We slipped our berth in Charleston at 14:20 yesterday (Friday), only to have the engine cut out on us when motoring down the channel in Charleston harbor. After sailing up to anchor (dutifully disconnected from the chain just hours ago to seal the hawse hole for the passage ..), inspecting the fuel system bit by bit and changing filters, Barry - a friendly mechanic - saved us at 4 pm on a Friday afternoon. He pin-pointed the problem to air in the fuel system, resulting from us disconnecting an old diesel heater (never used by us and hopefully not needed again where we're going) this morning. After thoroughly bleeding everything, the good old Kubota was up and running again and we made our second attempt to leave at 5:35 pm, just at sunset (unfortunately, we had the tide against us by now...). We got out of harbor, weaved through some container ships and now are motorsailing along, hoping to enter the Gulf Stream between 10 and 11 am today at 31-50N 78-20W. We're out of soundings at last! All is well aboard - stay tuned...


Pre-departure planning for Gulf Stream crossing