A Very Happy Ending

A Very Happy Ending...

I called the bridge at 5:00am and they were finally open. Halleluiah! I got underway at 5:50am and headed for the bridge. Dark at that hour does not begin to describe the conditions. Still a bit windy, misty, and foggy and the hand held spot light can just barely pick up the reflection of the day-markers coming out of the marina. Once under the bridge the ICW markers where all flashing, so that makes it a bit easier. Thank goodness for a stellar autopilot on board. That is really the only way you can keep in the channel when you have no visual reference. Anyway, by 6:45am I could finally start and make out the markers visually and the stress level dropped 10 fold. Got up on plane and wasn't stopping until I made Carolina Beach.

The rest of the day was a piece of cake compared to the previous day. I felt like I was in my backyard and just counting the miles down to get home. By about 10:00am the wind had really laid down and there was hardly any chop on the water at all. The only thing left was to make two bridges: Onslow Beach and Surf City. I could not have hit them any better, which was just pure luck. Once I got through the Surf City bridge it was just another 2 hours to Carolina Beach.

The last 30 minutes of the trip could not have been scripted any better. The skies cleared, the sunny finally came out after 3 days and the water was like glass. There was not another boat to been seen on the ICW. It was surreal. I arrived at the owner’s marina, Carolina Beach State Park Marina, at 7:10pm after 211 miles (my estimate of 217 was close). He and his wife were so excited to see the boat and get aboard. The smiles on their faces when I pulled in made the long day all that much more worth while. They could not have been any nicer and were very appreciative of the effort that went into getting their boat home as quickly and safely as possible. That was the best reward of all.

The 34 Mainship with its single 370hp Yanmar really did a nice job on this trip and just sipped fuel. The boat achieved over 1.2mpg and averaged 15.6mph on the final day. That is impressive to me for a boat that is supposed to be run at 8kts.