Thanks for that chart link KG, brings everything into perspective. Wonder what they were going to do with that bascule bridge IF they had made the inlet?
Totally agree with the treachery of this coast. I was coming south on that area one cold winter night, singlehanding, got caught by the fog as the night closed in and found myself sailing in utter pea soup. Nearly ran into the day marker at Long Boat. Other boats traveling with me wisely decided to stay out and sail on, tired and cold I decided to make an attempt on the inlet with no local knowledge just to be off the water. There was no seeing anything and Long Boat is not lit. I zoomed my handheld GPS and lined up on the middle of the channel. Waves were breaking unseen on either side. I could barely see the bow of the boat. A light breeze pushed me on a run head first into the inlet. Picking up my paper chart I checked the bridge. I needed 12 feet and didn’t have it. The center span light came into view. With no time to consider options I swung the rudder hard and veered to port, the boat careened up onto a sandy beach populated by fishermen. They busied themselves reeling in lines and scrambling off the beach, not sure what to make of this boat that had just appeared out of the foggy Gulf. So many things could have gone wrong that night.
Pretty clear what happened to these two. With no local knowledge and poor navigation tools they made a decision to stay out and push past Clearwater. Then it got dark and the mist turned to dense fog. A decision was made to attempt Johns, no local knowledge, no electronic navigation, just a flashlight and paper chart they rushed the channel at Johns. Drove past the lighted R4, didn’t make the port turn to G5 and made a full throttle grounding onto the shoal just past R4. With the keel deeply embedded they sheared off the ballast at the bottom of the keel stub.