Savannah, GA N32° 00.567' W80° 59.925'
15 May 2008 | 32 00.567N 80 59.925W
Randy
It was a very long day/night, but after 26 hours, I made it to Savannah. Held up a couple of hours at the St. Mary inlet to get outside due to the ebbing tide and east wind that made for some very nasty chop. You heard about the submarine already. I actually FLEW up this way with a strong SE wind, making much better time than I anticipated, and arrived at the inlet at about 0230 this morning, almost 4 hours earlier than expected. So I did something called "heaving to", which means you set the jib and rudder in such a way as to basically null the effect of the wind and you more or less hold still in your position, with a slight drift. There is more to it than that but you "get the drift". The thing is, I had my hands full getting that set initially, with the main sail getting stuck half way down and it was a pretty intense 20 minutes or so. The wind was blowing steady at 20 kts with 5 - 6 ft. seas. To clarify, I had my safety harness on and was tethered the entire time!
I plan to hang around here through Sunday, and maybe Monday, and then will head up to Charleston. Dennis (someone on this distribution list) helped me make connections with Bill (now also on the list) who is from VT and is also sailing north. He is anchored in Charleston and has been corresponding with me. Hopefully we will get to meet face to face.
I think that is about it. I am going to shower and then go to bed. Dead tired, but happy with the progress I've made so far.