Reading on Relaxing Passage
25 April 2011 | Whiteside Creek Near Charleston
Nancy
Picked up anchor at Cumberland Island, GA at 7:30 am. Going on the outside to do an overnight to Charleston. If the waves are a big issue, we'll cut it short and go into Brunswick. If not, Charleston here we come.
We went ashore yesterday and walked on Cumberland Island; a very beautiful place. We had more problems with our outboard engine, but Ed changed hose clips and tightened down the intake. Seems to be OK; certainly sounds better. We certainly can't have our "car" break down!
So far, the St. Mary's inlet is fine. A few swells, but no 15 foot breaking waves over the bow like the St. Augustine inlet. Thank you very much.
8:45 am: Main and jib up with engine. Swells not too bad; sails help to steady the boat. Wind and waves may increase this afternoon. Two sailboats ahead of us going in the same direction; "Dream Weaver" and ?
10:30 am: All sails up and engine off. Light SE winds; SOG around 4 knots. We have seen many dolphins and a loggerhead turtle so far this trip.
12:15 pm: Stay sail down and engine on. While sailing, the current was taking us way off course, so we need engine power. Maybe sailing later. Crossed the entrance to Brunswick inlet channel at 12:45 pm.
3:00 pm: SE wind and all three sails working nicely. 3-4 foot easterly swells. Troubadour doing great without the engine.
We were able to sail all night long in 15+ SE winds. The wind did die around 4:30 am, so we turned engine back on. Not much sleep for crew, but we always expect that. Huge line of stormy looking clouds greeted us at sunrise, so we took down the main sail. That probably was a bit premature; the storms were at least 24 miles away according to radar.
We motored with the jib sail the rest of the way. There wasn't a crazy amount of boat traffice during the night. Ed had the toughest watch around the Savannah River entrance as far as other boats were concerned.
Entered the Charleston inlet channel at 9:15 am Tuesday. The current was against us and the waves behind. I guess we got to the inlet earlier than expected before the current reversed. Oh well. Big and wide inlet channel with lots of wiggle room. Rainbow over Charleston - nice touch.
Enter the good ole ICW at 10:00 am heading toward our anchorage. The sky behind us was extremely dark and foreboding. Anchored at mid-tide in Whiteside Creek north of Charleston at 12:15 pm. There were numerous thunderstorms all around us with heavy rain. We had lunch and seriously crashed.