I’m a transient in Panama City Beach, Fl. I’m
not going ashore at all. I dropped the
anchor off a sandy island about 5pm today.
I plan to pick up and move on before 8am. I’m sailing tomorrow to St. Joseph Bay. That’s about 40 miles. I did about 45-50 miles today.
I don’t want to jinx it, but everything worked great
today. Yesterday on my first attempt, I had
left a valve closed to the auto pilot and ambushed myself with no steering. It would not let the auto pilot turn to port. So I aborted the attempt, limped back into
Destin and fixed it. (opened the valve I
had closed) Today was attempt number
two. Success.
I’ll just be at St. Joseph Bay for a night and then move on
through the ICW for a day finally to arrive at Apalachicola. It feels good to get things done and become
more comfortable with all the demands of this moving thing. It’s all so new and overwhelming, I’m still
learning.
I’ll be smart when I learn more.
Sailing: 'hours of boredom accentuated by moments of sheer terror
and panic.' Today I almost fell asleep
while in transit. I got about prone in
the cockpit and ‘rested my eye’ for a second.
I did get drowsy, then jumped up and checked everything again. When I finally got to the inlet for Panama
City it was quiet, till I arrived. Then
Seatow called on channel 16 to report they were inbound with a towed vessel. (they came just off my starboard side and cut
in front of me) While this was going on,
my AIS was screaming at me – “Warning dangerous vessel is approaching.” I look up and see a guy on a pontoon boat
fishing and cutting me off. Dangerous vessel
to my left, a towed vessel to my right (*note the jet skier who cut through the
middle of all of it at 50mph.) so I slowed and waited for them all to pass then
turned to Port to go find my anchorage.
I’m tired now. It’s
been a long day!
New to Pirating, Capn Skip
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