After a long time of dreaming, it was finally time to depart on the first leg of our new adventure. Cecile and I were planning to sail from Charleston to the Chesapeake. We knew this might be a little ambitious considering it was her first, and my first on our boat, trip offshore. Our kids were staying at their grandparents while we sailed this first leg. We wanted to push ourselves a little before they join us. We wanted to get to learn the boat and ourselves and see how we might handle some of the stresses that arise. But, by going up the coast, we also knew of several safe inlets that we could head for to shorten our trip if it was too uncomfortable.

Entering Wappoo Creek at the beginning of our trip

It looked as if we had a really nice weather window for departure on Thursday, April 13. We planned to leave around 1:30 in the afternoon to catch a favorable tide through Wappoo Creek. While staging our boat for an easy departure against the current, a dear friend updated me on the forecast. The storms that wreaked havoc on Florida were moving towards us faster than expected and would hit us around sundown. That seemed a little much for us. I reviewed the weather with a couple other friends and it just made sense to wait a day. Steve’s voice, the same friend who warned us of the forecast change, rang in my head, “You can’t start a trip on Friday. It’s bad luck.” Unfortunately, the weather didn’t look great towards the end of the trip if we waited. We decided to leave on Friday.

At 9:30 Friday morning, a few friends help cast us off and we motored off in very light breeze. All morning the winds were too light to sail, so we motored all the way out Charleston Harbor. I thought I would be able to message some people our most up to date float plan while we motored up the harbor. Things didn’t work out that way. My phone, with perfect signal, wouldn’t send out any messages. Fortunately, Cecile’s worked fine.

The wind filled in as we headed offshore. Once out several miles the wind and wave height was what we expected based on PredictWind. We were sailing on a beam reach in 10 to 12 knots of wind for a few hours. Katy (our Cape Horn wind vane) and I got to know each other at this time. Sounds pretty good, but unfortunately I read something wrong or PW had the wave period way off. I thought I was going out to 1.5-2m waves with a 5.4 sec period but it was closer to 3.5. It was rough. We both got sick, first time for me.

Around 11:00 pm the wind went so light and the boat was bouncing in the confused seas that we had very little steerage. Of course, it was at this time I saw lights ahead of me. They were not showing on our AIS, so I wanted to be extra cautious. I decided to motor so I could give plenty of room. No water coming out. It was an uncomfortable hour sailing with limited steerage and staying focused to make sure the lights disappeared safely behind me.

We were both still feeling pretty sick, but the wind started to fill back in. With the breeze my spirits felt better, that is, until I saw the line of storms coming up behind us. Cecile was down in the cabin trying to convince herself the flashes were my headlamp going across the companionway, not lightning. I pulled out the stays’l, hanked it on, put in a reef in the main, rolled in the genoa, and waited for it. At some point things just didn’t feel right, so I went on deck to put in a second reef. I had the main down to the reef point when a blast of horizontal rain and wind hit us. I’m guessing 45-50 knots. I pulled the main all the way down and ran with it under stays’l alone. That puff lasted probably 5-10 minutes then the wind dropped down into the twenties. We stayed running under stays’l alone. It was taking us towards Southport, the closest harbor, and we were both done at this point. A couple hours later the wind died out completely and we were back to being thrown around by the waves. At this time I noticed our house battery bank was down around 11.9-12.0 volts. It is usually around 12.5-12.6 volts in the morning. Figuring it out would wait until morning.

The morning brought clear skies and some wind. I set the genoa and went about figuring out the engine and battery issue. The engine raw water problem turned out to be a clog between strainer and water pump. I don’t know how we could motor for hours only a few hours earlier and then have a complete blockage. The cause of the battery drain was a loss of coolant in our refrigeration and the compressor running overtime to try to keep things cold. Both bad luck, I guess.

After getting all the problems solved or worked around, I went back on deck and set the main. We sailed towards land wing on wing with the genoa poled out and Katy steering. With the seas down and the sailing great, I was feeling much better. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Cecile. We sailed like that for eight hours without touching a sail or the wheel. There were moments during this time when Cecile felt okay, like when she saw dolphins playing in the bow wave for the first time.

Saturday was so much better than Friday we decided not to go in at Southport, and we would head for Beaufort. We had to head up on a reach to clear Frying Pan Shoals. Around midnight we beared off for Beaufort. I set the pole again, and we took off wing on wing. By 3:00 am Sunday the wind had shifted and built to where I added a reef in the main, rolled in some of the genoa, and jibed for Beaufort. As the sun came up we were sailing under reefed main and partially rolled in genoa poled out holding between 7-7.4 knots. The entire time Katy was keeping the sails full and us stable even while the boat rolled up and over pretty good waves again.

Throughout the morning the wind lightened to where we motored the last 4 hours. We got to Beaufort around 4:30. We again had cellphone issues trying to line up a slip. We arranged to stay one night at Beaufort Docks. The current was ripping which had my nerves on edge. With the help of a couple dock hands and the neighboring boat owner, we got in with no issue.

The trip was a pretty intense mix of highs and lows, and I cannot say it was a great trip, nor can I say it was terrible. Even now, only a few days after the trip, my mind is starting to focus on the good. Cecile just asked, “Where were you a week ago, and where would you rather be?” It was pretty easy to say sailing. However, I vividly remember, and don’t think I will forget, sitting in the cockpit in the early hours of Saturday morning swearing to myself that I would never leave on Friday again.

Keith's blog