THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190397
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ABOARD THE GALATEA LENGTH: 72 lines
Squalls are waiting on the horizon like gray dust brooms.
It is Sunday, the second day at sea for Galatea, the sailboat heading for Hampton Roads from the Florida Keys, and the Gulf Stream continues to administer a licking.
It looks as though we'll outrun the last of the squalls when, suddenly, winds reaching 30 knots howl in the rigging and waves smack the hull and douse us with salty spray.
Jim Trum is an experienced sailor with several Atlantic crossings to his credit, so the concern on his face is not reassuring.
``Here it comes!'' he yells. ``Here it comes!''
We are caught off guard, with our genoa, a huge forward sail, heeling us over. We all have the same thought: A sudden gust could knock us down.
Straining against the power in that sail, several of us wrestle with it until it is safely furled and we're out of danger.
This is the first warning that something unexpected may be in store for our trip back to Mile Marker Zero, the official beginning of the Intracoastal Waterway, marked by a buoy bobbing in the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.
This is the path of ``snowbirds,'' the thousands of people who move their boats up and down the Atlantic coast as weather commands.
Instead of taking the slow, sleepy Intracoastal for its entire 1,095-mile length, we choose the outside passage, the fast but notoriously fickle Gulf Stream, intending to join the waterway at Beaufort, N.C.
The Gulf Stream gives boats a welcome push. Although Galatea's top speed is 7.8 knots, the extra ``kick'' at one point has the 42-foot cutter-rig sailboat traveling at 12 knots (about 14 mph).
But, easterly winds lash us with 8- to 10-foot waves, bringing on seasickness and misery as we try to sleep on a rolling, rocking boat.
Bob Nicholson, a former airline pilot, is making his first offshore trip. He and Trum and Trum's 17-year-old son, Adam, are helping John Hussey, a Maryland public relations consultant, move Galatea home from Marathon, Fla.
The open-seas route is faster - 10 days instead of 30 hugging the coast - but some of us are not so sure we made the right decision.
Monday brings squall after squall, but Galatea holds its course, taking wind and waves without complaint.
We're thinking the weather will improve, but Monday brings bad news. A volunteer weather forecaster known simply as ``Herb,'' who advises individual boaters over marine radio, warns us of trouble.
By now we're just 200 miles from Beaufort, on a direct line 100 miles at sea off the coast of Brunswick, Ga. Herb warns of a low pressure cell forming off northern Florida that is moving a lot faster than we are. His urgent advice: head for shelter. ``I'm serious,'' he says.
We have a quick conference. ``We can't outrun it if we go all the way to Beaufort,'' Hussey says. ``What we saw this morning was just the beginning.''
Adds Nicholson, ``If we wait to make a decision until it develops, it's too late.''
Reluctantly, we turn Galatea sharply left and head for Charleston, S.C.
As Tuesday dawns, we know we were right. We were witnessing the birth of the season's first tropical depression, the weather report reveals.
Ironically, with winds now southeast and a following sea, the daylong sail is turning out to be the best we've had.
As we come within sight of Charleston Harbor on Tuesday afternoon, a dark band of gray is close behind and winds are kicking up. We'll chart a new course in the shelter of the Intracoastal Waterway. MEMO: Next: A report Friday on the Galatea's first two days inside the
Intracoastal Waterway's protected passageway up the coast. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
VP
DESTINATION HAMPTON ROADS
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY SERIES by CNB