shrimp boats a turn."

We sailed out past the jetties at the harbor mouth, and the main channel looked like a freeway! It seemed as if every boat in Charleston was either headed in or out at the same time. When the wind picked up a bit, we really took off. With one gust, and with the outgoing current at our backs, the GPS at one point registered 7 knots! We ended up averaging 4.5 - 5.5 knots with the current all afternoon. Late in the day we called the marina, which said it was waiting for us, and we motored back the last mile or so to make the 7 pm registration deadline.

I was a bit nervous going into the marina, it being my first time sailing into one, but it turned out to be an absolute pleasure. As we approached, the dockmaster shouted out across the water, "Are you the transients?" The image of traveling gypsies immediately flashed through my mind, but other sailboat owners on the dock at the time didn't even bat an eye. Two helped us with our dock lines, and introduced themselves. It was great. Here we were at a real marina, as real boaters! Everyone we passed on the dock said hello to us, and we were made to feel very much at home. What a great feeling - we can hardly wait for our permanent spot to become available!

The next morning, after depositing one car and trailer at the boat ramp, we drove over to the marina. What a joy it was simply to step onto the boat and go! We checked out with the marina attendant, chatted with one of the other boat owners while we ate our breakfast biscuits, cranked up the outboard, and off we went! We motored much of the way against the breeze up the Wando river, under the I-526 bridge (keeping well clear of all buoys, green and otherwise) and pottered into Nowell creek for a while before turning around and heading back across the river channel to anchor. We brought out the new butane stove and started boiling hot dogs while I thought of ways to try to rig up a bimini. Emily finally thought of using an old bed sheet we had on board, and I draped it over the boom and tied off the corners. Presto! A bimini! Although it was a small tent-like contraption, it kept our heads out of the hot sun, and it really made a difference. I think next time I will try to rig up spreaders of some kind to hold the sheet out flat. We decided to jump in the water for a swim, and I was glad that I had thrown out a line to trail behind the boat, because the current was fairly strong. I tied a large loop with a bowline at the end of the line, and we took turns jumping in with it around our bodies. The cool water was very refreshing, and hanging to the line while facing the current was kind of like skydiving vertically. Emily, Anna Kate, and I then crawled up into the boat, turned to the Braves game on the solar radio (another great Christmas present) and took a fantastic snooze in the cooling breeze.

Around 5:30 pm, when the current changed, we pulled up anchor and sailed back down the Wando. The wind had shifted, and Anna Kate and Emily tacked through it like pros, hopping from one side of the cockpit to the other while handling the jib on my shouts of "Prepare to tack...tacking!!" We were really flying through the spray. At one point we counted 6 dolphins swimming along beside us. Anna Kate, our cruise director, suddenly broke into a rousing rendition of "The Farmer in the Dell," with new words customized to our trip. "Were putting in the slip, we're putting in the slip..." was followed by "We're sailing with the dolphins," and then "We're sailing with the goats" (don't ask me - I have no idea). We all joined in at the tops of our lungs as we sailed down the river towards the ramp in the beautiful setting afternoon sun.

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