Gale Force winds in Charleston
Nimue
Thu 15 Dec 2011 22:24
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We had happily sat in the anchorage for nearly a week, but
were very aware that a forecasted gale was coming through. As the wind
picked up to 35 knots, Nimue held firm, although we did need to let out more
chain. Then the usual fun and games started:- a pilot house yacht with
large davits had been at anchor nearby without anyone on board for a few days
and appeared to be on short scope i.e not much anchor chain. I looked out
at one moment and saw the boat taut on it’s anchor, but within a matter on
minutes it had disappeared. I looked around, only to find it had drifted
onto the boats moored alongside the main pontoon at the City Marina. Well
you can imagine that folk were coming out from everywhere to try to keep the
boat from causing any damage, but unfortunately it did! It gauged a
large dent into a brand new fishing sports boat and damaged another.
However, within a matter of minutes the marina launch came to the rescue and the
boat was pulled off to safety. It was later taken away to some distant
point down the river. I’m sure the owner would have been given a very
large bill!
 Ashley River anchorage in
Charleston. Scott Free in the left foreground
  The yacht that broke anchor and drifted
onto some pretty expensive boats!
The day after the gale and winds forecast N/NE 10-15knots, we
departed for the 300+ nm to Fort Pierce. It was daylight, as we headed out
of the anchorage for the 16nm trip to the Atlantic, which gave us the
opportunity see some of the sights we had not seen on our night arrival.
First into view, Fort Sumter, a masonry sea fort located in Charleston Harbour
and is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil
War were fired at the Battle of Fort Sumter. Finally we could marvel at
the beautiful Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge over the Cooper River connecting downtown Charleston
to Mt. Pleasant. The eight lane bridge opened in 2005 and has a main span of 1,546 feet (471 m), the third
longest among cable-stayed bridges in the Western Hemisphere. Our first impressions of it’s appearance, was that it looked like a large
‘spiders web’!
Fort
Sumter
The splendid Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge
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