Fun morning ... NOT

[Andy26M]

I decided to do an overnight on Seneca Lake here in New York for Sunday-Monday this holiday weekend.

Sunday was beautiful, one of the best - good mix of wind to sail and calm periods to relax and swim, etc. Couldn't complain.

Come evening, a final check of NOAA weather radio confirmed that the forecast was for light and variable winds from the North overnight - the same as had been forecast for several days here. Seneca Lake has long, straight shorelines without much in the way of coves and such, so the best I could do was choose a section of shore that angled Southeasterly to provide shelter from breeze while at anchor, but then the wind was only going to be light and variable anyway...

I anchored in a dead calm and enjoyed a few burgers while watching a beautiful sunset, then read for a while to wait for the moon to come up - awesome. Went to sleep with the hatch and companionway wide open so I could look up at the stars. It doesn't get much better, right? Around midnight I got up and checked the boat over and everything was fine - the anchor was holding, but I did note that the "light and variable breeze from the North" was instead a pretty steady five knots or so from the Southwest - making my bit of southeasterly running shoreline a nifty lee shore. But, the wind was only very light so I didn't much worry.

About 2:30 I woke to a very strange feeling in the boat, and jumped to the cockpit... Sure enough, the wind was at least 25 (in the dark it felt like 45, hehe) and still from the Southwest - giving it about 20 miles of fetch at that particular part of the lake. What was smooth as glass at midnight was now about 2 foot whitecaps. And the anchor was dragging. A quick glance around showed me no more than 30 yards from the rocky shore, and the depth sounder showing 2-3 feet at the low points of the passing waves. With no clouds, the moon made things very easy to see, at least.

Quick as a whip, the Honda was down and running, and I motored up to the anchor. Of course the boat goes sideways as soon as you take off the power, but that at least gives me some slack to get the first 30 or so feet of anchor rode up, then it becomes real work to haul the last few feet of rode and the 20 feet of chain up. I had to go back and motor up to the anchor a second time, because the anchor seemed to be VERY heavy. Finally, I got it up but it looked the size of a beach ball in the dark - DOH! I had anchored in about 15 feet of water outside a wide band of submerged weed growth, but the anchor had dragged right through it. There was nothing to do with the boat quickly drifting back to shore but heave the entire slimy mass up onto the deck, get back to the cockpit, and motor out to deep water. Blech.

But, thanks to that nice powerful engine, I was soon out in safe water. The waves seemed a lot bigger in the deep water though, I think I was occasional seeing some that were close to 4 feet - with a very short period. Steering the boat at slow speeds downwind was a real issue. What to do next? It was close to 3 AM and my marina was a good 10 nautical miles away. But, in that wind I was not in the mood to try and re-anchor even if I could find a sheltered spot on the west side of the lake.

So, time to try and secure that anchor a bit... No dice, the minute I tried going forward the boat would go broadside to the waves and start rolling madly. I gave the autopilot a quick try but in those seas she could only steer upwind, downwind she could not hold course. Upwind, though, was no help because I wasn't going forward with the waves crashing over the bow any more than I'd go with the boat rolling like crazy. So, I just powered her up to get ahead of the wave speed, 10 knots wasn't quite there, 12 was too fast - right around 11 knots gave a good solid ride with easy steering. So, that is how I spent the hour from 3 to 4 AM, motoring up the lake with a wind at my back and the bright stars and moon overhead.

Now, as if the big giant ball of seaweed gracing my foredeck was not enough insult, just as I entered the calm waters of the canal entrance channel leading to the marina, the tank ran out of gas. No problem, I have ten gallons in the other side - switch hose, and I'll be back under control. I switch the hose, and squeeze the ball - nothing. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze frantically as the boat gently drifts toward a buoy ... nothing. Get the bow hook and fend off the buoy. Try the first tank once more - it's dry as a bone...

So, I was able to get a few yards at a time by squeezing the heck out of that ball, firing up the engine, and running until it stalled. Had to do that about 6 times until I got into the row where my slip is and could pull myself along the pilings to my slip and work my way in. The best I can figure after this morning's daylight inspections is that there is a crack in the uptake fitting somewhere and I'm sucking air on that tank. Well, at least it saves some gas...

Got her tied off safely enough, and collapsed into my bunk for a few exhausted hours of sleep right there. I woke up around 7 and walked up the dock for a hot shower and a pee (not necessarily in that order), and noticed the signs of a healthy celebration. Later on, when some of the other marina rats got moving, I found out there had been a big party at the marina the previous evening - had I come back to my slip I could'a been boozing it up all night without a care in the world!

Ok, so this story's gotta be over, right? Not so - Murphy still has one in store for me. After I get home, I hop on the 'net to look for Tempo fuel tank repair parts, and guess what it says in the first paragraph that I read about my model LPT12 gas tank? It has a partitioned area in the bottom which acts as a reserve fuel capacity - when the tank runs dry just tilt it over and you've got a fuel reserve!! WOULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW THAT AT 4 AM WHILE DRIFTING IN THE CHANNEL ... Of course, I guess that is just my fault for not knowing my equipment better.

Anyway, I am home safe and the boat is sitting safe and comfy in her slip (I quickly got rid of the seaweed mess before most of the other marina folks got up to see it). I can truly say that, had I been in a "regular" small sailboat that time on the lake early this morning would have been much worse - the ability to power out of a bad situation on a lee shore was one thing, but then the ability to find a comfortable speed to run to safe harbor was HUGE. If I'd had just a 7 horsepower kicker I'd probably have been forced to bob out there until it got light enough to set a sail for the downwind run. Love my Mac!

- Andy

[Catigale]

Those Finger Lakes can make a fool out of you pdq, cant they??

My take on this is the safety-by-design built into the Mac worked perfectly for you, Andy....and you made the right series of decisions.

I ran 70 miles up the Hudson and back (I should say down and back) but one of my Plan B,C,D....was having a bailout anchorage or YC charted every 5 miles along the path of my trip.

We got back at midnight last night and the river was so glassy we watched the shooting stars looking down in the water...

[beene]

Great story Andy.

Glad you made it through thanks to that OB once again saving the day.

G

[Mark Chamberlain]

If you use an anchor ball on your anchor at night you can drive forward under power and the ball will lift the anchore and be trailing behind your boat as you drive to safty and the anchore will be floating on the surface.
this is just a extra measure of safty,
Saved me a couple of times when the wind blew at night.

mARK

[atzserv]

Glad you got through the weather safely. Bet that moon was a blessing.

I am pretty sure I have the same tank, I will look next time I get to the boat. So my question is which way do you tilt the tank? It would seem like I would need the gas at the worst possible time and knowing the reserve is there for sure is good to know. I looked at the tempo site and it says just that you tilt and it is built in.

Thanks Gary

[kziadie]

Glad to hear you pulled through unscathed. I looked on the Tempo website and saw the reference you mentioned about the reserve in the 12 gallon tanks... has anyone ever used this? I wonder how much the reserve is.

Kelly

[Catigale]

I have a TEMPO 12 tank starboard side for my main (a Tempo6 on port for reserve) but when it runs dry there is NOTHING left - as in less than a pint of gas. It naturally tilts down to the pickup by the design of the fuel locker.

I cut and installed a deck plate in the cockpit seat for easy filling. The 6 gallon tank I pivot sideways to fill since I seldom have to fill it (it is the RESERVE tank - not the ..."I can cruise 50% longer on this one" TANK



That being said I did come into Westport MA from nantucket with only 2 gallons in reserve tank left in heavy seas ..I was p***d at myself for poor fuel management.

[tangentair]

come into Westport MA from nantucket

Michigan is nice lake especially going north but Cat. your sailing options from Maine to Manhatten are something I envy.

[RichardB]

good story Andy. Although not the peaceful overnight you expected I'm glad it worked out and that you are even more enthusiastic about the Macs capabilities. I have duel 12gal tempos, ran one dry last weekend, and am going to see how much I can tilt out.

I'm curious about the anchor ball Mark mentioned. Hope this question isn't too dumb, but how do you keep the anchor rode from fouling the prop? I would want to pull some rode up and cleat it to the stern first. I've already had one line-in-the prop event and don't want another, but I can see how that capability could really come in handy while single handing.

Richard