When Fog Forms...

 This is the time of year when fog forms on the waters. Any significant difference between air and water temps makes fog likely. 

So let's assume that you are returning to your dock from a distant spot and you encounter fog aka "restricted visibility."  

What should you do?

The most conservative response would be to wait out the adverse conditions in a safe place. A dock or a protected/sheltered anchorage would suffice.

But maybe you need to get clear of where you are when you find yourself in fog. 

In no particular order:

Step 1: Slow to a safe speed. This will probably be similar to no-wake speed. 5ish mph. Your chart plotter is now very important. Use it to maintain orientation. Remain on the right side of any channel.

Step 2: At least every two minutes make the restricted vis. sound signal for a vessel underway and making way. On a larger vessel this will be 1 prolonged blast on your ship's whistle. (4-6 seconds) 

On a smaller boat you must have some "efficient means of producing sound." You can bang pots and pans together but your voice is not legal (but it is better than nothing if it is all you have.) 

A red plastic whistle is legal but a can air horn is better- the kind people use at football games. Those can be heard at a distance. If your boat has an installed horn that works, you can use that. Loudest is best.

Step 3: Turn on your navigation lights and any other flood/spreader lights you have. You must increase your visibility to other vessels.

Step 4. Turn off your sound system and make your boat as quiet as possible. Since you can't see you need to hear what is going on around you. 

Position a lookout / listening watch as far forward in your boat as possible. That person should be actively listening for the sound of another vessel forward of your beam (in the semicircular arc from straight out your right side to straight out your left side.)

He or she should also listen for waves breaking on rocks or a bar, a bell ringing, another vessel's sound signals etc. Anything solid...

Step 5. If you become aware of another solid object forward of your beam (boat/ship/aid to navigation etc.) you may need to "take all way off of your vessel" and only use power to maintain control. Go very slow until you negotiate that hazard.

You can make more frequent sound signals, but do not make the "danger doubt" signal of 5 short blasts in rapid succession. If you stop dead in the water make 2 prolonged blasts at least every 2 minutes. This lets another vessel know you are underway but not making way. (wake) If you hear a combination of 1 prolonged and 2 short blasts it may be a vessel towing. Avoid that.

Step 6. If you will change course to avoid a vessel to your front, do not change course to the left. 

Step 7. Use your VHF radio to coordinate with other vessels. Advise where you are--in fog--and where you are going. Do this first on channel 16. You may then arrange to speak with another vessel on a different channel, like 13. Ships in the Savannah River moniter 16 and 13. Here is but one example of an advisory call. Yours may differ. Try and be "accurate, bold, and concise."

"All vessels in the vicinity of Savannah and Daufuskie Island, South Carolina . This is Island Shuttle number 1. There is fog in the area. We are proceeding from Savannah Boathouse to Daufuskie County Dock via Bull River, St Augustine Creek, Elba Cut, crossing the Savannah River, Field's Cut, Wright River, Wall's Cut and New River. Any concerned traffic please advise your position and intentions."

We have made that call before and had a ship pilot on a giant ship tell us that he was in the river outbound and would be crossing the ICW in 15 minutes. Good intel.

Remember, not everyone operating a boat in fog has a radio (on). Not everyone is familiar with the rules--you may have a boat blow by you going 30 mph, unlit and blissfully unconcerned. It happens.

These suggestions are not meant to replace formal training and should not be thought of as all-inclusive. We don't have radar or vessel AIS.  

Finally, reiterating that the most conservative response is to wait for better conditions. 

SB

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-33/chapter-I/subchapter-E/part-83/subpart-D/section-83.35

There's More To Savannah's Freedom Boat Club Than Meets the Eye

What could be better than a ride on a new boat on a sunny Florida day?

We have been Freedom Boat Club members for 6 years or so, and it has been a fantastic deal for us. Before joining the club, we owned a 22' Sea Ray which we stored at Hogan's Marina for 12 years.  Living in Savannah, a boat is pretty much part and parcel of the experience. To live here without access to a boat is akin to living in Vail or Telluride without a set of snow skis. You can do it, but why live somewhere and miss out on one of the main attractions? So given that a boat is important to a Savannah lifestyle, the next question is how to accommodate that need as easily and inexpensively as possible. 

When we stored our boat at Hogan's, the storage bill alone was $290 dollars a month. That ship has left the dock. Per-foot dry or wet storage amounts go up as regularly and consistently as the rising sun, but unlike the sun they never go down. $20 a foot is the norm now, and that would be $440 for that old Sea Ray we had. 

Beyond storage, there are considerations; regular services like oil and impeller changes, insurance, tow-coverage, and never-ending cleaning. Your boat will need to be cleaned before it goes into the water, and again when it comes out. This fact led us to put our boat into the water only once during the last year we had it stored. It didn't make sense to own a boat. We just wanted to enjoy one.

So we traded in our boat for a membership and the first year's dues at Savannah's Freedom Boat Club. It was a no-brainer, and all of those detractor-factors I mentioned above no longer apply. We reserve a boat on our phone app, and wheel a cooler up to it when it's time to go. When we get back to the dock, we tie it up and walk away. Smiling.

This alone is great, but wait! There's more!

An additional benefit to a Freedom membership is the ability to reserve a boat at any one of the hundreds of other franchise locations as often as 4 times a year per location. (Disclosure: Clubs set aside certain boats in their fleets for reciprocal reservations, and planning ahead and reserving early--as much as 6 months is allowed--is key to a successful experience). We have done this at the Baltimore Harbor location, and most recently in Lantana Florida. And it was a spotlessly enjoyable trip. We took our daughter and two of our nine grands out for a cruise on the ICW. We saw the sights, and stopped for lunch at Two Georges,  with slips available to diners for free. 

Our boat for the day was a brand new deck. Lots of room!

Where better to deal with winter than Palm Beach County?
Two Georges Restaurant, on the ICW in Lantana.

Freedom was recently bought by Brunswick Marine, and they changed the reservation app right away, and the reciprocal function is not up to speed yet. Now a "team" has to evaluate and approve all requests. But perhaps that is why our recip requests are getting approved. Allowing reciprocals is a requirement of being a franchisee--for obvious reasons. The ability to get a boat anywhere makes the club much more attractive. Of course, a franchise owner wants to serve her own paying members before attending to some out-of-towner. So this has to be monitored I imagine. 

No phones required!

I can say that Tommy McCarthy, who owns the Savannah and Richmond Hill clubs has been recognized with an award for being a "Guardian of Reciprocity." (No surprise. Tommy is awesome in every regard, not just the way he runs his clubs) We have members from other clubs show up at the Savannah location (Savannah Boathouse Marina, 8020 Highway 80 East) all the time. And they love the rides. 

The Lantana area has public parks with dock access,
and clean restrooms!

We now own two charter boats, (islandshuttleboattours.com) with all that this entails, and yet we still maintain our FBC membership. It's too easy and too good a deal to let go. Tommy's practice is to leave your dues level where it is when you start, forever. (Not all clubs do this). If we want to go for a ride with no paying customers, we take a Freedom boat. And if we want to go to Florida and go for a boat ride, we don't have to pull one down there or rent some ragged-out rental boat. We just enjoy our Freedom!

When momma's happy, everyone is happy.

FBC Lantana's dock master Tyler was polite
and professional. That kid's gonna go places.

Freedom locations are always nice. This is Loggerhead
Marina, Lantana FL, one of several affiliated clubs in 
the area. 

The boat is ready. Let's go!

Jasper Seaport Plan

The Jasper Ocean Terminal Joint Venture, a partnership between the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), has proposed to develop a state-of-the-art marine container terminal on the northern bank of the Savannah River in Jasper County South Carolina between US Highway 17 and Fields Cut.

Click here to learn more

Aground!

 "Now which side should the marker be on again?"

Friends, remember, you should have the red aids to navigation on the right side of your boat as you return to your port from the ocean. "Red Right Return."

But...

If the river becomes part of the intracoastal waterway, as the Wilmington River does at the junction with the Skidaway River as you proceed inbound from Wassaw Sound, you no longer want the red marks on the right side of the boat. In the ICW, you want the red marks on the mainland side, or "Red Right going South." 

That red beacon near the Savannah Yacht Club? Don't put it on your right as you head for Thunderbolt.

Your trip will be delayed:-)

(Look for the small yellow mark on an ICW lateral aid to navigation, be it a beacon or a buoy. Triangle or rectangle. It's small but it's there!)

Bull River Disaster--Averted!

 The two adult men and their tween-aged sons had enjoyed a fine day of fishing in the ocean waters near Wassaw Island. As the bite was good and the boys were having fun, they had waited until the sun was low on the horizon before beginning their return trip. Their path home would take them into the Wilmington River channel at the Red 2W buoy, across the throat of Wassaw Sound, and then up the Bull River towards home. As they turned up the Bull and left the south end of Little Tybee in their wake, the sky lost its light. 

The captain wasn't concerned about this as he had navigated this river many times in both daylight and darkness. He had his GPS chart-plotter display dimmed to preserve his night-vision and he peered ahead in the darkness with extra vigilance looking for hazards. The boys were sitting in the bow seats facing backward, both engrossed in their smartphones, while his best friend set about cleaning and organizing the boat in preparation for arrival at the dock. 

Running at twenty-five knots as they rounded a bend in the river, and with the lights of the Bull River Condominium tower visible in the distance, they struck an invisible three-thousand-five hundred-pound partially-submerged section of concrete dock. Running in dark-night conditions, the captain never saw it coming.

The boat hull was thrown up and sideways and the motor was ripped free. The boys in the bow grabbed hold of the chrome rails as the boat jumped, rolled, and capsized, trapping them underwater. They were so startled and unprepared for this that they both panicked and yelled out, and then ingested river water. In this case, the life preservers they were wearing didn't help. Their bodies would be found trapped beneath the inverted hull.

The father organizing the stern area was thrown clear of the vessel as it flipped, and his type-5 inflatable vest saved his life. Even though he was startled and disoriented, the water sensor on the vest triggered the gas cylinder and inflated it immediately upon submersion. His vest lifted him to the surface and turned him face up. He would live to tell the story.

His best friend, who had been at the helm and didn't own an inflatable, had decided against wearing a life preserver. He didn't perceive a risk and didn't consider that darkness changed things. He too was thrown clear and had the air punched from his lungs during the ejection. Under water and disoriented, he inhaled water, drowned, and sank slowly to the bottom. 

During the investigation, it was determined that the partially-submerged and derelict dock section was a portion of a recently-demolished commercial dock facility that had somehow gotten loose from its lines and traveled on the tide down the Savannah River. This unseen or unreported hazard to navigation made its way into Elba Island Cut, and then down Saint Augustine Creek and into the Bull River. The odds of this happening were incredibly small, and yet happen it did. The result was tragic.

Editor's note. This tragedy never happened, and yet it could have easily occurred during one of the last few evenings. All the needed components and conditions for this tragedy were present. The only thing that prevented you from seeing this in the news were the moral, ethical, and humanly-decent efforts of Mr. Thomas McCarthy and his team at the Savannah Boathouse Marina. 

As a 30-year helicopter pilot, medevac-industry safety advocate, and student of crashes; I know that accidents occur as a result of a "chain of events." While no one factor pre-determines the outcome, when linked together the accident chain leads to disaster and all too often--death. The secret to accident prevention is to recognize when an accident chain is forming and remove one of the links. This is what removing a link to an accident chain looks like.

Imagine hitting this in the river in the dark at speed...
Thanks to the Savannah Boathouse crew for 
removing this hazard to navigation, and perhaps saving lives.

Amazingly, this is not the first time that Savannah Boathouse Marina staff have discovered a partially-submerged dangerous object drifting into their dock area (the first time it was a large rectangle of submerged dock decking) and rather than simply pushing it clear and letting the outgoing tide take it away to be someone else's problem, the dock crew secured it and alerted Tom, a marina owner who repeatedly does the right thing. 

This hazard - discovered and removed last summer - was not of  the Savannah Boathouse's making.
But they removed if from the river, cut it up with chainsaws, and disposed of it responsibly. You should know about this and, if you traverse our rivers, you should be grateful for what these folks do.

I am proud to be his friend.

Tom McCarthy's actions are an example of what a good man does when faced with a difficult situation. No one will pay for the time and labor and expense to haul such debris out of the water. It's not his debris. He didn't create the problem. He could easily make the problem go away. But he doesn't do this. He anticipates the worst that could happen and takes the steps to prevent it.You should know this and you should be grateful that such a man and such a business exist in our community. 

An ethical person is concerned with more than immediate profit. Decisions matter, and we all make the world we live in through those decisions. The next time you cross Tommy's path, please let him know that we ALL appreciate his doing the right thing, so that you never have to read this story in the paper.

SavannahBoater

Dealing with this hazard took the entire marina team more than an hour. It and its twin are positioned safely out of the water, and will still have to be disposed of. Guess who is going to pay for that disposal? With much gratitude to Tom and his family, and the crew at 
Savannah Boathouse Marina. 

It Was Almost a Disaster!

I was conducting new boater training yesterday for a couple of young guys, and I wanted to show them the importance of understanding the difference between lateral aids to navigation marking a "river returning from the sea," and the aids that mark the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The "red" river "marks" or lateral aids to navigation are kept on the right side of your boat as you travel upstream. ICW marks are DIFFERENT. On the ICW  the red marks should be kept on the mainland side; or on the right side of your boat as you travel south on the ICW. ICW marks have a small yellow mark within the larger green or red mark.

There is a hazardous situation at the cut between the south channel and the north channels of the Savannah River.

The Coast Guard emphasizes this by having two red marks very close together! A large rock pile was deposited on the "wrong" side of those two marks, probably during the making of the cut. (Red #2 and Red #4). 

Here's the trap. A green mark is marking the north channel of the Savannah river near these two red ICW marks. THAT GREEN MARK IS NOT AN ICW MARK.

Yes, I am shouting, just as I was shouting yesterday with those two kids on the boat.

I saw a family-sized runabout coming out of the river from downtown. He was aiming  between a green river mark and a red ICW mark. And they were headed  directly for that submerged rock pile. I first thought to get some good pictures for training. Then I saw kids on that boat.

"Stop the boat! Stop right now! I've got to try and stop that boat over there!"

I stood in the bow and waved my arms rapidly over my head to get the other boats attention. Then I swept both arms in the direction AWAY from where I knew the rocks to be. Repeatedly.

Thank God the dude stopped, then turned back toward the river and safe water. I drove over by him and stopped.

"Sir, there is a pile of rocks just under the surface right (pointing) THERE! You almost ran right up on it. That would have been bad.

In the ICW you need to have the red marks on the right side of your boat as you go (pointing) SOUTH. That green mark you were looking at over there is a RIVER mark. Not an ICW mark!"

He looked embarassed, and said "Thanks! We didn't know."

So I felt a little dumb for being overly dramatic, but the kids didn't get ejected. 

Friends, it is one thing to run up on a mud bank, and many of us have done it. Rocks are different. They will hole your boat, remove your lower unit, and maybe flip your boat and eject you and your loved ones. Training is FREE at BoatUS.org. FREE!!! 

Pay attention, please!!!

Docking Like A Pro When You're Not

 For a new boater, docking is perhaps the most stressful part of a day on the water. Time and again we see boaters struggle with control of their boat as they put on a show for bystanders and boaters alike. But it doesn't need to be that way!

The first thing to do is consider the environment around the dock you are approaching. You can do this before you get there. You absolutely don't want to be repositioning fenders and dock lines as you are on the final approach to your mooring point. 

"Prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance." Expand your time available for the docking maneuver by thinking ahead!

Is there a tide running? (crab trap floats?) Is the wind blowing? (flags?) Which of these two forces is having the greatest effect on your vessel? If you know how your destination dock is oriented you can plan to put your fenders and lines on the side that allows you to make your approach INTO the current or wind, whichever is stronger. It's a very good practice to stop your boat well away from the dock, pointed at it. Observe what the wind and current are doing to you. Now verify or place your fenders and lines.

Current isn't something to be afraid of, it's something to work with. If you are working against a current as you approach a dock, it's very easy to get rid of headway; just go to neutral with your shifter! Come to think of it, when you are approaching a dock, neutral is your friend. Only use as much time in gear as absolutely needed to maintain control of the boat.

Think of balancing a baseball bat that is standing upright on your palm; as long as you keep your hand under the bat, you can do it. If you let the bat get too far off-center, it's going to fall. When you have your boat's bow into a strong current, the current is like the gravity that works on the bat, and the motor is like your palm that must stay under the bat. Don't let it get away from you. Easy with the power and steering...

Never make an approach to a corner of a dock! (read that again!) Your fenders will protect the side of your boat as you make contact with a flat dock face. But a corner will hole your boat!

One sure sign of a boater in a panic is loud bursts of full power near a dock. This often ends badly. Think ahead, take the easiest option available and take your time. If you don't like how the maneuver is going, break off the approach, go away from the dock, and collect yourself. Relax, calm down, and try it again. Slow and steady, friend!

Keep your dock lines clear of knots and snags. You may need that line to slide
smoothly from around the horn of a cleat someday.

If the wind is blowing onto the dock, and you have a spot to go to on the outer face, all you need to do is make your approach slowly and under control (use short pulses of power by putting the motor just in gear for a couple of seconds, then back to neutral). You can make a shallow angle approach or even an approach parallel to the dock. When you are abeam your spot, stop and let the wind do the work of moving you sideways.

If a strong wind is blowing OFF the dock, make your approach angle steeper. Position an assistant near the bow (or ask for help on the dock) to place a bow line around a cleat. (Keep fingers from between cleat and line). With the front of the boat attached to the dock, turn the wheel toward the dock and place the engine just in reverse (minimal power). The engine will pull the rear of the boat into the dock. The fenders will cushion the contact. And you can then fasten a stern line to a cleat. 

Warn your passengers to keep feet and hands inside the boat during docking. Fiberglass is cheaper than fingers. They should stay seated and still while you are working the boat to the dock. 

Make sure that boat is secured to the dock at both ends and protected by fenders before leaving. You might need to adjust lines more than once. If you need to move the fenders, do so. Take the time to do this right. Make it look like a pro did it!

Wrong!

The Pie of Knowledge

 With the exception of a few years early on, my entire adult working life has been focused on moving people and cargo from one place to another. I spent 12 years flying the massive CH- and MH-47 Chinook Helicopter, carrying soldiers on the inside and 18000-pound howitzers slung underneath. 

In Honduras, I took doctors and veterinarians on "MEDRETS" to assist rural villages located far from any modern anything. I flew tons upon tons food to starving people in the interior. In Liberia, I flew men, women, and children who were at risk of being brutally murdered to safety.

At the end of my military career, I flew special forces operators who drove their inflatable boats straight into the back of my helicopter while we hovered with our cabin partially submerged. 

As an avid boater, it was only natural that I would come to move people by boat. I mean, what a great place to work! Mike Neal, the owner of Bull River Cruises, gave me my break into commercial boating and has counseled me every step of the way. He also recently hooked me up with one of the greatest adventures of my life, an eleven-day boating marathon that had us working on the water from first light to twilight. It was epic.

A production company is in town filming the "Devotion" movie. As much of this film involves aircraft flying over water, safety boats were needed in case an aircraft was forced to ditch. Divers stood on standby, ready to go into the water and extract pilots. They did this on a boat that I captained. Fun? You betcha.

Offshore and on duty. Ready to respond. Captain Mike Neal.

Savannah Firefighter, USCG officer, and rescue-diver Scott
speaks with stunt-man and rescue-diver David as we depart a
new Savannah Boathouse Marina in the 28'.

I put this route into the 28's SIMRAD EVO3 in order to help
with exiting the Wilmington River. There are numerous bars
and breakers off our barrier islands, and "you must follow a
channel or you risk losing the boat." (Cpt. Scott) Our track
lines tell a story.

Our boat for this multi-day lifeguard mission was the 28' NauticStar owned by Tommy McCarthy and Savannah's Freedom Boat Club. A special lease agreement was reached with the understanding that I would operate the boat. #winning

I ran her 829 miles and burned 457 gallons in 11 days.
I'd start again tomorrow.

Good Morning!

Our days started early and ended late, and often I ran home solo, alone with my thoughts but certainly not lonely. The 28' proved herself to be a fine friend. The 600 horses helped.

Rescue divers have a lot of gear. And David brought the snacks too.
I had my first ever "Clif Bar" but not my last.
Movie people don't go hungry.

Wyatt; an actor, stunt-man, former USCG member, and current
rescue diver. He was a constant source of laughter and fun, as indicated
by the look on Mike's face. Hey, I thought it was funny!

So did Wyatt...

One thing about boating; the more you do it, the more you learn. Scott mentioned something he has become aware of as a platform instructor for both fire-service-related and maritime-related topics. 

"If you consider knowledge as a pie, there's a little sliver that constitutes what you know. Then there's another little slice that's the stuff you know you don't know. But the vast majority of that pie-of-knowledge? That's all the stuff that you are simply unaware of. You don't even know all the stuff you don't know. So never stop digging and learning." (Captain Scott Boyd)

Ignorance is no excuse for damaging equipment or hurting someone. If you don't know what you are doing on the water, don't do it. Ask for help. If you don't know how to dock a boat, get some instruction. The fact that the government lets you take to the water without a clue is no reason to do this. Take a class (the one from Boat US is F.R.E.E.). Click here to see for yourself.

As for me, I'm 64 years old and have been boating my whole life. I know a lot about operating a boat. And then again I don't know crap. So I took full advantage of the experience around me on those eleven days and asked a thousand questions; continuously eating from the pie of knowledge.

"Clutch In!"

Just Like the Port of Savannah--Our Waterside Port Tour is Super!

It's one thing to see it in a picture. It's another thing entirely to be next to it in our boat!
Here's a China Overseas Shipping Company container ship arriving at the Port of Savannah!

 

Savannah was created by people sailing up our river on ships. Even before Europeans came here in the 1500s, Native Americans paddled the river in dugout canoes. The river has been a highway for trade since time out of mind. 

"The Port of Savannah is home to the largest single-terminal container facility of its kind in North America, encompassing 1,345 acres. Moving millions of tons of containerized cargo annually, Savannah is also the third-busiest container gateway in the U.S., providing greater scheduling flexibility and market reach with direct links to I-95 and I-16, on-terminal rail, and 36 weekly container ship calls. The Port of Savannah is the most westerly port on the Atlantic seaboard, providing shorter transit times and greater efficiency for cargo destined for major inland markets. A hundred miles closer to Atlanta than any other port, Savannah offers superior connections to multiple markets by road and rail." (GPA)

Here's a video about what goes on aboard a ship visiting the Port of Savannah. Video courtesy Brian Boyle.

Our Port is a vibrant exciting place. The ships plying our waters are behemoths! Watching the tugs help them in and out of their moorings is impressive. If you want to see it all in person, call Island Shuttle Boat Tours at 912 657-5222 today!

This is the Port Of Savannah. We are Island Shuttle Boat Tours. "We go there."

Hickory Dickery Dock... The Boat Just Sank Like a Rock!

I am on at Atlanta for the NASCAR race and my phone rings. It's Dr. Donohue Waters, who lives next door to the community dock.  He says "Hey! I'm looking at my dock cam and there's a boat sunk at the community dock!" 

I reply, "please tell me it's not mine!" 

"Nope, it's not yours!"  

I feel a flood of relief.

I have an idea of which boat it is, but I'm not sure, so I call the dock club president. He already knows about it. And so does the owner. Towboat US is on the way for a salvage recovery. In short order, they raise her with an airbag or two, tow her away, and tally up a major bill that will have to be paid by insurance or out of the owner's pocket. 

Having your boat sink sucks, and is to be avoided if at all possible. 

For a boater, there are few sights more forlorn and sad than that of a sunken boat. Whether she's down on her luck, down by the head,  or completely upside down, a boat isn't supposed to be sunk. 

The first thing that comes to mind is that someone has made a mistake--and whether it's an error of action or inaction, it's bad. You've probably heard that a stitch in time saves nine. Well, when it comes to a boat, a few dollars and a few minutes of work spent now may save a boatload of money later. And later may come sooner than you think.

In the case of this vessel, I observed her laying significantly lower in the water a few weeks ago after days of heavy rain. I alerted the owner who came and got the water out of her. What he failed to do however was to take that near-miss to heart and make sure his stuff was tight and right. And while I was enjoying a NASCAR race last weekend, Savannah had a whole bunch of rain come down. 

Having a good bilge pump in working order, an automatic switch that will turn it on in the event of flooding, and a strong battery to power it are the keys to this not happening to you. The salvage bill for this event will be in the thousands of dollars. The electronics are ruined. The engine may be ruined. When it comes to a boat, out of sight must NOT be out of mind. In the event you are in the middle of getting your boat in good order when storms come, you may need to get your butt off the couch and go check on your boat. And take a good bailer. 

Folks often underestimate how little water it takes inside your boat hull to sink her. If you have a cutout transom, a few inches of water inside her, and your stern pointed in the wrong direction, that slight reduction of freeboard is what allows wind-driven waves to finish the job. It takes less than you might think. 

Sidebar: If your dock has a prevailing wind or wave direction, put the pointy end of your boat that way. 

We had to moor this little skiff with her bow toward the open water in Islamorada.
At night, the waves got big. If we had put her stern to them, she'd have sunk.

Even with a good battery and bilge pump (or two or more of each) you have to keep up with what's happening down below. In the case of a float switch, any piece of debris sloshing around might become lodged in the float and keep the pump running until the batteries run out of power. On the other hand, a piece of gear, like a throw-cushion (a type-4 PFD) or a loose fender might find itself interfering with the float operation. Then the pump, she no come on...

You have to attend to this stuff. Don't procrastinate.  Putting it off can end badly. Whether the bill is big or little, it's bad and it's sad and it doesn't need to happen. 

Talk about a crying shame...

Anticipation

 In the 90s, I  wrote an article for the Nightstalker's in-house newsletter (IP Inbound) entitled "Demo Fever."  and after it was published a fellow 3rd Herder said to me "I can't believe you wrote that about yourself!" 

I told on myself because I realized that if I was thinking and doing these things others might be as well, and perhaps my shared experience might help someone avoid making my mistake. The theme of that article, discussing what happens to your heart, head, and hands when you are doing a flight demonstration, came up again when I revised Demo Fever for Vertical 911 Magazine. That was a story about one of my first flights as a Chinook Pilot-in-Command at Fort Bragg. I almost made history. 

All of us understand that we need to learn how to operate a machine, but more of us should understand that we need to learn how to operate people too--most especially ourselves.

The need for honest self-assessment and personal performance-review never leaves us. I am a boat captain now, and the same hard truths that thumped me over the head as a pilot continue to thump me over the head today. Just yesterday I was doing a mid-winter run on my 6-pack boat to charge batteries, circulate fluids, and wash off the bottom. It was windy and cold and I went about a mile from our dock and said to myself, "screw this." I turned around. I was idling under the Highway 80 bridge when the boat thumped under my feet. It sounded like I was running aground over hard stuff. 

My brain said to me, "you are in deep water, you can't be running aground!" WTH and WTF?

Being startled, I failed to perform a basic common-sense immediate-action step. PUT ENGINE(S) IN NEUTRAL and PRESS THE UP-TRIM SWITCH! The thumping feeling and sound moved toward the stern and then the idling engine jerked and jumped. A 6 foot-long 2 by 6-inch board rolled out from under the motor and rolled over in my wake. The nails that had once fastened it to someone's dock were sticking out of the ends. My next thought was, "thank God I didn't hit that at speed!"

I stopped the engine and trimmed it all the way up out of the water to check the prop for damage. All good.

So, after-action-review. Yesterday was the aftermath of a very high tide with high winds. Those conditions put more debris in the water, and the "wrack," (floating piles of marsh-grass debris) was everywhere. A tide that flushes out the wrack will flush out other debris too, so take care and expect this. Note to self: If your boat is hitting something underwater as you make way through it,  take immediate action to try and prevent damage to the lower unit and propeller. 

To train for this: Next time you are standing at your helm at the dock, pretend that you are driving the boat and say to yourself, "we are hitting something!" Practice putting your hand on the throttle and your thumb on the trim switch. Do this a few times to develop muscle memory and set the pattern in your brain. 

There are lots of things hanging out just beneath the surface, 
like manatees...

The opposite of being startled is anticipation. I vote that we anticipate trouble and hope that it never finds us.

What You Don't See Can Hurt You!

This is a typical low-country creek at low tide, viewed from the causeway onto Callawassie Island
Those mounds of "pluff mud" are covered with oysters, and their shells are sharp! If you 
hit one at speed and get ejected, there will be blood.

Our tidal creeks are beautiful and full of hazards. The swirling currents of our 6 to 9-foot tides create deep holes down to 50 feet or more--here--and oyster reefs just under the surface there. With no rhyme or reason beyond fluid dynamics, these hazards are everywhere. When a rising tide covers them with a few inches of water, they are hidden.

Mike Neal owns Bull River Cruises and gave me my start in the tour business.  He is involved with movie production and took me up Groves Creek near Priest Landing last year. He was showing me where boat scenes from Gemini Man were filmed.  We were there on a flooding tide and at idle speed. 

Mike passed on a good strategy for exploring uncharted creeks. "If you want to go exploring a creek, go in shortly after a low tide, with more water becoming available shortly to float you off if you get stuck. You can better see the layout of the bottom then. Go slow!"

I would recommend a neap-low versus a spring-low so that you have some water available shortly after the low tide, but can still see the bars, mounds, and oyster-reefs or rakes.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Having someone along to draw a picture of the creek (with the hazards noted) and the route to follow, or just to take pictures, will help you on future trips. You will want your motor trimmed up part-way, but with more up-trim available should you need to stop and back off of a rising bottom. Go as slowly as you can while maintaining control. A lookout posted in the bow can help you spot hazards before you hit them--and be mindful that oysters will destroy your fiberglass finish if you run across them. Water leaving a creek near low tide will form a deeper channel. It may be in the middle, or it may hug one bank or the other. It probably won't follow a straight line but will wind back and forth across the width of the flood area. The outside of a curve is usually deeper, but not always. 

At high tide, the creek pictured above has enough water to go where you want, but clearly, the hazards become a problem as the tide falls. You don't want to get stuck in any creek on a falling tide unless you have hours to spare. 

Since you can't see where the hazards lie at high tide, that's not really the best time to go in somewhere new. And there might be a bar or rake high enough to stop you even on a high tide. Plotting a safe course (if one exists) on a rising tide is your best bet. 

Take care, and enjoy the scenery!

The Saga of Sea Island Cotton in Savannah...

It's downright fascinating how the threads of history get woven together This is never more true than when studying Savannah's history. The twists, turns, and intersections never disappoint the curious mind or the wandering eye.

My son Corey Foulds came to visit us over Christmas, and of course, we had to go riding on boats every day he was here. During one of these rides, Corey mentioned that he had flown over Mallorca (or "Majorca") an island in the Mediterranian Sea, and wanted to go there.

His comment triggered some memories I have of reading about Majorca and it's smaller island-neighbor, Minorca. Minorca figures in our family history as one of my sisters married a Minorcan man whom she met near St. Augustine, Florida during my childhood. I had heard bits and pieces of the story of how people from Minorca came to be in Florida, and today the picture became much clearer. And of course, there's a connection to Savannah's islands and her rivers.

While reading my research books (Once Upon An Island, Elizabeth Carpenter Piechocinski / A Georgia Tidewater Companion, Buddy Sullivan / Tidecraft, Rusty Fleetwood) I have come across remarks about "a letter" several times. The letter was written to the newspaper by a local plantation owner, Nicholas Turnbull, protesting published claims made by, or on behalf of, another plantation owner, Francis Levett, Jr, to have been the first person to grow black seed "Sea Island" cotton on the Georgia Coast.

I didn't know why the question of who was first was important, as in good time all of the planters became wealthy (thanks mainly to the efforts of the slaves they all owned.) Bragging rights? Prestige? Money?

I decided to read more about the history of Minorcans, and the area that they were initially brought to, which was named "New Smyrna," in Florida. Here's a link

This project was the brainchild of Nicholas Turnbull's father Andrew, a Scottish physician and consul to Smyrna, part of what was then the Ottoman Empire on the coast of the Mediterranian. The name "New Smyrna" was in honor of Andrew Turnbull's wife, who was from that area. Turnbull set out to recruit immigrants from many locales around the Mediterranian, ending up with over 1400 souls, most of whom were from Minorca. The proposed colony failed in fairly short order, and many of the Minorcan's relocated to the area around St. Augustine. This makes sense as St. Augustine was founded by Spaniards, and Minorca is near Spain. After the demise of the project, Andrew Turnbull relocated to Georgia.

While reading the story about Andrew Turnbull, the name of one of his partners in the New Smyrna venture caught my attention; that of Francis Levett. I had seen that name somewhere else. Indeed!

"I conceive Mr. Levett is not entitled to any merit, as previous to that time the quantity was made in this state and shipped to (England) by the Savannah merchants, and the character firmly established; I do not suppose the trouble was great to Mr. Levett, or cost him anything, and which any anyone could have done as well as himself...The state is not the least indebted to Mr. Levett...( Nicholas Turnbull letter to Georgia Gazette, (Savannah), November 28, 1799, via "A Georgia Tidewater Companion.)

Now when you read that passage, it sounds like a story from today. Anger, jealousy, bitterness? All there.

And I'd bet it had everything to do with the economic relationship between the two fathers that was begun in 1769 with the work at New Smyrna thirty years prior. A relationship that went south just before the two men came north to Georgia.

If you are wondering what all this had to do with our creeks, rivers, and islands, well here's what an anonymous contributor wrote in the Columbia Museum and Savannah Advertiser in the fall of 1799--this is an excerpt of the letter that sparked Nicholas Turnbull's angry response a few weeks later...

"(Growers of) Sea Island Cotton (from the Caribbean Islands) gave the early planters ... a supply of that article from their own country, and completely foiled the making of indigo in the United States; but thanks to our climate, though the planters were compelled to turn their attention to something else, they recollected that cotton could be cultivated on lands that produced indigo, and included their thoughts to that article, and to this most were encouraged by a crop of black seed cotton from seed procured for Major Barnard on Wilmington Island which was raised on the island of Skidaway, 10,000 lbs. of which crop was shipped to England in the spring of 1791 by Messrs. Johnston and Robertson on account of Francis Levett, Esq. which established the character of Georgia sea island cotton; being the first shipment of any consequence; and to him (Levett) the state is indebted... (Companion, pg 98)

From a further reading of both full letters on the Jstor site (where you can enjoy the first-ever Georgia Historical Quarterly,) I can see that Josiah Tattnall (of Bonaventure Plantation) gave Nicholas Turnbull (of Deptford Hill Plantation) one-quart container of cotton seed that he had obtained in Carolina. That seed was planted on Whitemarsh Island. It was taken there by Turner's Creek or Richardson's Creek. The rest is, as they say, history.

Thanks to JStor for making these letters available...

Now, About That Scrap Iron...

If you visit Daufuskie Island, you will surely come across the "Scrap Iron" drink made and sold at Freeport Marina's Old Daufuskie Crab Company. 

It's a delicious and seemingly harmless concoction. But if you have two or more, you may find that your gyros have come uncaged when you stand up from the bar. 

The Scrap Iron legend is one of the great Stories from the Creek. It goes like this; the government stopped the oyster industry on Daufuskie, due to pollution from the Savannah River spreading to the Daufuskie oyster grounds. This put the Daufuskie islanders out of work, so they improvised and made 'shine in stills hidden in the Daufuskie woods. They moved this product by bateau to Savannah's clubs and bars, hidden under piles of scrap iron--cut up cars, trucks, and tractors abandoned in Daufuskie's woods--that they were purportedly selling here. Great "cover" story, aye?

We came across another reference to "Scrap Iron" while reading "Once Upon An Island." by Elizabeth Carpenter Piechocinski. This reference, quoted from Walter "Cork" Shaaf, connects the dots between moonshine made in illicit stills by black men on Daufuskie and a little joint here on Whitemarsh Island where black men went to socialize and enjoy a cold drink. These black men would have been the sons and grandsons of slaves freed when Sherman came to town. After the civil war and into the early 1900s, they made up a large part of the island's population, having been given these lands by Special Field Order #15, and then having had it taken away from them again after President Lincoln's assassination. 

From the book..."(Cork )Shaaf went on to say that there was a man named Johnny Gray who lived near the marshes, near the bridge to Oatland Island. Close by, the blacks had a nightclub they called 'Dad's Place,' and it was there they would go to drink the Scrap Iron." (emphasis added). 

Now there is a Gray's Creek and Gray's subdivision on Whitemarsh, and I'd bet there's a connection there.

Here's another connection. If you remember the film "The Legend Of Bagger Vance" that was made here about twenty years ago, you know that it was a story about a Savannah area Golf Course and Club that fell on hard times with the stock-market crash of 1929. That story parallels the history of the old General Oglethorpe Hotel and Resort which fell on hard times in real life during that time. 

In the film, Bagger Vance, played by Will Smith, came to help a World-War-One combat-vet plagued with PTSD. This veteran was played by Matt Damon, and he struggled with his golf game and his drinking. There's a scene in the film in which Damon is drinking with some black men in an establishment...

Okay, this would have been during Prohibition, which lasted from January 17th, 1920 until December 5th, 1933. So any liquor joint would have been illegal and "undercover." (But they were everywhere!)

And the story is clearly about the General Oglethorpe's golf course. And there was a nightclub on Whitemarsh called Dad's Place where black men went to drink!

Are you feeling me?

Last night, I told all of this to Robin McMahon, co-owner of the Flying Fish here on Wilmington Island. She loved the connections and told me that she is going to concoct a Flying Fish version of the Scrap Iron and sell it to customers coming off our tour boat. 

Let's drink to that!

Oatland Island's Storied Past is a Story Worth Telling...

Image courtesy Oatland Island

 Who knew? 

Oatland Island, which can be viewed from Richardson Creek on an Island Shuttle Boat Tour, has a long and fascinating history. In the 1700s and 1800s, it was a plantation, undoubtedly worked by slaves. In 1927, it was the location of a home for retired Railroad Conductors. (In "Once Upon an Island" by Elizabeth Carpenter Piechocinski,  Walter "Cork" Shaaf recounts those old conductors fixing nets and fishing rigs for him and the other children living on the island.) In 1941, it became a home and research facility for women and children with syphilis and other STDs. In 1945, penicillin eliminated the need for that function, and the old building became a component of what we now call the CDC. 

And it was there that the No Pest Strip (marketed by Shell if memory serves) and the flea collar for pets was invented! After the CDC consolidated facilities in Atlanta, the property was deemed excess and was given to the local school system. School children have enjoyed learning about the natural world there since the early 1970s, and I have picked up groups at their dock on Richardson Creek with Michael Neal and Bull River Cruises in conjunction with Kelly Tours. 

As I wind through these backwater creeks, I learn more and more that every place you see has a story. Chasing those stories down, and sharing them, is great fun!

Click here to learn more...

Shrimping Life...

Continuing a proud tradition! (image by the author)

During the middle decades of the 1900s, an entire fishing industry grew up in our region. Hundreds of shrimping trawlers were built and put into service--many of them from the DESCO boat company in St. Augustine Florida--and thousands of men were provided employment as they brought food to the nation's table. Our favorite Captain, Clyde Carrell "Buddy" Lee spent about twenty years of his working life aboard these vessels and tells of legendary characters who plied the waters and lived the life. Here's another account of that life, from another "Buddy,"

"In summers, I had the opportunity to accompany Hugh Burrows out on the Pinta for all-day shrimping in the offshore Atlantic waters. These excursions were always memorable, but we worked hard. Bobo was not into providing pleasure cruises, if you went fishing with him, you earned it.

We helped with the nets, headed shrimp, hosed down the deck between catches, and cleaned the galley. During the drags, we took cat naps on the bow in the warm sunshine. The long extended double outriggers towed the nets, and the vessel's powerful Caterpillar Diesel engine towed the accumulating bags and catch along the seafloor.

Image courtesy U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries
The "Try Net" in the middle is pulled in mid-drag to see if there are shrimp present.

These trips were always made enjoyable by the food. The local shrimpers definitely knew how to eat. Usually, the striker prepared breakfast just as dawn broke and the sun rose over the horizon. With the first drag of the morning begun and a two-hour lull before hauling in the nets, there would be strong steaming coffee served up in thick crockery mugs with sugar and canned milk, hot grits with butter, and scrambled eggs with ham or bacon.

Lunch came in the early afternoon. It was often shrimp creole, prepared with shrimp that had been in the ocean an hour earlier, simmered in a thick-and-spicy, made-from-scratch, perfectly-seasoned tomato sauce, with onion, bell pepper, and a dash or two of oregano. This blend was served over real white rice, with sweet iced tea to wash it down. It was a grand, almost romantic life..."(from "A Georgia Tidewater Companion" by Buddy Sullivan)

Today; over-fishing, high fuel-prices, and pond-scum-shrimp imported from China have pretty much ruined this once proud and prolific industry. I could gross you out telling you what those pond-owners feed those shrimp they are raising, but let's just say that you can't make chicken salad out of what they eat.

Image courtesy Josephine Johnson: music and photography!

Video courtesy of The Shrimp Alliance. Click here to visit their site

The boat-haul rails and winching-machinery at the old Sasser docks on Wilmington Island are now rusty relics. There are no boats to haul out. The shrimp-boats are going away. Many of them are abandoned, burnt, or sunk.

Image courtesy Diesel Engine Sales Company (DESCO)

You can still see a few shrimpers at work, and Nelson's Shrimp Company in Thunderbolt still sells Wild Georgia Shrimp caught right here (and the best shrimp to have for a Low Country Boil). For an easy and fun way to enjoy the taste of our place, go sit at the Flying Fish Bar and Grill. Tell Heather we sent you!

Situated on Highway 80 just east of the Bull River Bridge, The Flying Fish has great seafood and a great atmosphere to match. The newly covered deck and big outdoor bar, complete with 85 inches of big-screen sports action, make for a memorable visit.
Please tell them you were sent by SavannahBoater.com!

Georgia's shrimping industry is not what it used to be, but don't despair. Life has taught me that the tides of fortune go out, and then they come in again. Sooner or later our shrimping industry will recover fully as people learn the truth about imported shrimp.

Image via My Georgia Coast

The sun will rise again for Georgia shrimping. You can do your part by refusing to purchase imported shrimp. When you go to a restaurant, ask your server if the shrimp has been harvested locally. Every dollar we put into our community passes through the hands of several of our friends and neighbors. Let's support them, and ourselves!