Back from riding out Charley (big picture)

[CaptK]

Epiphany, the CrewDogs, and I all weathered the storm well, tucked
away up in a small unnamed creek in the Pawleys Island area. Lotta
wind, lotta rain, coulda been worse, was about as good as could be
expected when you have to anchor out for a storm like that.

The short version is that we were in a creek about 25' wide, the storm
arrived on a high tide, and was a marginal hurricane at best by the
time we were in the strong part of the storm. It was a no-brainer to
let the first winds of the storm guide us to a soft spot up against
the tall marsh grass at the creek edge.

I only had 2 anchors out, one each fore and aft, just to keep us from
being pushed down the creek when the wind eventualy shifted as the
storm passed. The high tide and the coming storm surge would keep us
off of the bottom (8 ft of water there at high tide, 5 ft +/- tidal
range in this area), and the reeds would serve as a shock-absorbing
support for Epiphany's hull.

This worked extremely well, and about the only drawback I can see to
using the same tactics in a much larger storm would be that it might
blow you up onto the "solid" marsh ground, and then you'd have to dig
your boat out afterwards ( But you wouldn't sink... ). When I got
back to the marina today, there was an old-timer there who told me
he'd rode out Andrew in much the same way.

Buffett (the singer, not the dog) serenaded us through the storm,
although for a while there I turned the music off as the ambient noise
was too high. At the height of the storm, the wind got strong enough
to blow open my companionway hatch, simply from the force the wind
exerted on the 3" lip which forms it's after edge (*that* was a
surprise the first time it happened). The CrewDogs stayed in the
V-berth, I got the starboard settee, except when I was on deck
checking lines or just feeling the force of the storm. I'll write it
all up in another day or so, and will have some pictures then, too.

Came back today in sunshine and light air, got a bit sunburnt, but got
most everything dried out, too. Tired, will catch up on replys and
such tomorrow.