Home Again

When I read this blog to Lynn he commented that it sounds like it was a tough crossing and everything went wrong, but it really was a good trip with only a few outstanding events. It's just that the calm times are not particularly good fodder for storytelling and make for boring reading. Keep in mind as you read this that most of the trip was quite easy and if I seem focused on the more challenging aspects, it is simply for the dramatic effect...so, here we go...

Yes, we arrived safely after about 53 hours crossing the Gulf Stream. Most of the trip was, quite literally, a breeze with less than 10 knots of wind and relatively calm seas. This may not be desirable conditions for die hard sailors I suppose, but we prefer calm water and it was perfect for us. Around midnight on the second night the wind picked up to about 25 knots and so did the waves. The wave height wasn't too bad (4-6 feet), but the direction was hitting us from the side, which causes some pretty drastic pitching and rolling. We angled a bit further north and hoisted the Genoa to increase our speed and to steady the boat a little. We stayed in the Gulf Stream a little too long (because we were greedily enjoying the good speed resulting from the help of the 3 knot current) which meant we had to cut across about 80 miles with the waves on the beam in order to get to the inlet. In our defense we had been hedging our bets hoping to make landfall further north at Beaufort SC, but decided that between the waves beating us up, and the fact that we would probably get there after dark, it would be more prudent to stop a little short at St Mary's inlet on the border of Florida and Georgia.

Our slow, 5-6 knot progress westward on the tailend of the journey felt like the longest 12 hours of our lives (how soon I forget the last longest 12 hours.) The trip was never dangerous, but somewhat uncomfortable, and resulted in only one fairly minor injury (other than a few bruises here and there). When the wind picked up to over 25 knots, Lynn decided we had too much sail out, so we started to reef it in. As Lynn was pulling in the line we were knocked sideways by a rather large wave, which caused him to topple over. He put out his hand to catch his fall and jammed his middle finger back against the winch. He said he thought it was broken for a moment but, thank goodness, it was not. He just had a larger, swollen and bruised finger for a few days afterward. It's a good thing he has strong hands.

This time I had done a better job of stowing our stuff. The only mishap was forgetting to tie the pantry doors shut and discovering food all over the cabin floor, luckily all dry stuff. Lynn and I have not quite mastered the shifts watching the helm and both opt to sleep in the cockpit. We tried a 2-hour shift rotation, but that just means you get a few catnaps through the night. It is OK on the first night but becomes sleep deprived hell by the second night. We have decided that longer than one overnight passages are not for us unless we have more crew.

As I said earlier, it was an uneventful crossing (just the way I like it) with some long hours to get through, although it is quite cool to be out there during the day when you can see nothing but indigo water all around you. We were also lucky to have a half moon illuminating the sky which makes a huge difference in the dark night. One brief break in the tedium was when a bird hopped on board as a hitchhiker. He was a little black and yellow guy and roamed about the cockpit in search of food or maybe to just rest a bit and say hello. He did gobble up a fly. It seemed amazing that such a tiny bird would be so far off shore. Stangely Kathi and John had a bird join them for a while too...maybe the same freeloader?

While we finally approached and entered the inlet we were both finding it very hard to keep our eyes open. I thought it would be ironic to run aground after so many hours off shore. But we managed to navigate our way in without incident, that is until we anchored. I was DONE and all I wanted was to fall into bed, but the windlass (the automated motor that lowers and raises the anchor) jammed and we were not able to use it. As we hovered around the anchorage Lynn was unable to make it work. He resorted to manual deployment. Keep in mind that we have a 90-pound anchor and all-chain rhode. He dropped it OK, but as luck would have it, the anchor did not hold. He then tried to pull it up but was being overpowered. At that point, our friend John from our buddy boat Makani lowered his dingy and came over to help...this being no small favor as he was equally exhausted. Probably due to mental fatigue, it had not occurred to us to use the winch and so, at John's suggetion, Lynn rigged a rope to the winch and they were able to get the anchor up again. They then redeployed and it stuck...thank God! We have often debated the pros and cons of a buddy boat, but this time we are definitely glad we had a buddy to help.

After that we settled down a bit, I got the boat organized and some dinner together while Lynn investigated the windlass problem. After about half an hour I went to call him to eat when I discovered he had crawled into the chain locker where the windlass is mounted and was lying there gazing at the motor with a lit flashlight in his hand. I jokingly said "Have you fallen asleep in there?" when I heard the unmistakable snores of his deep slumber...he had indeed fallen asleep in the chain locker on top of 300 feet of chain! Well, after that we finally climbed into bed around 8 PM and didn't get up until 13 hours later. We did discover in our clean up that SPOT had stopped transmitting somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic...we don't know why, maybe it was a result of all the tossing and turning. But, I know a few who were following were concerned for a while because it looked like we had been swalloed up in the Bermuda Triangle, but all is well!

We then had to make our way to Beaufort and once again waited for the wind to die down so we could jump off shore for another 24-hour passage. It's a toss up whether another overnight at sea is better or worse than the shallow, winding stretch of the ICW in Georgia. While waiting we prepared the boat and Lynn did some troubleshooting on the windlass. I am pleased to report that he found the blown fuse and, once replaced, all is functioning properly. We left on Wednesday night and arrived in Beaufort on Thursday afternoon. This time the ocean hop was PERFECT in my books (even though there was not much wind to sail.) We had a full moon to light our way and only gently rolling waves. I even watched a few movies on our portable DVD player to pass the time during my watch.

Although we are no longer in the Bahamas and that is a bummer, we are home and that is wonderful. We have continued to enjoy our surroundings, including exploring the nature trails and beaches on Cumberland Island. The Live Oaks are spectacular and the wild horses are beautiful. The water is no longer turquoise but a dull brown, but that's OK...we are still on it! As Kathi commented, it is tough to be home when we have to spend the day picnicing and roaming the beach! We had a fabulous time in Beaufort with Gini and David and once again enjoyed their warm hospitality. We are now touring Charleston for a few days. We have continued to have fun with Makani eating great meals and playing killer euchre matches. But, I'll save the full descriptions of our exploits along the ICW for my next blog. Right now Lynn is cooking eggs and biscuits for breakfast and my stomach is calling me!