Alberg 30 "Gaelic Sea"

[Captain Smollett]

9 Oct 2007


Today's plan: take the buses to Middleton Place.  We got to our first bus stop 5 minutes late, which meant a 55 minute wait.  We never saw a 202 (South Beltway) bus, so we ended up taking a 201 (North Beltway) bus, which went to the same place but the long way around.  It took nearly an hour to get to Broad and Meeting to catch our next bus, but we had the same driver as yesterday, and she advised us when we got to the Aquarium in case we were going back!!  :)

We ate our packed lunch at the Citadel Mall while waiting for the bus out to Middleton.  At the plantation, we chose the "all day" ticket, which we thought kind of steep at $90 (for the two of us), but this let us finally give Hunter her horse carriage ride



as well as access to the "House Tour."  Middleton Place is home of the US's oldest designed, landscaped gardens, which in turn boasts the incredible Middleton Oak:



Steeped in southern rice culture, slavery and later Reconstruction,



this was truly and interesting place to visit.  One thing we learned on the main House Tour was that the 'viewscape' had recently been threatened with development, but the foundation had secured the required property in perpetuity.  Becky decided that our $90 was cheap to help preserve the area from being developed into condos and strip malls.  Here's a shot of the property along the Ashley River that was saved from development:



And one of the old rice fields:




Upon returning to the marina, we again got Slushies at the BP.  Back at the boat, we had more entertainment by the youths sailing and a wonderful dinner of pork loins.  The Porta-Potty holding tank was nearly full, so we had to convince Hunter to start using the bucket for 'wee-wee' bathroom trips.  It turns out she LIKES going in the bucket, so this was no problem, and actually will in the future drastically extend our holding tank usage between pump-outs/dumps.  We should have gotten her to do this earlier!

I had overheard one of the Middleton employees commenting that today was a record high, so sunset was welcome:
 


One thing that did impress me about Charleston was the sailors sailing their boats.  We saw several boats sailing down the river past the anchorage and many out in the harbor.  If any powerboaters think sailors 'always motor' unless conditions are ideal, they need only look to Charleston to see sailors really practicing the craft.  Here's a shot of a cutter working up the Ashley River past the City Anchorage with the "Mega Dock" in the background:



Before securing the ob back on Gaelic Sea's transom, I motored over to the BP to dump the Porta Potty and buy some gasoline.  We then cooled off with a couple of glasses of Merlot after another hot day, also enjoying chocolate bars from the BP with our wine.

[Bubba the Pirate]

Very Nice!  Thanks for the report. 

TrT

[Captain Smollett]

10 Oct 2007

After breakfast (egg mcmuffins again), pulled the anchor and motored out to Ft. Sumter. Dropped the hook and waited for the current to lessen to row down to the Fort.  Our new dinghy is working out great, though showing the beginning signs of use.

While anchored at Ft. Sumter, we only saw one other boat, a stinkpotter, anchor out, and they on the other side (the seaward side) of the Fort.  Here's a shot of Gaelic Sea from the Fort Entrance:



And one through one of the gun ports:



Somehow, I don't think I could ship one of these on my bow to deter theft:



After finishing our 'self guided' tour of the Fort and waiting for the tidal flow to less to row back to the boat, we motored over to the mouth of Shem Creek via the Mt. Pleasant Channel.  In the Channel, a barge approached from astern and he called on 16.  I told him I'd stick to the port side of the channel (the channel hugs the shore based docks to starboard) and give him as much room as he needed.  He said, "Okay, I don't know how much water you have over there."  :)  The charted depths outside the channel run 1-3 feet in most places.



so I got to practice CapnK's "keel braile" system of navigation.  I must say it works pretty good.   ;D

Once anchored, I again swapped the outboard to the dinghy, and loaded up a 'fresh' tank of fuel - fuel from a can that was awash while sailing out the Winyah Bay entrance.  We took off to motor up Shem Creek to find a place to eat out (our designated night to eat out) and got about 100 yards from the boat when the ob died.  Trying not to curse in front of my children, I announced in no uncertain terms that I hate outboards.  Hehe.

Some guys pulling crab pots came over and gave us a tow to R & B's, a friendly little restaurant right on the Creek. We decided to enjoy dinner and worry about the ob afterward, though we did discuss various "options."  After dinner, I asked our waiter for an empty glass jar, which he kindly provided.  Yep...water, LOTS of water.  Draining that water got 'er to run good enough to get us back to the boat.

The anchorage at the mouth of Shem Creek was very bouncy; the SW breeze had the whole harbor for fetch.  This was certainly a more isolated anchorage than the City Anchorage up on the Ashley River.

[skylark]

great tale, thanks!

[Captain Smollett]

11 Oct 2007


We pulled the anchor and got under way by 0800, heading up the ICW.  The Ben Sawyer bridge does not open until 0900, and as we approached, we were pacing arriving for that opening.  I tried to call the operator in VHF to verify, but she never answered.  We did a couple of circles for the last ten minutes, but as she began opening the bridge, I realized the current had set us a little to close.  I could not turn away, either way (without hitting the pilings), nor could we yet make it under the bridge.  So, I did the only thing I knew to do.  I panicked, and threw her in reverse....BEFORE securing the tow line to the dinghy.

D'oh.

So, there we were, current pushing us into a bridge we could not clear with no steerage and a rope wrapped around the prop.  So, I did the only thing I knew to do. 

I gave the tiller to Becky.  ;D

I raised the jib (the wind was light off the quarter) and fended off, calling over my shoulder, "see, she's a sailboat FIRST."  The genny gave Becky just enough steerage to make it through the bridge.  The bridge tender came out to see what was going on, and after we cleared, I raised to main to give Becky more control.  She was sailing beautifully, about as fast as we would have been going with the ob, while I climbed into the dink to clear the prop.  It only took a few minutes, and as I began climbing into the boat, I asked if I could have a breather.  "No,"  was my wife's adament reply.

At this instant, a very large stinkpot passed heading south and taking his half out of the middle of the channel; Becky steered off a bit to give him some room (we were under sail, so TECHNICALLY were stand-on, but this guy was going too fast to bother with technicalities).  I had one foot in the dink and one foot on the boat when Becky said, "I've lost steerage way."  It quickly became apparent we were aground - that wake had pushed us right up on a shoal.

We tried the usual quick tricks to get off, to no avail.  The tide was quickly dropping, we were maybe an hour after high tide.  All was done, and we were in for the long haul.  It turns out that if you want her to be, an Alberg 30 is beachable:



We were agound for 5 hours before anyone even stopped to ask if we were okay, and that was (believe it or not) a jet skier who was also a self-proclaimed Yankee!!  He said he had lived there for 12 years and NEVER saw sand in that spot. Certainly the chart "suggests" there is plenty of width there, but it turns out there had been some recent erosion on one of the islands that built up.  Basically, we found a new "Shoals to Bare."

While the water was down, Hunter and Jonathan got to chase Hermit Crabs. 



The whole day we had been listening on 16 to the rescue, then "they want to come in themselves," then rescue again of a disabled sailboat I believe was named Coconut Breeze located outside somewhere.  We had good conversations about self sufficiency and why did they call for help the first time if they were just going to call off the help when it got there?  The last I heard of this, the CG was telling them that Sea-Tow was again on their way and was about 20 minutes away.  I never heard specifically what was wrong with the boat other than hearing references to communication problems (we never actually heard them, only the CG replying and references to someone escorting them in to act as relay).

Dinner on the lean was hot dogs, and as simple as it sounds, they really hit the spot.

Around 1800, two guys in a power boat offered to give a tow, and we tried it, though we did not yet have enough water.  They did, however, manage to pull us around facing the right way.  Incidentally, these two guys were classic boat fans, one having owned a Pearson Vanguard (a Rhodes design).  They took off after two attempts to get us off, but we still had a bit over two hours to go to high tide.  After 11 hours aground, and with the whole thing touch and go (the evening tide was a foot or so lower than the morning tide), we barely managed to get off right around 2045, probably within minutes of true high tide.  Floating again, we decided to plug on and make some miles we lost by sitting still all day.

I have read the opinions of many folks advising against navigating the ICW at night.  But there we were, going at last.  I felt confident we could pick out the lit marks, and it turns out the GPS was indispensible in helping get eyeballs on the unlit ones.  We motored for six hours along this stretch of the ICW in some wicked cross currents and eddies.  Here's a sample of the area at Dewees Island:

[Captain Smollett]

12 Oct 2007


During the six hours beginning 2100 11 Oct, I bumped the bottom once, ground pretty hard once but got off after about 5 minutes, then at 0300 grounded fairly hard.  I had cut the turn near the mouth of Awendaw Creek a bit too close,



We were wiped out (I had let Becky take a nap while going a long stretch without any unlit daymarks). I dropped the hook, lit an anchor light and hit the rack.  Becky stood the first 2 hr anchor watch, and reported we were already floating when she woke me at 0500.  At this point, I figured we should just wait until daylight.  At dawn, I pulled the anchor, fired up the outboard and began the rest of the leg to McClellanville.  The ob awoke Becky, and she asked if I was ready to try to go.  "We're going" I told her, and she felt so much better, having worried a bit during her off watch.

The cold front definitely came through Thursday night; during the night while motoring, I was pretty cold, even with long pants, two jackets and a hat on.  The sun was actually welcome Friday morning.

The next big challenge was having enough fuel to reach McClellanville.  The ob was using nearly 1.5 to 2x more fuel than I had previously experienced (lighter boat, pre ob repairs????) and we were down that 6 gallons with the water that was very clearly NOT to be relied upon (we had tried it again yesterday morning getting under way).

But, we did make it...tying alongside at the Leland Oil Company, McClellanville's town fuel dock just after 0900 with about 1-2 gallon to spare.  The fellow that runs the town dock is super nice and if I had to say anything against him, it would only be that he initially thought we were aboard a Columbia 30 :) .  There was an interesting barge at the dock that I could not resist photographing.



After refueling, buying some ice and taking care of some odds and ends, we set about stretching our legs and relaxing in McClellanville.  What a nice little town.
 


We walked "downtown" to visit the Village Museum and I must say this place really impressed me.  We met Bud, the curator of the museum, and he was very enthusiastic about his collection.  This museum is one of the best I've visited, though not large.  They only take artifacts from the region, so it truly is a local collection.  One thing I personally liked about it was that this was one of the few places advertised along the SC coast where one can learn about the the pre-colonial cultural history of Coastal SC (most SC stuff seems focused on the Civil War and to a lesser extern the American Revolution). Bud had one whole room dedicated to the Seewee Indians, a small coastal tribe with a very interesting culture.  He was very personable, and agreed to mail me some book titles and reference lists for me to research further.  Other exhibits showed the shrimping industry and history and the history of the wind powerer rice mill that once sat on Cape Romain and was often mistaken by ships to be the Cape Romain Lighthouse.

At 1100 we cast off to carry on the next 28 miles back to Georgetown.  Getting back into the ICW, we got to see the Cape Romain Lighthouse from landward.  The trip was a relatively uneventful 6 hours, mostly motoring with none to light winds.  Getting into Winyah Bay, we had an adverse current, so I raised the main to motor sail, and when we COULD catch a puff, it gave us an extra .5-0.75 kts.  Every little bit helps. At 1745, we ran aground 30 feet from out mooring ball minutes before low tide.  ;D  Here's a shot of Gaelic Sea back home after a week of hard work.



After securing the boat, we bought showers at Hazzard Marine, then walked downtown to Buzz's Roost for dinner and to listen to Karioke (a first for me).

[Captain Smollett]

General Observations:

We really have to work on stowage.  Things that look like good ideas at the dock or on the mooring don't always turn out so well underway.  For one thing, we have now decided to pretty much lose looooong settee cushions and make the settee cushions in sections.  This should allow much easier access to which ever locker, and coupling this with losing the drawers and converting their space to simple top-access lockers will help a lot, too (and recover some wasted space).

By the end of the week, the V-Berth was a shambles - esssentially like the large closet you just throw stuff into to get it 'out of the way NOW.'  :)

The children did wonderfully, and we were both very, very pleased with their behavior and resilience.  Other than Hunter's sea sickness, she had a wonderful time.  Actually, at Church this morning (14 Oct), she drew a picture of a sail boat aground and announced "that is our Alberg 30."  Jonathan would continually ask "can we go in the dingy?" and he always wanted to row.  In the cabin, they played, colored, read books, sang songs and basically did much the same stuff they do at home.

Becky has not yet decided how to describe this trip to her friends at work, other than to call it an "adventure."  She's not convinced she wants to do another offshore run, but she has not ruled it out, either.  We'll see.  Being out of sight of land did not bother her in the least, however; it was only the motion was a bit more than she had envisioned.  She did get to see the sails acting as back-up for the engine (as it should be), and hopefully is beginning to reverse the mindset of the engine being the backup.

The Ice Box insulation worked "okay," but it certainly needs a little beefing up (I had not completely finished it).  We started with three 6.5 qt blocks and two bags of ice, which were added on Friday, 5 Oct.  We resupplied with two bags of cube ice on Wednesday, 10 Oct and there was still a bit left of the blocks on Thursday the 11th.  That's six days with temps inside the boat during the day of mid to upper nineties.  Friday at McClellanville, we added more bagged cube ice to hold things over til we got in.

On a spiritual note, I believe we approached this trip in a way to set the tone for any future longer term cruising we might do.  We never asked for help, though we did accept several offers.  We stayed true to our goal of sightseeing Charleston from the boat at anchor.  I will say that one of the "options" we discussed at dinner Wednesday night included Becky and the children getting a motel room to await assistance from our shore support (my sister up in Charlotte, NC) while I worried with either securing the boat where she was or tried to get her home.  We got the ob running, though, so none of our 5 or 6 or so contingency options came into play.

I also noticed that near the end, probably Thursday during the wait for high tide, we no longer wanted to take an extra night to just anchor out to enjoy being out.  By that time, we pretty much wanted to just get back.  It was not a negative reflection of the trip nor of the grounding incident so much as recognizing that we were both very tired and any extra recoup time before getting back to the routine on Monday would be much appreciated.  We had purposefully built into the "schedule" these buffer days to use as we wanted near the tail of the trip.

Sorry so long winded on this tale, but it was truly an adventure and I wanted to share the "flavor" as much as the "what."  We had four (two adults, two children) living on a 30 ft boat for 9 days.  We have a lot to learn how best to accomplish this in the future, but now the ideas are coming from a point of view of experience with OUR family on OUR boat, rather than just "this seems like a good idea."

Fair Winds,

--John

[CharlieJ]

Great tale John. Sounds like ya'll had a really good cruise.

[maxiSwede]

Great having a full keeled boat, isn't it?  ;D ;D ;D

Thanks for sharing, you sure did enjoy yourselves it seems.

[CapnK]

Great post, John, it was enjoyable to go on the trip with The Family Smollett. :) Good writing!

Remember: "Life is what happens while you are busy making plans." (Or 'following' them!), and "No battle plan survives first-contact with the enemy..." :D

Sailing, and especially cruising, bear out the truth in these sayings. :)

[AdriftAtSea]

Great post and thanks for sharing.... I see you're learning the valuable skill of careening the boat to clean the bottom. :)  It'll come in very handy when you're cruising long-term and have no marinas to haul out at.

[s/v Faith]

John,

 I am very glad your trip went well.  I had hoped you would write of a wonderful experience with the Charleston marina, like they rolled out the red carpet while the band played but it sounds like you did not.  Glad you did not let that sour what sounds like an otherwise great trip.

 I am jealous though, I had to travel a few hundred miles before I got to run Faith hard enough aground to admire that beautiful Alberg hull... you managed to work it in in less then a week.  ;D

 Your photography is very nice, I wish mine were nearly as good.  Maybe you could join us as the ships photographer?  Or better yet, train Hunter to take the pictures and we can pick up a helmsman too.   ;D  Peter is good at giving orders but refuses to steer for any appreciable length of time.

 It is funny you arrived at the same conclusion about the drawers.  When Rose and I looked at your boat for ourselves a while back, we were going to do the same thing.  The drawers are handy, bu they seem like they waste lots of space.  The hanging locker would fit a lot of shelves, but with the fairly large locker you have I would hate to lose it.

On a spiritual note, I believe we approached this trip in a way to set the tone for any future longer term cruising we might do.  We never asked for help, though we did accept several offers.

 I believe the difference is to be willing to allow others to help, accepting help when needed, but not planning on or expectiong help.  It is a wonderful partof the experience, the kindness of friends and strangers.  We have recieved it many times since we started this trip.  It is one of the great things about cruising.  I do admit I find it much easier to 'give then to recieve' but am reminded that as much as I enjoy being able to help, so others do also.

 Funny thing about how your boat came to you.... I do not remember if i shared this.  Mike and his wife were aground on the New RIver, and were calling for (paid) tow when we met them.  I got on the radio and offered to help knowing that SeaTow was going to me $350 minimum where they were.  It took me all of about 10 minutes to assist them, and we became great friends based on that meeting.  The couple days they spent at the marina turned into their styaing there.  Had they moved on, I minght not have gotten to know them and been able to pass along the word of the good price on your boat.  Funny how G O D works all things together huh?   ;D

 So glad your trip went well.  THanks for sharing it.

 

[Captain Smollett]

Funny thing about SeaTow and our grounding.  Someone passed by and asked if we were members, and I said, "nope."  This was early, about two hours in or so.  Becky said since we knew if was going to be nearly 10 more hours, we should call them to get a membership, then wait a few hours to call for a tow when we could get the member's rate.   ;D ;D

(It was only a joke, btw).

It was interesting listening to all the comments of people as they went buy.  And we were the subject of many pictures.   ;D

[Captain Smollett]

Or better yet, train Hunter to take the pictures and we can pick up a helmsman too.   ;D
 

Actually, Hunter has her own camera, and she does quite well with it.  About every third picture has someone's head cut off, but those are not bad odds for a helmsman that is relatively cheap to feed.

She asks about you often...so I'm sure she'd jump at the chance - ESPECIALLY if she knew you had Peter-Dog aboard (she loves all things multilegged, including spiders).

Here's wishing you guys a fair crossing when the window opens, and keep in touch when you can.

[AdriftAtSea]

Capn Smollett-

One thing I've found very useful for stowage is a elastic net that is normally used for containing things in the back of an SUV.  It's basically a big bungee net pouch with three or four compartments that can stretch to hold a pretty wide variety of things.  I got mine at a discount store for about $8.  It might be worth looking into for Gaelic Sea's interior

[Captain Smollett]

Whew, what a weekend.

We hauled Gaelic Sea for the first time since we've owned her.  It was a whirlwind weekend, with only a 3-4 day window to get some key work done.  Not ideal, and there was more I would have LIKED to get done, but that's it for this go-around.

I wanted a shot in the slings - my first haul-out of keel boat (I've only had trailerables before this):



The yard crew at Hazzard's was totally professional and deftly handled my old-woman-like worrying.   ;D

If the above shot does not show it very well, here we can see more clearly the extent of the weed and growth on the bottom;   I don't know when the last time this boat was hauled, but it has surely been a while:




The reason for the haul-out and #1 on the priority list:



That's a garden variety gate valve that had been installed on a below-water-line through-hull.  As far as I can tell, that was original on the boat (making it over 35 years old).  This one had me very worried, and was to be fixed on this haul-out if nothing else got done.

Number two priority was removing and glassing over the through-hull for the raw water intake; since there is no longer an A4 in this boat, no need for a hole to let in cooling water.  Here's a shot with the through-hull removed and the hole ground out ready for glassing.



Two other through-hulls were ground out to be completely replaced with proper flanged seacocks; at least these did have marine ball valves on them.  Here's one:



With the generous help of a friend of mine who came all the way down from North Carolina, as well as the assistance of Mate Becky, we got the bottom sanded and some glass repair/fairing done mostly in one day.

Sunday, we finished some minor fairing, one more semi-major glass repair below waterline and I got the head installed and plumbed (on the intake side at least).  The first coat of ACT went on Sunday as well. Here she is taped and ready for paint.



Monday morning, in less than an hour, we rolled the second coat of bottom paint.  The 'finish:'



I would be ready to splash, but I am waiting for a FedEx order to complete repairs.  That's okay, the yard is not working today (Monday, Labor Day) anyway.  Hope to get her in the water Wednesday.

I sure would have liked to have her out long enough to do topsides paint, but we just could not do it this time.  So, she'll still be a little rough around the edges, I suppose, but my faith in her below waterline integrity is much greater.

She just needed a little TLC, and now I've hauled a boat!  Maybe next time, I won't be QUITE the Nervous Nellie I was this time.

Many many thanks to Jon B. for all his help...without him, I'd still be sanding.  He's a workhorse.

Edit: Fixed 'ball valve"

[Tim]

Congrats! Looks like you were well prepared and it worked out well.

[AdriftAtSea]

Capn Smollet-

Isn't the other valve a ballvalve?  There are no proper gate valves IMHO on a boat's through-hulls.  I hope the Fedex guy arrives on time. :)

[CharlieJ]

Looking good mi amigo. I see you did away with the boot topping ;D Good move. As I told you, I'll be doing the same next we haul out, which appears to be this month.

[Captain Smollett]

Capn Smollet-

Isn't the other valve a ballvalve?  There are no proper gate valves IMHO on a boat's through-hulls.  I hope the Fedex guy arrives on time. :)

Ooops, yes, the second shot was a ball valve...typo.

Whitby DID put gate valves on the boat under the waterline....that's what the other one was (the first shot).  That was the sole purpose of this haul-out - that thing scared the doo-doo out of me.

As rusty as it looks on the OUTSIDE, believe me, it was as bad inside, too.   :o