The Cape Fear Incident

 It was late November 2005 and our first year living the cruising life.   Libby and I were heading south for the year on our sailboat with winter nipping at our heels.   It was cold, drizzly, miserable morning.   We planned to decide in Beaufort NC, whether to continue inland on the ICW, or to go out to sea via the inlet at Beaufort.

Just as we got there, the sun came out.   There was a brisk wind blowing from the North.   Ideal conditions!  So, I made a snap decision; let's go out to sea. 

Bad decision. One should always check the weather report and carefully plan a route before going out to sea. Shame on me. 

It was a splendid afternoon out on the ocean, although a bit rough.  We made good speed with the wind and waves behind us.     On our GPS chart plotter, I made a straight line course from our current position to Fernandina Beach Florida, 400 miles away.  

Bad decision.  Imagine yourself using the map app on your phone to plan a trip to Seattle.  You can zoom out the map to show the whole country and make a straight line to Seattle, but when you do that, obstacles like the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains don’t show up on the screen.

The only bad thing was that Libby was feeling seasick.   I told her to skip her turn on watch and sleep it off.   Bad decision.

During the afternoon, the wind blew harder and harder, to nearly gale force, but still we were fine.  Before dark, I decided to cross check the electronic chart with the paper charts we carried on board, because cross checking was how I was trained.  

Good decision. That one good decision is the only reason that Libby and I are still alive and here to tell you this story.

Looking at the chart I was shocked.   Frying Pan Shoals is a finger of treacherous 4 foot deep water that extends 30 miles out to sea from Cape Fear.   OMG.  I turned to the electronic map and zoomed in.  The shoals popped up on the screen, right in front of us.   I had to make an instant decision to avoid it, so I turned left to go further out to sea and go around the shoals.

Bad decision.  If I had turned right instead of left, we could have gone in another inlet at Wrightsville Beach, and anchored for the night.   But I didn’t notice that during advanced planning because I didn’t do advanced planning.   I also didn’t know at the time that the eastern tip of Frying Pan shoals extended out into the Gulf Stream.  That does not show on the charts.

I should explain.  The Gulf Stream is one of the most powerful forces on Earth. When wind from the north opposes the flow of water from the south, the waves do not have a gentle rolling motion, they become vertical walls of water.   

All night long, I battled those waves although it was so dark that I couldn’t see them coming. They smashed into the front of the boat sending huge showers of water down on my head.  Conditions like that, cause less seaworthy boats to break into pieces and sink. But I was tough and our boat was tougher.  Needless to say, Libby’s seasickness got only worse.   She was incapacitated.

By dawn, we were out of danger, past the shoals, and out of the Gulf Stream.  The strong North winds continued.   But I was exhausted after 24 hours on watch without a break.  I was dehydrated and undernourished.  My mind craved sleep.  Where could we go?   The nearest port was Cape Fear, so I changed plans headed West toward Cape Fear.

Bad decision.  If we had just headed south toward Florida, the boat could have handled itself for 2 whole days while I got food, water and sleep.  

EIght hours later battling more waves and wind, we finally made it in. We tied up in a marina for the night, and I got some much needed rest. Hallelujah.

The next day, my engineer’s training kicked in.  I sat down and thought about all the mistakes of the previous day.   I wrote up a list of Lessons Learned, and posted it on my blog.   

My  biggest lesson was fatigue.  When you are physically and mentally fatigued, your brain turns to mush and you make bad decisions.  The remedies for that are rest, and training.   It was only because of my training that I cross checked the paper charts with the electronic map.

Libby learned that seasickness pills are mandatory, and that they need to be taken in advance.    We both learned the hard lesson that the watch schedule, where we take turns working and resting must be maintained sick or not sick, because skipping rest causes fatigue.

Making a lessons learned list after any near disaster experience is something I can recommend for everyone.

But it would be sanctimonious of me to say that without making a confession.  About 2 months after this horrible experience, we did it again, in the Gulf of Mexico, near the Yucatan.  We made the same mistakes, with the same outcome, once again avoiding disaster.  For us, it took a second round before we really learned our lessons.

Thank you.