SV Sereine

Cruising on a Whitby 42 based in Maine

Vessel Name: sereine
Vessel Make/Model: Whitby 42
Hailing Port: Georgetown. Maine
Crew: Marilyn, Charlie and Wil
About:
Wil has sailed the coast of Maine for more than 30 years, working up from a C&C 25, 34, and finally a Whitby 42. Single handed from Maine to Florida in 2018. Marilyn is the co-captain, nurse and gourmet chef. She joined me in Fort Lauderdale in January of 2019. [...]
30 April 2021
19 April 2021 | Gulfport, FL
02 April 2021 | Punta Gorda
21 March 2021 | Salty Sam's Marina San Carlos
11 March 2021 | Pelican Bay
26 February 2021 | Marco Island, FL USA
20 February 2021 | Man of War Harbor Key West, FL USA
06 February 2021
02 February 2021 | Lake Boca Raton
16 January 2021 | Lake Worth, Florida
06 January 2021 | Hutchinson Island Fort Pierce Florida
06 January 2021
30 December 2020 | Fort Pierce Fl
22 December 2020 | Fort Pierce, Florida
16 December 2020 | St Augustine, FL
10 December 2020 | Stono River
06 December 2020 | Butler Island, SC
14 November 2020
13 November 2020
12 November 2020 | Mile Hammock Bay
Recent Blog Posts
30 April 2021

The Last Episode

We contnued our stay at Gulfport and practiced being sailors and cruisers. A big part of cruising is meeting people. We met many, warm and genuine folk who deftly added brush strokes to our Gulf Coast canvas.

19 April 2021 | Gulfport, FL

Back to Basics

We found everything we wanted in Punta Gorda. Rented a car, and drove to Miami Airport to pick up Pippin, another rescue dog from Virgin Gorda, BVI. She and Charlie are like two peas in a pod.

02 April 2021 | Punta Gorda

The five yard line

We left Salty Sam's Marina early on March 22. We kept our speed under 5 knots, averaging less than 3.5 knots. This is our new normal. There was the usual traffic along the ICW, including the usual wake.

21 March 2021 | Salty Sam's Marina San Carlos

The downhill run

We left the southern end of Sanibel Island back tracking up San Carlos Bay, and running NE along a stretch of the ICW to the Caloosahatchee River, which delivers us to the Sanibel Causeway Bridge. This is how we made our way to Fort Myers Beach. The mooring reservation came through and we enjoyed two [...]

11 March 2021 | Pelican Bay

Cayo Costa

It was a calm and sunny morning on March 1 when we hauled anchors and said our goodbyes to Marco Island. The outgoing current was significant despite being within 2 hours of low. I set the throttle to the lowest possible, and we were traveling at 5.5 knots. Itw as good to get outside of the shoals [...]

26 February 2021 | Marco Island, FL USA

Pleasantly Surprised

Ships Log 210226

The Daze That Defines

11 October 2020
wil boisvert
10/04/2020 Gulf Stream - The day that defines

The night was slow with little wind, but enough to make some headway, but not much. This was quite the day. Since 2030h the previous day to 1951h today, we traveled 85 NM on a course of 213M. This is one of our best days yet!

An so the universe balances itself. In the next 9 hours we traveled 5.7NM at 192M. Can't take long to go 300 miles at this pace... But hey, a calm day can be a break. Ney, Ney, Ney! A northerly came up, what luck! We were now about to be educated on where we were, and why we should not be there.

I had been at the wheel for 8 hours because of the low winds, which the auto pilot couldn't handle well. Which became a non-issue, since the auto pilot chose that 8 hour period to not function at all. I welcomed the first breezes as an opportunity to make some way. But optimizzen is a footpath on which despair trods. As the wind increased, the following seas also increased. By the time the 10 knot winds became 15, then 20, the seas were 10-15 feet and steep. Sereine was behaving like a drunk Glen on a surfboard. Every wave was a hard over to avoid a breach as we sluggishly surfed the day away. Besides a continuous burying of the portholes, there was one time when a couple hundred gallons rushed into the cockpit from port. I had my feet wide apart as a sat and stood behind the wheel, continuously wiping salt water out of my eyes. This went on for 5 hours. There was a slight weakening of the wind and we used it to head more west, and more parallel to the waves. This went through the night and the next day until we covered 31 NM at 292M. We were hoping to get out of the gulf stream. We fell short, and the wind all but died. There were times when to set of the main and genoa would hold a course of less than a knot. We had no choice but to settle for this.

We did this for a couple of daze before we concluded that the Gulf Stream was overpowering our efforts and driving us north. We decided to bite the bullet and head due west, which in reality was NNW. It was a half day, and late in the night before we had evidence the GS was having little effect and the winds were picking up out of the west. We pointed the best we could and fought to head south, but not get off the shelf and into the GS. It was 0230h when we pushed past Cape Hatteras. By this time the wind had shift to our stern and we could either go wing-on-wing, or sail off by 60 degrees or more in the lighter winds. The following seas made for a rocky ride.

It took us another day to make Lookout Point. As we slowly closed the distance to our destination, the winds kept decreasing. We did come in and out of cell phone range, which allowed for some email checks and assuring folk that we, "were not dead yet". As we made the turn at the buoy outside of Lookout point, we were in less than 3 knots of wind, and it was again at our stern (after making a 90 degree turn).

The winds continued to under perform well into the night. By 2300h of my last day of BoatUS towing, I made the call. And a boat was sent out the 11 miles to take us in to Morehead City Yacht Basin. We arrived by 0200h, snapped a quick blurry picture on the dock, showered and I had a dram of McClellans. What a passage! Behind us in many ways, A different challoenge awaited us during our month in Morehead City, NC.
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Created 15 November 2020

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