Heading out to sea at the Winyah Bay Inlet at Georgetown, SC on a very cold, clear day. This was the coldest day yet this trip with morning temperature about 26 degrees. The sun is starting to heat our enclosed cockpit area and it is about 42 inside. Not looking forward to this evening when the sun sets - but at least the ocean temperature will be about 50.
Its about a 36hr trip to St Mary's Inlet on the Florida/Georgia border. This ocean leg lets us cut 330 miles off the ICW trip which winds it way through the SC and GA marshlands and saves about 6 days of transit time.
The good news was we timed the outgoing current well and rode a 2kt push all the way down the Waccamaw River. The bad news was we arrived at the inlet too soon and had wind against the current raising 3-4ft waves on the nose. Not as bad as a previous trip but still had a few instances of green water coming over the bow.
As we got out to sea the winds were 15kts from astern but the waves were flowing against the outgoing tidal current and the 4-5ft waves had very steep faces. It was a rough ride for a few hours, but we did get some sailing in.
After a few hours, and a change in the tidal current direction, things settled down and the sun heated our cockpit up to a comfortable 50+ degrees. However, as the wind diminished and clocked further astern, we had to restart the engine and motor to keep our speed up and arrival time before dark tomorrow.
With the winds astern it was still a rolly ride, not very comfortable, but we were still heading on course towards the sun and warmer weather.
A very pretty sunset, "red sky at night, sailor's delight", and we did have good weather all the next day as predicted. Actually, I was watching the weather and wind forecasts carefully before departure and had picked this 2 day weather window as the best time to transit offshore to Florida. By the 23rd the wind comes around to the south and not conducive to sailing southward.
Sailing (motoring) downwind has been very rolly and we are not feeling all that great, but no contributions to Neptune over the side so far.
With no sun and no heat its the coldest night we have spent at sea ever, temperature in the low 30s.
How tight can a Lab curl herself up to stay warm? We did bring her blanket up so she could avoid the cold fiberglass. She has 2 beds down below but she wants to be wherever we are so its the cockpit for the night. Sue and I were huddled up on the other settee opposite Rivah under multiple blankets and layers of clothing.
The autopilot steers the boat as we huddle under the blankets. The main issue is cold feet as all the cold air settles to the bottom of the cockpit where your feet are.
We had to maneuver to avoid a merchant ship heading into Charleston but that was the only close encounter while offshore. We saw a couple ships coming and going from Savannah but none came close by.
We got to use our new red LED lighting below for our transit. It was very useful to be able to see clearly below but keep your night vision in the cockpit. The light bulbs alternate between white and red each time you turn them on, so they serve dual use. Nice new technology.
After a long, cold and rolly night the sun was out again and warming up the cockpit. We were able to take off several layers and return to one long sleeved jersey in the 60 degree cockpit. We could also fold up the 4 blankets and store them away for the next trip south next year. No need for those (we would hope) in the Bahamas.
By the end of the day, the outside temperature was nearing 60 degrees as well. We have finally made it to the land of the warm. I'm sure Florida residents think 60 is pretty cold but we thought it was great.
We still have all day to motor to reach St Mary's and the waves are still uncomfortably rolling us side to side but we will be in before dark if all goes well.
Anchored off Fernandina, Fl. We got in at 1800, just before dark and anchored right away off the paper mill. It was great to jump into bed with the temperature a balmy 55 degrees. We got a good 12hours of sleep after the 36hr passage.
Today its warm and rainy (versus clear and cold) and a good day to just rest on the boat and get caught up on the blog and restoring gear and items thrown around down below with all the rocking and rolling. Overall, a successful passage with no untoward incidents. The best kind.
We'll tour Fernandina tomorrow then continue our trek southward. Next stop is St Augustine. And we're finally in the 60-70 degree weather for the next 10 days of forecasts.
