Breeze On

At dawn yesterday morning we left Cape Lookout and headed for the Chesapeake Bay. There was some residual light N wind so we had to motor into the wind and chop until the wind shifted to the S. Even then the wind remained light enough to require motor sailing. We rounded Cape Hatteras just after sunset in relatively calm conditions. We eventually had enough wind to turn the engine off for a few hours of very pleasant sailing. The sea temperature was 55° so it follows that the cabin temperature was the same by this morning. The cockpit was slightly warmer and we were certainly glad to have the enclosure to keep out the cold wind. We entered the Chesapeake Bay in the early afternoon and continued on until we reached an anchorage on the Piankatank River, six hours from the mouth of the Chesapeake. We are looking forward to a good night’s rest under warm covers.  Sunset on Godfrey Bay on the Piankatank River.  Today’s passage dinner—mac & cheese with apple and red cabbage slaw...

We had another weather window yesterday to go further up the coast of NC and we took it. We left the dock in the dark over an hour before sunrise. It was a bit of a challenge since I hadn’t recorded a track going into the marina. I am not sure why, because I normally do record a track when going anywhere new. In any case, George used the spotlight to find the marina’s channel markers—which were not indicated on our chart plotter—and we made it out without hitting anything or going aground. Success! After 17 hours of motoring and sailing we pulled into the anchorage at Cape Lookout just before midnight. It is a large anchorage but there were already two boats here. We decided not to try to maneuver around them so we anchored just inside the entrance. It was relatively calm overnight and we slept well. This morning, though, the combination of N wind and the ebb tide made it very bouncy. We pulled up the anchor and went deeper into the anchorage where we are evaluating weather windows to ...

I have mentioned before that sailors tend to be superstitious and we are no exceptions. When I wrote my last blog post I considered whether it was wise to share our plans to leave Southport. Might I jinx our opportunity to leave?  Turns out I did. When we checked the weather early yesterday morning we saw that the forecast had changed and we would have NE then E wind in the mid-teens for most of the day. That meant we would have wind on the nose and would be bashing into waves all day long. Not a fun trip. We decided not to go. All is not lost, though. My friend April—who inspired me to knit when I saw the gorgeous sweater she was knitting last year—sent an email telling me that there is a yarn store in Southport. We walked there this morning and I found some beautiful yarn that I plan to use to make a new sweater.  Angelwing Needle Arts is a great store. I am new enough to knitting that I don’t automatically check for yarn stores wherever I go. Thanks to April, I found this....

During the past two days we have divided our time between boat chores, laundry—washing that long underwear!—walking through town, going out for dinner and coffees, and relaxation. We have enjoyed our first visit to Southport and have appreciated the wind protection we have in this marina. We are looking at weather windows to move further up the coast of NC, then eventually around Cape Hatteras and into the Chesapeake. We are considering leaving here mid-day tomorrow and heading toward Beaufort, motoring into light wind for the first few hours. We will make the final call tomorrow.  My mother loved camellias which were in full bloom in Southport. (This photo and the next.) After stopping at Southport Coffee Co. this morning we sat for a while by the water. It was too blustery to stay long.  This gnarled live oak tree, known as the Indian Trail Tree, is said to be 800 years old. 

The wind, current, wide catamaran in front of us, and trawler behind us made for a tense departure from the dock in Brunswick. We had to abort the first attempt after it became apparent we wouldn’t clear the catamaran. George, who was standing at the bow, estimated we came within a foot of hitting the catamaran. For the next attempt we took the advice of the owner of the trawler behind us and used a spring line to point the bow toward the dock and back out toward the trawler. It worked and we got away without hitting anything. After 41 hours of motoring 258 nautical miles, we pulled into the marina in Southport just after 8 am this morning. We slowed down for the final 8 hours in order to arrive at 8:00. When we made this reservation we told the marina we would be arriving early & were told that would not be a problem! George had been hailing the marina on the radio but hadn’t received a response. At that point we were already in the narrow channel of the ICW and had three sailboat...

This morning’s temperature of 46° gave us an opportunity to wear some of the socks I have been knitting this winter. Truth be told, we would rather it be warmer so we didn’t have to wear them, but we can’t have everything.  We had a lovely visit with my brother, Dave, yesterday. He took the long drive up from Ocala and we appreciated the effort he made to see us. He drove us over to beautiful St. Simon’s Island which we had never visited even though we had been to Brunswick many times. We had lunch then walked around the park at the pier before he took us to the grocery store and the West Marine.  We plan to leave here this afternoon and head for Southport, NC, arriving early Thursday morning. We considered staying here where it will be a few degrees warmer, but the weather windows are so few and far between these days we decided it was best to keep moving when we can.  We are happy with our socks that are keeping our feet nice and toasty. Don’t be impressed by the stripe...