03/18/2025 ICW Day 77 : Magia en Caos

We have been waiting out some really nasty weather, but fortunately we had an excellent AirBnB right on the water for the waiting period. It was small, but just right for us!

Today we left with temperatures in the 30s expecting gentle breezes from the North. Instead, we were confronted with some of the strongest winds we have experienced from NNW.

Janet’s hat blew off, and we circled around to grab it. I got my hand on it just before it escaped again. On circling back, we lost sight of it… gone to Davey Jones’ locker.

Soon, we got into a dicey situation as the wind continued to escalate. I believed that the mast was breaking again. So, in the middle of the bay, I took it down… but to what end? It was too rough to take the sail off of the mast. Fighting the wind, I heaved it back into place, hurting my back in the process. The problem is that without the sail, we can only go 2 miles per hour. With the sail… in the right direction… we can go 6 mph. So we sailed with the mast apppearing to have an angular bend in the middle.

The water began to get those while lines of foam sweeping across the surface as foam began to spray into my face. This was a gale and we were not prepared for this! Our only option, though, was to move forward to the shelter of the narrow channel.

When we made it, everything seemed so calm. We landed on a beach to pump out the bilge (the front of the boat had been spending a lot of time submerged). We had taken on some 100 pounds of water.

Next, we took apart the sail, only to find that the glue I had applied after the oyster bed fiasco was still in perfect condition. Maybe k had been imagining that bend.

We went into the channel and fought the currents. This would be an 8 hour fight because the wind (now being deflected by the trees) was coming from all 360 degrees of the compass rose. I trimmed the sails thousands of times in an attempt to glean some power from the wind. Against the current, we could only pedal 2.5 knots, so we did get a little benefit from the shifty winds.

In those 8 hours we saw ONE boat… and the knew us. They pulled their large powerboat up alongside our craft and told us they had hosted Peter Frank. Peter has definitely been the lynchpin in our socialization for this trip! We talked with Terry and John for a while. They had just started their 1 year trip of the “great loop”.

After that we were alone again. We entered into the larger bay, thinking that we would abandon our hopes of making it to our proposed landing.. but with the strong winds at our side again, we sped up. We decided to make a ballsy move and go for it. We raced East, which went well, but then had to tack on huge waves going North. Janet was brave and did not seem afraid, even as the boat kept getting swallowed by the trough between the onslaught of waves. This made it so much easier for me, having her more relaxed.

What a day!