Hingham Bound: Direct Stuart to Morehead City

I struggled a bit with the title for this article. I considered "Windows on the Weather" or "Weather Window Around Cape Hatteras." The first represents the utility of having three multifunction screens in the pilot house, which, when used for weather, allows us to see current conditions, forecasts and sea conditions without having to toggle back and forth between screens. The second, which represents very good news, are coastal forecasts as of Tuesday morning for relatively moderate seas (2 to 4 foot waves) on our 563 NM three day route to Morehead City and, best news of all, the forecast remains favorable for going around Cape Hatteras (3 to 5 footers).

Coastal Forecast for Tuesday

Radar screen showing storms north of us in Georgia

That said, the weather is not perfect - see coastal forecast above. While sea conditions appear favorable, the forecast calls for a chance of showers and thunderstorms. This is the result of a weak low pressure center situated over North Carolina with a slow moving trailing cold front. According to NOAA, that system moves very slowly northeast creating several days of mostly sunny weather with occasional showers along our route.

The "official" title, "Direct Stuart to Morehead City," encompasses the gestalt of a very good situation. We are 5 hours ahead of our original plan (see article Bank Error in My Favor) with a favorable weather forecast. So approximately 72 hours after clearing the Saint Lucie Lock and barring no surprises, we will be refueling in Morehead City on Friday morning and then headed for Cape Hatteras for an early evening passage.

Now to the trip.

Not wanting to sacrifice any of the 5 hours saved on Tuesday, we decided to depart River Forest Yacht Center early (6:27 AM) so that we would arrive at the Saint Lucie Lock, one mile east, well before its 7:00 AM opening and, hopefully, be first in line.  The first challenge was backing out of the marina. The photo below shows the marina configuration, which is a narrow channel with boats tied to the concrete wall on either side.  While it may have been possible to turn around, we choose to back out. No big deal especially with a remote control and no wind.

The plan worked. We arrived at the lock at 6:55 AM and were first in line. However, the lock process was slow. Paint dries faster. We waited 13 minutes to enter the lock and from there it took 30 minutes to lower us 14 feet to the Saint Lucie River.

Old work boat also contributed to the delay. He had difficulty securing to the wall

Now we were free. We continued east on the Saint Lucie to the junction of the Okeechobee Waterway and the Atlantic ICW where I had to make a decision on whether to turn north on the ICW and head for the Fort Pierce Inlet where we would access the Atlantic Ocean or access it through the Saint Lucie Inlet.  According to Active Captain, the Saint Lucie Inlet requires “local knowledge” as it is not a commercial inlet. A quick call to Tow Boat US said it was well marked and that the dredges were not a factor. The Tow Boat US captain also reported shoaling just short of the junction, which was a problem no matter which inlet decision we made. We saw as little as 1.5 feet of water under the keel as the entered the junction.

Picking up the Atlantic at Stuart rather than Fort Pierce had real advantages. First, the southeast wind would be on our tail producing a following sea and increased speed. Second, we could engage the pre-planned route to Morehead City and run on autopilot. Third, we would eliminate the narrow ICW channel and last, we would not be slowed by currents. The Saint Lucie Inlet was “as advertised” and at 9:40 AM we engaged the autopilot and headed for Morehead City NC 555 nautical miles and 72 hours away.

“Hours of boredom punctuated with moments of stark terror.” I learned this phrase years ago when I flew airplanes as an instrument rated private pilot and it very well describes what can happen. I have many tales. Now change the word “moments” to “hours” and the phrase now works for boating. As readers who follow this blog know, I have some pretty wild tales.

Sorry no wild tales at this time and hopeful not on this voyage. On my 4 to 7 AM watch Wednesday night I did a complete review of the weather for the remainder of our route and as of 8:00 AM the weather window remains open and OK enough. So much for boredom even on a three hour watch.

We have been busy ever since exiting the Saint Lucie Inlet. Once on open water we had time to review, in detail, the “Crew Orientation and SOP” and Medical Emergency Checklist” documents that I provided to Wylie and Tom weeks before departure. To their credit both had read the documents and our review led to a productive discussion of each item. We still have to review the Abandon Ship Procedures, which given the fact that we are 10 miles or more from shore “might” just be appropriate.

Other activities include checking weather, performing engine room checks, keeping our detailed log, making dinners, sharing stories, reading, playing Scrabble, discussing politics and, yes, even watching a little TV. We noted as of Wednesday that Donald Trump was now the presumptive Republican Nominee. (Another note. None of us our Trump fans.) I spend a lot of time writing blog articles.

We did have a bit of excitement on both Tuesday and Wednesday, both related to electronics. We’ll start with Tuesday. As the day came to a close we got out the SOP and worked through the preparation for night operation. This includes dimming the instruments and blocking other light sources. Finally we turned on the Raymarine T353 infrared camera. Oops, the unit did not boot up. Not good. The T353 consists of a camera mounted on the hardtop and a JCU (joystic controller unit) on the panel. The JCU had power and was responding as it should. The camera was dead. Fortunately we were on Eastern time. I called Raymarine and spoke with Steve Cruz. Steve and I have, shall we say, a relationship. Not all bad, but not all good. More in a separate fascinating article to come.  

Steve walked me through a series of troubleshooting steps, one of which was seeing if the camera moved left, right up and down in response to the JCU. The camera was not moving even though the JCU was responding correctly. I’ll spare you the details but we concluded that the unit was originally installed improperly (without a dedicated circuit breaker) and therefore was “on” 24/7/365. Because elements of my system are used without the T353, it became out of sync. Steve proposed a reboot on the entire system and, bingo, the problem was solved. More on this in a separate article.

Wednesday, as we were cruising along, Wylie asked me why the target tracking feature (MARPA), which is activated on the radar screen failed to show up on the chartplotter as it had the day before. Since it was mid-afternoon I called Garmin and spoke with Michelle, a technician. We worked together for over an hour during which time other glitches emerged. Interestingly, a restart of the entire system solved 80% of problems. Michelle did a fine job. I lost cell service before we finished so some issues remain open. Thank you Michelle. Michelle, like other Garmin techs, provide incredibly competent tech support.

Back to the Abandon Ship Plan.

Did I mention that this article was written on Thursday afternoon? (No. Consider this new information.)

Did I mention that we were 10 miles of shore when it dawned on me that it might be wise to review it? (Yes, and the plan is mention several paragraphs earlier?)

Did I also mention that there was a “chance of isolated thunder storms” in the forecast for our route segment today?

Did I mention that I took my own advice and we all sat down in the pilothouse to review the plan?

Did I mention that while reviewing the plan with the crew all HELL broke loose? (No, I did not but you might want to read the next article – “Spoke Too Soon.”

Written by Les.