Charleston, Cooper River Marina, Take 2, January 1-3, 2022
After completing our post-Christmas isolation from an exposure to COVID (thankfully, neither of us ever did show symptoms), we looked at the every growing pile of stuff we planned to bring to the boat and it became very clear that there was absolutely no chance in hell that we would be able to fit all of that into our luggage allowance for the flight back no matter how much we stretched the rules. Once we decided that, it seemed logical to go ahead and buy non-perishable stuff from our usual stores rather than try to do all of that in unfamiliar stores in Charleston. Once that decision was made, we very quickly were able to stuff the SUV to the roof with provisions, space heaters, blankets, etc etc. I left Lisa at home to hang out with the cats, because she's no great fan of 6½ hour road trips in general, much less two of them in two days. Its not a very entertaining drive, especially now that a stop between the Carolinas doesn't hold much appeal.
I made the trip from the parking lot to the boat with a cart full of provisions more times than I can count. By the time I went to sleep, I was absolutely exhausted, but I did manage to cram everything that was in the car onto the boat. I suppose I should work out more, because I woke up feeling like I couldn't move my arms above my head.
Watching them unload a container ship is surprisingly fascinating. It went on 24/7.The next day, I did a little bit of Costco purchasing and did the somehow even more convoluted process of stowing everything I had brought. It was made quite a bit harder by not bringing Lisa, who I apparently normally ask every five minutes where things go. I just picked a spot and put things there. I think we are still looking for some of the stuff. As the day went along, a storm started to roll in. I knew it was coming, but didn't realize just how intense it was going to be.
I also had some mechanical tasks to try to accomplish. I disassembled the autopilot that broke and discovered that it was really just one bad part, a gear made out of plastic that had sheared off. I tried desperately to get someone in Charleston to replace it, but they swore up and down to me that Raymarine simply refused to supply the individual part and wanted me to send them the entire unit to be rebuilt. This service is not inexpensive and the part seemed like it should cost like $20 (which probably means it would cost $300). I decided to just wait until I got to Florida, which is the capitol of all things boating. I also was very worried about a self-inflicted injury. I didn't run the watermaker in Virginia because the Chesapeake is very silty and dirty and not conducive to making your own water. This meant that the watermaker was out of commission for months and there is a detailed process you are supposed to undertake when you don't run it for that long. A detailed process I very much didn't follow. I called up the company that made the watermaker and confessed my sins and asked them to ship me all the membranes that the internet assured me were now destroyed. The nice guy at the company was much less convinced. He told me some tests to do and then said to run it and test the water and the speed with which the water was generated and let him know the results. He thought it was likely I didn't need any new parts. To my absolute amazement, he was right. The watermaker was cranking water that tested great and at exactly the rated output speed.
As the night wore on, a major storm system rolled through Charleston. It eventually resulted in a big snow in Virginia and points north, but in Charleston it principally created extremely strong winds. While I prepared myself for the storm, a boat came in and tied up on the other side of the dock. It actually banged against the dock fairly hard, which is pretty unusual since people usually are worried they might scratch the boat and maneuver very carefully up to the dock. The captain jumped off the boat, tied the boat up and stuck out just two or three very small fenders. In maybe 20 minutes, he and some guy he had as crew had pulled out bags and walked away. During the entire time, he was engaged in an absolute screaming match of a phone call. The jib (a sail) was shredded and the captain was very unhappy. It appeared he had been hired to move the boat to Florida and he was threatening to just leave the boat and go home, which turns out to be exactly what he did. I have no idea who was in the wrong, but I can say I wouldn't want to hire the guy. During the storm, the one fender that was doing all the work popped and the boat got really scraped hard against the pier, which was entirely due to the captain doing a poor job of securing it. Me and a local guy tried to push it off the dock and stick one of our beefier fenders in there, but it was completely impossible to move because the winds were absolutely howling.
One thing I didn't really think about was what would happen to my nice dock lines in a 40+ mph wind. They are designed especially so that they can stretch -- its a feature of the particular kind of rope used that it stretches and pulls back into shape, so that it acts like a spring to hold back the forces of the boat moving. With an unrelenting wind blowing Dragonfly off the dock, it actually stretched the lines so much that I was sincerely afraid I couldn't safely make the jump off the boat onto the dock. I really didn't want to go for a swim in the this weather. It took me hours to screw up the courage to make the dive fro the boat, and I didn't make it by very much at all. It added just a little pinch of excitement to the trip and ensured I would be good and awake for the drive home. There was snow, but it was light and nicely cleared all the way home. Its a good thing I don't live further north, because had I gone to Fredericksburg, people were stuck on the interstate overnight.
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