If it's in the logbook...

...it must be true. Oh, well, that's probably right. My brother Paul and I were too busy piloting and going over events of the last 50 years to spend much time fabricating log entries.

So, today it is blustery and rainy in Augusta and I am reading the logbook, re-living the trip and looking for numbers to calculate fuel consumption. Entries are interesting, in a minimalist kind of way. Here's the whole voyage, according to Ms. Bettencourt's log (with events I didn't enter italicized in parentheses):

April 11, 2014

0930 Underway downstream on the Savannah River with Paul.

1100 Arrived at Lock and Dam. (Called lockmaster on cellphone. He forgot his keys and had to go home to get them. Tied up at the courtesy dock to wait. Walked around in nearby swamp. Tracked black mud into the boat).

1220 Cleared lock. (Idiots fishing off lock wall cast lines over our bows and cabin top. Paul climbs on deck with pocket knife and cuts same. The water level is very high and the current as fast as I have experienced on this part of the river. Paul takes helm while the Captain starts lunch).

1240 Paul hits submerged wing dam. (Wham! Eight-knot momentum carries us over the pilings. Potato chips and trail mix join the mud mess underfoot. Captain springs to helm, pulls throttle to idle and shifter to neutral. Machinery and rudder appear to be undamaged. Bilges dry. Captain steers back to the channel, while Paul says something about changing his shorts).

1815 Anchored in 14 feet of water at Little Hell Landing. (Opened engine access port and placed foil-wrapped yeast rolls on top of motor about an hour earlier. Hot buttered rolls went very well with dinner. Trail mix for dessert).

April 12

(Honda 1000 generator starts on first pull. Strong coffee and toasted English muffins with orange marmalade for breakfast. Paul opens a new bag of trail mix).

0850 Underway downstream.

1030 Burton's Ferry and Highway 301 bridges.

1620 Stokes Bluff Landing. (We slow and ease toward the beach to get a closer look. Bathers seem to flee as we approach. They must not recognize us as relatives. Paul shoots many photos as we withdraw).

1900 Anchored in South end of Cutoff #6 on the Georgia side of the River. Depth 20 feet. (Pitch-black dark with fishing boats moving about. Deployed anchor light. Microwaved lasagna for dinner. Found the Oreo cookies. Life is good).

April 13

(Checked engine oil, coolant and alternator belt. Adjusted shaft stuffing box. Added 10 gallons of diesel fuel from on-board jerry cans).

0920 Underway downstream.

1102 Passed under the unopened SCL Railroad bascule bridge at high tide with 3 feet to spare. (Put the VHF antenna down and had Paul on the roof just in case).

1145 Passed under the unopened Highway 25 swing bridge, vertical clearance 8 feet. Proceeding through Port Wentworth and Savannah Harbor to the Wilmington River and Thunderbolt, GA,

1450 Docked in the basin at Thunderbolt Marine. (It is a custom at this marina to deliver hot donuts to transient boaters on departure mornings. The dockmaster asked how many people Ms. Bettencourt had aboard. First, I said "six," then settled on three, thus assuring a 6-pack of Krispy Kremes for breakfast tomorrow).

April 14

0750 Underway for Beaufort, SC, beset by a swarm of biting 'no see-um' gnats. (Insect spray, prudently packed by the Captain, leaves dashboard littered with little black bug bodies. Weather radio announces a gale warning, so Captain elects an inside route through Calibogue and Port Royal sounds).

1445 Beaufort Downtown Marina. Tied up at Fuel Dock awaiting turn of the tide to move into a nearby slip.
(We meet my friend Major and his wife Linda who have graciously hauled Ms. Bettencourt's trailer to Beaufort for a return trip by road).

1615 Memorable stern-first berthing. (Captain miscalculates. A plan to belay a bow line with a strong wind swinging the stern about into the slip was thwarted by contrary current overpowering the wind. Ms. Bettencourt was jammed sideways, threatening to spear a sailboat with her anchor. Major, Paul and two dock hands achieve control.  Captain administers first aid for barnacle scrapes Major receives from a piling).

April 15

0930 Underway for Lady's Island boat ramp. (It is raining torrents, but the current is in the right direction for a departure without drama. Major and Linda are at the ramp with the trailer and loading is wet, but otherwise uneventful. With the boat out of the water, we note a few wing dam dings in the hull's antifouling paint -- wing dam dings? -- but no other damage. There was also a snarl of monofilament fishing line around the propeller shaft, which yielded to my pocket knife).

1320 Launched from the North Augusta ramp into the Savannah River.

1355 Secured at Ms. Bettencourt's home dock.

(Trip statistics: Another 250 nautical miles or so under the keel. The fuel burn was 0.52 gallons of diesel per engine running hour, a number somewhat better than Ms. Bettencourt's usual 0.68/hour rate. All the Oreo cookies were gone. About 1.5 pounds of trail mix remained. It was still raining).


Note: For a closer look at our cruising area you may wish to consult NOAA charts 11514 and 11515 for the Savannah River; Chart 11512 for Savannah Harbor and approaches; and Charts 11507 and 11518 for Calibogue and Port Royal sounds and the Beaufort River.

These charts may be found at: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/BookletChart.html