cardude01
Guru
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2012
- Messages
- 5,290
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Bijou
- Vessel Make
- 2008 Island Packet PY/SP
We had an interesting experience leaving the Cumberland Island anchorage recently. We had just pulled up the anchor and were headed towards the main channel when my wife noticed a CG boat in the distance that seemed to be headed our way. I soon realized they were headed directly for us so I pulled the throttle back and waited for them to arrive.
I had my VHF tuned to 16 but never got a radio call, and when I went to the stern one of the Coasties asked how to pronounce our boat name (Bijou). Maybe that’s why we didn’t get a radio call. ?
They warned us that a big Navy nuclear ballistic sub was planning to come through the channel soon and head out to the Atlantic, and we needed to cross the channel quickly and stay about a mile out of the way once we crossed. So we headed across the channel and on our way to Fernandida on the ICW. A few minutes after crossing the channel my wife asked if we could stay and watch the sub make its appearance, and since we really didn’t have a schedule I said sure why not. So I circled back and anchored in about 20’ of water in what seemed like a safe distance away from the channel, with the incoming tide keeping me perpendicular to the channel. We got some video:
https://youtu.be/ArS1LxN3WPQ
If you look closely at the beginning of the video you can see a large Nordhavn with her bow pointed into the bank at the top right of the video. The CG spent about an hour clearing out the channel for the sub’s departure, warning all boats to stay away, but about 10 minutes before the sub appeared this Nordhavn came out of the ICW coming from Fernandina and crossed right in front of the sub and all the escorts. To say the CG was agitated would be an understatement. I guess the Nordy captain didn’t have his radio on maybe, but he sure wasn’t paying attention to the smaller CG boat next to him. We could hear the CG announce over loudspeakers to STOP NOW! Finally a larger CG boat joined and forced the Nordhavn out of the deep channel and bow in to the bank. It was a little crazy, and one smaller CG boat near us that had its bow gun manned and ready announced to the gunner to keep his head on a swivel and be alert. They were tense!
Well the sub finally passed along with a pretty big escort ship that seemed to be kind of a shield for the sub maybe? It seemed to have some large metal screens on deck to block the view of the sub, but maybe my imagination was getting away from me. I could see the wakes from the bigger ship approach us, but because I was anchored up I couldn’t maneuver away from them. And because of the tide we were perfectly beam to these pretty decent sized waves. My wife and sister were sitting in the forward seating area of the boat and I told them to hang on. I ran down to secure some things in the galley, but I was too late because crap was flying everywhere. I’ve been waked before pretty bad in the ICW by big sport fish and other big boats, but OMG nothing like this. And it went on for quite awhile. The girls somehow hung on up top and we were all fine, but I wanted to rely my error to the TF folks about anchoring up like I did. Problem was I couldn’t circle around to wait on the sub because the CG specifically said to not point the bow of our boat at the sub at any time. Guess I should have just quickly pulled anchor and gotten out of there.
I had my VHF tuned to 16 but never got a radio call, and when I went to the stern one of the Coasties asked how to pronounce our boat name (Bijou). Maybe that’s why we didn’t get a radio call. ?
They warned us that a big Navy nuclear ballistic sub was planning to come through the channel soon and head out to the Atlantic, and we needed to cross the channel quickly and stay about a mile out of the way once we crossed. So we headed across the channel and on our way to Fernandida on the ICW. A few minutes after crossing the channel my wife asked if we could stay and watch the sub make its appearance, and since we really didn’t have a schedule I said sure why not. So I circled back and anchored in about 20’ of water in what seemed like a safe distance away from the channel, with the incoming tide keeping me perpendicular to the channel. We got some video:
https://youtu.be/ArS1LxN3WPQ
If you look closely at the beginning of the video you can see a large Nordhavn with her bow pointed into the bank at the top right of the video. The CG spent about an hour clearing out the channel for the sub’s departure, warning all boats to stay away, but about 10 minutes before the sub appeared this Nordhavn came out of the ICW coming from Fernandina and crossed right in front of the sub and all the escorts. To say the CG was agitated would be an understatement. I guess the Nordy captain didn’t have his radio on maybe, but he sure wasn’t paying attention to the smaller CG boat next to him. We could hear the CG announce over loudspeakers to STOP NOW! Finally a larger CG boat joined and forced the Nordhavn out of the deep channel and bow in to the bank. It was a little crazy, and one smaller CG boat near us that had its bow gun manned and ready announced to the gunner to keep his head on a swivel and be alert. They were tense!
Well the sub finally passed along with a pretty big escort ship that seemed to be kind of a shield for the sub maybe? It seemed to have some large metal screens on deck to block the view of the sub, but maybe my imagination was getting away from me. I could see the wakes from the bigger ship approach us, but because I was anchored up I couldn’t maneuver away from them. And because of the tide we were perfectly beam to these pretty decent sized waves. My wife and sister were sitting in the forward seating area of the boat and I told them to hang on. I ran down to secure some things in the galley, but I was too late because crap was flying everywhere. I’ve been waked before pretty bad in the ICW by big sport fish and other big boats, but OMG nothing like this. And it went on for quite awhile. The girls somehow hung on up top and we were all fine, but I wanted to rely my error to the TF folks about anchoring up like I did. Problem was I couldn’t circle around to wait on the sub because the CG specifically said to not point the bow of our boat at the sub at any time. Guess I should have just quickly pulled anchor and gotten out of there.
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