With the arrival of our crew, Cuz John, Irene and Bill Shank, and Ron Sussman, we began to prepare for the jaunt over to Aransas Pass where the boat would be hauled out at Mile 533 Marine Ways. I planned to drive and meet the crew so that we would have car in the area.
As preparations were under way, it was discovered that the refrigerator was not cooling. We quickly set up a service call and determined the fans that cooled the compressor did not work.
Ben rigged up a fan and left it overnight to see if this would fix the problem, but no such luck, as the refrigerator still was not cold in the morning. Thus, all the food for the trip needed to be stored in the “freezer” and an ice chest. Since, it would only be a 24-hour sail, this solution should work for the time being and we would address this problem when we return from Aransas Pass-put it on the list!
Finally, around 9:30 a.m. on Wed., May 27, 2020, the group untied from the dock and headed out.
I was sad that they were leaving and I was still on shore, but someone had to drive the car.
Once they were out of sight, I headed for Rockport where we would be staying for the first week while the boat was out of the water. I took a leisurely drive on one farm to market road after another until I arrived at Redfish Retreat, an Airbnb. It was a cute little beach house in a great location and should meet our needs perfectly.
While I was driving, Ben sent pictures to let me know that they were having a very pleasant sail. The sky was blue, they were being greeted by dolphins and the boat was happily cruising along at about 7-8 knots.
Of course, being in the gulf they would have to dodge oil rigs again, but at least for a while, it would be daylight and they would be easier to see.
I realized as I unpacked at our new digs in Rockport, that this was the first time I had been alone for a while. Since Ben got laid off after our long journey from Martinique, and with the “house arrest” from COVID-19, we have been together pretty much all the time. So I decide to relish the ME time and take myself out to dinner. Friends had recommended the LATITUDE 28º02′ Restaurant & Art Gallery 
and it turned out to be a wonderful place to eat right in the heart of Rockport.
I had Grouper Oscar that was perfectly cooked.
Rockport/Fulton are cute little towns and I enjoyed snooping around and taking in the beach and historical sites.
After dinner, about 6:25, Ben sent me pictures of a storm they had just fought which brought rain and 48 knots of wind.
I was extremely happy that I did not know about this storm until it was over, as in Rockport it was sunny and beautiful. Ben said that with one reef in the main and no jib, the boat handled well. So that was good news!
I went to bed that night believing that I would most likely see everyone around noon tomorrow. Looking at the radar, it seemed they might be in for a couple of more storms, but I was praying they were no worse than the one they had seen earlier, and would not include any hail.
When I awoke around 8:00 in the morning, it appeared from the tracker that Daggers Down had not covered as much ground as I had expected. They still seemed to be quite a ways out and it did not look like they were going to arrive by noon or even 1:00 p.m.
Finally around 9:00 a.m., Ben was in cell range and gave me a call. From his description it sounded like they had a hellacious night. They fought two more pretty good storms but these did not hold a candle to the diesel fuel leak into the starboard engine compartment. Evidently, Irene started smelling diesel and when Ben opened the fuel tanks, he discovered that they were empty. Then he opened the starboard engine compartment and quickly closed it!!! Oh boy, what a mess!
So at 2:30 a.m., Ben sent Irene to wake up everyone and for the next two hours, they moved as much fuel as they could from the starboard engine compartment back into the fuel tanks using a conga line while Bill steered. Buckets of diesel were dished out of the engine compartment and poured into a trash can and then siphon back into the tanks. However, because of the sea state, diagnosis of the problem was not possible at this time. Needless to say, after battling storms and this problem, Daggers Down had not made the distance that they had hoped.
To make matters worse, the entire boat smelled like diesel and was making everyone a little sick, some more than others. Thus it was impossible for folks to get rest or eat as they should.
In the afternoon, as the sea state relaxed, they determine that a fuel line had a pinhole rupture and caused the problem. McGyver Ben and Ron, spliced some line from another part of the engine and corrected the issue. This was great, because now they had enough fuel out of the compartment to run both engines without danger and head toward Port Aransas.
At first they thought they might need to overnight at the City Marina in Port A to get fuel, but after doing some calculations, they determine they could make it to Mile 533 Marine Boatyard and tie up for the night. This made for a shorter ride back to the house in Rockport.
Land at Last
Finally, about 6:00 p.m., I picked up the weary crew and brought them back to Redfish Retreat. They ALL reeked of diesel, needed a shower and were hungry. After Irene took a shower, we ordered fajitas from Los Comales and picked it up.
Everyone chowed down and discussed the craziness of the night before. John even confessed that he came VERY close to an unlit oil rig during the night as the chart plotter alarms didn’t sound. He had now determined that he was NOT a fan of the GULF.
I was glad that everyone had arrived safely and hoped that tomorrow things would look brighter. They had to figured out how to get all the remaining diesel mess out of the engine compartment and the smell off the boat.
Feel free to leave a comment and ask questions!!