January 29, 2009
It's January 29 and I was about to start copying the logs from the last month into this forum. After reading them over, I determined that they are about as exciting as most sailing logs, i.e. dull as ditchwater. So, my belated New Year's Resolution will be one of two things - either write more exciting logs, or quit writing them at all and write simply about the highlights. Hmmmm...what to do, what to do?
Well, that was an easy one to resolve - from here on in, you'll only hear about the highlights of the trip, such as they are! No more boring log entries full of details you probably aren't interested in anyway.
Offshore run - rather than run the ICW through Georgia, I decided we would go offshore at Tybee Roads - the Savannah River. Naturally, the weather didn't co-operate, so we motored along all day.
At about three miles offshore, I looked in and saw a Right Whale about a quarter mile away - the first time I've seen a whale. What a majestic animal. It swam along for quite some time before flipping its tail up - just like you see in the commercials - and sounding, in about fifty feet of water.
Shortly after this, Sue began to feel quite chilled. Rather than continue on through the rest of the afternoon and into the night, I decided to return to the ICW via Sapelo Sound - a relatively easy inlet and one I've gone out from before.
And, just like last year, there was fog there. Sue has now been through this inlet twice and never seen it for the fog! The Garmin chartplotter was a great help here in making our way through without difficulty. Last year, I had a Garmin 76 handheld GPS with which I did this. It only shows the buoys, not the configuration of land so, while it worked quite well, the chartplotter made the entry very easy.
The best part of this run was that it eliminated the worst of the Georgia ICW with its twists and turns, although ultimately, we sailed over 80 miles to make good about 60. That's the problem with going offshore. If you don't run long enough, the distance to the sea buoy and then back in becomes wasted miles.
The plan now is to get to Melbourne as quickly as possible, so that Sue can remain comfortably on the boat while I return to Toronto for my speaking engagement at the boat show.
Aground...again! To this end, we are starting off before sunrise and ending after dark - on the ICW. This isn't a tactic I recommend to cruisers, simply because the ICW isn't well lit in most sections and it is very difficult to travel in the dark. I proved this by going aground several times, fortunately at low tide - anchoring after leaving Sapelo Sound, earlier that day while entering Elliot Cut, again at low tide - at least I'm consistent. I'm inclined to wonder if I'm actually getting ahead doing this, or merely losing sleep and that perhaps I should be starting off at sunrise.
We get to St. Augustine on a strong current, flying down the ICW at nearly 8 knots - which drops to less than 3 once I turn towards the anchorage at the inlet. I worry about grounding in the inlet, even though I've done it at night before and it's reasonably bright. No problem however, and we see Full Circle at anchor, so I call out to them.
A distinctly British accent replies from the companionway - whoops! Not Al and Patti, so I motor ahead after apologizing for my disturbance and put the anchor down.
When we finally catch up to Full Circle, it turns out that Al and Patti have had a family crisis involving Al's son Pete. They have parked the boat at the Anchorage Marina opposite the municipal docks and are planning on heading home by car to deal with it. They're terribly concerned and quite frantic about the whole thing and we do what little we can to console them. I'll say no more than this about their situation, but their blog is www.sailboat50.blogspot.com
At this point, I have to decide whether we'll attempt an offshore two day run to Eau Gallie so that I can catch my Toronto flight from Ft. Lauderdale, or remain here and put Gypsy Wind into the marina.
The weather is all out of the south, making an offshore run unrealistic. However, with Full Circle, plus Billy and Charlie from Doolalay here, Sue won't be on her own, so we choose to leave the boat at the Anchorage.
It's January 29 and I was about to start copying the logs from the last month into this forum. After reading them over, I determined that they are about as exciting as most sailing logs, i.e. dull as ditchwater. So, my belated New Year's Resolution will be one of two things - either write more exciting logs, or quit writing them at all and write simply about the highlights. Hmmmm...what to do, what to do?
Well, that was an easy one to resolve - from here on in, you'll only hear about the highlights of the trip, such as they are! No more boring log entries full of details you probably aren't interested in anyway.
Offshore run - rather than run the ICW through Georgia, I decided we would go offshore at Tybee Roads - the Savannah River. Naturally, the weather didn't co-operate, so we motored along all day.
At about three miles offshore, I looked in and saw a Right Whale about a quarter mile away - the first time I've seen a whale. What a majestic animal. It swam along for quite some time before flipping its tail up - just like you see in the commercials - and sounding, in about fifty feet of water.
Shortly after this, Sue began to feel quite chilled. Rather than continue on through the rest of the afternoon and into the night, I decided to return to the ICW via Sapelo Sound - a relatively easy inlet and one I've gone out from before.
And, just like last year, there was fog there. Sue has now been through this inlet twice and never seen it for the fog! The Garmin chartplotter was a great help here in making our way through without difficulty. Last year, I had a Garmin 76 handheld GPS with which I did this. It only shows the buoys, not the configuration of land so, while it worked quite well, the chartplotter made the entry very easy.
The best part of this run was that it eliminated the worst of the Georgia ICW with its twists and turns, although ultimately, we sailed over 80 miles to make good about 60. That's the problem with going offshore. If you don't run long enough, the distance to the sea buoy and then back in becomes wasted miles.
The plan now is to get to Melbourne as quickly as possible, so that Sue can remain comfortably on the boat while I return to Toronto for my speaking engagement at the boat show.
Aground...again! To this end, we are starting off before sunrise and ending after dark - on the ICW. This isn't a tactic I recommend to cruisers, simply because the ICW isn't well lit in most sections and it is very difficult to travel in the dark. I proved this by going aground several times, fortunately at low tide - anchoring after leaving Sapelo Sound, earlier that day while entering Elliot Cut, again at low tide - at least I'm consistent. I'm inclined to wonder if I'm actually getting ahead doing this, or merely losing sleep and that perhaps I should be starting off at sunrise.
We get to St. Augustine on a strong current, flying down the ICW at nearly 8 knots - which drops to less than 3 once I turn towards the anchorage at the inlet. I worry about grounding in the inlet, even though I've done it at night before and it's reasonably bright. No problem however, and we see Full Circle at anchor, so I call out to them.
A distinctly British accent replies from the companionway - whoops! Not Al and Patti, so I motor ahead after apologizing for my disturbance and put the anchor down.
When we finally catch up to Full Circle, it turns out that Al and Patti have had a family crisis involving Al's son Pete. They have parked the boat at the Anchorage Marina opposite the municipal docks and are planning on heading home by car to deal with it. They're terribly concerned and quite frantic about the whole thing and we do what little we can to console them. I'll say no more than this about their situation, but their blog is www.sailboat50.blogspot.com
At this point, I have to decide whether we'll attempt an offshore two day run to Eau Gallie so that I can catch my Toronto flight from Ft. Lauderdale, or remain here and put Gypsy Wind into the marina.
The weather is all out of the south, making an offshore run unrealistic. However, with Full Circle, plus Billy and Charlie from Doolalay here, Sue won't be on her own, so we choose to leave the boat at the Anchorage.