Sailing Terrapin

You know those weeks where you have a to do list a mile long and you are head down and trying to check things off - the wheels are in motion and if you stop making progress the whole plan falls to pieces. Then, at some point, mid-process, you take two seconds to reflect and realize time has flown by and you also realize what seemed like an hour has been a whole day and what seems like a day, or even two, has been a whole week? If that's ever happened to you - then you'll be able to relate to our last week.

We left our house in NC, where we have been living since 2019, partly because of Covid, partly because of family, on Sunday evening. We were headed to Savannah to our Valiant 47, Terrapin, who has been on the hard since we moved to NC. We would do a quick overnight in Atlanta to see family and be at the boat yard late morning with a scheduled launch at 2pm. This would give Baxter plenty of time to do things like put the plug in, check the stuffing box just one more time, and also to clean up the bilge area that he has been fighting with the secondary pumps for about the last three years.

In any case, we arrived at the yard to find the space Terrapin had called home, completely empty with jack stands tossed to the ground. It was only 1100 - ugh! The last time Terrapin was on a 50 Ton boat lift without us around, the shaft was ripped out from the bottom of the boat (from the strap catching underneath). We walked around the corner to find Terrapin on the lift - shaft intact - being lowered towards the water. Ok - I guess this plan is moving forward at full speed.

We spent the next two days on the dock making a sometimes defeating list of what works and what doesn't work. Sometimes, it's a matter of deciding if you're pushing forward or falling back. Kala was working hard too. Living on the boat can be demanding for a 12 year old dog, even if she's done it for most of her life.

We bent on the sails (main, staysail and genoa). We stowed the provisions. We made a plan for how to get under a 65' bridge with a 69' mast at low tide. Baxter cleaned out the bilge. We decided where we would haul out and paint Terrapin's bottom - 101nm south of Savannah - and we checked the weather.

The next day, we untied the lines and took each challenge step by step. We made it under the bridge, then navigated the shallow ICW against the incoming tide. Next, we headed offshore and pointed Terrapin's bow to 195° South on a beautiful broad reach. It was comfortable and easy to fall back into a rhythm - Terrapin was telling us how happy she was to be back on the ocean. She moved confidently and quick. So fast in fact, we made it to the St Mary's inlet earlier than planned. It was 0430 - a very dark 0430. The red and green buoys that marked the channel seemed so close. With a north wind and a channel that ran east - west, we had wind and waves pushing us out of the channel. With just a reefed main, we sailed through most of the channel and turned our engine on only as we approached the the pinch point with land on both sides. There were lights from the WestRock concrete factory shining on a section that was only 20ft deep. We were out of the channel and could see enough to know we had room to swing - we dropped the anchor and went to sleep.

Four hours later, we woke up and dropped the dinghy to head into Fernandina Beach. Kala enjoyed her first dinghy ride in 3 years. We enjoyed a great lunch at The Happy Tomato. What's a trip to land without boat projects? After lunch, Baxter and Kala checked out the local marine store for a new windlass battery and I walked to a gas station to fill our dinghy gas tank. The next day we moved Terrapin over to Cumberland Island - it was so peaceful and quiet with very few boats. We could see the wild horses walking on the beaches and down the trails laced with moss-covered oaks. We had officially turned the corner.

But the challenges weren't over - there was a weather depression north of Puerto Rico that had a high chance of developing into something bigger and it's path seemed to be pointing straight to our location. If our plans to haul out worked, it wouldn't be an issue, but we had to consider what would happen if the yard couldn't haul us out. Where would we anchor? Would we try to find another marina?

Would we stay on the boat? Monday was our haul out day and the storm would start moving in on Tuesday. We formulated plans A, B and C and hoped for the best. Monday morning, there was a beautiful sunrise as we made our way through the marshes on the St Mary's River to the boat yard. They were ready for us right on schedule - hauled us out, tucked us into a great spot and we secured Terrapin for the now forecasted Hurricane Nicole.