Singlehanding Sophia Northbound

After arriving  on March 7^th, we stayed in Vero Beach for two weeks.  On March 23^rd, Elena left for Russia to become a “babushka” officially, leaving me alone to fend for myself.  I knew I was not going to stay in Vero Beach for six more weeks.   On April 2^nd, I departed for points north.

It had been a long time since I handled “Sophia” alone.  I’m a bit slower, my balance is not what it used to be, and Elena had been doing all the navigation work for two years.  On the other hand, Sophia is now rigged much better for singlehanded sailing, with all sail handling lines led into the cockpit.  And, on the GPS chartplotter, I had all the routes that Elena had so carefully prepared on the way down.

Speaking of Elena, she spied on me using AIS with Marinetraffic.com for most of the trip.  She says she would not go to sleep until I had anchored or moored somewhere.  Given the 9 hour time difference, that must have really screwed with her sleep patterns.

With a bit of trepidation, I departed on a bright, sunny morning, saying good bye to John Barbera and his two cats.  The route north through the ICW to St. Augustine was all too familiar…Melbourne, Titusville, New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, Palm Coast.  I anchored out for the first three stops.  At Melbourne, I got to see  Space X rocket launch, albeit, from a distance.

At Daytona and Palm Coast, I pulled into marinas (mostly to get away from my own cooking).  At Daytona, I crossed paths with Frank and Carol from “Hakuna Matata”, a couple we had sailed with in the Bahamas in 2017.

I left Palm Coast on April 9^th, now on my own for almost a week.  I was going through the Matanzas Inlet, known as a spot where boats go aground frequently and the sand bars move around.  The channel runs within a few feet of the shore.  I was watching the channel buoys carefully, not watching the chartplotter as carefully as I should have.  I drifted to starboard, away from the shore and off of the previous track that we had used to travel south, but along the line we traveled in 2017.  Before I could notice my error, BUMP!  I am hard aground.

I tried to use the engine to get off, but the more I tried the worse it got.  “Sophia” draws six feet and at some point, I saw 2.5 feet on the depth finder.  It was almost low tide when I ran aground and high tide would be in about six hours.

Elena immediately texted me “what is wrong, why did you stop?”.  The answer back was not the most carefully crafted, something like “grounded, busy, don’t bother me now”.

A couple of motorboats came by to offer help.  The first almost got me off, but I had a sail out to heel the boat (and therefore reduce the draft).  Just as I got off, he casted off prematurely.  The wind and current turned me around before I could get control of the boat and put me back on the sandbar.  The second boat managed to move me some, but could not get me off with a 250 hp engine, but did get me turned around so when the tide did lift me up I would be heading in the right direction.

After three hours, I could feel “Sophia” move as the wakes from boats passing by rolled under her.  I finally gunned the engine and she freed herself.  We were on our way to St. Augustine without calling the tow boat company for help!!!  Hurray!!  Let’s call that a success.

I arrived at St. Augustine at 3pm and tied up to a mooring ball.  From April 10^th to April 17^th, I stayed at St. Augustine, getting a major grocery run in, filling fuel tanks, and waiting for the weather to warm up.  I am not interested in any place where the temperature is in the 40’s.

On April 18^th, with a full larder and plenty of diesel, I left St. Augustine for my first offshore run to St. Mary’s, Georgia and Fernandina Beach, Florida, just north of Jacksonville.  While we are very much in the minority among cruisers, Elena and I have found “inlet hopping” the best tactic for avoiding the stress of the shallow waters found in the Intracoastal Waterway, especially in Georgia and South Carolina, where tide ranges can be 7 or more feet.  The alternative is overnight or multiple day sails which we find exhausting.  The disadvantage to “inlet hopping” is that a lot of time is wasted, with as much as 8 hours in transit in and out of some of the inlets.

I left at first light. Getting out into the ocean is always a special feeling and doing it alone was especially stimulating.  It was a lovely day for a sail and I covered the 48 nautical miles in good time, arriving at St. Mary’s inlet 30 minutes before sunset.

I left the next morning for my next destination, St Simon’s inlet and Brunswick, Ga.  I had heard a lot about Brunswick and wanted to see what was there. While the marina was one of the best on the east coast and certainly less expensive than the marinas on St. Simon’s Island, the town itself compared poorly to others in similar circumstances who have invested in their downtown and waterfront areas.

The weather had turned with north winds for five days.  Finally, on April 25^th, I had winds out of the south.  Doing “inlet jumping” requires carefully planning  the tides with sometimes over 2 knots of current running.  The difference might be a 2 hour run with the tide or a 6 hour slugging match against the tide.  On this run, I was up at 4am and underway at 0510.  By 0830, I had cleared the St Simon’s Sea Buoy and had turned north with winds out of the south at 10 knots.

The next stop is St Catherine’s sound, an undeveloped area of wildlife refuges.  I got in early and anchored at 7pm.

I was up early again the next day and underway at 0630.  By 9am I had reached the sea buoy and again turned north in a light wind.  By 3pm the wind had increased to 12 knots and I was making good time under sail.  An hour later, I entered Tybee Channel which leads to the Savannah River and the city of Savannah, Ga.  I crossed over the Calibogue Channel making 6.2 on a fair wind and a following current, anchoring in the May River, just west of Hilton Head Island at 6pm.  I celebrated my early evening with burgers cooked on the grill.

On April 27^th, I made my way down the waterway between Hilton Head Island and the mainland, entering Port Royal Sound at noon bound for Beaufort SC.  With a nice southwest wind, I raised all sails and shut down the engine.  Off in the distance, I could see a group of gaff-rigged (that is one sail) boats in what appeared to be a regatta, including escort boats.  As I turned north into the Beaufort River, these boats started to race in, coming up behind me.  I decided it was time to start taking in sails.  I put the boat on autopilot and started to crank in the big front sail, which takes several minutes to complete.  All of a sudden, I hear some shouting “Fall off, fall off”.  One of the racers had decided to pass me to windward, couldn’t quite clear me, and was within two feet of colliding with me (I suspect, they would come out the worst in that event).  I turned the autopilot off and steered away, as they sailed out in front of me.  I think the skipper, a woman, was upset with me, but the crew was nice about it.  All’s well that ends well.

I was looking forward to an early evening with dinner in downtown Beaufort, one of our favorite places.  At 3pm, within two miles of the marina, I hear the engine high temperature alarm go off.  This is a very bad situation.  If the engine is not shut down immediately, it  will burn itself up, and a new engine will be required, or at least a major rebuild.  Fortunately, I think I caught it, shutting down the engine, dropping the anchor, and calling the marina to report my delay.  The drive belt that drives the cooling water pump had broken.  Sticking to her pattern, Elena texts me.  The following is the actual text conversation:

Elena:  U stopped?

Elena:  For a minute u looked like at anchor on my app

Elena: Marine Traffic shows you stopped

Cecil:  Threw the belt

Elena:  Lost the belt

Cecil: Yes

Elena: Oops.  At anchor?

Cecil: Yes

Elena:  Ok keep me informed

Sometime later:

Elena:  Waiting

Cecil: What for?

Elena: For u to go on

Cecil: I’m busy now

Elena:  I’ll be watching

Talk about micromanagement!!!!!

After letting the engine cool a bit, I changed the belt and was back underway within an hour of the incident, mooring at the marina at 5pm, reporting back to the boss in Yekaterinburg,  and then going out for a stiff margarita or two.

I stayed at Beaufort, SC for three days, mostly because I like the town, but also waiting for good weather.  On April 30^th, I got underway, via the inside route, leaving on a rising tide and timing my route to make high tide at the shallowest point.  I entered into St Helena’s Sound and anchored in the Morgan River just off of “Monkey Island”, where some 3000 Rhesus monkeys are raised for medical research.  I got a glimpse of one, I think, but the monkeys evidently didn’t like the beach much.

At first light, the anchor was weighed and “Sophia” was underway once again, exiting St Helena’s Sound, north of Beaufort, for the Atlantic waters, motor-sailing in light southerly breeze.

I was escorted out by a fellow traveler, a sailboat whose crew included a dog by the name of Sophia.  Sophia, the dog, was very excited to come alongside Sophia, the boat, and barked loudly and happily, running along the decks.  My fellow traveler was moving faster than I and soon they had passed me by for destinations north.

I reached Charleston at about 7pm.   Because the weather had been calm and was forecasted for more of the same, I anchored in open water, tucked behind the northern breakwater that protects the harbor entrance.  There was an easterly rolling swell that made making dinner a bit of a problem but rocked me right to sleep as if I was in a cradle.

I was up early the next morning, weighing anchor and getting underway in the dark.  Again, in light southerly winds, I motor-sailed at 5 knots, reaching Winyah Bay, near Georgetown SC, and repeating the open ocean anchorage.  The swells had died down and it was a comfortable evening.

May 3^rd was going to be a long day with 80 miles to cover, my longest leg.  Up before first light, I was underway by 6am.  By midday, winds were out of the south at 10 knots as I motor-sailed at 5.4 knots.  I came into Southport, NC just at dark, mooring at the marina in the dark at 9pm after more than 15 hours underway.  The dockmaster, Captain Bill, 70 years old and still in charge of a well-run marina, was nice enough to stay late and help me with getting “Sophia” tied off for the evening.

The marina is a favorite of ours and the nearby Italian restaurant is fabulous.  I decided to stay an extra night, getting some rest and having a great meal.  There was a fellow cleaning the hulls of boats in the marina and I hired him to clean “Sophia’s ” bottom.  Evidently, it was needed badly.  The speed of the boat increases by more than 20% (more than a knot) after the cleaning.

On May 5^th, I was underway at first light for a trip outside.  Off of Southport are Frying Pan Shoals which extend south for 20 miles.  To get around them, I had to go the wrong direction for 20 miles, then round up to north for a 30 mile leg to Wrightsville Beach.  The inside alternative is a trip up the Cape Fear River and then through a canal, Snows Cut, which is just not much fun.  It was a lovely day and I sailed most of the day with three sails, entering Masonboro Inlet and anchoring at Wrightsville Beach at 7pm.  All in all, a good day and the last all-day sail that I would see for the remainder of the northbound trip.

The next leg would all be inside, up past Camp Lejeune to Beaufort where Elena would re-join Sophia and I.  At the planned departure time of 0700, it was raining badly and I was ready to postpone the departure for a day.  But at 1100, the rain stopped and I weighted anchor and got underway.  The next anchorage, Mile Hammock on Camp Lejeune,  was 30 miles up the coast and I arrived at 7pm, anchoring in company with 6 other boats.  One boat, meeting the next day, complimented me on my singlehanded anchoring skills.  Given they were folks that had been cruising in sailboats for 30 years, I took in the compliment with a bit5of pride.

On May 7^th, I was underway at 8am.  At noon, I crossed the New River inlet, infamous for shoaling.  True to its nature, I was 7.5 feet on the depth meter, 18 inches below the keel, reminding me why I like going outside.  At 3pm I arrived at the unstaffed Church Street city docks in Swansboro NC, mooring “Sophia” without assistance in a stiff current and offsetting wind.

Elena was not due until the evening of May 9^th, so I decided to stay at the less expensive Swansboro dock as opposed to the Beaufort city docks, enjoying a meal or two and meeting the folks who bore witness to my anchoring prowess at Mile Hammock.  Frank and Marie have traveled for 30 years on their wooden sailboat “Tyjanna”, registered out of Sydney, Australia.  Now they are homeported out of a little creek off the Rappahannock River in Virginia.  There are a few folks that I met that I could spend all day listening to their stories.  Frank and Marie are one of those few.  I hope to cross paths with them again.

On May 9^th, I was underway at 0800 from Swansboro for my last day of solo sailing.  It was a short, pleasant trip.  At 2pm, I smoothly drove “Sophia” into a slip at the Beaufort Docks.  At 7pm, Elena arrived right on schedule and, after about 750 nautical miles, my days as a solo sailor came to a satisfying end.  I still have it in me.