Left Charleston City Boat Yard on the 28th – motored 2 hours up Wando River to the Charleston Maritime Marina to meet our electrician to calibrate our electronics. After docking and waiting for slack tide to take the boat back out after picking up the electrician, we were grounded – at the dock – geesh! Fortunately the electrician was able to calibrate the instruments right at the dock.
We left the next morning and motored towards the ICW while making sure our electronics were in working order and they were. While motoring we were listening to the weather reports and decided to not take the ICW and head out to sea and head towards Jacksonville. What a mistake that was! Even though the seas were 1 – 3 feet and winds were about 15 knots gusting to maybe 18, the waves were quartering waves which for those who don’t know what that means, it means IT’S HELL!!!! The waves hit the back quarter of the boat and ROCKED THE HECK OUT OF IT ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT AND ALL THE NEXT DAY – felt like we were in a washing machine. Before we had even decided to head out to sea, I had gotten a miserable headache – I’m pretty sure it was from the cold. We felt like we were up north. We were wearing knit hats and layered to the hilt and I still couldn’t get warm.
Then our main sheet block and tackle broke during a jibe – Brian was just getting ready to pull in the main sheet when it just jerked and snapped – he thought at first he broke his arm – the pain was pretty intense. He put on his lifeline and went on deck to pull down the main sail – took about a half hour to get it down then it took us a while to secure the block and tackle that was broken – we had the parts to make a 4-part block and tackle, but it needs to be a 6-part. Then when we tried to start up the engine, that wouldn’t kick in – REALLY??? The rocking and rolling was getting worse. Brian was laying on the floor of the cabin half hanging in the bilge to try and bleed the engine while I stood at the panel and would try to get it to kick over – no such luck!!! Needless to say, while I was up top and looking down at Brian waiting for instructions, I started to feel queasy which with the headache that had by this time turned into a migraine and the rocking and rolling – that was it for me. We sailed with just the Genoa for almost 30 hours.
We decided that because I was so sick and with the pitching that the boat was doing, to head into Brunswick, GA. We called Sea Tow to schedule a tow in and were able to make it to the channel – by then the winds had died down to 10 to 12 knots and without the mail sail we could not sail into the channel. Sea Tow came out in the nick of time, as were starting to drift out of the channel. Trevor the captain could not have been any more pleasant – he towed us in at 8.5 knots – it was the first good rest I’d had since I had gotten sick – just the feeling of calm seas and knowing we were going to be ok.
Trevor took his time to make sure were all set up and chatted with Brian for quite a while and then gave us the name of Wayne Horn, a diesel mechanic. We pulled into our slip about 10pm, washed up in the cockpit and fixed an easy pasta dish just to get something into our stomachs. Other than my breakfast of oatmeal, the only thing I had to eat since we left Charleston was a few crackers, water and a few sips of Gatorade and none of that stayed down. Next morning, I was feeling much better – still had the migraine but the sea sickness was pretty much gone, except my stomach still felt like it was in a knot. Prepared a bacon and egg breakfast and toasted some of the homemade bread I had made a couple of days prior and then spent the morning doing laundry. Brian took a walk to West Marine to look for parts and came back and took a nap – think the last couple of days finally caught up with him.

The weather is finally warm and we are enjoying it. Depending on what happens tomorrow morning with the diesel mechanic, we may be able to leave by Tuesday and this time we may try the ICW. Our destination will most likely be Jacksonville or St. Augustine, FL. We’ve been walking around Brunswick – quaint old town – businesses (all) are closed on the weekends, even the eateries and there’s a lot of places that have gone out of business. It’s a shame because it is such a historic town. Hope you enjoy these photos.