Smokies Light

I think there was a Hemingway novel by that title. Meet Captain Brett of St. Augustine Sailing. This outing was my first on a small sailboat on the open ocean with my previous experience limited to inland lakes, so I was wondering how it would go, whether I would get seasick and such. The swells were 3 to 5 feet, which is as calm at it gets this time of year. Picture taking was difficult but after a while you get into the rhythm of the swells and it wasn't bad at all. After chasing whales and dolphins a while and being two miles out, Brett cranked up the engine for some positioning. The oil filter decided to blow out so we were out there without power, well, without engine power but we did have sail power. Fortunately the wind was blowing from the east back to land this day so we sailed at a snail's pace back thru the inlet to the Bridge of Lions, tacked back and forth waiting for the bridge to open, then cranked the engine briefly to power under the bridge and once more at the marina near the dock. From the time the filter failed two miles out to the dock he had to run the engine only about one minute, and he really didn't have to run it all if that had been necessary.