SIDE VIEW
Eighteen feet of water above the banks of the Ortega? If you caught the program at the February meeting, you know what I’m talking about. If you missed it, what can I say, you missed it, just keep your insurance paid up. If you were there, you now have some idea of the effects of a Hurricane Andrew or Hugo marching in the mouth of the St. Johns River. Many thanks to Jack Schnabel, longstanding member, and retired Weather Service guru (now living aboard) for a graphic presentation of sincerely "foul" weather. The photos from Hurricane Dora depicting the river that "never leaves its banks . . . " were enough to cause pause for consideration and hopefully we have all drawn up and discussed those unwanted but necessary plans for the event we all hope never happens.
Speaking of plans, I’ve been told that the best of plans often are only good for the first thirty seconds of execution. Changing conditions often prevent the plan from being carried out to the exact letter of predictability. I had a good example of that made perfectly clear to me recently. After months of work on engine stuff, LAUREL ANN recently left the slip to participate in the Spring River Race. On board, my crew consisted of daughter Mary, and two friends from work, Ed and Kyle. Ed had been sailing before, long ago, on a Hobie Cat, and was looking forward to the excitement. Kyle had never been sailing before. Ed’s wife was afraid for him to go, fearing he’d want to buy a sailboat. Kyle’s wife directed him to go, she wants to buy a sailboat.
You folks that made the race don’t need me to describe the weather. Suffice it to say that it was typical Florida Sailing; Cloudy, Squally, Chilly, etc . . . At least in February. Neither Ed nor Kyle thought too much of "chance of afternoon showers" and didn’t bring changes of clothes, or good rain gear. Both had a great time, however, and will be sailing with me again (surprise to me . . . ) Where we went afoul of the plan was in my department. You see, for the past fourteen years, I’ve sailed the water between Marker #3 and the shore often. I’ve never had to concern myself about getting through there. Seems I need a paradigm shift of about two feet.
I must say, it was a gentle grounding. For several minutes, I wasn’t sure we were playing statue because the water was still moving past the hull pretty well. After staring at a dock remaining at the same bearing and distance for about ten minutes, I was convinced of two things. One, we were most definitely aground, and two, my tide predictor program is just a little out of sync with reality. After trying to weasel my way off the bottom under sail alone, I finally surrendered to the inevitable and fired up the iron genny. The good news is that during the entire trip home (under power, the predicted wind shift never came), I worried about the cooling system on LAUREL ANN for nothing. The water temperature never climbed above 140, and the loss of coolant from the system totaled less than a teaspoonful. We’re making plans for the Fernandina Race, providing I can keep the keel out of the mud.
And speaking of plans, the March meeting program will be custom tailored for that purpose alone. There are several distance cruises being planned by several different groups within the club. There is more interest in these cruises, and the March program will be used for an informational and organizational meeting for those cruises. There will be some goodies available to aid in your planning for a successful voyage. Hopefully the cruising interests I’ve heard expressed lately will come to fruition.