Captains Log 11/26/06
Departure Point / Start Time Charlston SC
Arrival Point / End Time St. Marrys Inlet FL
Distance Traveled 160NM
Located in Fernandina Beach, FL
With high pressure holding the weather patterns steady, I subscribed for the email weather updates every 12 hours that I can retrieve while offshore. It looked good for SC, GA and FL. So off we went. We had options to come into Beaufort SC, Savannah River, St. Simmons Inlet, and others, but I decided to head for Fernandina Beach and St. Marrys Inlet, a very popular inlet to come from an offshore stretch. The weather didn’t give us any trouble, but the only thing I didn’t anticipate is that with such light winds astern and mixing swell from the N and NE, the ride was uncomfortable. Crystal had already taken a pill, and was sucking on sliced ginger, which seemed to work. We left on the outgoing tide and were quickly outside in the swell motor-sailing. Now I realized that we are in for a draining stretch of open water. It was nice and sunny. Being on deck made things a bit easier. The autopilot was doing just fine and I was able to relax and enjoy the ride. By evening it got cold. We were trying to get comfortable in the cockpit to kill some time while underway. I downloaded another set of weather updates which confirmed steady N, NE winds and 3-5 foot swell increasing to 5-7 feet as we get to south GA and FL. Around midnight I killed the engine and sailed on main alone. Opening genoa didn’t help a bit. Swell was too big and was just banging the sail around, never allowing it to fill with air. With boom preventer, I was able to fix the boom in place and keep it from swinging too much. We were doing 5 knots on the main alone and the autopilot was doing fine. There were some 100 miles to St. Marry inlet when I noticed that the autopilot was struggling to keep the boat on track. It was 3AM and drizzling. The moon was gone making it completely dark all around us. I cross checked our heading with where we should be going to find us well off course. The autopilot couldn’t cope with the swell so I had to steer manually keeping the pedestal compass course at 210. The swell made it miserable. The boat was swinging all over the place. By 6Am the wind died even more and I refilled the gas tank with our gas cans, to started motoring. It was a bit easier. But still the only thing I could go by is the pedestal compass. The rain stopped around 7AM and sun was back out. Since I wasn’t able to go to the navigation station to check our position I used our little handheld GPS to plot a course for St. Marries inlet. This was a miserable ride with tiring swell, no wind and lots of patchy fog. Just as I thought we saw most of the bad weather she can throw our way, we get this. Swell from multiple directions, fog and light wind astern filling the cockpit and cabin with engine fumes. I almost hate this more than gale force winds. Crystal coped very well. She was able to get some sleep but didn’t eat or drink anything but some popcorn and juice. I would run down to drink a cup of water every now and then. In no way could we make breakfast or any kind of food. The only thing on my mind was to get out of this miserable state. It was still another 30 miles to go by around 10AM. We were counting minutes. I kept repeating to myself that I will never do this again. Now I know what 5-7 foot seas with 10kts of wind feel like, miserable. Despite wanting to take few inlets before St. Marrys to get out of the mess, we stuck to it and made it all the way to St. Marry inlet. The inlet was wide and too long for the seas we were encountering. It took forever to get in. Near shore, wind was a bit stronger and I was able to unroll genoa and pick up few knots on a beam reach entering the inlet. Fernandina Beach has couple of factories with high chimneys smoking the hell out of anchorages. It feels like its always foggy here. But it wasn’t. It cleared out the next day and we had a nice sunny day with mid 70s.
Arrival Point / End Time St. Marrys Inlet FL
Distance Traveled 160NM
Located in Fernandina Beach, FL
With high pressure holding the weather patterns steady, I subscribed for the email weather updates every 12 hours that I can retrieve while offshore. It looked good for SC, GA and FL. So off we went. We had options to come into Beaufort SC, Savannah River, St. Simmons Inlet, and others, but I decided to head for Fernandina Beach and St. Marrys Inlet, a very popular inlet to come from an offshore stretch. The weather didn’t give us any trouble, but the only thing I didn’t anticipate is that with such light winds astern and mixing swell from the N and NE, the ride was uncomfortable. Crystal had already taken a pill, and was sucking on sliced ginger, which seemed to work. We left on the outgoing tide and were quickly outside in the swell motor-sailing. Now I realized that we are in for a draining stretch of open water. It was nice and sunny. Being on deck made things a bit easier. The autopilot was doing just fine and I was able to relax and enjoy the ride. By evening it got cold. We were trying to get comfortable in the cockpit to kill some time while underway. I downloaded another set of weather updates which confirmed steady N, NE winds and 3-5 foot swell increasing to 5-7 feet as we get to south GA and FL. Around midnight I killed the engine and sailed on main alone. Opening genoa didn’t help a bit. Swell was too big and was just banging the sail around, never allowing it to fill with air. With boom preventer, I was able to fix the boom in place and keep it from swinging too much. We were doing 5 knots on the main alone and the autopilot was doing fine. There were some 100 miles to St. Marry inlet when I noticed that the autopilot was struggling to keep the boat on track. It was 3AM and drizzling. The moon was gone making it completely dark all around us. I cross checked our heading with where we should be going to find us well off course. The autopilot couldn’t cope with the swell so I had to steer manually keeping the pedestal compass course at 210. The swell made it miserable. The boat was swinging all over the place. By 6Am the wind died even more and I refilled the gas tank with our gas cans, to started motoring. It was a bit easier. But still the only thing I could go by is the pedestal compass. The rain stopped around 7AM and sun was back out. Since I wasn’t able to go to the navigation station to check our position I used our little handheld GPS to plot a course for St. Marries inlet. This was a miserable ride with tiring swell, no wind and lots of patchy fog. Just as I thought we saw most of the bad weather she can throw our way, we get this. Swell from multiple directions, fog and light wind astern filling the cockpit and cabin with engine fumes. I almost hate this more than gale force winds. Crystal coped very well. She was able to get some sleep but didn’t eat or drink anything but some popcorn and juice. I would run down to drink a cup of water every now and then. In no way could we make breakfast or any kind of food. The only thing on my mind was to get out of this miserable state. It was still another 30 miles to go by around 10AM. We were counting minutes. I kept repeating to myself that I will never do this again. Now I know what 5-7 foot seas with 10kts of wind feel like, miserable. Despite wanting to take few inlets before St. Marrys to get out of the mess, we stuck to it and made it all the way to St. Marry inlet. The inlet was wide and too long for the seas we were encountering. It took forever to get in. Near shore, wind was a bit stronger and I was able to unroll genoa and pick up few knots on a beam reach entering the inlet. Fernandina Beach has couple of factories with high chimneys smoking the hell out of anchorages. It feels like its always foggy here. But it wasn’t. It cleared out the next day and we had a nice sunny day with mid 70s.
posted by sundowner-cruise at 8:02 PM
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