Well, as promised, Big Brother Dave flew in on Tuesday and Becky picked him up at the airport and delivered him to the boat in South Port, North Carolina. We sailed the boat to South Port on Monday to facilitate a quick exit from the Cape Fear Inlet into the Atlantic.

Dave and I got underway about 10:00 AM and headed off-shore. By the time we were out of sight of land, the sea state settled to about a 3 to 4 foot swell on the port quarter which made for a fairly comfortable ride, although Dave was a little queezy for awhile.

We sailed through a few squalls as the weather varied between sun and cloudy conditions. With the wind at 10-15 knots coming from behind the port side, we were able to make really good time, motorsailing at about 6.5 to 7 knots most of the day and night. Consequently, we arrived at the Charleston Ship Channel earlier than expected at about 4:00 AM.

We sailed outside the channel all the way up to the jetty allowing the Carnival Cruise Ship "Fantasy" and three large container ships to pass us by before entering the ship channel and passing Fort Sumter as the sun was coming up.l By this time, it was raining pretty steady but visibility was still not a problem.

We arrived at the Charleston City Marina just as they were opening for the day. We topped off the fuel before getting into a slip and taking a well deserved nap.

While here in Charleston, I get to see some of my favorite people in the world, Captain Buddy, Lee Anne and Lorna, before pressing on.

Here is a picture of the First Mate hard at work during the off-shore passage.