A Week of Too Much Wind

We left you, dear reader, last at Ocracoke Island, famous for its beheading of Blackbeard. We ultimately staid longer than planned, as a strong low pressure system developed just off the N.C. coast bringing wind speeds as high as 40 knots over a two day period along of course with plenty of rain. We tested our series anchor system again, chaining a fortress to the crown of our delta and then laying out 200 feet of rode (chain + snubber). The anchorage was well protected from waves but the strong and shifting winds were no picnic, the anchoring system, however, held perfectly.

From Ocracoke we sailed on the tail end of the strong winds down to the Neuse river and from there on to Beaufort N.C.. Beaufort was a neat town, with a nice waterfront and easy access to the necessities of cruising (laundry, groceries, beer). A little expensive on moorage but we wanted dock access as we thought we had a nice window to head offshore to Charleston S.C.

We left about 18 hours after arriving Beaufort bound for the Atlantic and we thought would be a sleigh ride south in 15-20 knot winds from the north. What we got was anywhere between 10 - 30 knots, but most ofter 25, and out of the ENE, especially after rounding Cape Fear. The waves were 6 foot plus with a 2 foot swell, so when on our quarter gave us speeds up t0 10.6 knots in a surf down the front of them, but as we rounded Cape Fear they waves became much more confused and more directly on our stern. Along with the wind shift we were suddenly sailing dead down wind, rolling from gunwale to gunwale. Needless to say seasickness became the name of the game taking its largest toll on Jake. No one on the crew felt 100%. As we got close to Winyah bay, an alternative to Charleston harbour the winds were picking up towards 30 knots. The decision was close because we were sailing so fast we arrived at the Winyah channel at 5:20 am so would have to run it in the dark. The channel is a class A, meaning that it is all weather, deep draft commercial channel. The buoys were all lighted and the channel easy to run so ultimately a good decision to come in early and short of our destination. We then came up to Georgetown S.C., a great small town and waterfront, which is a good thing...

In Georgetown we discovered that our charger/inverter had quick working. After a few hours of poking around with a multimeter the answer, as it is with almost all marine electronics now, is to ship it to the manufacturer. Debating this for a few hours we elected to do it immediately, thus we are now stuck in Georgetown until the unit is returned to us, which we hope is only 3-5 days.

Jake's 5th birthday is on Monday the 27th and of course we have Halloween, so plenty to keep us busy while we wait. One last note, we are staying at the Boat Shed Marina, which has been great with us, so if you cruise this way yourself do not hesitate to give them your business.