Off with the Midnight Tide

Michael, Eric, and Fred ready to cast off from Green Cove

So, after several days of provisioning, last minute repairs, alterations, and upgrades to Sea Glass, we pulled away from the dock in Green Cove Springs at just before midnight, Friday night, April 23rd, 2010.

Sea Glass is a 2008 Great Harbour GH47 with twin Yanmar 75hp diesels. She is a spacious and seaworthy craft with plenty of room aboard for a larger crew than the three of us. She has a 13kw diesel generator, 3kw inverter, two large staterooms, and three more convertible queen berths in the dining area, saloon and pilothouse. She also has three heads. Her tender is a 13' Caribe RIB with 40hp Honda 4-stroke. Her electronics suite is the best available with full Glass Helm, AIS, radar, Single Sideband, KVH satellite, etc. She is equipped for a long voyage away from civilization with tons of spares and an outstanding inventory of safety gear.

Sea Glass's crew for this voyage consists of owner Michael Jackson, his buddy Fred Schmidt and me - the Sales Guy/Charter Captain for Great Harbour Trawlers - Eric Kraft.

Conditions on the 40-mile run down the St. Johns River towards the Atlantic can be best described as "dark". But with the excellent electronics and my knowledge of the many turns and bends of the river (I grew up boating on this river), we managed to miss being hit by any freighters or tugboats and punched out of the inlet into the North Atlantic about 6am.

Dawn came late on an overcast sky. However, the sea was still pretty benign with a light 10-knot breeze out of the southeast kicking up just little 2-footers on our port bow. After piloting Sea Glass all the way down the St. Johns, I gladly relinquished the helm to Fred and Michael so I could get a couple hours sleep in my comfortable watch cabin just aft of the pilothouse.

The afternoon passed slowly as wind and seas steadily began building. After managing to download all the latest weather information, it quickly became obvious that our nice weather window was in the process of slamming shut on us. There would be no Gulfstream crossing for several days.

At about 2 in the afternoon we made the decision to get out of the ocean at the next opportunity. Seas were up to about 3'-5' on the port bow and forecast to increase. NOAA's marine forecasts called for "dangerous sea conditions" that night. So, about 6:30pm we turned Sea Glass west into Ponce Inlet and docked at the Inlet Harbor Marina for some much-needed food and rest. We will start out tomorrow at dawn and work our way down the Intracoastal to Ft. Pierce to make our crossing decision there...