Sunday May 1st, 2011
We were up at around 6 and had coffee. The weather has been unstable for a few days so the 10 to 15 wind forecasts were a little iffy but the lifted index was high and rising ...which signaled a drying atmosphere with few squalls. There seemed to be no reason to alter our plan of heading out at around 8 .a.m.
Our course was north of west and our plan was to hit the Gulf Stream sometime around dark and then strike out to the north to Charleston. Once out of the shadow of Great Sail, we found east winds between 20 to 24k and began shortening sail. With a double reef in the main and our head sail rolled up we were still a little out of control so we rolled up about half of the staysail. We were on the banks all day so wave heights were minimal...mostly about three to four feet.
We made good time and as we left the banks the seas started to build... as expected. We turned to the north but the wind directly on our beam made things too crazy ... too much speed and a rolly ride. Altering to the northwest about 10 degrees put the wind behind us just enough to smooth things out ... a little. It was still impossible to stand up without hanging on to something, but it did allow us to gain control of things. Once in the Gulf Stream proper we averaged above 10 knots for 24 hours but didn't get much sleep. Kathy wedged herself in our berth sideways for a few hours before dawn but that was about the extent of the rest.
Just before we left the stream around sunset (somewhere about 80 miles off Georgia) the seas began to get fluky. We had a dying SE swell, a NE swell, and about a 4 foot wind chop on top of everything. Things would be reasonably calm for 20 minutes and then all hell would break loose for a while with swells crashing in to each other. Many of the swells were in the 10 ft.+ range with a period of about 3 to 5 seconds. Those of you who have been out there will appreciate our ride. We took a little water but really only got hit once which freaked me out for a few minutes.
Leaving the Stream with around 90 miles to go our wind started to fail.... When it got too low we rolled up the jib and motored the last 60 miles or so to Charleston, arriving at the break wall around 11am. It was another hour to make our way against the current into the City Marina to tie up. It was a good crossing, and it's always nice to be able to get this far north... but it was not a comfortable trip for about 24 hours.