Question: How many men does it take to get a sailboat 23 miles down the ICW?
Answer: More than five.

Sylvie and I gleefully made up that joke yesterday as we drove to meet the (five) sailor boys at a marina halfway to their planned destination, 23 miles down the ICW (Intra-Coastal Waterway) from our "home" port. Our "home" port is a difficult place from which to get out to the ocean-- the inlet there (or should I say "outlet") is shallow in lots of places, in an ever-changing and wholly unpredictable configuration, therefore it's an easy place for sailboats in particular to "run aground." We know; we've done it several times. The ICW itself has, unfortunately, these same qualities. The biggest effect on the depth of the ICW is the tide, which rises and falls there just as in the ocean, varying tremendously depending on location. Our boat "draws" 5'6", which means that we need to be in water at least that deep, or we will run aground. Where is that deep-enough water? In the ICW, you can never be sure.

Yesterday, en route to the planned destination (a marina in North Myrtle Beach from which we expect to sail on Wednesday), the sailing boys arrived at a pontoon bridge which had to open in order for them to pass, and which opens only on the hour. I wrote the sailing log yesterday, but Bob dictated it. Read this in a deep voice: "Arrived Sunset Beach pontoon bridge approximately 1:30 PM. Bridge opening scheduled for 2 PM. Circled in waterway approach to bridge for 28.5 minutes. Ran aground 1.5 minutes before bridge opening.* Unfurled headsail, heeled boat to starboard 22 degrees. Tide dropping, mud rising every minute. Called Towboat US**. Towboat US arrives from south, awaits 4 PM opening of pontoon bridge. Towboat US heels boat 25 degrees to port. Everything in cabin falls from starboard wall to port wall.*** Eventually gets boat free. Tide is now too low for bridge to open, bridge will not be able to open until after dark. We backtrack 2 miles to Ocean Isle Marina for the night."

Sylvie and I drove to meet them there (cackling and making up jokes the whole way); she drove the sailor boys back to Holden Beach Marina and their cars, and Bob and I stayed on Kalliope for the night at Ocean Isle Marina. This morning two sailor boys and Sylvie came back, and we motored the rest of the way to our present slip at North Myrtle Beach Marina.

* The sailor boys swear that this spot where they ran aground was a spot they had circled over many times, in the 28.5 minutes of waiting for the bridge to open. How can this be, that there was not some warning of some kind beforehand (a soft touch on the bottom, for instance, the kind we're used to and can deal with, without the help of Towboat US)? Sylvie and I will never know. We do know, however, that alcohol was not involved, since she and I had all the beer with us where we were sitting on the dock at North Myrtle Beach, sipping, snacking, chatting, awaiting the arrival of the sailor boys who never came.

**kind of a AAA for boaters-- we have wisely chosen the unlimited option-- this tow, otherwise, would have cost $780.

***Things were not yet stowed for an ocean voyage, which could possibly involve a total swing of 50 degrees, though if it does, you can find me in my bunk, under the covers, sucking my thumb.

You may be wondering why we need five people to do these little jaunts-- we don't. (We're perfectly capable of running the boat aground ourselves). The guys were along to familiarize themselves with Kalliope before The Great Sail to Florida, and Sylvie's boyfriend was there to get more experience with the waterway-- their boat draws over 7 feet!