Lapidus On the Hard

As planned, we were away from the docks by 8:30 for our five plus nautical miles down the ICW to Ross Marine. The cool morning air greeted us as we motored around the tip of the peninsula past the Charleston Yacht Club Marina and the City Marina, then under the suspension brindge.

We missed the 9:00 opening for the Wappo Creek Bascule Bridge. When we called for the opening, the Bridge Tender said we were too far away to make the bridge opening. Well, we were pretty darn close, we thought close enough to make it. A bascule bridge takes a bit to raise, plus bridge tenders do not stop traffic until the exact opening hour, so the opening would not have been at exactly 9:00. But we were the only request for an opening and we weren’t right at the bridge, so she chose not to open the bridge, thus the heavy flow of traffic that crosses over the top of the bridge was not interrupted. Without other options, we motored around for thirty minutes. In this lovely area of the ICW, the channel wide and deep. The tide was still slack so we had no current problem. When we called for the 9:30 opening, the bridge tender requested that we come as close to the bridge as possible and be ready for the opening! Right! We eased up close but still at a safe and comfortable distance; then, with bridge up, we sped under the bridge (sped is such a relative term in sail boat language).

We continued up the Wapoo Creek for a while; then we followed the ICW as it turned into the Stono River. We were now in a hurry; we might lose that valuable slack tide. We radioed Ross Marine for a slip assignment, but the person filling in for the weekend told us to take any empty slip, not a good idea. As we pulled into the closest slip, we realized how strong the current now was that we were motoring into.With the boat cross-ways in the slip, Larry stayed at the wheel while the dock guy, the captain of the sailboat close by and I quickly moved the dock lines and were able to pull the boat stern-in into the next slip. What an ordeal! But we were now safely secured in a slip and the haul-out was not scheduled for a few days.

We had the rest of the day plus the next to drive a rental car to Brunswick to get our pickup. In addition to the road trip to Brunswick and back to Charleston, we would be driving to and from Annapolis and probably a side trip. Of course, after we take the boat back to Brunswick, we’ll be driving a rental up to Charleston to retrieve the pickup. We plan to leave the pickup in Brunswick for the winter while we are in Florida and the Bahamas.

Back at Ross Marine, we met with owners and the general manger to go over what will be done. Projects will include a bottom job, new zincs, the max-prop adjusted, and sanding and painting the bad spots on the topsides. This damage happened while we were tied to a dock in Mayport, Florida during a bad storm with 50+ knots of wind. The dock (which was on old, worn-out fuel dock) rubbed the paint off on two places on the topsides. The boat yard needs three weeks to complete these projects.

We packed our bags and readied the boat for haul out. At slack tide, we were told to leave our slip and tie up broadside on a long dock. Then we were to leave the boat and watch as two guys (obviously experts at their job) pulled the boat by hand into the lift. They just kept moving the lines and coaxing our 16 ton boat around the corner of the dock and centered in the slip. We were told the current is just too strong to drive a boat into the lift. We totally understood since we had not been able drive her into a slip.

With Lapidus on the hard and arrangements and schedules agreed upon, we took off for the Annapolis Boat Show, a long way from Charleston, SC! We met up with lots of old friends at the show as well as at functions and parties close to the show. And we made lots of purchases - most of them planned.

We have time for a few side trips on our way back to Charleston.