Brilliant’s<\/em> crew are Pete and Stephanie who have been living aboard for about ten years and brought their boat across from the Med about 5 years ago and have been doing the snowbird thing here in the US since then. \u00a0 \u00a0Boy, was I glad to have them near by.<\/p>\n So, Pete and Stephanie sprang into action mode putting out lines and fenders so that they could come up along side of Pandora, raft with us and take us in tow to the dock.<\/p>\n At the same time Pete was on the radio talking to the tugs and ship about our situation and plan so that they would know that we weren’t just idiots waiting to be crushed by them. \u00a0When I tell you that the ship was close… Trust me, it was very close, and getting closer by the minute.<\/p>\n This isn’t the actual ship as I was too busy to get out the camera. \u00a0 However, it was one more in a constant stream of massive ships that are coming by us as we sit on the dock. \u00a0This one was passing a lovely schooner that gives day trips on the river. \u00a0Trust me on this. \u00a0These ships are very LARGE!!! So, how did it go you ask? \u00a0Swimmingly. \u00a0We were able to drift with the wind and current to the side of the channel. \u00a0Get out of the way of the ships and tie to Brilliant<\/em> who deposited us on the dock like a pro.<\/p>\n People often ask me how big Pandora<\/em> is when they hear that I have a sailboat. \u00a0I say that she feels really little the further we are from land and really big when she is near something hard like a dock. \u00a0I think that I will add to that one more description now. \u00a0Pandora<\/em> feels like a fly spec, about to be squashed, when she is in the path of a 900′ ship.<\/p>\n Once all the fun was over and Pandora was safely at the dock I couldn’t help but be curious about what had tangled in our prop. \u00a0 So, how about a swim in the Savannah river? \u00a0 I have to tell you that it’s not that much fun. \u00a0The current is\u00a0immense\u00a0 the water about the color of coffee with milk. \u00a0That would be strong coffee with milk and what I\u00a0estimated\u00a0to be about 6″ visibility. \u00a0And, the temperature? \u00a0A lovely 63 degrees.<\/p>\n I waited several hours until the tide was slack, suited up in my full\u00a0wet-suit,\u00a0boots and hood. \u00a0Fired up the compressor and went for a swim.<\/p>\n So, I went for swim to see what I had “bought” from lovely Savannah. \u00a0 I ducked in and under the boat and immediately realized that I had misjudged the visibility in the water. \u00a0No, it wasn’t 6″, it was ZERO. \u00a0Even with the front of my mask touching the blades of my prop, I COULDN’T SEE A THING!!! \u00a0Well, it wasn’t hard to “see” what had caused the problem. \u00a0I could easily feel that it was a large piece of\u00a0polypropylene\u00a0cloth and I unwrapped it in less than a minute.<\/p>\n This is what was what we had picked up. \u00a0I am so glad that we had someone standing by to help. I must have someone watching over me, my own personal guardian angel along with Brilliant<\/em>. His business Bottom Line Echo Company<\/a>\u00a0which maps or surveys waterways for folks who have “lost” stuff. \u00a0Along with finding sunken planes and boats, he has found plenty of great things for insurers and owners over the years. \u00a0He told me that his equipment is so precise that he can find a handgun in the bottom of a muddy river. \u00a0Note to self, as you are running from the cops after robbing that liquor store, don’t throw that illegal handgun off of the pier if Fred is working in the area.<\/p>\n Fred’s boat certainly looks like a good example of “form follows function”. \u00a0 Pretty slick. \u00a0 That pole on the port bow with the two black disks is a fancy depth sounder. \u00a0 \u00a0His site says that it’s a KNUDSEN 320mm depth recorder with dual 28 and 200 KH depth transducers<\/em>. \u00a0OK, yeah, got it. \u00a0I guess that means he can tell how deep it is.\u00a0 If that’s not cool enough for you, how about the side scan sonar that he can tow behind his boat. \u00a0Very high tech. \u00a0This isn’t the actual one. \u00a0His is a lovely green.\u00a0![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/11-14-12-003.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
<\/a>As I was on the deck getting fenders and lines ready for the tow, I couldn’t hear the conversation going on about Pandora<\/em>. \u00a0 It seems that the plan, if Pandora couldn’t get out of the way in time, was for the tug to hit me with his prop wash and push me to the side of the channel. \u00a0Remember how narrow it is? \u00a0I shudder to think what that prop wash would have done to Pandora<\/em> as she was blown to shore by the tug. \u00a0However, I expect that it would have been a lot less traumatic than being crushed by a 900′ ship.<\/p>\n<\/a>While I was waiting for the current to slacken at low tide, I decided to drop by and visit another boat on the dock. \u00a0This survey boat was waiting for a job up river and the owner\/captain was only too happy to answer some questions. \u00a0 \u00a0Fred’s boat is a technological wonder and he was happy to share information about it with me.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>The cabin is pretty tricked out. <\/a>Here’s Fred slaving away at his PC. \u00a0Or should I say “at one of his PCs”. \u00a0<\/a>This is his nifty towed sonar. \u00a0 It looks expensive and Fred said that it is. \u00a0 I asked him what was the most interesting thing that he had found. \u00a0After thinking for a moment he described finding a whole collection of heavy equipment, that’s bulldozers and dump trucks heavy equipment, that he located for an insurance company. \u00a0It turns out that someone had stolen the stuff, taken out the engines and had pushed the “remains” off of a barge. \u00a0They assumed that they would never be found however I guess that they had not met Fred. \u00a0Oops!!<\/p>\n