The Speed Of Light

     After sitting in an anchorage on Duplin River, GA waiting for a blow to pass through on Friday, Sharon and I decided to get an early start this morning.  At 0645 I went up on the bow to pull the anchor only to find a surprise waiting for me on the anchor chain.  Friday was full moon and with the full moon comes astronomical high tides.  When you have high, high tides as we did last night, the old growth reeds from last season are all swept out of the marsh lands and deposited onto the waterways.  Or, as in our case, snagged on the anchor chain and bow.  (See photos below)

This picture does not convey how large the collection of reeds was on the anchor chain.

With the anchor still deployed we were able to motor to port and then back up to shake part of the  pile free.

      Later in the day as we made our way north through the Georgia marsh lands, we were always fighting the currents of the tides.  Sometimes the currents were on the bow, which slowed our speed over ground to 4.5 MPH.  But when the currents were on the stern, we made very good time.  Big Run is limited in speed due to hull design.  It's a full displacement hull, and it's called hull speed.  Hull speed is the measurement of the vessel through the water not over ground.  It doesn't matter how much horsepower you throw at it our maximum hull speed is around 8 MPH.  Today, with the current on our stern, we broke the 8 MPH barrier and there was cause for celebration.  In fact here is the analysis of our speed over ground with the currents pushing us today:

         9 MPH - now we be sailing!

       10 MPH - now we be flying!

       11 MPH - warp speed Scotty!

    11.5 MPH - for a trawler that's faster than the speed of light!