We made it back to the States. The trip back was a little squirrelly. We had thunderstorms, unpredictable wind, and a new speed over ground record. Sam is the current record holder at 11.7 knots. That Gulf Stream can be a wonderful thing when you’re headed north.
We arrived at the dock in South Carolina after two nights at sea. We made 350 miles in about 50 hours. Not bad for a 40 foot cruising pig. We’d heard that the customs authorities in Florida were pr!cks. So we opted for landfall a little further up the coast, in Charleston, SC. Checking back into the country was friendly and straight forward. The Charleston customs agent assigned to our boat seemed unaware of the cruising permit that Florida customs agents require but which we had neglected to purchase.
The only remarkable bit of the crossing occurred one night in a heavy thunderstorm. Perhaps this dramatization of a Brief Conversation That Might Have Occurred Between Me And My Beautiful Bride Regarding the Non-Deterministic Nature Of Thunderstorms will sufficiently illustrate the nature of our plight.
Me: Ok. Your watch. I’m heading below. Wake me if you need anything.
My Beautiful Bride: Honey?
Me: Yes Dear?
My Beautiful Bride: That thunderstorm up ahead looks dangerous.
Me: Yep.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: Should we alter course?
Me: Ok. Lets head down about 10 degrees. That’ll give us a chance to punch through that thin looking part over there.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: Ummm. It’s moving pretty fast.
Me: Yep.
My Beautiful Bride: We won’t be able to avoid it. If it comes at us we’re gonna get a lot of lightning.
Me: Yep.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: I don’t like it.
Me: Ok. we could come up about 30 degrees. It’s taking us substantially off course, but maybe we could climb over the top of the storm (assuming it is moving west to east.)
My Beautiful Bride: It doesn’t seem like that would work.
Me:
My Beautiful Bride:
Me: Do you want to turn around?
My Beautiful Bride: Not really.
Me:
My Beautiful Bride:
Me: What do you want me to do?
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: You could sit here with me in the cockpit and cuddle me.
Me: Done.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride:
Me: Since we’re out here alone, in the dark, any chance I could get a little nookie?
My Beautiful Bride: Ok. That’s enough. You can go to sleep now.
Me: That’s what I thought.
My Beautiful Bride: G’night.
Me: G’night.
