Manatee River 27-30'N 082-37'W

23JUN09:

I'm falling apart; I'm fighting a cold, my back is bothering me, and my intestines are doing their best to drop ... well never mind ...

But there was supposed to be good wind predicted and the boat was fixed, so I decided to try sailing out of the Manatee River at a boat ramp I hadn't tried before. I arrived at the Warner's Bayou Boat Ramp at 1200 and walked over to the ramp to check out the depth. It was about ten minutes past high tide at Edgemont Channel, which meant another 45 minutes before it hit here. The flood was still running for another two hours at least. So the depth at the two ramps was great. Even at low tide, which wouldn't happen till 2000, there would still be enough water under my keel.

I have to say that this was one of the prettier spots that I've visited along Tampa Bay. The ramp is located on a canal, sheltered from the prevailing winds by a point of land and bend in the Manatee River. I watched the flags on boats moored in the river and saw that the wind was more northerly than from the north west as predicted, which meant that it was coming right down the river. Which meant a mile and a half slog to the Bay with the wind right on the nose and the height of the flood. Also, as I looked out into the river I noticed that the white caps were higher and more numerous than I had expected and there was spray coming off the tops of them.

Beaufort Scale:

Force Knots Wave Height Description

1 1-2 1/2 Light Air - ripples
2 3-6 1 Light Breeze - small wavelets
3 7-10 2 Gentle Breeze - Scattered Whitecaps
4 11-15 3 Moderate Breeze - Small waves
5 16-20 6 Fresh Breeze - longer waves, foam and spray starting
6 21-26 10 Strong Breeze - large waves, foam crests, some spray

I'd say it was a fresh breeze in the Manatee River, thought the waves weren't 6 feet.

I had a little foreboding as I rigged the boat. This was still a protected waterway, what would it be like out in the Bay? But I launched the boat without incident. This is getting easier and easier to do alone. I've got a system that seems to impress the power boaters, because they seem to find launching their larger more maneuverable boats alone impossible.

Soon I was underway out the channel into the River. As the wind started to fill in I realized that I'd forgotten to tie in a reef. I couldn't do it in the channel because it was too narrow. However, once out into the river with the wind coming over the port side, the wind caught the jib which was down but hauled tight to the port side and she hove-to. I put the engine in idle, let the tiller go to leeward and the boat held position. I tied a reef in the main, let go the main sheet and then raised the main. As she headed up into the wind, I let go the jib sheet and raised the jib. Then I jumped back to the tiller, fell off the wind, made the jib sheet fast as the sail filled and pulled in the main sheet till it filled.

We flew across the river close-hauled on the port tack, with the starboard rail buried. We pounded over and through the waves, scattered spray soaking me in seconds. I made several tacks up river and realized that I wasn't having fun, I was struggling. I hadn't prepared well for this trip and was unfamiliar with the river channel and its shoals. The wind was much stronger than predicted and I felt like crap. If Confidence = Skill + Preparation + Strength, then I was missing the last two of the equation. I decided to turn back.

I started the engine, then hove to on the starboard tack. I eased the main sheet and dropped the sail, using the reef line as a gasket to hold the sail down. Then I came up on the wind, let go the jib sheet and tried to drop the jib, but the downhaul fouled forward. I had to climb out onto the pitching foredeck and manually haul down the jib, then tie it off with the downhaul. To be honest, it was exhausting.

I got underway again into the entrance channel to the boat ramp. I realized that the wind was catching the little bit of main and jib that were exposed and that she was sailing. There were two power boats at the ramps, so I put the engine in neutral and "sailed" her in using the wind and flood tide. While still mid-channel, I let go the tiller for a moment and prepared dock lines for the port side. The wind was blowing right into the ramps, perpendicular to the channel, so the bowline was really unimportant. The stern line I held coiled in my hand as I made my approach.

One of the powerboats hauled out just as I was making my final approach, so I turned off my engine and went for it. I came in about five feet off the dock that he had just vacated, put the helm over slowly so that my stern was to the wind and let my momentum and the wind push me into the dock. I jumped out holding onto the stern line, and took three quick turns around a piling. The boat fetched up against the dock and I made fast the stern line, then the bowline. No applause, but I looked over and I could tell the powerboat guys were impressed. I know I was.

In the end, I was disappointed that I didn't get to sail, but I'd still had practice that was invaluable and I think my decision making skills are improving.