Extra

 Hi all,

I got off on a tangent earlier on the subject of boaters behaving badly and had more to add.

First of all, I made it thru the infamous Rock Pile today without incident. Boaters like Mindy and Will know exactly what I am talking about. It's just a 4 mile section near Myrtle Beach, but it is scary. Most of the waterway is sand and mud, but this section was dynamited out of rock. Very narrow with jagged fingers ot rock hidden along the edges and just below the surface. Twice, when I have passed thru with Meg, there have been large sailboats stranded on these rocks, waiting for the tide to come back in. You really don't want to meet anything bigger than a rowboat coming the other way. Fortunately,  today I didn't. I did put out a securite call on the VHF beforehand.

Talking about idiots on the water I have to fess up to something I did on my first trip 50 years ago. I think I mentioned this way back in the blog, but not this spevific incident. You may recall I was captaining my fathers charter schooner, the Sea Song, from Norfolk to Charleston. This was in the fall of 72, I was 18 years old, and far over my head. For crew, I had my 10 year old sister Barbie, my mother, and 2 buddies of mine who were in their early 20's. They were all great, BTW. The captain knew he was over his head but he was just folliwing orders. The schooner was 43 feet on deck and 52 feet overall, displacing 42000 pounds. She was an impressive vessel. I'm surprised I made it as far as I did without a mishap. But yesterday morning, as I entered the Cape Fear River, I felt a bit like a criminal revisiting the scene of the crime.

I don't remember exactly how I screwed up, but I did, driving all 21 tons of boat aground. And the tide was going out. I would like to remember that I was calm, cool, and collected, but I wasn't. Fortunately, God is kind to fools, and eventually the tide came back and refloated her, with no obvious damage. But I wonder if it had anything to do with the sprung plank we experienced out on the ocean a few days later. 

I always remember that incident when transiting that area. It was a long time ago. Hard to believe I grew up in that business.

Very best regards, Charlie

Ps Anchored on the Waccamaw River. A delight after the pomposity of Myrtle Beach