Crew Wanted: Lost My Crew Half-Way Through Trip from NC to FL

[S/VSkylark]

Hi all,
Left Morehead City, NC on route to Jacksonville, FL last week. Crew had medical issues that caused me to pull in at Oak Island, NC. Need crew for final leg to Jacksonville NOW. If you are interested, call me at 828-403-0204 and I can answer any questions you might have. Sailing experience a must but we can chat about that. Would also be happy to talk to delivery captains.
Thanks
Jim

[flatspaddler]

I wish I had the sailing experience Jim. However, I have only recently decided to learn. It would be a perfect short trip for me to gain experience, but it looks like you need more than a good cook who is willing to learn. Best of luck and let me know if you get hard up and just cannot find the help. I live in Tampa, Florida so it wouldn't be too difficult for me to get to you.

[Ram]

What were the med issues from the crew that left??

[Reckless]

Heat Stroke and Dehydration. I was the crew member.

Started off with getting belted as we left Morehead City, NC. Marlin fishing tournament was going on and we were leaving the outlet just as they were coming in, so we got tossed around like a washing machine.

I have never had sea sickness before, but that motion did me in, I didn't help I had a bowl of crab chowder about and hour or so before we departed. It didn't hit me fully for a few hours but when it hit it took me out. I was a write off the first 12 hours of the trip.

Added to that the first 2 days of the trip were 112 deg and 113 deg, we had little to no wind so we floated around, there was no shade on the boat other then in the cabin, which was a good 20 deg hotter then outside.

I was drinking lots of water and was not able to keep things down. My energy level never came back I was exhausted the entire time. That was also something new, when my watch was over I would pass out instantly, regardless of the time of day.

We made very slow progress for 4 days, winds were against us, we would tack on direct, and when we would turn to make our return tack the winds would have either died or changed.

On the 4th day I blacked out, don't remember much about that, I was completely out of it for a while. I had not had a bowel movement in 5 days and hadn't urinated in almost 2 days and when I did it was painful to do so.

That was when we decided to push back into shore. My condition wasn't improving and with the slow progress we were making we felt it best to have this dealt with rather then risk things getting worse.

Winds would go from blowing 10-15 to 1-2 knots, mainly SW which was the direction we wanted to go, but then would change to N or NE, then back to SW. It was a slow go but we made it back to shore.

I went into hospital and was given fluids through IV, and had second degree sun burns treated on my feet. The doctor suggested I take it easy for 5-7 days, which meant not the best idea to head back out in the boat. I was feeling much better after getting proper fluids into me, but still felt it to be a risk to go back out given the previous leg of the trip.

Waiting around for 5-7 days wasn't an option as the boat needed to be moved.

Personal health was a concern at that point, I am also from Canada, so the medical attention I received was paid for by my Insurance company, having a second claim for the same issue on the same trip, would not have been covered under my policy. That was also a concern.

The entire trip was to have taken 4-5 days, but with weather and wind conditions, the trip was now at 7 days.

Skylark was able to secure another crew, and she has made it to Florida.

The second leg took almost 2 weeks, the owner had to leave the boat to return to work and the boat was captained by a delivery captain and another crew member.

Given now that I know the extent of the rest of the trip, I am glad I made the final decision to leave. It was another 3 days before I was able to have a bowel movement, and my energy level was low for almost a week. T

I was not as useful of a crew as I should/could have been and I don't think that would have improved.

I have since been sailing several times on the great lakes where I live, and never had any issues.

I think it was a combination of the sea sickness, extreme heat and the sun burns all took their tole.

[Ram]

Wow what a bummer!- Sailing aint always the romantic dream many people think it is- with out shade that could kill you-sounds like you did the right thing and got off when you did--I hope this experence did not turn you off of sailing, as it can be wonderful !

[johnmcntsh]

I was skimming over this post, and realized the Skylark was only about 20 minutes from where I live in Carolina Beach NC. Sooo I thought this Captain is in a jam, I can take some time off I will give him a call and see if I can help him out.

So I called him, and was embarrassed to find out that this was posted some time ago and The Skylark had been in Fl. For quite some time now.

That what I get for skimming posts LOL

[Reckless]

Nope not at all, still love sailing. Learned what I want on my boat during my planned Circumnavigation in 9 years.

It was a learning experience to say the least, shade is very important on the water, just didn't know how important it would be

Still get out as much as I can on the lakes and will be back in the Ocean soon enough.

[xsboats]

Hey Recklass, I'm Scott,the delivery captain that brought Skylark the rest of the way to Florida. Sorry to hear how bad things got for you . Glad You are better. Jim was vague about what all you were experiencing. I couldn't agree more about shade. I brought an autopilot with me and we rigged an awning over the cockpit, so we weren't pinned down to the helm in the sun. I don't doubt that gasoline fumes contributed significantly to your condition. Check out Jim's account of the 3 rogue waves we encountered further down towards Georgetown, S.C. They are on his blogsite. He slightly understated their size , so as not to alarm his family.

[Reckless]

Hi Scott,

Yes the fumes did aggravate the situation. I tried to stay up on deck when the motor or generator were running.

Glad everyone and the boat made it down to Florida safely. From what I read it was a pretty eventful trip.

I underestimated the sun myself, we are hot when we see 90 deg days up here, few days of 100 plus weather, combined with little shade really did a number on me.

I took a lot from the experience, good and bad. I have an autopilot for my boat but don't have it installed as we just day sail, long passages it is a must have, when your not feeling well and fatigued, it would have been nice to just keep watch rather then watch our bearing and keep watch.

As I said I learned what I want for my cruising boat, I have already installed the bimini to my boat here, I have had it for a little while, typically if it gets to hot here we go to a sand bar and swim or just head back in. That wasn't an option for us out there.

I learned a lot and will apply what I learned to my future sailing trips.

Dave