One Coast Guard rescue later…

No kidding, the USCG really did rescue us. They towed us actually, from about 75-80 nm offshore of Georgia. How did we get that far offshore and why did we need towing? Settle in and I will tell you.

Our “crew”, my Dad and his two cousins, Richard and Bob, arrived in Beaufort on Saturday the 16th. The weekend storm passed as predicted and things were calmer Monday morning. The marine and weather forecasts indicated a good weather window for our offshore cruise to Florida, so the five of us set out as planned. We planned to head south-southwest until we were 50 nm offshore, then turn southwest and from there pretty much parallel the coastline to our destination. We wanted to catch the countercurrent of the gulf stream, which would be running in our favor. 

• • Monday 11/18: We cruised at about 5 kts until around 7:30pm when the port motor shut down. Dave believed it was due to some of the canbus* connectors, but he had to wait until the morning when we could safely do an all-stop so he could get down into the engine room to check. We continued through the night on the starboard motor at a slightly slower speed. (*Canbus- this is the “brain” of each of our solar electric systems that allows communication between all the parts- motor, battery bank, solar panels, generator. We have two such systems independent of each other, one port and one starboard.)
  • Tuesday 11/19: Dave fixed the canbus connections on the port motor and we had two working motors throughout the day and night. However, Tuesday afternoon the weather conditions changed fro what was predicted. The 25-35 kt west winds and 8+ foot seas from the west and north were against us. We were unable to make our turn southwest into those conditions and ended up having to continue more southeast and further offshore. Partway through the night watches, we turned our stern to the wind and waves and ran our motors at 1 KW each in reverse to minimize our progress in the wrong direction. We still ended up about 75-90 nm offshore.
  • Wednesday 11/20: We were moving slowly, 1.5-2.5 kts, very likely blown into the gulf stream overnight. In the morning we decided to hand steer (autopilot off) more into the seas and winds in an attempt to return to our original course. Later that morning the starboard battery control box failed, cascading into the whole starboard system shutting down and unable to be restarted (a repeat of the failure in July). When we had this problem over the summer, Dave was able to cross wire the starboard motor to the port system, which he attempted again. This time it didn’t work (the wire overheated). So we continued with the port motor only, making slow progress back toward our original course line. Winds and seas calmed a little in the afternoon and we made a better angle toward our original course line at 3-4 kts. That night the port system started acting up, but Dave kept it running with some finagling.
  • Thursday 11/21: The sun was out, the seas calmed to gentle rollers and the winds died down to 5-10 kts. We were making progress toward our original courseline. We had breakfast and revisited our travel plan and alternatives. Then around 8:30am the port battery control box failed, cascading into that whole system shutting down. After 20 minutes, Dave concluded it had suffered the same fatal failure as starboard. We were adrift and it was time to call for help. We hailed a passing cargo ship we saw on AIS. They relayed messages between us, Tow BoatUS and the Coast Guard, and stayed within hailing distance until they knew the USCG had dispatched a boat. A USCG cutter arrived around 4pm and commenced an 8-hour, 65(ish) nm tow to the entrance buoy of the Savannah river. From there, Tow BoatUS took over towing us up the Wilmington River to Thunderbolt Marina, where they deposited us around 4am Friday morning on the fuel dock- the only open space we could see in the dark.
  • Friday 11/22: Tow BoatUS returned late morning to move us off the fuel dock. We had established that Thunderbolt couldn’t house us for 7+ weeks, nor could they help facilitate our repairs. After a little searching through cruising guides, posting in Facebook cruising groups, and talking with the owner of the TowBoat, we settled on being towed to a marina west of Savannah in the Ogeechee River. We arrived around 5pm. 

We spent Saturday and Sunday morning, cleaning Indigo Lady, diagnosing the failed solar electric systems, and buttoning her up so we could all travel home for the holidays. We piled into our rental car yesterday (Sunday) after lunch, arriving home around 9:30 this morning, Monday. We will return to Lady in January to start on repairs and spend some time exploring the Savannah area by land. We are hopeful that the issues that have dogged those systems repeatedly will finally be resolved and that we can continue our trek south to Florida and on to the Bahamas. 

This has been a humbling experience.  We made mistakes that I do not intend to repeat. First, I need to be more involved in the planning of our trips and more assertive about my needs and wishes. I will also insist on having a satellite phone on board for offshore travel. I was terrified Tuesday night when the seas and winds were raging against us and blowing us further off course. My fear was about relying on hailing commercial traffic should we need assistance. Having a satellite phone would have greatly reduced my stress level. I also plan to stay closer to shore when it’s not necessary to be further off, making it easier to adjust to changes in weather and seas, and to get assistance if necessary. Finally, knowing that forecasts can change unexpectedly, I need to learn how to read the weather and seas in real-time in order to make course changes for safety.

We owe a debt of gratitude to those who helped get us to safety. It’s unlikely any of them will read this post, but I want to publicly thank them here anyway. We will be sending them letters as well.

• • Thank you to the captain of the Maersk Vallvik, the cargo ship that responded to our hail and liased between us, the USCG and TowBoat US. They stayed within sight and hailing range until they knew the Coast Guard had dispatched a boat. We know this cost them dearly in lost time, about 3-4 hours. 
  • Thank you to the captain & crew of the USCG cutter Pompano out of Tybee Island, GA. They towed us for 8 hours about 65 nm to the entrance to the Savannah River and remained until TowBoat US had us on their tow lines. We have been long-time supporters of the USCG, but they will be getting a little something extra in their Christmas stocking this year.
  • Thank you to Dana (and his wife & sons) of Savannah Marine Towing & Recovery, Inc. They were the boat dispatched by TowBoat US. The sons delivered us from the Savannah River entrance buoy to Thunderbolt Marina in the wee hours of the morning. Dana helped us Friday morning by calling some potential marinas and also convincing Tow BoatUS of the need to ultimately tow us 3-hours to the selected marina. Dana’s wife served as his first mate for this final tow.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our US family, friends, and followers. We certainly have much to be thankful for! 

Author: Indigo Lady

I am a retired educator married to a retired chemist/engineer/educator. We will be living aboard our solar electric catamaran for as long as possible. View all posts by Indigo Lady