After a couple of really nice days/evenings tied up to the city dock in downtown Savannah, I moved, on Monday, 16 miles southeast to Turner Creek, up the Wilmington River, via the ICW, to meet up with Joe and Deb of C-Note. Our plan was to depart from there on Wednesday and sail up to Beaufort, NC, arriving Friday. This was a two deal and I wasn't sure I could swing that sailing alone, so I had a bail out plan of stopping Thursday at Charleston, SC, getting some sleep, and then continuing on from there. As it turned out, Joe and Deb kept an on things around us while I caught some sleep down below for a couple of hours on Thursday, making sure I did not veer off course too far (auto helm was doing the steering) and also look out for other boats. I also figured out how to get several 20 - 30 minutes cat naps in along the way. While I would not want to do the multiple overnight passage thing often, I felt that I was alert enough to cope with everything necessary and could do it again if the need/opportunity arises.

You might ask, "Why would you do this anyway, you nut?" I have seen enough of the ICW to last a lifetime, and plying the waters of the ICW in GA and SC is tricky at best, with many shoals, particularly near ocean inlets, and some have to be timed just right to transit at high, or a rising tide. I was able to successfully do that before, but it is a pain, particularly when going it alone. You can never really leave the helm for more than a few minutes at a time, unlike out on the open ocean, and since it is not safe or practical to transit the ICW at night, about the best you can do is average 50 - 65 nm a day. As it was, this passage we just made from Savannah to Cape Look Out on the outside was 295 nm long over just 53 hours. We had favorable conditions to sail the vast majority of it with SSW 10 - 20 kts winds and seas that were generally in the range of 4' - 6'. The few times the winds died down, so did the seas, but when that happened, we motor sailed for several hours. And when the winds really picked up, so did the seas that I would say were in the 5' - 8' range, with the occasional 10 footer or so. Again, when sailing with following seas on the quarter (approaching the stern from an angle) the boat really rolls from side to side - to the tune of about 35 - 40 degrees at the worst. When that happens, anything not stowed correctly down below flies all over the place, and the dogs lay down sprawled out and slide on the wooden sole of the cabin.

I have to say that while the boys clearly don't enjoy that part of this gig, they did not get sick like when we first crossed the Gulf Stream. I should also mention that these guys have really settled in on the boat and have the pooping and peeing thing down pat. They
spend nearly all of their time up in the cockpit with me and truly love it (when it is not too rough). They stand up in the cockpit with their front paws on the coming like a dog would in a car window and bark at floating buoys and other boats. I get them off the boat
whenever possible and take them for walks. They REALLY love finding other people, especially kids. They went for numerous walks on the Savannah River front which is a really nice pedestrian area and many people gather there in the evening. The boys can't get enough of meeting other people. Everyone wants to pet them when they see them, even the men when nobody is looking. I met one woman who was watching as her son and about a half dozen other kids were lavishing attention on the dogs. She asked about what I was doing, and as I explained to her my story, she began to tear up as she explained how her son (who was laughing and playing with Spike and Rocky at that moment) is battling Leukemia and they are hopeful he is in remission. She talked about how important it is to live every moment like it is your last, and she hoped her son would survive to do something like what I was doing. That was another one of the many very powerful moments I have had while meeting people on this journey as I am continually reminded of just how lucky I really am.

Here is another one of those events filed under, "You'll never guess who I ran into along the way." Just as it was getting dark when I was tied up to the Savannah city dock last Sunday evening, a couple was standing up on the wall leaning against the railing and looking down at the boat (the 7' tide was out). Finally, the woman called down to me and said, "Hello Vermont!" She had seen the home port of Mallets Bay, VT on the transom of Kristinly. I asked if she was from Vermont and she said yes, and lives in Wallingford, which is about 20 miles north of where I used to live in Manchester. We talked for a couple of minutes, and realized she used to work at The Vermont Country Store for a couple of years, the same time as I did. Well, it turned out it was Sue Gilmore (many of you VCS-er's will recognize her), and we had a great laugh. I was thinking to myself, "I can't believe how often this happens to me!" She and her husband Brian were in Georgia to see her son graduate from the Marines basic training at Paris Island. I invited them to come have a cold beer with me, and they did, and we talked and laughed and marveled at the chances of running into each other. Unbelievable, but this stuff really does happen.

The options from here are to either continue on the outside around Cape Hatteras and continue on to the Chesapeake Bay, or reenter the ICW at Beaufort, NC and travel north to Norfolk, VA and enter the Chesapeake there. Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, with over 600 wrecked ships. A good weather window would make going around the shoals passable of course, but that may not happen for a while, as the forecast is for strong southerly winds for the next day or so (currently 15 - 20 kts, with gusts up to 25 kts) and then the winds will clock to the NW. C-Note
and I have been talking about heading to Beaufort and take the ICW as far as the Neuse River, but then turn east from there and travel north via the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, rejoining the ICW west of Kitty Hawk near Currituck Sound. At issue right now is a bridge on the west side of Roanoke Island in the deeper channel that is only 45' tall. Kristinly's mast with antennae is 54' - that would leave a mark! The taller bridge on the other side of the island is 66' tall, which would work, except there is a charted area that is only 4' deep, and high tide there will add only about 6". Kristinly draws 4'8", and C-Note is 5'6". Another problem ... Were are seeking local knowledge to find out if the channel to the east has been dredged recently by chance, as well as if the 45' bridge on the west is still there. A new 65' bridge is shown as being under construction recently and it could be that was to replace the shorter bridge. If not, we will most likely stay in the ditch (ICW) and trudge our way up to Norfolk. We would really like to go the other way as none of us has traveled that way before, and it would be fun to see something new.

That's about it. Time to get some breakfast going and then hopefully go do some exploring of the cape and its beaches.

Pics from Savannah to Cape Look Out, NC: Here are some pictures taken by Joe and Deb of C-Note during the sail from Savannah, GA to Cape Look Out, NC from Wednesday thru Friday ...