Breaking Free of Winter, or Not

Caption for main photo: Spoiler alert! Tom models our sailing attire this autumn wearing many layers including down vests, long pants, and wool hats. Baby it’s cold, even in Georgetown, South Carolina where this picture was taken.

We began our journey of sailing south for the fifth time, by sailing to Block Island, Rhode Island on a late September afternoon. Wind and current were with us. It was a beautiful short sail of less than four hours. We thought this would be a quick overnight stop before heading out to sea and straight for Hampton, Virginia.

The forecast in the morning, was a shock, and turned out to be true! We were stuck for a full week in beautiful Block Island, with no hope of even getting ashore. Temperatures were cold, mostly 40’s and low 50’s. It rained a lot, inches! The skies were completely overcast and it was very windy with frequent 50 knot gusts. Even if we wanted to, we could not assemble our dinghy on deck in these conditions. The good news was we did not have big waves in the harbor as we were hugging the windward shore, close to “dinghy beach” where there is a wooden walkway across the marsh grass.

We stayed busy with small projects and chores. We ran the diesel cabin heater in the mornings to take the chill out of the cabin while constantly checking the weather for a break! We finally took Chris Parker’s advice and left on an overnight reach down Long Island Sound towards NYC. The predicted west winds would not have allowed us to go offshore from Block Island for another week. These same winds would work very well from NYC.

Our 106 mile overnight sail to Port Washington was completely overcast and really cold. We were thankful for our pilot house which allows us to stay out of the wind and rain. We arrived as Pegu Club was leaving to go through NYC. We stayed on a mooring for one night and used the included water taxi to walk around a bit and shop for fresh produce. Sticker shock! We didn’t buy much. The next morning we left with the current to get flushed through New York City.

It’s been 36 years since we sailed through New York City. It was not as scary as our memories. We remember many tugs and barges which needed plenty of space to maneuver in the narrow twisting rivers with 4-6 knot currents. This time we mostly saw ferry traffic. There were many fast moving small catamaran passenger ferries and of course the enormous Staten Island car ferry once we were through the city. I would go this way again.

The west winds were perfect for this passage! We could stay close to shore with good wind and no waves.

We arrived in Hampton Virginia after two nights (295 miles) at sea. Still no relief from cloudy and cold weather as another reinforcing cold front was approaching.

We don’t often splurge for a dock, but it was fun for a change and made our visit with my sister Janet and her husband Dale more enjoyable. Since they had a car we spent a day exploring the colonial parks at nearby York Town and Jamestown. Great history lessons! We really enjoyed their visit. It flew by too fast.

Soon we were sailing south again for Beaufort, NC. We had light winds on this 228 mile, two night passage around Cape Hatteras. We ended up motor-sailing about half the time. The benefit to motoring was enjoying a hot water shower in fairly calm seas, right before an off-watch sleep! That’s a four hour snooze on Lone Star. The hot shower is a sailors dream come true.

When the full moon low tide arrived the rudder touched the soft mud. We moved Lone Star out a bit further after that.

After three weeks, we finally had a weather window to continue south offshore, along the east coast of America. We decided to explore the western Caribbean this year, in particular the small islands offshore of Mexico and Honduras. We will be sailing off and on with our buddy boats, UJAM’n and Wild Iris. They were both still freezing up in Deltaville, Virginia. They were planning to leave there on this same weather window and plan to catch up with us soon.

The 186 mile overnight sail from Beaufort, NC to Georgetown, SC was a bit challenging. The inlet to leave Beaufort was rough and very bouncy for about a half hour, until we reached deeper water. When we turned south the elevator ride began in earnest. The seas were 4-7 feet. Although Lone Star is a trimaran and doesn’t roll like a monohull, we sure do ride the waves and surf. The inlet into Winyah Bay, SC was terrifying! We had wind, current, and six foot seas behind us. The inlet is fairly narrow with broken underwater sea walls along the edges of the channel that are a hazard rather than a help. The power of the seas locked the rudder and sometimes tried to turn the boat. Time seemed to stop as we hung on a wave. We found ourselves often looking at the sky through a salt covered windshield for 6-9 seconds, when we really wanted to see the navigational buoy that was right in front of us. After another mile and a few turns inside the inlet the waves and froth finally calmed down. Whew, glad that’s behind us! Sorry no pictures… too busy hand steering.

We enjoyed lunch out at a local restaurant with Jeff and Kimberly on Pegu Club. It is always fun to catch up with each other. We never fail to learn from each other’s experiences. This time we were picking their brains on where to go down the coast as this is our first time seeking shelter south of Beaufort, North Carolina. Thanks friends, we know you’ll enjoy the Bahamas this winter.

Our next passage was two nights and 214 miles to St. Mary’s Inlet on the Florida/Georgia border. This leg was much more sedate. We elected to head north, once through the inlet. We had heard great reviews about the trails and history at the National Seashore on Cumberland Island, GA. Four other cruising boats we know went south to anchor at the small town of Fernandina Beach, FL. The next day, Wild Iris joined us. What a fabulous place! We stayed here for a week and enjoyed many long walks around the park.

Beach walking on the eastern side of the island was a must. Many trails led across to the beach. It was really fun to have Steadfast join us the day before Thanksgiving and host a potluck on their boat that evening. Great times!

There were bird sanctuaries here too, I have pictures of crows, egrets, flamingos, and others. Running out of space in this blog!

We spent a week here and still didn’t see even half of the island. Nor did we make it to the two nearby towns that are a must see: St. Mary’s and Fernandina Beach. We will have to return!