Our Second Offshore Leg and the winds blow hard – Charleston to Beaufort SC

 

 

 

We decided that it was not wise to fight a 3 knot current on our way out, so we delayed our departure on the November 20^th, until 1230, when the tide changed and also to time our arrival at Port Royal Sound and Beaufort SC for daylight hours. We weighed anchor on time and were out in the Atlantic by 2pm.  At 1430 we set main and staysail (smaller of two front sails) with wind out of the West at 10 knots.  We set a course South and were making 4 knots. 

Our standard procedure for nighttime sailing is to reef (shorten sail) the main.  Because the wind was forecasted to be 10 knots or less, I had decided not to reef.  Around sunset (1700), Elena suggested strongly that we reef the main, which was going to slow our already very slow speed (sometimes 2 knots). We did. At 2000, winds shifted from the West and to the Northwest.  At 2230 the winds increased speed suddenly to 20 knots and stayed that way all night.  I was so glad Elena was insistent on reefing.  Reefing in the dark is just no fun.

We spent the rest of the night going at 6 knots and taking water over the bow, baptizing the boat with saltwater.  After 0400, we took down the main, which we needed to do to slow down the boat (otherwise we were going to arrive at the inlet entrance in the dark), and Elena relieved me of the watch under a bright, half-moon and with a much calmer wind of 10 knots.  After a couple of hours of sleep, Elena woke me with news we were at the entrance of Port Royal Sound.  We moored at Beaufort City Marina at noon, spent the afternoon napping, and did a quick evening tour of Beaufort and had a meal of raw oysters and sushi at a local restaurant.

The next day, the 22^st, we toured the city in the morning.  I went back to the boat to do laundry, make some minor repairs and do some routine maintenance, and wash the salt off the boat.  Elena spent the day shopping for balsamic vinegars at a local gourmet market and walking around the town which is filled with antebellum homes.

We are waiting for a weather window which looks like it will open on Friday and close on Monday November 28th and so we will spend Thanksgiving at the dock here in Beaufort and leave Friday morning.    We have made arrangements for the generator part to meet us in St. Augustine FL.  We intend to do the next leg in two or three jumps from here to St Mary’s on the Florida/Georgia state line, then to the St John’s (Jacksonville), and finally to St Augustine,