[Rhodes22-list] Savannah Trip

[Wally Buck]

Bob,

Thanks for posting!

Wally


>From: "Bob Keller" <r22yankeeclipper at hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Savannah Trip
>Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 11:46:39 -0500
>
>There are two photos attached, and will send the other three mentioned in 
>separate emails.
>
>Savannah Trip
>
>Decided to go to Savannah, GA three days before a scheduled business 
>meeting, and bring the boat to cruise around and see the area by water.  
>Trailered the Yankee Clipper ('95) from Lake Hartwell to Savannah, which 
>turned out to be 320 miles.  The boat trailered great behind my V6 Toyota 4 
>Runner.  I read a cruising guide (Claiborne Young's), called several 
>marinas, and called a friend who lives on Skidaway Island before making my 
>plans.  I did want to sail to Hilton Head since I had been there many times 
>before by land.  I decided that the town of Thunderbolt was the most 
>convenient launching point since it is on the ICW and there are numerous 
>marinas to choose from, and I met a fellow sailor there (Gary) on a Sunday 
>afternoon.
>
>Savannah is actually 18 miles from the ocean, with the Savannah River and 
>ICW basically connecting the city to the ocean.  We drove over the big 
>Thunderbolt Bridge into Thunderbolt and launched at the public ramp under 
>the bridge and then used the marina next to the ramp for a slip - Savannah 
>Bend Marina. (Picture 476 is the bridge shot from our slip). It's a Sea Ray 
>dealership and the people (Mary) are very nice and helpful.  The marinas 
>all charge about $1/foot for transient slips and we even found one (Sail 
>Harbor Marina) that charges 75 cents/foot (with Boat US membership) - 
>incredible.
>
>Monday morning we left the marina and began motoring north up the ICW.  It 
>was a windy, blustery morning with small craft advisories and seas at 4-8 
>feet just offshore, although completely flat on the ICW.  It was also 
>pretty chilly (in the 50's) and we had about four layers of clothes and 
>gloves on.  Unfortunately, the winds were out of the NE, directly at us, so 
>we motored for 1.5 hours through the ICW to the Savannah River.  There we 
>decided to head toward the mouth of the river and sail for a while; we just 
>wanted to see what the ocean really looked like since the river was flat 
>and calm.  It was a great sail in 15-16 knot winds; initially a close reach 
>and then close hauled as we approached the mouth. (Picture 486 is reaching 
>on the Savannah River).  By the time we reached the mouth of the river, the 
>wind picked up to 18 knots and the seas really began to change and they 
>were in the range of 2-4 feet at the mouth.  We remained dry but were 
>struggling with the inability to point close enough to the wind to avoid 
>weeds and shallows on the starboard side and a fishing boat dead ahead that 
>was making no movement to avoid us.  I decided early to wait until the 
>fishing boat passed before tacking, but the fishing boat was moving very 
>slowly, not showing any signs that they had seen us and were going to move, 
>and then we began to struggle with boat speed because we were trying to 
>point higher to stay out of the shallows. I finally decided to tack in 
>front of the boat, but by then we did not have enough speed to get through 
>the tack so were hung up with the wind pushing us toward the weeds and 
>shallows.  Then I decided to start the motor to get us through the tack, 
>but of course I had trouble getting it fired up right away.  Meanwhile, the 
>fishing boat finally turned to our port side to pass us-right where we were 
>going to tack.  The motor started, we let the boat pass, and then tacked to 
>port and sailed back up the river.  A bit exciting, but I want to comment 
>on the pointing (in)ability of the R-22.  That is the only sailing aspect 
>that has disappointed me, but I am having inner genoa tracks installed to 
>help.  It so happens that I had one track installed before this trip (port 
>side) but ran out of screws so did not have the other installed yet.  This 
>gave me the unique opportunity to test pointing ability with and without 
>the inner track on the same day and the same boat.  The track makes a 
>significant difference in improving sail shape when you furl the genoa and 
>lead the sheets inside the upper shrouds.  Pretty amazing difference and it 
>seemed to gain us a few degrees.  While we were heading out of the river we 
>were unfortunately on a port tack and did not have use of the inner track.  
>It would have helped, I am sure.  (Of course there was more than enough 
>operator error to go around...)  In hindsight, I should have tacked sooner 
>in front of the fishing boat, or maybe tried to raise them on the VHF, or 
>even blasted the air horn.  Anyway, no harm done and another lesson 
>learned.
>
>Sailed back upriver, but soon realized that we were going against the 
>current, and progress was painfully slow.  We were sailing 4-5 knots and 
>the current can range from 2-5 knots.  Finally cranked the motor up and 
>motor sailed back to the ICW where we continued our trek by motor to Hilton 
>Head.  On the way a dolphin surfaced five feet from our hull and surprised 
>me and then went back under and was not seen again.   We arrived at Harbour 
>Town Yacht Club marina at Hilton Head (picture 492 is the approach to 
>Harbour Town) and enjoyed the incredible service there - the guy greeted 
>us, helped us dock, presented us with a bottle of wine, handled the whole 
>sign-up and payment process right there, and then even brought us three 
>bags of ice!  Amazing service, but the price is not $1/foot; it is $1.75 
>per foot, with a 30 foot minimum - more than twice the cost of Thunderbolt 
>area but worth it for a night.  (picture 496 is the YC at rest at Harbour 
>Town). We climbed to the top of the famous lighthouse and watched the sun 
>set and took some pictures (picture 502 is sunset from the top of the 
>lighthouse with the YC docked on the left).  Then we headed to the outdoor 
>bar with the steel drum band playing island music.  Then my buddy (Gary) 
>and I went back to the boat and had some pasta and a couple bottles of red 
>wine in the cockpit for dinner.  We headed back to the bar afterward where 
>a different band was playing (really good) and we had a great time even 
>though it was a small crowd.
>
>We left about 10AM the next morning and there was about 10 knots of wind as 
>we reached across Calibogue Sound.  It was a beautiful day without a cloud 
>and the temps reached the mid 70's, so we were in shorts and T-shirts. Not 
>bad for November sailing!  We had to decide whether to take the ICW or head 
>south (downwind) through the sound into the ocean to the Savannah River.  
>We decided to play it safe and take the ICW because the weather band was 
>saying that the seas were still 4-6 feet just offshore.  We later regretted 
>that decision because the wind soon died in the ICW and we had to motor 
>against the current for 4.5 hours to get back to Thunderbolt.  We didn't 
>stop in Thunderbolt, but continued south on the ICW into the Wilmington 
>River.  As we went south the river got wider and prettier the further we 
>went, and there were many houses with docks along the river; something that 
>is absent along the ICW that we traveled earlier.  We continued motoring 
>and as we got closer to where the Wilmington River empties into the Wassau 
>Sound, about 3:30PM, the wind started to increase.  As we rounded the last 
>turn to the east in the wide river, we found ourselves with a close reach 
>to the Sound in 10-12 knots.  There was a J-27sailing with us in the area 
>and when we got into the Sound we were able to beam reach in 12-14 knots 
>and we were flying.  It was some of the best sailing I have ever done and 
>there were two or three dolphins swimming in our wake.  Wide open sailing 
>with steady winds and we had the pop-top down, the boom in the lower 
>position and carrying the full main and full 175 genoa reaching at 5.0-5.5 
>knots.  Not bad!  We sailed until about 4:30 and decided to head back, so 
>we headed back up the river sailing wing-and-wing with the full genoa poled 
>out and the centerboard up we hit 4.5 knots in 10-12 knots of wind.  As we 
>followed the bend in the river we ended up on a beam reach again sailing 
>north as the sun was setting across our port side.  It was beautiful.  The 
>wind gradually died and so we motored back in the dark the last hour to 
>Thunderbolt and arrived back at the same marina at about 6:30PM.  Not a bad 
>day on the water.
>
>For dinner we returned to Desposito's Restaurant which is actually right 
>next to the boat ramp.  Great food in a little hole-in-the-wall kind of 
>place, but we liked it so much we ate there twice.  Great oysters, shrimp, 
>chili, cold beer and great prices.
>
>The next day we pulled the boat and it took us two hours to retrieve, 
>de-rig and prepare for trailering.  (Rummy and I rigged and launched in an 
>hour when I returned to Lake Hartwell).
>
>It was a great trip and the only thing I wished was that it was more than 
>two days of sailing.  I will definitely return and I would want to sail 
>more of Wassau Sound, sail on the ocean and probably return to Hilton Head 
>again because Harbour Town is just a fun destination.  In the busy season 
>(Spring, Summer) it is usually much more crowded, so I would think that 
>reservations ahead of time would be critical.  We made no reservations this 
>trip - we just called on cell phone and VHF an hour or two ahead of time.  
>We discussed that a great round trip would be Thunderbolt north to Hilton 
>Head, then sail south past Tybee Island on the ocean, past the Savannah 
>River to Wassau Sound and then back to Thunderbolt.  Might try Sail Harbor 
>Marina next time because it is about 45 minutes south (by boat) of 
>Thunderbolt off the Wilmington River, it has mostly sailboats, and it is 
>only 75 cents per foot.  It is also closer to Wassau Sound and the great 
>sailing that affords.
>
>Bob Keller
>s/v Yankee Clipper
>11/17/03
>
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