We finally bade goodbye to Beaufort on Thursday, May 21. After setting our Rocna for the first time at Town Creek Marina, getting it up proved quite a process! Having a large, solid, dependable anchor also has a flipside - it is not so easy to retrieve. We spent quite a while dislodging it, with me behind the wheel and Ferdi on the bow cleaning off the mud and sludge that was raked up onto the deck as it came up.

After we motored out of the Beaufort inlet, we initially encountered a fairly oily sea, which after a short while became quite lumpy - a taste of the 5-6 ft swells we were to encounter throughout most of the night. The swells rolled in from abeam, so Strider was rocked from side to side incessantly for most of the 48 hour trip to Charleston. (Note to Strider's crew - get some sponge lining for some of the cabinets - at times it sounded as if everything inside was being smashed to pieces, which fortunately on later inspection proved not to be the case). Ferdi and I both sat in the cockpit until around midnight, after which we switched to 3-hour watch periods.

So what does one do while on watch? The main object is of course to be on the lookout for other vessels. One also has to check the sail trim, the engine temperature (if motoring) and the chart plotter (to ensure we are still on course). In between, there is time to contemplate life, the universe and everything, gaze at the vast expanse of stars above, marvel at the many shooting stars, perhaps do some stretching exercises or yoga (thanks for the tip, Carol!) or just enjoy the solitude and being in and one with the universe. An indescribable experience. At the same time, there is the comfort of knowing your partner and captain is catching some shut-eye in the cabin below and can be summoned to deck quickly should the need arise, with a sharp rap or two on the coachroof above his head.

We motored for most of the first night, but toward the early hours of the morning, Ferdi unfurled the genoa to take advantage of the increasing north-westerly, and we were able to switch off our engine for a few hours.

Throughout Thursday night and the whole of Friday, we headed away from land to avoid the infamous Frying Pan shoals, a "peninsula" of shoals (sand banks) jutting out to about 35 miles from shore between Beaufort and Charleston. A map we had consulted earlier showed these shoals as being littered with shipwrecks - an ominous warning. By Saturday morning, we had rounded the tip of the shoals and could head back to a course south much closer to land. Our aim was to head all the way down to Fort Lauderdale (another 2-3 days of sailing), and the weather seemed to favour our intentions. However, when we got close enough to land to obtain a cell phone signal, I called home (to my mom in Pretoria) and received the terrible news that Oom Piet, my stepfather, had passed away. So we headed into Charleston and anchored at the City Marina. Two days later, I flew home to South Africa for two weeks while Ferdi remained in the USA with Strider.