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Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2023 14:30:00 GMT
Arrived Cumberland Island GA
60 hours off shore
We just completed our first 60 hour trip on the open ocean. We left
Friday Nov 3rd from Beaufort NC and arrived at St. Mary's Monday Nov 6th
in the morning. Friday was our best time ever leaving Beaufort.
Traditionally that has been a spicy inlet but this time it was calm on a
slack tide. Saturday was a little rough but Sunday was one of those
sailing days you dream of. Good winds and calm seas on a broad reach to
our destination. We made good time the entire trip and both the forcast
and the schedule (you never have a schedule) worked out exactly as
planned. It was difficult moving around the boat on Saturday and we saw
the biggest waves and swells we had seen in the last 2 years. The water
was the most amazing blue 50 miles out and we were far enough out that
there was not even the glow of land on the horizon at times. Grace simply
danced across the waves and performed wonderfully with her 11 foot draft
centerboard down she wasn't even rocking much. The red sails and the blue
water were amazing. This time we left the cushions on the deck instead of
putting them inside and it was much easier to eat at the table when the
boat was rocking than standing up. The mast didn't leak and the new
lines and soft shackles performed wonderfully. Our new boom vang and
spinnaker storage position worked great. Sam and Steve were much better
with the rig and sails than before and they could even reef and drop the
sails in the dark on a pitching deck. We could not have hoped for a
better run.
We left the anchorage at Adams creek the morning of the 3rd, Friday, at 07:18 and
started motoring down to Beaufort. The engine started flawlessly this
time and we were off. At 7:45 we filed a float plan with the waterway net
on 7.268 mhz. We had oatmeal for breakfast. We continued to re-organize
the inside of the boat while we were heading for Beaufort.
And Sam and I reorganized the Lazzerettes
for off shore. But that meant that everything was pulled out for a good
hour while we were motoring down the creek. Hannah had started baking
bread for the journey and it was rising while we were underway. As we
arrived in Beaufort, we anchored on Taylor creek and baked the bread. We
anchored in Taylor creek around 10.
We met Jason and Bianca from Marathon and had a nice chat on our boat.
I also talked with Pete who we anchored next to. He knows Mike on Rusamee
and we said we would look for him in St. Augustine and say hi for him.
We had leftover soup from our pressure cooker debut and filled up the
drinking water.
We did the last cleanup of the boat and headed off shore at 13:56lcl.
We headed for the outside of Frying Pan shoals on a heading of 230. Wind
was 050@15 with light seas of 2-3 feet. It was clear and chilly. Around
6pm on the third the wind picked up to NE at 20. On a broad reach we
were doing 6 1/2 knots and the seas started picking up.
On the 3rd at 10 pm wind was still picking up to 22 knots and waves
increasing to 4-5 foot. By 1 am we were 33d48m X 77d31m and winds were
033@20g25 and it was overcast with seas 6-9 feet. So we reefed the Genoa
and put the 1st reef in the main and were still making 7 knots. It
continued to cloud over and it was a wet chill in the air. The waves were
flattening out with little wind scallops all over the top of the water and
the salt spray was everywhere. Winds picked up to 027@28 by 6 am of the
4th and seas were up to 12 feet and more on an 8-10 second period. So we double reefed
the main and left only a patch of the Genoa. We lowered the mizzen
completely and were still making 7+ knots. We were just rounding the
Frying Pan shoals.
By 8 am of Saturday, the 4th, we were at 33d21m X
78d03m and the seas were confused. Winds had abated a little to 25 but
the seas were less than 7 seconds. Lylah got sea sick and was drooling
everywhere. Poor baby was miserable. Mom was not doing very well either
and we didn't have much to eat but a few snacks and cold oatmeal.
Through out the 4th from 10am to about 4pm The waves and winds continued to ease as we
approached 35 miles off shore from Georgetown and we turned inland a
little and changed course direct to St. Mary's at 232deg. Winds were NE at 16g20 and seas were back to 4-5
feet on a 9 sec period. We shared an MRE for lunch/dinner with some broth
and noodles. By 19:30, winds were still 15g20 and seas were 4-5 feet. It
was cloudy and damp with a chill in the air. We were making 6 knots
Sun Morning the 5th at 5 am found us 50 miles off shore south east of
Beaufort South Carolina with winds out of the North at 19 but much abated.
By 9am we put up full sails on a broad to beam reach making 7+ knots at
15-16 knots of wind. Seas continued to calm but winds held steady at 15
out of the NW. The Coast guard called us because we missed a call to our
friend Joe. We assured them we were fine and they asked us to make
contact with him when possible. So we checked in on the waterway net and
got email from SailMail. I also used the opportunity to get weather for
the rest of the journey.
By noon of the 5th the seas were 1-2 feet and we were moving right along
at 7 knots with 15 knots of wind. There were dolphins everywhere jumping
and playing. We could see them just under the water. Hannah made soup
and we shared another MRE for lunch dinner. Then around 15:00 we poled out
the Genoa to run downwind as the winds shifted a little. We also used the
time to test putting the spinnaker pole from the mast to the forward stay
on the deck to support it. That works great! We also did more
experimentation on our jibe preventer / boom vang. Which also works great.
We even had a couple potential crash jibes that it prevented! In the early
evening around 7 pm we were getting pretty tired. Sam and I had been doing
4 hour shifts the entire time. It was working well but we were tiring!
By 8 pm we were abeam Brunswick Ga and winds were dying. We had tried to
hold the 14 knots as long as possible, but finally the winds were down to 8
knots. But going slow was ok because we didn't really want to arrive at
night anyway. So we took the 4 knots and took in the main to go Jib and
Jigger. The main was giving us more drag than lift and was blocking the
genoa. Around midnight we couldn't keep the sails filled and were only
about 25 miles from St. Marys so we took in the sails and started the
engine.
An hour before sunrise we were in the channel heading toward St. Mary's inlet and
Hannah was on the foredeck looking for the reds and greens. We hit the
fort just after sunrise and motored over to Cumberland island to anchor.
We arrived at slack high tide and the inlet was gentle with 10 knot winds
out of the west but before we hit the jetty's we were running against a 2
knot current. It took us forever to get into the anchorage and we put
down anchor at 8am. We got on the HF to call the waterway net just after
8 to let them know were were safe at anchor. Now Sam is sleeping, Mom is
sleeping and I am writing this blog. Hannah is doing wash and we are
happy with a full belly of a hot breakfast of eggs and home made toast
instead of travel food. We finished off the last of the fresh chocolate
chip cookies and I polished off the last of the beef jerky. Now it's time
for my nap. It's going to be showers for us today under clear skies and
75 deg!