Friday - May 6, 2011

Lat 32 25 79; Long 80 40 51; 204 gal; eng 765.09

All the Loopers left Beaufort this morning at 8:30, again on a rising tide. Our goal was Charleston, SC. Only one really bad spot which we passed over when it was around 8.5 feet under my hull. Not too bad. As we were going along in file, another trawler rushed up beside us with no warning and cut in front of me. His purpose was to get behind his friend who was at that time behind Rambler and Bade Boomer. Got waked by him and we rocked and rolled a bit. However, rather than get excited, we followed them for quite some time notwithstanding that the first two boats in our group were getting a long way ahead. A couple of times I tried to pass by slowly increasing our speed, but they sped up to match and I decided to drop back. So we traveled in a procession with them for about 25 miles or so, until they started slowing down to 5.1 knts. At that time I decided I was going to pass them because at that rate we might never reach Charleston before dark. So I stepped up the speed, as did they. Fortunately, The Old Grouch has the ability to get up to around 15 knts - not that I did that but I did pass them, while they were trying to speed up. We left them behind and moved on.

Started raining quite heavily and this provided a nice fresh water wash for the boat. As we approached Charleston there was a cut that I was unsure was the right path to take, so I slowed down. Once I had determined it was the right entrance, we moved forward and down the channel into Charleston Harbor.

As we were approaching the marina we were talking to marina over 68 to get directions. All of a sudden the tow boats, we passed started talking over us and eliminated any and all of the instructions. I assume they were still upset about our passing them, because they had to know that we were conversing with the marina on 68. Oh well, you run across all types, but sometimes I wish it was mandatory that all boaters take some Power Squadron courses to learn the rules of the road and courtesy. Probably never happen so will have to keep my eyes open and my mouth shut.

When I got in, I phoned Customs and reported in. As I suspected, there were questions about not having a cruising permit number and I told them to phone Savannah.