Captain’s log
Dateline: 14.08.2022
Adventure
Departed around 1500, Ken and Julie joined me aboard, and without them I’d not be writing this right now.
The task seemed easy at first, I planned to go through the canal on my own, since the boat now has both props working. Or so I thought. The props were turning, but the wind kept pushing us back. Thanks to Ken my boat didn’t hit a seawall across from the dock where I stayed for 5 months — we both had to push the boat away with our feet as we tried to gain momentum.
They brought two hooks with them just in case we needed to push away from boat lifts and other boats. Spoiler alert: both of those hooks are now dead, I will buy them new ones tomorrow, the least I could do.
After moving at around 2 knots, at some point we hit a wind tunnel of sorts, and the boat just refused to move, we were giving it full throttle but were stuck in one spot, it felt quite embarrassing. At that point a lady in pink waived from the shore, and it turned out it was Becky, the owner of the land where I rented the dock from. Small island. She’s renting a house there. Becky and her husband have lots of money. She helped us get tied to cleats and hold the catamaran in place. Ken got off, went to his truck, and drove back to get his 27’ Worldcat with two 250 hp outboards.
Towing didn’t go smooth at all, My boat hit somebody’s lift and I’ll likely have to go back there tomorrow and asses the damage, compensate them if needed. One guy got out of his house to help me out, took his hook and really helped us getting away from his dock. That turn wasn’t fun at all, and Ken barely had any room to turn his boat, communicating was real hard too, since I was near the bow on port side, Julie was at the helm steering the boat (starboard), and Ken was all the way up, with two running gasoline outboards between us. Both of the hooks died during that maneuver, it was me who killed them, but truth being told they weren’t too strong for that task, I tried using my feet and those hooks, but there was just too much power coming from Ken’s boat, I couldn’t fight that. At some point towing line got into Ken’s starboard prop, that needed to be untied.
We finally got out of that choke, headed straight for the spot where trees were cut for me to pass few days ago by kind owners of that lot. Of course the company they hired didn’t touch mangroves, and some of the trees that they’ve cut ended up in the canal. But still an improvement, now the tip of my mast wasn’t going to hit any trees. Two boats that I communicated with and spoke about this whole thing for like two weeks decided not to move out of my way for some reason. No idea why and how, I texted both of them, they were both aboard and aware of me going through. Thanks to that, my boat basically dug through mangroves and trees with her port side, I had lots and lots of branches hitting my face and body. I’ve done my best to make them not bend my stanchions and not damage my standing rigging. At one point I asked Ken to stop the boat and give me two minutes. I rushed to grab my Ryobi oscillating tool and cut two branches right there, one of them ended up sitting on my foredeck. Had those boats moved, we would not have had that problem with branches.
Bob and Sue who own the lot next to the dock I stayed at saw me moving, came closer to the water to see and help with the lines, and while the boat was entangled in tree branches, Sue asked me if I like where I am now more than where I was... funny.
Lots more scratches on the boat now, but she needes new topcoat anyway, so it’s all good.
Further ahead there was a trimaran with two lines stretching from his starboard side across the canal to trees on the other side. Luckily, they were underwater. He uses those to secure himself in the middle of the canal
in case of a storm. I’m pretty sure if the tide wasn’t at its highest, we would’ve grabbed those lines at least with one of Curious Cat’s rudders.
Boats:
- Honc Marine barge with a tractor on it that I called and asked to be removed last week — thankfully gone
- 50-something foot monohull powerboat — Rick, moved out of the way shortly while I was stuck in the canal fighting wind
- 36’ catamaran — Al, never moved, I had to cut trees and almost lost an eye or two fighting branches
- Small power monohull — no idea who the owner is, never was a problem
- Large 50-something foot power boat that cooks meth — no comment
- 30-something foot trimaran — owned by Dave, non-funcitonal engine, had two lines tied to its starboard and laying on the bottom of the canal
After that the path to Golden Palms was clear, we tied the boat to the dock, and now I was welcomed back to the resort I stayed at when I just got to this island. I even have WiFi here.
The problem is, I’m taking more than 50% of the canal’s width here, and the legal limit is 25%. I have to clean the bottom, rewire the engine, fix my props, find out what else could be wrong, and then leave St James City and go up up up.
Things learned:
- Make sure you can actually move the boat before leaving the dock
- Spend money on a diver next time or get own scuba gear and clean the boat yourself
- Even small wind can really throw a catamaran around
- Helms must to have a center indicator that never gets moved
- Mount GoPro on your head next time
Conclusions:
- It’s dumb to waste time or rely on people who don't have jobs and live on old boats
- The island is very small
- Fuck TowBoatUS