Watching the weather closely it looked like we had a 4 day window to travel north. If we could take advantage of the Gulf Stream all the way, that would get us all the way to the Chesapeake in just over 3 days and we could arrive home by Saturday morning and see Christopher and Jackson who were in Hampton for a Technology competition and staying at our house Sat night. But that was "best case" and not something to plan on. When traveling north up the Atlantic coast, it is always best to plan on stopping at Beaufort and only continuing around Hatteras, an extremely dangerous cape, under the best favorable weather conditions. We were up early Tues morning and through the Bridge of Lions by 0700, heading for the open ocean.
The Castle of San Marcos at St Augustine quickly passed by.
The winds were light and sea conditions mild, with just enough wind angle to motorsail towards the Gulf Stream, providing enjoyable conditions for the crew. It was not to last...
We would be traveling for 2-3 days up the Gulf Stream so it was time to set up the fishing gear and see what we could catch for dinner. We use hand reels with 200lb test line, line thick enough that you can pull it in by hand - not so we can catch 200lb fish. We use a blue lure to simulate a flying fish and a yellow/green lure that simulates a squid. We tie the line to a bungee which provides both a cushion for when the fish hits the lure and a telltail indicator for when you have a fish hooked.
We motorsailed all day to the northeast heading towards the Gulf Stream, which we would reach about midnight. At 1930, less than an hour before sunset, and prime fishing time when the big fish start to feed, we had a fish on the line. Turned out to be a small mahi-mahi, but big enough for a good size meal for two. Actually, these smaller fish are better tasting than the larger ones. This one was bleeding already from the hook as we hoisted him aboard and he made a mess of the boat, but we soon had him under control. We also use alcohol (gin or vodka) to squirt in their gills and stop the thrashing. This one was small enough I could hold down. That doesn't work with the 3-5ft long ones.
As predicted, we picked up the west wall of the Gulf Stream about midnight and were soon zooming to the north at 10kts, riding a 3+kt current. Unfortunately, the wind and seas also picked up as we entered the Gulf Stream. We had 3-4ft waves riding on top of a 3-4ft swell striking us broadside. That meant anywhere from 3-8ft waves we were bashing through sailing at 6-7kts in the 16-18kt winds. We were making great time and the forecast was for the conditions to ease off over the next couple days. Meanwhile we were in classic Gulf Stream sailing conditions with confused seas, a very rough ride and not at lot of fun, other than going fast.
Morning arrived 6 hrs later and the crew was not having a good time. Sue was staying close to the rail and made several contributions to King Neptune. Rivah was not throwing up but clearly not feeling well. The forecast was for the wind to ease off but instead it was increasing. We knew we could not go another 24-48 hrs in these conditions. This was not a race we were in, it was supposed to be "fun." We decided we could pass on seeing Chris and Jackson, since we hadn't planned originally to see them anyways. We exited the Gulf Stream heading for Georgetown, SC.
Amazingly, within an hour of turning to the west, we were out of the Gulf Stream, the waves dropped to the normal 2-3 ft and the wind dropped to 10-12 kts as forecasted. In hindsight, we could have just continued to the north alongside but out of the stream and on towards Beaufort but, we had already decided to go to Georgetown and up the Waccamaw River which is the prettiest section of the ICW. We motored all day towards Georgetown as the wind dropped to 5 kts and seas flattened and arrived at the inlet at 2000. We motored up the channel and finally decided to pull over and stop around 2200 in a pocket to the west of the channel. The wind was now down to near zero and we had a quiet night at anchor in the Waccamaw River mouth.
The next morning, we rethought our situation and realized that heading offshore we could get to Beaufort in 30 hrs, before dark the next day, and save ourselves 3 days of motoring up the ICW and several very shallow spots and numerous bridges. We raised the anchor and headed back out to sea. Along the way out the river you go pass the Winyah Bay lighthouse and, a whole lot of shrimp boats.
Winds were still very light (as forecasted) so we motorsailed up the coast and around Frying Pan Shoals at midnight and on to Beaufort.
Once we could make the turn to the northwest around the shoals we were finally able to sail in the southeasterly breeze and by 1400 the Beaufort inlet was in sight. Along the way, we were visited by the USS Eisenhower, CVN 69, that was conducting sea trials off the NC coast. It was amazing how fast the carrier could come over the horizon into clear view then quickly disappear back over the horizon. She must have been doing high speed maneuvering trials as we saw her appear and disappear about 3 times.
Murphy's Law again met us as we entered Beaufort Inlet at max outgoing current. Like Fort Pierce, Beaufort is a wide and well marked 30 ft channel, so there is no danger entering as long as your motor works properly. Otherwise there are strong currents and shoals on either side of the channel that are quite dangerous for sailboats that can't go in the right direction safely. As usual, the inlets are a busy place with sport fishing boats coming in and out adding to the challenge.
Safely back in the ICW we had several hours of daylight left to keep heading north. We had several boats in company all heading north after wintering in Florida or the Bahamas. There are always interesting sights on the ICW which this time included a canal motorsailor from the Netherlands working its way north and further on, the first time we have ever seen a sailboat towing a jetski alongside. That's a real bipolar sailor!
The Castle of San Marcos at St Augustine quickly passed by.
The winds were light and sea conditions mild, with just enough wind angle to motorsail towards the Gulf Stream, providing enjoyable conditions for the crew. It was not to last...
We would be traveling for 2-3 days up the Gulf Stream so it was time to set up the fishing gear and see what we could catch for dinner. We use hand reels with 200lb test line, line thick enough that you can pull it in by hand - not so we can catch 200lb fish. We use a blue lure to simulate a flying fish and a yellow/green lure that simulates a squid. We tie the line to a bungee which provides both a cushion for when the fish hits the lure and a telltail indicator for when you have a fish hooked.
We motorsailed all day to the northeast heading towards the Gulf Stream, which we would reach about midnight. At 1930, less than an hour before sunset, and prime fishing time when the big fish start to feed, we had a fish on the line. Turned out to be a small mahi-mahi, but big enough for a good size meal for two. Actually, these smaller fish are better tasting than the larger ones. This one was bleeding already from the hook as we hoisted him aboard and he made a mess of the boat, but we soon had him under control. We also use alcohol (gin or vodka) to squirt in their gills and stop the thrashing. This one was small enough I could hold down. That doesn't work with the 3-5ft long ones.
As predicted, we picked up the west wall of the Gulf Stream about midnight and were soon zooming to the north at 10kts, riding a 3+kt current. Unfortunately, the wind and seas also picked up as we entered the Gulf Stream. We had 3-4ft waves riding on top of a 3-4ft swell striking us broadside. That meant anywhere from 3-8ft waves we were bashing through sailing at 6-7kts in the 16-18kt winds. We were making great time and the forecast was for the conditions to ease off over the next couple days. Meanwhile we were in classic Gulf Stream sailing conditions with confused seas, a very rough ride and not at lot of fun, other than going fast.
Morning arrived 6 hrs later and the crew was not having a good time. Sue was staying close to the rail and made several contributions to King Neptune. Rivah was not throwing up but clearly not feeling well. The forecast was for the wind to ease off but instead it was increasing. We knew we could not go another 24-48 hrs in these conditions. This was not a race we were in, it was supposed to be "fun." We decided we could pass on seeing Chris and Jackson, since we hadn't planned originally to see them anyways. We exited the Gulf Stream heading for Georgetown, SC.
Amazingly, within an hour of turning to the west, we were out of the Gulf Stream, the waves dropped to the normal 2-3 ft and the wind dropped to 10-12 kts as forecasted. In hindsight, we could have just continued to the north alongside but out of the stream and on towards Beaufort but, we had already decided to go to Georgetown and up the Waccamaw River which is the prettiest section of the ICW. We motored all day towards Georgetown as the wind dropped to 5 kts and seas flattened and arrived at the inlet at 2000. We motored up the channel and finally decided to pull over and stop around 2200 in a pocket to the west of the channel. The wind was now down to near zero and we had a quiet night at anchor in the Waccamaw River mouth.
The next morning, we rethought our situation and realized that heading offshore we could get to Beaufort in 30 hrs, before dark the next day, and save ourselves 3 days of motoring up the ICW and several very shallow spots and numerous bridges. We raised the anchor and headed back out to sea. Along the way out the river you go pass the Winyah Bay lighthouse and, a whole lot of shrimp boats.
Winds were still very light (as forecasted) so we motorsailed up the coast and around Frying Pan Shoals at midnight and on to Beaufort.
Once we could make the turn to the northwest around the shoals we were finally able to sail in the southeasterly breeze and by 1400 the Beaufort inlet was in sight. Along the way, we were visited by the USS Eisenhower, CVN 69, that was conducting sea trials off the NC coast. It was amazing how fast the carrier could come over the horizon into clear view then quickly disappear back over the horizon. She must have been doing high speed maneuvering trials as we saw her appear and disappear about 3 times.
Murphy's Law again met us as we entered Beaufort Inlet at max outgoing current. Like Fort Pierce, Beaufort is a wide and well marked 30 ft channel, so there is no danger entering as long as your motor works properly. Otherwise there are strong currents and shoals on either side of the channel that are quite dangerous for sailboats that can't go in the right direction safely. As usual, the inlets are a busy place with sport fishing boats coming in and out adding to the challenge.Safely back in the ICW we had several hours of daylight left to keep heading north. We had several boats in company all heading north after wintering in Florida or the Bahamas. There are always interesting sights on the ICW which this time included a canal motorsailor from the Netherlands working its way north and further on, the first time we have ever seen a sailboat towing a jetski alongside. That's a real bipolar sailor!
At the end of a long set of days it was time to anchor and sit back and enjoy the sunset. In 3 days of near continuous motorsailing, we had cut 8 days out of the normal ICW trek from St Augustine and had just 2 more days to go until arriving home.
