Breeze On

George and I often follow the philosophy, “a bird in hand is better than two in the wood,” to make our sailing decisions. We used it again this week when we decided to leave Beaufort, NC and sail home. Our choices were to either leave Sunday afternoon or wait and leave Tuesday morning. I would much rather leave in the morning and have just one night of sailing but the departure Sunday afternoon was our “bird in hand,” so we took it. We left Beaufort Sunday at 4 pm and by the time we rounded Cape Lookout a few hours later we saw our friends on Desiderata II approaching Cape Lookout as well. We stayed within sight of each other until we reached the Chesapeake Bay and, surprisingly, were the only sailboats we saw using that weather window for the passage. It was a good passage with the usual combination of sailing, motoring, and motor-sailing. Our decision to leave Sunday afternoon paid off because—if we had left on Tuesday—the conditions at Cape Hatteras would not have been good.  ...

We are preparing to leave Beaufort in a few hours and sail toward the Chesapeake Bay. Our plan is to time the departure from Beaufort when the wind gusts die down and arrive at Cape Hatteras before the wind picks up again. We generally prefer to leave in the morning and make the most of daylight hours but that won’t work with the current wind forecast. We expect it to take us about 35 hours to reach the Chesapeake Bay. From there we will either press on another 20 hours to home or sail partway, anchor somewhere, then finish the trip on Wednesday. Our decision will depend on how tired we feel. It was 43° outside when we got up this morning and 58° inside the boat. Today is the first day we have felt cold and used our Little Buddy propane heater since we left home last fall. Not too bad. 

The replacement topping lift attachment assembly arrived and is installed. It is bigger that the one it is replacing so George had to make a few adjustments to get it to fit. In the meantime, we are enjoying our time in Beaufort. We went out for pizza a few days ago, ice cream yesterday, and plan to go out for another meal today. Yesterday we borrowed one of the loaner cars and ran a few errands. The newer car wasn’t available so we borrowed the older one. We couldn’t get the passenger door to open so I sat in the backseat like Miss Daisy from the movie, Driving Miss Daisy.  I previously mentioned how disappointed we were in the Bald Head Island Marina. Homer Smith Docks and Marina is at the other end of the spectrum. They are constantly making improvements in their infrastructure. They appear to be close to finishing a new clubhouse which will contain three restrooms with showers and three washers and dryers. The docks are all in excellent condition. It is such a nice place. ...

Our trip from Bald Head Island to Beaufort went well. We traveled 100 miles in 18 hours. Our biggest concern when we left Bald Head Island was the sea state, especially after our experience in the Gulf Stream last week. It turned out that the sea state was just fine but lighter than expected winds caused us to motor over half the trip. We pulled into Homer Smith Docks and Marina in Beaufort yesterday morning and are happy to be back at this nice marina again. We will be here about a week waiting for our next weather window that will enable us to get around Cape Hatteras and into the Chesapeake Bay. We had considered waiting the week for our weather window at Bald Head Island Marina but we were quite disappointed in the marina. The women’s restroom hadn’t been cleaned and, in the shower, had a broken window that wouldn’t close. The WiFi was so weak that is was useless. George walked all over the property in the morning trying to get a signal strong enough to get our weather forecast but...

We woke up Saturday morning to chilly temps both inside and outside the boat. We decided to go out for breakfast and hot coffee. We ended up at Aunny’s, a local restaurant serving southern food on paper plates. The selection was limited but the food was good. After breakfast we went for a walk around town, admiring more of the stately homes and large, old live oak trees. At noon we left the marina and motored down Winyah Bay with the tide. We chose an anchorage close to the mouth of the bay. The anchorage was tucked behind a long island and had access from either the west or the east. We chose to access it from the east even though it took us longer. We intended to leave in the morning well before sunrise and wanted to lay down a track we would be able to follow when we left in the dark the next morning. It was a good thing we had that track to follow. Not only was it dark when we left at 5:00 am but it was also quite foggy. George turned the radar on so we could “see” boats, buoys, or...

We have enjoyed our stay in Georgetown and decided it was well worth the trip. Yesterday morning we walked on the Harborwalk and then through the shopping district on Front Street. We returned to the boat just before it started to rain. We appreciated the periods of heavy rain which washed the salt off of the boat. This morning we took another walk on the Harborwalk and visited the Rice Museum. Georgetown County was the first area in the US to grow rice with a topography that was ideal for it, as long as gates were used to keep fresh water in and salt water out. There were several plantations in the county between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. At one point the county was the richest in the country, thanks to slave labor. Growing rice was labor intensive and plantations would have around 1000 slaves each. After the Emancipation Proclamation the loss of slaves sent the rice plantations into decline. Georgetown, the city, thrived due to commerce and still seems to be doing quite well....