Let me tell you about another cruise. This one took place July 6-9 2006. The game plan was to sail from Brunswick to St. Augustine on Jack Sterrett’s 33-foot Gib Sea, Martini. Sailing on this memorable cruise was Jack, Lynda, Charlotte and myself. We were hoping to sail during the night and arrive at St. Augustine sometime Friday. Then we were going to break the return trip up and stop in Fernandina, then back to Brunswick on the Sunday. Well you might want to ask how was your trip……..Not too good. Remember the saying “Red in the Morning sailors Take Warning”. I was thinking of this as Charlotte and I drove down to Brunswick on the Thursday. The skies were red as were driving down. The forecast was for a chance of rain in the afternoon. We cleared St. Simon’s channel and were heading south under light winds, 5-10 mph and seas were 1-3. The winds gradually picked up during the next few hours as well as the seas. The wind was coming out of the south and we were not making good time. The winds were now 15-20 mph seas 2-4 feet. It was really a great ride and everyone was having a great time. Still not making much progress. A cloud was building to the North, the chance of rain was going to be a sure thing, and it would appear. Winds were still 20-25 with gusts 30 mph. Seas were building as well, running about 4-6 feet. The cloud to the North was still building and getting rather dark. We decided to make a run into Ferindina. We started the motor and decided to motor sail with just the main. We were making good time, but so was the cloud to the North of us. The entrance into Ferindina is well marked. Once we made it to the channel we took down the main and we were about six miles to the marina, where we would spend the night. Unfortunately, the cloud to our North, was only about 5 miles to the Marina. I am not sure if you have ever seen the photograph on the Internet where a freighter is headed into a storm cloud that looked to be very black and very low to the surface. Well, if you have, I want to tell you, we met the sister to that cloud. We were well down the channel motoring when the storm hit. The temperature dropped at least 20 degrees and the wind was now out of the North. We could not see any more than two boat lengths in front of us. The rain was horizontal and it hurt. Lightning was a abundant. I know you know, if you hear thunder and count 1000 and 1, 1000 and 2, etc. that tells you how far the storm is from you depending on how far you counted. We were so close, I counted 100, and even before I could say 1000, the lightening hit. We could hardly see the instruments, it was very dark and the salt-water spray was constantly getting in your eyes. We did manage to see the wind gauge and it registered 45 mph. We all thought it was higher than that and it was. There was no way we could make the marina, even though we had been there before and knew the lay of the land, we could not see. So we motor about 300 feet to the north till we saw a red flashing light and then we turn around and headed south about 300 feet till we saw a white light. I am not sure how many of these round trips we made, but the storm lasted for 30 long minutes. Once it let up we were able to motor to the marina. Our plan was to spend the night on the boat but the forward cabin was really wet. The forward hatch was not closed all the way. We ended up walking to a Hampton Inn. This was about two blocks from the marina. Nobody had a dry place on him or her. I wish we would have gotten a photograph of the four of us in the lobby checking in. The lady checking us in gave us towels to dry off with. The rain stayed with us on Friday and we stayed at the marina. We met a guy on one of those Hunters that you pay so much a month, I believe it was $430 per month, that is all you pay and you sail 7-8 times during the month. Really a nice boat, anyway we told we came in last night in the storm and he said according to his wind gauge, he clocked the winds at 62 mph. On Saturday the winds were 20-25 so we took the intercostal back to Brunswick. As the day progress the weather improved. Lessons Learned: Pay closer attention to the weather and believe what they say. Probably start the motor sooner if you are trying to out run the weather. If you sail on the ocean, you need a dodger. I have a newfound confidence in the boat and the crew. Greg Phillips