It does not take much to kick it up, especially if the storm is going against the current. There are the huge afternoon thunderstorms that come quick and without warning.

TheManShed and I were each out in the gulf stream on our boats when a storm came from the inland. I saw the storm and started heading in towards the storm. As I was passing TheManShed, I waved frantically and pointed towards the black cloud behind him. He waved back, gave a thumbs up and pointed forward toward the gulf stream. I figured he saw it and was going to try to sail around it. I considered the same thing because it was so big.

When it hit us, it was a complete whiteout situation and after it passed, we were about a mile from where I thought we would end up.

TheManShed didn't fair so well. He said an updraft picked up his boat and turned it turtle. He was underwater near the mast and had to blow bubbles to find which way was up.

I dropped my crew off and sailed North just far enough out to see a mast sticking up on the shore line. I looked for him until the sun set and I could not see anymore. I finally got back about 10pm and had to call his wife to see if he reported in. There was a small chance he was South of us and sailed it back into the inlet.

Turns out, the stream took him about 20 miles North and he was about 10 miles offshore. Just before the sun set, a fishing boat found him and towed him in turtle. If that fishing boat would not have found him, he would have not been close to shore again until North Carolina. That convinced me I needed an EPIRB.