cape hatteras -part 1 of 2

Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 1 OF 12

CAPE HATTERAS & THE GULF STREAMvs.

THE EPICLESIS CREWBy

G. David Guerrero,June 10, 2013

It was 10:00 AM on Saturday, June 1, 2013, and it was time to record and plot our position, as is done every hour. We were approaching the Diamond Shoals of Cape Hatteras, and we could see in the distance a buoy and the large, distinctive structure that once was a light house to warn ships of the dangers in the area. By 10:25 Paul checked his phone and saw that there was a signal, something we had not had since we left the shipping channels leading to the Chesapeake Bay entrance and Norfolk VA. The signal was good and Paul sent a text message to the four families of the crew: “two hours from Cape Hatteras”. Becky, my wife responded with “Great”.

The 4-man crew of “Epiclesis”, a Bayfield 32 cutter rig with tan bark sails, consisted of Paul Kotlowski, Captain and owner of the boat, Alfred Young, an experienced sailor and an active member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, and Joshua Huber, a 19 year old student, with no sailing experience, but a positive attitude and willing to do anything required. Josh is ready for college, and after the voyage he is making the necessary applications. I was the navigator.

It all began when Paul bought Epiclesis from someone in Tom’s River, NJ, about 50 miles south of New York City. I had known Paul in the 90’s when he lived in Milwaukee and we met frequently at the South Shore Yacht Club and shared sailing stories. Paul had sold his previous boat several years before, and moved to Newton, a small town in North Carolina to be the director of a Catholic Church program for young people.

One day in the summer of 2012 Tom called me to tell me about his new boat and his plan to take it from Tom’s River to Beaufort, South Carolina. He asked me to help with the voyage, which sounded exciting, but when I told Becky she expressed concern about the hurricane season. After much discussion about the timing and sailing plans, I suggested that we sail in late August, 2012, and go from Tom’s River to the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Our voyage began when Al, Paul and I sailed from Barnegat Bay and met the Atlantic Ocean at the Barnegat Inlet. From there we sailed south past Atlantic City, rounded Cape May, NJ, and entered the Delaware Bay to reach the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and navigate towards

Havre de Grace, Md. After a 38 cruise we set anchor in front of the Concord Point Light House and went to sleep. It was 2 AM. Later that day Epiclesis found a nice dock at the municipal port in Havre de Grace. I flew back to Milwaukee and Paul and Al returned to their respective homes in North Carolina.

FILE: document.doc—by G. David. Guerrero, June 10, 2013-----PRINTED ON 4/18/2023


A month later Paul, Al and another man took the boat down the Chesapeake Bay past Baltimore and Washington DC, to a little town called Reedville, Va., near the mouth of the Potomac River. The boat was hauled out and spent the winter on dry land.

On Tuesday, May 28, 2013 I flew to Charlotte, NC to meet Paul, Al and Josh. I arrived at 9 PM and we drove all night to Reedville. It was a little over 4 AM when we arrived at the marina, and we were greeted by the sight of a tall, elegant brick stack, located on what looked like an island. It was well illuminated and its warm yellow silhouette reflected on the calm, dark waters of the Potomac River.

When the sun rose we saw hundreds of boats on land, some for sport fishing, many for fishing, and the rest for sailing. Some looked like they had been on land for a long time, and, like most boats, had a beauty all their own. Epiclesis was one of them, way in the back but easily accessible by the “travelift”, a special type of crane to move boats in and out of the water. Charlie, the marina operator arrived at 7 and started the lifting process, which included some touch up of the bottom paint on the hull, to cover the spots missed because of the supports. The dingy could be seen, hanging from the davits at the stern of the boat. An hour later the boat was in the water. Now we are ready to load the personal gear, food and other supplies. The trip was about to begin!

Charlie asked Paul to move the boat to another dock so other boats could be launched. It was a simple matter, we just had to start the engine and move to the designated slip. But the engine would not start. The battery seemed to be low, and we thought we might need a new one, even though Paul had taken the usual precaution of taking the batteries out for the winter, stored them at home and charged them fully. We spent the morning trying everything including a jump from a special charger. Something was wrong, and we needed a diesel mechanic to examine the 2 cylinder Yanmar diesel engine. Charlie decided to tow us to the slip with his utility boat, but that had to wait until he was free from other duties. Since we still had a car, we went to get some lunch at one of the few restaurants in the area; Reedville is a very small town, in a rather remote inlet where the main occupation seems to be related to the fishing industry. Across the waters one could see the outline of a large seafood processing plant and many large commercial vessels.

We were towed to a nice slip, next to other large sailboats. We began the process of troubleshooting. Al and Josh followed the engine troubleshooting instructions, checked the fuel filter, pumped the primer pump

and soon discovered that the fuel filter was quite dirty, clogged by some black impurities. Once the filter was immersed in clear fuel, one could see the extent of the contamination. The filter was replaced with a new one, the air was bled out of the fuel lines,


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 3 OF 12but the engine still would not start. It was mid afternoon on Wednesday, May 29, and it was clear that we would not set sail that day.

Early the next morning a utility van arrived at the boatyard with a sign that reads “Ampro Diesel- Sales-Parts –Service”. A mechanic had arrived, not for us but for another boat. Paul went to see him, a man with over 30 years’ experience with diesel engines, who had seen everything on all kinds of boats. He could

help us, but had no time for us, so he said he would come later that morning for about 10 minutes. He did. He found the engine had air in the fuel lines because we had not bled all the air out, and with air in the lines diesels will not start. He ran the engine with the battery for a long time to take the air out, checked for contamination and he also found a little water mixed with the fuel. Both were bad signs. He told us what to do and he went away. Later he returned, checked the engine and eventually got it to run. It was close to 9 in the morning and Paul asked the mechanic “How much do we owe you?” The man smiled and said “Nothing. You were in distress”. Paul gave him a $20 bill and a told him to have lunch on us. The engine

was running well, so we untied the boat and left the slip, headed for the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, a good 12 to 14 hour away under power and sail.

I had prepared a route to follow using a combination of navigation charts and AAA road maps, something Paul dubbed “The Guerrero Method”. The AAA maps have a lot of land details and are compact, but they have no information about the water, while the navigation charts are very detailed and cover short distances, showing water depth, shore markings, buoys, lighthouses ship

routes and other aids to navigation.

Across the bay from Reedville we could see the large fishing vessels that supply one of the fish processing plants in the area. The sight was impressive. We followed the route as planned and by 10:30 PM on

Thursday, May 30, and we could see the lights of the Hampton Roads Bay Bridge Tunnel. The strings of lights were interrupted at two places, where the road goes underwater, through the tunnels. Our task was to steer the boat so we could go between the red and the green marker buoys over the tunnel. Our speed was about 10 Knots, or 10 nautical miles per hour

This brought some memories: As a young engineer I had been involved in the making of those very tunnels, when I was a Project Engineer at Wiley Manufacturing Co., a


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 4 OF 12shipyard in Port Deposit MD, on the Susquehanna River at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. We had built the tunnels on land, in 300 ft. sections, out of welded steel; tugboats took then down the Chesapeake Bay, positioned them in place, and a construction crew added concrete in the right places and gradually sank each section in its proper location.

Paul sent a text message to the four families with the news that we had just gone over the tunnel. Becky responded, “Bon Voyage”. Now we were in the Atlantic Ocean, very close to Virginia Beach and an area reserved for Navy training activity, so we had to stay away from the yellow buoys marking that area.

We adjusted course to stay out of trouble, but soon after the engine stopped. It was very early on Friday morning, still very dark, and we had to continue under sail alone. We would wait until daylight to check the engine and see what had to be done. When the sun was just coming out, we heard on the ship radio, on Channel 16, a stern voice: “Sailboat, you are on a shipping Channel. This is for ships drawing 40 feet! Get out of the way!” The voice sounded as someone with a thick Greek accent. We looked and at our stern was this enormous ship with the

name clearly seen on its bow: “King Richard”. We said we were doing all we could to get out of the shipping channel, but we did not confess that our draft was only 5 ½ feet.

Several other ships were in the area, some with containers on top, and one was a Navy ship. The Navy went on Channel 16 and announced that all ships must clear the area so they could perform some munitions exercises. Presumably they were talking about their restricted area, not the shipping channel where we were. But we did not want to take any chances and continued at full speed, all the 3.5 knots we could do with the wind we had. The ships continued coming, and they passed us on both sides, Port and Starboard. They were probably talking about us! We continued the rest of Friday, sailing about 10 miles off the Virginia coast, towards Cape Hatteras. Our course was 191º degrees on the Magnetic compass – due South is 180º. By Saturday morning, at about 9 AM we were 15 miles away from the Diamond Shoals

located outside Cape Hatteras, which extend some 15 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. The charts show that many ships of all sizes have perished there. Very prominent in the chart are an abandoned light house and buoys marking the danger areas. We still could not see them, but the navigation plan I had prepared aimed at a place east of the lighthouse and Buoy R12”, located at 35º- 11’ Latitude N, 75º - 8’ Longitude W.

We had two GPS units, one with a large screen, mounted on top of the steering wheel and a portable one, the size of a cell phone. We could see the cape on the GPS but only the sea around the boat. The horizon is only 7 miles away, so it would be several hours before the lighthouse and the buoy could be seen.



Al and Josh did some work with the engine, and made it work again; now the only concern was whether we had enough fuel in the boat tanks. Somehow the fuel gauge was not working. If the fuel in the tank was too low, we would have to transfer some of the 10 extra gallons we had on the yellow plastic “jerry” cans. I suggested taking the dimension of the tank to calculate its volume, and

then insert a stick in the tank to see how high the fuel was. We had no sticks around, so we took a measuring tape, wrapped it with paper and inserted it in the tank which is located under the cabin sole—the boat floor -- and inside the keel . We got a mark, but how much fuel? Al measured the tank, which was of an irregular shape – a trapezoid on top—and I made some calculations, first to get the cubic inches inside the tank. That was converted to cubic feet – 1728 cu. in. to a cu. ft.—and now everybody who paid attention in class knows that there are 7.5 US gallons in a cubic foot. As my shipmates watched and I wrote equations on the log paper, I felt compelled to talk about the impractical nature of the “imperial” system of units used only in the US and one African country, while the rest of the world uses the metric system. Meters, centimeters, liters are all related by factors of 10, so it is very simple to make calculations, while the imperial is prone to errors in simple arithmetic. After the speech we still did not know about the fuel in the tank. What was the answer? It was a 10.15 gallon tank, and I calculated that we had about 7 gallons left, good for more than 28 hours running continuously. We could use sail and engine power to help us round the cape while the boat navigated in total safety.

By 10 AM that Saturday morning, the 1st of June, we were about 2 hours from the Cape and we were now again under sail and engine power. Paul sent the text message “two hours from Cape Hatteras”. We were confident that in that time we would start rounding the famous Cape. The wind was mostly from the south, at 10-15 miles per hour.

We kept on sailing, “pointing” as we call it when we go as close the wind as the sails will allow. As usual, we had 2 people on duty for 2 hours, one on the wheel, the other ready to do whatever was needed. The other two rested or took cat

naps. When we are in the water for long periods of time we eat very little and drink only water. We were going only at a speed of 3.5 knots, with the engine at full speed.

The sky was clear, sunny but not too hot, and eventually we began to see the structure of the abandoned light house in the distance, and slowly it grew in size. It felt great to be making such progress! Once we were less than 7 miles away, we could see a tiny dot in the horizon. It was “Buoy R12”. We felt reassured and kept on going. Once we had the lighthouse and the Buoy R12 on our starboard beam, a couple miles


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 6 OF 12away, the engine quit again. Why? That was the mystery we had to solve, but for now we had to keep

going under sail alone. The speed dropped to one or two nautical miles per hour.

The segment of the navigation chart above shows Cape Hatteras, the Diamond Shoals and, on the left, a scale marking “10 nautical miles”, which represents one minute of Longitude. Superimposed over the chart is a photograph of the view we had on the abandoned lighthouse and Buoy R12.

Paul and Al were looking towards the large structure of the old lighthouse in the horizon, while Josh was steering the boat. The time print on one of the photos reads “06 01 2013 14:47”, or 2:47 PM. We got

closer and closer to the light house and as we were about to go past it, still under sail alone, we had to change course and try to go from 197º to 235º, which is a southwest direction. The wind was directly against us, so with no engine we could not go at 235º. The wind dictated that we could go 270º or 180º. 270º was out of the question, because the waters are shallow there and the charts clearly tell navigators to

stay out of that area. So we sailed below 180 and went in a south east direction, only to find out that the Gulf Stream current was taking us north. After a while, we would go away for an hour or two only to discover that the lighthouse was again south of us. We adjusted course many times, sailed again and again for many hours and by nearly 8 PM we were treated to a beautiful sunset with our friendly structure as a reminder that between the Trade Winds and the Gulf Stream the sea was a tough contender. We tried everything we could but again and again we would return to the vicinity of the lighthouse and its buoy. By 3 AM Sunday morning we were tired, wet and frustrated. The seas had built up to 5 to 7 ft. and

the boat was reacting as boats tend to do. One of the crew members was sea sick and unable to do much. It was clear that we would not be going around the Cape without the engine, and there was not much we could do in the dark to get diesel power again. It was very dark, trimming the sails was difficult, and with so much motion it was no way anyone could work on the engine.

It was very rough going but I was never scared, just frustrated. I knew the boat is sound—except for the engine--, our crew was very good and I knew where we were at all times. The frustration came from knowing that in spite of a detailed navigation plan and accurate execution, what my shipmates expected from me, it was clear that we could not go where we needed to go because of the strong Gulf Stream current and the direction of the Trade Winds.

Al suggested we call the Coast Guard. I did not think we were in danger, just frustrated that we could not make progress after some 15 hours of trying to round the cape. If we allowed the Gulf Stream and the Trade Winds to control our direction, we would be pushed North and then NE, all the way to England. Paul went on the radio, on Channel 16, the official stand-by channel, and called the Coast Guard. After switching to another channel, as requested by the person at the other end, Paul explained the situation, and


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 7 OF 12covered the required details for about 15-20 minutes. The Officer in charge said they would send one of their vessels from the Hatteras station to help us. They dispatched one of their special ships, USCG 47251, a 47 ft boat powered by twin 860 HP diesel engines. Paul was in contact with its commander from then on. The Commander referred to Paul in the proper form as Captain.

The Commander wanted to know what we needed in terms of fuel, supplies, medicine, anything. Paul said all we needed was a tow to a port where we could get a mechanic to look at the engine. By 7 AM that morning the 47 ft vessel arrived, and began to circle in the vicinity. They told us what to do and what to expect. They would come close – but not too close—and toss a yellow line with a “monkey’s fist” at our end. They would then attach a 1” diameter long rope with eyes at both ends, to be attached to the cleats on the bow of our boat. We did as

they said and later the Coast Guard people attached another line to the 1 inch line to start the tow. They controlled the latter line with a winch, and moved 47251 about 300 ft from Epiclesis. The tow was about to begin.

We were going at 8 knots. The motion was severe, rolling when the boat encountered the waves sideways, pounding heavily when faced head on. Water

came in streams over the bow and on the sides. In a few minutes we were soaking wet. We could hear the loud noise of the bow slamming into the sea. This went on for about an hour, and the stern of the boat was moving down to the point that the dingy, which was hanging from its davits, began to fill with water as it moved back and forth with every wave. The tow line was long, and 47251 could be seen as a small vessel in the distance. Because of the seas, the wind and the Gulf Stream current, Epiclesis would move sideways a good distance, and the Coast Guard boat could be seen sometimes by the port bow, sometimes by the starboard bow.

The dingy was moving so much that Paul contacted the Commander and asked him to slow down a little. He complied with the request, and things improved some, but not enough. One of the davits broke and was dangling behind.


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 8 OF 12Al and Paul went to the stern to try to secure the dingy with a line, but it was not possible to avoid the violent motion. In the process Al got a nasty bruise on his hand, and Paul decided to ask the Commander to slow down some more. The response was to cut the dingy loose, that our lives were more important. The lines holding the dingy were cut and we saw the little boat rapidly disappear in the distance, going up and down in the waves. It was already after 10AM that Sunday morning. The tow continued; our destination was either the Hatteras Inlet or the Ocracoke Inlet, both with shallow waters, and as can be seen in the charts, there are many obstacles on the way and a number of sunken bots of all kinds. The 47251 Commander

began to show concern about the draft of our boat. Their 47 ft vessel was specially designed to go into shallow waters, and it draws only 3 ft, while our boat needed 5 ½ ft. “We cannot take to our Station, Captain; you will run aground” said the Commander. “We can take you close to the shore and you can drop the anchor. We can take the four of you to shore and you can make arrangements to fix the engine, or to be towed by a commercial tow-boat to another location.”

That was not a good solution to our problem. There was no assurance that we could get a mechanic in such a remote area, and Paul would not abandon his boat. Al said we needed to go to a “safe harbor”. The Coast Guard should not abandon us at sea, even at anchor. All of this was communicated to 47251, and at some point Paul mentioned that one of the crew had a medical condition, diabetes 1. At some point Paul


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 9 OF 12was put in contact with the commercial tow company, and the person in charge said they could not tow us to Beaufort NC because of liability reasons.

I do not know whether the “safe harbor” statement or the “diabetes 1” condition made the Commander reconsider the situation and told Paul that he would contact headquarters for instructions. 47251 and Epiclesis continued on their trip at 8 knots, headed to the inlets. Paul said to the Commander that we would prefer to go to Beaufort NC – which is past Cape Lookout and some 60 miles away--, and there we would get a mechanic for the engine. The Commander said he was looking at the options, and inquired about the condition of the person with diabetes 1. “Do you need any medicine?” he asked. The response was that the patient was OK, but seasick, that all we needed was fresh water.

Sometime later Paul was given the phone number for Mr. Swanson, the USCG person in charge at Headquarters, someplace in North Carolina. Their coastline is divided into several districts and he apparently coordinates the efforts of each one. We wanted to go to Beaufort NC, because we knew that it was a larger city, a sea port and we could get a mechanic to work on the engine. Mr. Swanson understood, agreed with Paul and also asked about the patient. Then he added that they would do whatever was necessary to get us to the station at Fort Macon, which is near Beaufort NC – this sounds confusing, but there are two Beauforts, one in NC and one in SC, about 400 miles apart. Our final destination was South Carolina, but at that moment that was in doubt. There was only one immediate problem, said Mr. Swanson: The crew of 47251 was past their allotted time on duty and he would have to send another 47 ft boat from the Hatteras Inlet station to continue the tow.

The day was clear and warm and now we were going at about 5 knots, a more natural speed for Epiclesis and the motion was gentler. It was sunny; we were still soaking wet, but grateful that the Coast Guard was taking us to Ft. Macon. True to his word, the second boat arrived hours later. It was almost 4 PM on Sunday, June the 2nd.

Changing tows was a spectacular demonstration of the Coast Guard abilities and discipline. Communications are direct, simple and clear. When an order is given, such as “secure line to bow” the recipient ties the line, and when completed states loud and clear “line secured to bow”. To most of us this sounds redundant, but once we see under what circumstances this takes place, it becomes clear that that the next step cannot be taken just because one “assumes” the task was done. The other people must know that it was done.

The crew of men and women on the next 47 footer, called 47308, got ready to do the maneuvers. Their Commander told Paul that they would place a Medic on our boat, with supplies, to check on our diabetic FILE: document.doc—by G. David. Guerrero, June 10, 2013-----PRINTED ON 4/18/2023

Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 10 OF 12man, and change the tow lines. They came close, but not too close, because if two boats in motion come within a critical distance, a vacuum is created and the two hulls collide with each other. 47251 remained on one side, at a safe distance, out of the way but ready to assist if necessary; there was constant communication among the three boats and with Mr. Swanson at headquarters.

There were no other boats in the area, and the four of us in Epiclesis were out of the way but able to witness the entire operation, observed how they handled their boats, themselves and how they communicated. They came near us a few times, both boats heaving in the waves, and all of a sudden the Medic jumped with his bag the 3 to 4 feet separating the boats. He came safely on board and proceeded to remove one tow line and replace it with another. We helped as much as required and sometime later Paul thanked 47251 for all their efforts. When the new tow was about to start, the proper signal was given and they went on their way to their station, near the Hatteras Inlet, the same one from which the 2nd 47 footer came.

The Medic gave the “All OK” signal to 47308, and the tow continued, at full speed. We were now headed towards Ft Macon, NC, but to get there we would have to go far from shore to avoid the dangers of Cape Lookout. Paul maintained contact with the new Commander and all went well. The Medic checked the patient and found no reason for concern, so he told his people we needed water; soon after they sent a smaller boat and tossed some 20 bottles of water which we were glad to receive.

Later on the Commander informed us of another ship change. It so happens that Ft Macon is in a different USCG district and it requires local knowledge to navigate those treacherous waters around Cape Lookout. They had decided it would be better to send a third 47 footer, this time from Fort Macon itself, to finish the tow. We continued with the tow for several hours, during which time we had a chance to know a little about our Medic, Ryan C. Kohl, a friendly man, also interested in what we had to say.

Later that Sunday evening USCG 47211 arrived and the tow line exchange procedures were repeated. Our Medic jumped again to his own vessel and tossed the bags with heavy gear back on board to his shipmates. All went flawlessly as the sky was getting darker and the seas continued to heave the boats up and down in an endless dance.


Cape Hatteras & The Gulf Stream. Part 1 of 2 PAGE 11 OF 12It was almost 4 AM the next Monday morning when we entered the Morehead City channel and approached Fort Macon, following the navigation buoys. 47211 came alongside of Epiclesis, tied large fenders on the side and a one of their crew came on board to help with tying us down on one of their docks.

The chart here presents the paths taken by each of the tows an the names of the three USCG boats involved in the 22 hour passage from Cape Hatteras to Fort Macon.

The water was totally calm and there was a mild breeze. We were welcomed at Fort Macon; the Station Commander told us we there were hot showers available for us, hot coffee and at 7 AM we could have a real breakfast at their cafeteria, for $2.50 each. They knew that we were wet and that everything in the boat was also soaking wet, so we could use their washing machine and their dryer. They knew we had been at sea for six days, under tow for some 22 hours, and without much sleep or food for over 50 hours.



We had not eaten anything in such a long time, and the idea of a hot cup of coffee, a hot shower and dry clothes sounded great. We could wait for breakfast, only 90 minutes away. We finally realized we were exhausted… and relieved! We needed help, but finally we rounded the Cape Hatteras. After a shower and dry clothes we offered thanks and toasted with a cup of hot coffee inside the locker room.

On the dock we could see the stern of USCG 47211, with its tow lines drying in the sun. Later that morning , near 11AM, we were towed, with a smaller

boat, to the Morehead City Municipal docks, near restaurants, a boatyard, mechanics and stores, including a well stocked ACE Marine supply house with everything the fishing boats of the area might need. This was indeed a “safe harbor”, and we thanked those involved at Ft. Macon.

End of Part 1 of 2FILE: document.doc—by G. David. Guerrero, June 10, 2013-----PRINTED ON 4/18/2023

cape hatteras -part 1 of 2

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