Freeebird

Last day of delivering a 46’ Hatteras convertible from Hilton Head to Annapolis turned into one to remember. Trip was perfect until that point, then it all went to hell. Here’s the story from yesterday.

It was a balmy 25 degrees in Deltaville with strong north winds, pretty much like yesterday but stronger. Started out on plane at 20MPH until we got closer to the middle of the bay. That’s when things changed.

Dropped down to just above hull speed to find a happy spot as full plane was beating us up pretty good. After a while, seas starting increasing... A BUNCH.

“I’m counting on you to determine this is safe”.

“No worries, it’s a Hatteras. It’s uncomfortable but perfectly safe.”

The seas continued to build to the point I knew I had to get the bow up, so I pushed the throttles up to sorta kinda planing and no tabs. It was happy there... for a while.

Things would be relatively comfortable, then we would hit these large groups of waves that had to be in the 6-8’ range. In short, it was brutal. We’re talking stand up, hold on with both hands kind of brutal. That’s why no video. Much to my dismay, I heard the engines come out of synch, but much to my relief, they came back up and settled down... for a few minutes. That’s when we lost an engine. I’m like, this is NOT good.

Running on one engine in water like that is a handful. Hearing the high water bilge alarm sound at about the same time is... well, something special. I could just see that starboard engine underwater, so I sent the owner below to take a look. That’s when I radioed the Coast Guard and let them know we had a potentially dangerous situation. As I was talking to them, we lost the port engine.

Sitting sideways in seas like that is unnerving to say the least. Dangerous to say the most. We were doing some sideways surfing. I gave the Coasties all our information, and they said they had an asset en route. We put on our life vests, set the EPIRB in the cockpit, and waited... and waited... and waited. We actually lost the port outrigger in that big water. I can only guess it got covered with ice (like everything else) and couldn’t handle the strain. Lost the deck cap on the anchor locker too.

I decided to get back up on the bridge as communicating with the handheld VHF wasn’t cutting it. I hit the starter on the port engine, and it fired right up. It did that once earlier but only ran a few minutes. Oh yeah, we lost the generator too.

I tried the starboard and got nothing, but I noted low voltage. With that, I hit the parallel switch, and the starboard came to life. We radioed the Coasties to let them know we were once again under power, but we weren’t sure for how long.

By that time, they had a visual on us and offered to escort us to the closest marina. We gladly accepted. There were actually two boats involved as we entered the Potomac River... the big RIB who escorted us in, then a smaller one who would lead us into the marina. For whatever reason, the larger vessel followed us into the marina.

We all tied up, talked about how nasty it was out there, thanked them profusely, and then were given a safety inspection. I pretty much expected that but was fine with it. Everything was in order, so we exchanged more pleasantries and watched them depart.

That’s when I got on the phone with my fellow Hatteras owner and mechanical guru, Scott Bickwid. He told me a few things to troubleshoot which included ground wires. Long story short (no pun intended), that turned out to be the issue. It’s too late to go anywhere, so we’re staying put until morning. It’s supposed to be a bit calmer then, and we’ll have a 75 mile run to our final destination.

I wasn’t really scared when we were out there, but I did consider sending my son a “just in case” text. I’m just glad we didn’t end up in the water. All in all, it was a very exciting day, but not one I would care to repeat. It felt really good to be on land again.

Next up comes cleaning up the interior of the boat which looks like a war zone.

STEELA

Holy crap😳
that sounds horrible

Eastport205

WHEW, I'm glad you got in, good captaining sir!

Lone Ranger

People that have not been in the Chesapeake before have no idea how bad it can get.Most People think "Bay" and AWWW, It can't get that bad.. LOL... The Chesapeake can Hand Your Ass to You ! And sometimes worse than the Ocean.The tight chop and Waves make it worse at times.You were in one of the worst areas..Glad it turned out o.k. for You !! Did You bring a change of Underwear? LOL.

Finsinchessy

The mouth of the Potomac seems to always hand its beer to ma nature and say watch this.

If it was a wash machine clothes would come out ready to wind in spools as thread.

Glad you guys are ok. Thanks for Sharing the experience.

Just1more

Glad you made it to safety!! Yesterday morning was VERY windy on the Bay. Sunday was worse! Today isn't too bad so you should have a smoother ride.
Good luck!

Jughed

You went out on the Chesapeake yesterday?

Chesapeake and Delaware bays are subject to all sorts of non ocean like conditions, seas coming in from the ocean currents and shallow areas from rivers dumping into the bay, coupled with winds that get funneled down the bays - the correct wind directions can = 150 miles of fetch...

This all equals sharp/steep waves with tight periods along with confused seas and rapidly changing conditions based on water depth.

I live in the upper bay region, winds were honking a good 25-30knts right down the gut.

Chalk that up to a lesson learned skipper...

And if yer ever in the DE bay just to the North, it’s even worse.

KIMDer

Yeah yesterday was nasty, I was looking at easy 1’ with whitecaps in the protected creek

MayhemFT

Glad y’all are safe! Assuming 80s 46 Hatt? Where was the water coming from? Surprised you got them cranked again because the batteries would have been under water too I guess.

20biminitwist

Well, you kinda asked for it but glad your safe. There were gale warnings yesterday at Hilton Head.

..SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT...
Synopsis: ANZ600-220015- 642 AM EST Tue Jan 21 2020 .Synopsis for Fenwick Island DE to Currituck Beach Light NC out 20 nautical miles Including Virginia Portion of the Chesapeake Bay Currituck Sound and Portions of the James, York, and Rappahannock rivers... Canadian high pressure slowly builds into the region through Wednesday. Low pressure develops well off the Southeast coast today into Wednesday.

Freeebird

Two words... Hatteras weather.

Seriously, it was brutal, but we would have been fine had it not been for the ground issues. Owner is trying to decide if he wants to try again this morning. If I thought it were unsafe, I’d make that decision for him.

Freeebird

‘77 model. There was no water. The ground issues wreaked havoc on the entire DC system and gave a false alarm. Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.

Would have been fine with the original DD’s, but this one’s been repowered with Cummins that need good voltage just to run.

chuck34

Yep, where the Potomac empties into the bay, can get especially bad.

So, which marina did you pull into? I've been in most of them.

mattttt25

Great story, glad you survived to tell it. Like others said, if you haven't been in the Chesapeake (or DE for that matter) when it gets bad, you wouldn't believe how bad it can get. Today is better, but if you can spare another day, tomorrow will be a joy coming up the Bay. Good luck.

bottomfeeder28

How far up in the Potomac are you currently? Hope the rest of your trip goes better. Glad to hear your alright. Chris

Elusive

Glad to hear you made it safely

Underestimating the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays can be a fatal mistake. The mouth of the Potomac River is another area that gets boaters in trouble fast.

The Small Craft Warnings and Wind Advisories for the Bridge should not be ignored.

Again, glad all is well

Mako 234

Glad everything is OK. People die every year on the bay because they underestimate it.

Brezinup

Glad to hear that you made it in.
How deep was the water?

Freeebird

Made the call to stay put for another day. We’re at Point Lookout Marina in case anybody wants to drop by for a ham sammich and a movie.

Freeebird

Point Lookout