Boca Grande Inlet...

Boca Grande Inlet can be quite a force to reckon with at times...
The first time I went through the inlet, back in last November, it was a dark dark no-moon night, the weather was calm, the water smooth like glass, and the current rushing us along into the harbor.
This time it was quite different and the boat didn't quite make it through in one piece...
Patty told her version of the "story" in a previous blog. It took a number of days for her to recover to "normal."
I'm still surprised she's still on the boat. In fact, quite cuddled up to me this evening as I write. There's some spotty rain this evening pitter pattering on the topsides and Patty has never liked the rain very much. I still can't help but think she has some fear locked inside from her experiences, whatever they were, during Hurricane Wilma. She was found walking down the street, less than a half a pound, the morning Hurricane Wilma went by.
Anyways, I digress talking about my little love born and raised in Florida.
We did have quite a scare going through the Boca Grande Inlet though. I take full responsibility for that scare as there were many things I could have done or changed to avoid the situation.
Many lessons learned.
My sailing mentor, Russell, has always told me that she (the sailboat) will take as good a care of me as I of her. I have actually had many constant reminders of this fact. Another being the day going through Boca Grande Inlet.
I didn't think it was going to be a fun entry. I knew the wind had been blowing, rather strongly than predicted, off shore for a number of days in a row now, which can only mean the "emptying" of Charlotte Harbour, which takes me back to December 2008 and the month living up the Harbour in Punta Gorda. I figured no matter what the tide was actually doing, the water would be blowing out. We'd be going directly against the wind, and who knows what the surface water would be like. I tried to plan it so we would have at least some current bringing us into the inlet. Not sure that was the best decision.
As we rounded the shoals on the northwest side of Cayo Costa, we entered the channel. The chop on the water was severe. We pressed on. We stayed on the southern side of the channel, but not too close to the shallows as it wouldn't take long to be blown onto them.
The waves now coming directly at us continued to grow, approaching six feet as SV Athena's bow raised into the air and dipped down into the water. It was getting rougher and rougher as we were almost through the island pass and into the harbour, when what I most feared happened. I heard the anchor chain quickly tumbling over the roller. The anchor had freed itself and was now plummeting to the bottom of the channel.
My immediate fear was that the anchor, once loosened, had swung down and smashed its pointy tip into the bow of SV Athena. The fear that SV Athena would be punctured and taking on water caused me to grab the top board to the companion way, and I would later learn, send it off the boat like a frisbee, right through the lifelines.
That was my immediate reaction. I never did make it to taking the second (of three) boards out of the companionway before I changed action and ran to the bow to gain access to the anchor locker. The anchor rode needed to be cleated off before I feared it would rip off the boat. This was not an easy task. I've always fretted over the crumy set-up of SV Athena's anchor locker. This day was the very reason why. Before being able to open the anchor chain locker, the 8 foot plastic dinghy needed to be lifted off the hatch. No easy feat when the wind was threatening to grab it from my very hands and fling it off the boat. Finally, between myself and my friend crew, Nate, we got the dinghy off the access hatch without loosing it off the boat, and were able to open the anchor chain locker. Nate was able to cleat off the anchor rode, but not until all 96 feet of chain had gone overboard. Luckily there is another 100+ feet of rope attached to the chain.
There was one moment of relief.
But now we had to assess our situation and figure out how the heck we were going to get the anchor and chain back. The channel was about 30 feet deep in our approximate location.
In our dilema, we realized the anchor had caught, and we were, in fact, anchored in the south of middle of the Boca Grande Inlet. Things were "slightly" calmer since we weren't fighting to make headway against the waves. But, before taking next actions, I needed to make sure Peppermint Patty was safe. As, she does have quite the nice sense of timing for jumping out on deck during the least opportune moments. I knew that if she came out on deck during these conditions, I would surely loose her overboard. I went to make sure the companionway was closed back up, because I knew I had initially started to go down below...
But, I found no third board (pic left taken after adventure). I asked Nate where the third board was. His reply, "it went overboard." I assumed at that moment that it had bounced or slid or fell overboard...
At any rate, I didn't ask questions, I just quickly went down below and checked on Peppermint Patty. She was huddled in the bow birth. I closed her in by shutting one of the interior doors. I felt so bad that it was the bow, of all places, that she should be riding out this weather. But, there was nothing else I could do at this point. I had to get back up above and remedy our situation.
We kept our heads on and somehow managed to get the anchor and chain back up onto SV Athena. It took a combination of boat maneuvering and muscle power (thanks Nate!). Keeping in mind we're in the middle of Boca Grande Inlet with 6 foot waves and shallows very nearby. I tried to keep the bow downwave, since that seemed to keep the bow bouncing to a minimum for Nate working on the bow at getting the anchor back. At the same time using the motor to position the boat to ease the resistance on the chain allowing Nate to pull the chain up. Then, we had it, phew. I headed us out of the channel to keep our ride as calm as possible while Nate better secured the anchor. Once secured we made several attempts at trying to turn SV Athena back up into the wind and back through the channel. But her underpowered motor, even with sail up, could not turn us up into the wind and waves. We turned back down defeated, heading back out of the channel into the Gulf.
It was difficult to imagine making another long trek back on the outside of the islands.
I was dreading it.
Thinking clearly in my mind, this is why it's difficult to sail on a calendar.
Nearly on the Gulf side of the islands, we decided to make one more shot. We went in a lot closer to the shallows to get out of the heavy waves. Still a bit fearful of the shoals, knowing we would be on them instantly in this weather if anything else should go wrong. Some rough waves, but we made it through and into the intercoastal waterway. We decided to anchor close behind an island out of the wind to take a break and recollect ourselves.
It was so amazing the difference behind the small island we purposefully anchored behind.
It was hard to believe the boiling Boca Grande Inlet was just minutes away.
Our anchor spot was calm, quite warm in fact. Nate took a swim and checked our prop and bow for damage.
We laughed heartily over and over after Nate had informed me that I had, in fact, thrown the third companionway board overboard in my adrenaline rush. It's been 2.5 weeks now, and my left arm/shoulder is still not quite right.
The anchor spot is one of my favorites, we ate a yummy lunch and relaxed, but unfortunately, we couldn't stay. We still had miles to make this day. We lifted anchor and set on our way.

P.S.
I owe my eternal gratitude to Nate for making our trip that day through Boca Grande, one that we all (myself, Nate, Peppermint Patty, and SV Athena) can look back on in this life as an adventure that we made it through.
Nate may look at it differently, but I think we made a pretty good team that day :)

It was for me however, a shakeup, and a hard earned learning experience.

Lessons learned. She (the boat) will take as good a care of you as you of her.
Things I should have done differently: 1) had an anchor lock put on the boat!; 2) turned us back around when the water started getting rough and rechecked the anchor ties; 3) gone through at slack tide (Russell's advice); 4) not had a calendar timeline; and, 5) been wearing our lifejackets when the water weather started to get rough.

As an additional side note: I had for a bit been thinking about buying a house. This weekend "adventure" caused me much pause. How was I going to be able to keep up with a house AND the sailboat, if I wasn't keeping up with SV Athena now. There's a lot of responsibility to boat ownership.

P.S.S. where's my boat woodworker? I know you're out there. I don't have your number on my phone and Nate is still out of the Country as far as I know... How are the new companionway boards coming? Peppermint Patty is getting frisky to escape.

P.S.S.S. My cell phone also got soaked with salt water during the "adventure" as saltwater was coming into the cockpit from the rough waters. I tried to "wash" my phone in fresh water... It never revived.