35 knots before Breakfast

35 knots before Breakfast

Sunday 11 April 2021

We prepared well for todays trip, or so we thought. After last nights thunderstorm we made sure to check the weather carefully before pulling up anchor in Walburg Creek and continuing our journey north up the Intra Coastal Waterway in Georgia. The hourly forecast for Savannah looked clear of storms, the weather radar showed nothing and so at 8 am, about an hour before high tide, we set out. As we were crossing St Catherines sound we looked back to see a strange and spectacular cloud formation. Entering the Bear River, twenty minutes later, it became increasingly clear that this ominous formation was moving our way. I stepped below to fire up my laptop and check “Active Captain” for alternative anchoring options in the near vicinity. I had just finished when Gloria called for me to come on deck. I looked up from the bottom of the companionway to see an awesome sight; Gloria was at the helm in her red foul weather jacket and behind her the blackest sky you can imagine. There is an expression “when the going gets tough the tough get their cameras”, or something like that and Gloria will recount many a story where I’ve passed over the wheel to her so that I can get a shot of that imposing tug, barge, supertanker, storm clouds etc. In my mind my first reaction was to grab my camera and take a photo of Gloria at the helm, my second thought was “she’ll forgive me … but maybe not I my lifetime”. I made the wise to choice and came straight up on deck! The squall line had arrived and the winds had jumped from < 10 knots to 30 knots in less than a minute. It would peak a little later at 35 knots and stay in the high 20’s for the next quarter of an hour. It was a wild and unsettling experience, but surprisingly there was no rain and no thunder or lightening. Cotinga handled the conditions just fine and it wasn’t hard to steer or maintain our course through the channel. We arrived at our destination anchorage in Buckhead Creek shortly after 10 am and dropped anchor. Once everything was secure we settled down to a fine breakfast. The weather continues to be a little unstable and we do expect some more thunderstorms later this evening before the cold front finally passes through.

Mike

31 49.147 N, 81 09.059 W

Looking back southwards towards St Catherines Island with the ominous squall line approaching - maybe 20 minutes before it caught up with us (telephoto panorama - 2 individual shots merged in LightRoom)

A wild sky over St Catherines Island - maybe 10 minutes before the winds hit us (wide angle panorama - 3 individual shots merged in LightRoom)

Looking north after the squall had passed - the winds subsided and the waves settled down quickly in the Bear River