We arrived at the Morehead City Yacht Basin on Friday at 1:40 PM with a goal of fueling and getting back on the road in less than two hours. Complicating this year's "pit stop" was the failure of both the starboard and port running lights, which came to "light" as we glanced at the annuciator panel over the helm the night before. This is a serious safety issue especially given that fact that we will be running three more nights to Stuart.
Guy to the rescue. While Morgan and I tackled fuel, water and trash, Guy attacked the running lights, which clearly was the most challenging task. Why? First the lights are hard to access either from the flybridge or the side deck. Guy secured a dock line to the flybridge helm chair, inserted a loop and suspended himself off the side with one arm around the rope while he detached the glass cover. Guy discovered that the bulb was loose. No problem. However, the gasket inside the plastic cover could not be easily secured. Help. We needed glue. Fortunately the marina had a 3M spray adhesive, which negated having to trek to the hardware store and it did the trick. Guy declared victory moments after we finished the fueling project.
Great team work by Guy and Morgan resulted in a record one hour and 25 minute pit stop and by 3:05 PM we were underway.
Why the rush you ask? While there are several justifications, the main reason is that I find it fun and challenging. The other reasons include crew considerations, they're volunteers and need to get back to their world; housing considerations, Diana wants her home back after running the car up and down the coast with Kodi; cruising considerations, we did the Great Loop and stopped at 135 cities - been there done that; weather considerations, why not take advantage of the good weather while it's there rather than sleeping at a marina while it changes (often for the worse); cost considerations, an extra stop or two would add minor transient dockage expense of $200 to $400 - I'm not doing this to save money.
So back to the challenge. Last year our pit stop took only 1 hour and 45 minutes. However, last year, owing to more favorable conditions on the Cape Hatteras / Cape Lookout passage we were back on the ocean at 2:15 PM. Compared to last year, we were already behind 50 minutes, which I attribute to the head seas and turbulence we encountered. Add the one hour time change on Saturday evening back to Eastern Standard Time and we are 1 hour and 50 minutes behind.
Again the goal is to make Clewiston at the south end of Lake Okeechobee on the seventh day before the Clewiston Lock's 8:00 PM closure.
Readers will recall that an increase in speed of 1 knot over 24 hours yields approximately a three hour time reduction each day with a corresponding fuel penalty of approximately 120 gallons per day (See Sarasota bound: Cruising Plans).
Once clear of Morehead City's no wake zone, we set the throttle at 1,500 RPM (100 RPM over our optimum cruise setting of 1400) and headed to the mouth of the harbor to activate our non stop route to Stuart (555 nautical miles and 25 waypoints).
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| We head southwest on calm seas Dark blue 1-2, light blue 3 to 5, light green 5-7, dark green 7-9 |
Which brings me to the weather forecast. Following the frontal passage on Thursday night that ultimately had us in 10 to 12's off of Cape Lookout, the wind swung around to the northeast. The forecast called for a steady 25 to 30 knot winds for the next four days.
The lousy photo (sorry) below tells the whole story. The frontal passage coupled with a strong slow moving high pressure system east of the Mississippi and centered over Tennessee created a constant northeasterly wind. This translated into high seas off shore of 10 feet or more. Along the near shore the combination of an shore wind and shallow water reduced wave heights. Notice the narrow corridor all the way to our destination in the photo below.
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| A narrow corridor along the coast was forecasted and the forecast held up. |
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| The pilothouse screens set up for night running Port: Night vision, Center: Radar, Starboard: Chartplotter (navigation) |
The combination of the 100 RPM increase and the following sea produced an average speed of 9.2 knots. We were flying (relatively speaking) and on target to make the Stuart Inlet just after sunrise.
Early Saturday morning we dealt with Frying Pan Shoal at Cape Fear (Southport, South Carolina). The question here is whether to go around the shoal (adding 45 minutes) or use the shortcut, which includes a narrow passage through two very small HARD TO SPOT private navigation aids that mark the deep water (depth of 45 feet) path through the shoal. Last year we took the shortcut and had no problems. A call to Sea Tow confirmed that the shortcut was still usable. Except for the difficulty in spotting the buoys, the passage was uneventful. Guy and I teamed up for this exercise.
The 500 NM run from Cape Fear to the Stuart inlet was simply more of the same. Constant winds between 25 and 30 knots and 5 to 7 feet seas with an occasional 8 to 10 footer. On the surface this sounds scary but owing to the 7 to 9 second wave period and the following sea to the Florida border it was not.
Explanatory Note: "Wave period is the time required for two successive wave crests to pass a fixed point, or the time for a single wave crest to travel a distance equal to the length of the wave." Translated into layman's terms this is the time between the crest of two waves. The longer the period, as in 7 to 9 seconds, the smoother the ride as the boat rides up the crest and down the trough.
Now to the Stuart Inlet, which we reached on Monday, November 7 at 7:28 AM. Here's where life get's a little complicated. According to our data, the tide would be ebbing (out going) when we arrived. This ebb tide when combined with a 25 + knot wind from the east produced a phenomenon called a standing wave. Essentially two forces working in opposite directions that greatly increase the size of the wave at the mouth of the inlet. And boy did it! We experienced 10 to 12s on the port aft quarter. A bit scary as the waves could cause the boat to broach (swing the stern to port causing the boat to fall off the wave and roll over). Fortunately, the 63's oversized stabilizers coupled with a little throttle and proactive steering saved the day.
As soon as we were in the inlet we were in calm water (i.e., hours or boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror). Minutes later we crossed the ICW heading west (7:49 AM) and began the Okeechobee Waterway.
The 55 NM run from the Stuart Inlet to Clewiston, which is at the south end of Lake Okeechobee, was spectacular as we ran from the flybridge in glorious weather with the wind at our back.
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| Guy at the helm |
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| Morgan enjoying the perfect weather |
A note on fuel consumption. Last year on the same Morehead City to Clewiston run we burned 697 gallons of fuel. This year running at no more than 100 RPM extra to gain time, we burned an additional 102 gallons for a total of 799. Translated into cost / benefit terms, the additional fuel cost of $240 saved one day and the cost of one overnight dockage (approximately $200). Not a bad trade-off.
Data Morehead City North Carolina to Clewiston Florida:
- Distance Traveled: 640 NM
- Average Speed: 9.1 NMPH to Stuart Inlet
- Average Speed: 8.1 NMPH to Clewision
- Time Enroute: 74 hours
- Fuel Purchased: 799.1 gallons
- Price per Gallon: $2.39 plus tax
- Fuel Cost: $2027.53
- Total Distance: 1,285 NM
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