Quick Trip to Annapolis

We pulled out of the slip at Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina on the ebb tide at 7am Sunday morning, May 7th.  With the main sail raised and double reefed (expecting moderate to heavy wind) we motor sailed out of the harbor and turned northeast before then setting the genoa.  It was a beautiful day and the wind that had been raging all week dissipated for a few hours.  Our passage was calmer and quieter than the trip to Charleston.  When the wind subsided Monday morning we doused the sails and motored the rest of the way into Beaufort, North Carolina.  Once tied up at Beaufort Docks, we filled the fuel and water tanks to be ready for the next leg of our journey.  Then we enjoyed a nice meal at Beaufort Grocery Company.

A relatively calm sea

Early the next morning, we strategically and hurriedly pulled away from the dock and began our three day motor up the waterway.  The current in this marina runs over two knots, so we were lucky to leave near enough to slack tide and with little wind, to assure our exit from the tight marina went without mishaps.

We made good time, enjoyed some of our favorite, quiet anchorages at the Pungo River, the North River (just south of Buck Island), then on up and into Hampton, Virginia.  The last day was rainy and windy and we were happy to be heading to a marina as we crossed the harbor channel from the Bay to the Elizabeth River in a heavy chop, dodging large container ships and tugboats pushing barges.

Dredging equipment in the Beaufort Harbor

Scene along the waterway

With rain and high winds predicted for the next few days, we tied up at lovely Bluewater Yachting Center and had a good rest.  Friday we took an Uber over to Norfolk and visited the USS Wisconsin and the Naval Museum.  Very interesting.

On the foredeck of the USS Wisconsin, Norfolk, VA

In the armament "room"

The gun lockers where crewmen control the firing

One of the berth areas - 100's of these throughout lower decks

We are now back in good crab cake country.  Sharon is pretty picky about her crab cakes and we are finally back in the spot where they meet her standards.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a new hotel The Main at their seafood restaurant Saltine.  It was a warm and dry spot out of the drippy day.

On the second day we hung around the boat, walked to the grocery and checked the weather about 50 times.  The wind was supposed to switch to the north and west (just the direction we were planning to travel up the Chesapeake Bay) and grow stronger.  But the more we looked, we found that we might have a little window to make some tracks.  Sunday (one week after leaving Charleston) the sun shone brightly and we pulled away from the dock by 6:30am.  We love these days of long daylight.  There was no real wind for sailing, so we motored our way north, deciding to go as far as we could in the daylight we had.  We even contemplated overnighting all the way to Annapolis.  But, the wind came up rather strongly by mid-afternoon and even motoring would have had us arriving at Annapolis in the middle of the night.  So, we anchored in one of our favorite spots in Solomons, MD on Mill Creek.  It is a beautiful, protected and peaceful spot.  This was a 90 mile day - a record-breaker for us for one "daylight" day of travel.

Sunset on Mill Creek, Solomons, Maryland

The next morning the wind was NNW 15-20 knots.  Our intended course was North.  But, predictions had the wind backing to West by mid-day and dropping.  Since we had only about 45 miles to make Annapolis, we decided to wait a bit, hoping to enter the Bay as these conditions began to change, allowing us to make our way North without having the wind so much on the nose.  We hauled anchor at 10:30am.

While raising the sail, we discovered a tear on the luff of the main (that is the trailing edge for you non-sailors) and when Greg pulled on it, it just kept tearing.  This is the second tear we have discovered since leaving Charleston.  We did a temporary repair with sail tape on the first tear until we were able to get it to a sailmaker.  We have known that new sails were in our near-term future for awhile.  The current sails have been with us since we bought the boat in 2005, and they weren't new then.  So, we dropped the main sail again, covered it up with the sail cover and motored our way out of the creek.  

The wind speed and direction didn't change.  For the first four hours we had wind on our nose at a steady 16 knots with gusts up to 22.  This means lots of water splashing over the deck and very slow going.  At one point, we were making a blistering 3.5 knots speed over ground.  The wind creates waves, and they either push the boat forward or to one side, depending on their relative direction.  In this case they pushed us back a step for every two we took forward.  We felt that at this rate we weren't going to make Annapolis by day's end.  As the day went on, however, the wind diminished a bit and we turned more northeast, so our speed picked up to 5 knots, sometimes a bit more.  We finally pulled into Bert Jabin Yacht Yard in Annapolis at 7:30pm where our friends Pat and Eric of Cutter Loose grabbed our dock lines and welcomed us to town.  We are very happy to be back in Annapolis for the next several weeks.  

Table side Caesar by Quenton at Carrol's Creek 

Crab and Shrimp Cocktail at Carrol's Creek

Tuna Tartar at Carrol's Creek

We have just placed our order for a complete set of sails (3) with Scott Allan at North Sails.  We purchased a spinnaker from these folks four years ago.  Even so, Greg researched sailmakers in town and found Scott to be the one every other sailmaker turns to with questions.  Scott has done a great job working with us to assure we get exactly what we need and want.  The details are truly amazing. An analogy might be ordering a new, custom designed and sewn, three piece suit, but each piece is between 25 and 55 feet tall, including nearly 1,000 square feet of high-tech material.  Pockets, zippers, lines, grommets, reinforcement patches, webbing reinforcement at corners, 18" Sunbrella strips (themselves as long as each sail), and so many other elements, are included.  Every detail must be measured just right for the sail to fit and perform properly.  Greg and Scott have met twice, and exchanged dozens of emails - most related to taking more measurements and choosing small, but important features, and sending diagrams to each other.

A sketch of Dream Catcher's rig and sails, including dimensions. Click to enlarge.

Shows the mainsail's "Single Line Reefing" system within the boom, allowing us to lower 

the main from the cockpit - but, then still we must go forward to tie it down.

Delivery should be the end of June, just in time for us to make our way north to New England.  The new sails should enable Dream Catcher to sail to windward much more efficiently, as the sails will be flatter.  And in general, they'll allow better control and smoother sailing.  We are very excited!

We have already spent time in Fenwick Island, Delaware (at Sharon's family beach house) and look forward to visits with family and friends over the coming weeks.  For those of you who follow us on SPOT, you won't see any activity until we are on the move again, early July.  

'Til next time - 

Charleston - Food, Fun and Bicycling

It has been a great and celebratory week for us in Charleston.  We love this town as much as ever.  Monday was thick and humid, but we persevered and hopped on the bicycles for a nice ride over to Sullivan's Island.  We gawked at the beautiful homes, awed at the stunning beach and had a yummy lunch at Poe's Tavern - yes that would be Edgar Allan.  The wind was blowing (and hasn't stopped blowing!) so it kept us cool enough.  This ride carries you over the Ben Sawyer Bridge which crosses the Intracoastal Waterway.  We have traveled under this bridge on Dream Catcher many times, so it was fun to see the view from above.  Monday night was dinner at Henrietta's in the Dewberry Hotel, along with the four other people having dinner out on Monday night.

Tuesday being, Greg's birthday, we headed into town to do a bit of walk about and shop about.  Lunch was on the patio at Rue de Jean and featured a beet infused smoked salmon open faced sandwich with accompanying greens.  Very nice!  Later, we went back into town for birthday dinner at Blossom, a birthday treat from Courtney and Paolo.  A yummy meal that included fresh grouper and crab ravioli.  Yum!

Happy Birthday to Greg!

Wednesday we hopped on the bicycles again and rode out to Sullivan's Island, crossed Breach Inlet which runs between Sullivan's and Isle of Palms, then rode to the end of Isle of Palms.  It was a beautifully clear day with low humidity, a light breeze and brilliant sunshine.  Our visit to Charleston this time is at the peak of honeysuckle season.  Honeysuckle is used as a hedge, a trailing vine that covers pergolas, gates and archways.  The scent of Honeysuckle wafts through the air everywhere.  It is so fragrant and intoxicating.  Wonderful!  On our way back, the Ben Sawyer bridge was open, so we waited as the sailboats cruised through, then went on our way.  We clocked 30 miles on our bicycles this day!

Looking across the marshes towards Sullivan's

Looking south from the top of the Ben Sawyer

Charleston Light

Breach Inlet between Sullivan's and Isle of Palms

Looking back across the waterway towards
Ravenel Bridge that spans the Cooper River,
way back near the marina

Honeysuckle 

Thursday, we walked all over the South Battery - the southern most tip of the city where many of the old mansions are.  Again the honeysuckle abounds.  We poked into a very old graveyard that felt like a jungle, we strolled down small alleys and lanes, checked out the prices via realtor.com on each For Sale sign, and walked some more.  We have put over 15,000 steps on our feet every day this week, and had a 22 mile and another 30 mile cycling day.

Some Charleston sights

Red-headed Skink

Friday was a work day that ended just in time to catch happy hour at The Ordinary.  The happy hour deal was half price oysters.  So we shared a dozen with a variety that hailed from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Massachusetts, Maine, and Capers Island, South Carolina.  We finished the celebration at Peninsula Grill sharing a huge piece of their iconic Coconut cake.

Peninsula Grill's famous Coconut Cake

It's time to go before we gain more weight or go broke dining out.

Tomorrow we leave bright and early and head back out to sea.  We'll set a Northeast course of about 60 degrees and make our way to Beaufort, North Carolina.  The trip is about 220 miles and takes about 30-32 hours.  We expect to be in by late afternoon on Monday.

'Til next time.

Arrived Charleston!

We left Dinner Key Marina on Friday morning to "stage" or "get ready to go" at Fisher Island for our offshore sail to Charleston.  When Greg's 11am business call was postponed, rather than stop at Fisher Island and anchor for his call, we were able to keep going.  Entering the busy harbor channel behind a couple of tugboats and a large motor yacht, we exited through Government Cut into the Atlantic.

Being so focused on getting to a quiet place to make the business call, we forgot to attach our jack lines and fix the jib sheets.

Note for non-sailors.  Jack lines are lines (or in our case a thick yellow webbing) that get attached fore and aft on the deck.  Another webbed strap with carabiners on both ends clips to the rings on our life vests while the other end clips to the jack line.  If someone (Greg) has to go on deck while at sea, you clip to this line before leaving the cockpit.  We also have a jack line that runs around the lower perimeter of the cockpit that we clip into when we come up from below.  So - we are always clipped in to prevent the disaster of going overboard.

So - we are nearly out of the channel and Greg goes out on the deck to affix the jack lines.  Greg says, "Keep the boat as still as you can."  Yeah, right!  We had five foot waves and a brisk breeze.  And the tugs, a container ship, and several small boats were in very close proximity.  Jacklines deployed!

Additionally, we opted not to raise the main sail in the harbor, thinking that the angle of the wind would make it difficult to fill our large genoa.  In fact, we found that the wind was good, so we were bobbing up and down getting the main up.

An auspicious start for sure.  Jack lines, jib sheets, main sail!  Those office calls!!!

Finally settled in, we turned north and pulled out the genoa as well.  Sliding into the Gulf Stream within an hour, bounding along at 10.8 knots, we made 60 miles by 4pm.  Gotta love that Gulf Stream when it's on your side!

By evening, the wind was picking up.  We had already reduced the genoa by half and now we had to reef the main.  We can do this from inside the cockpit and Greg managed it like a pro.  We were very happy to have done this when later the wind was piping up to 18-20 knots.  This, of course, means that waves pipe up as well.  Just after Greg went down to get some rest on Sharon's watch, a bucket of water splashed over the side and into the cockpit.  Yuk!  That happened several times throughout the night, so you know the wind was up and the waves were tossing us around a bit.  The good news was that our speed was up to 11.2 to 11.4 knots over ground. Very fast!

Another note to non-sailors. We have two speed indicators that we watch all the time.  One is the speed through the water or "boat knots".  The other is speed over ground (SOG), or how fast we are going over the ocean floor.  These can be very different if there are ocean currents or tides affecting the boat's progress.  The Gulf Stream is the largest ocean current in the Atlantic, pushing north at 3 to 5 knots all the time.  Knowing this, the prudent north-bound sailor will seek out this current and ride it north.

Throughout the night on Friday, we saw consistent speeds as high as 8.4 boat knots (through water) and 11. 5 knots over ground for long periods of time.  It helped that we just had the bottom cleaned this past week, making the boat slippery through the water.  However, it is a rare occurrence to see speed like that on Dream Catcher.  We blew along at 11 to 11.5 knots through the first night.

Fortunately, the only wet water we experienced was from the occasional wave splashes into the cockpit.  We had no rain the whole way, but it was very moist.  The air was humid and everything was damp. Yuk.  But there were millions of bright stars in the sky and the phosphorescence lit up brightly with each bounce of the hull in the water.  It is beautiful being at sea on a clear night.

By morning, the wind was down to 8-12 knots and right behind us.  We shook out the reefs from the mainsail, stowed it,  and sailed with just the genoa for most of the day, continuing to make 10 knots over ground.  By evening the wind dropped below 10, so we pulled in the genoa, and turned on the engine.  The good news was that the waves diminished with lighter winds and we could move around on the boat a little easier.

Sunday morning dawned like this.

The final leg of this route is the portion from where the Gulf Stream turns East and we leave it to travel North to Charleston, about 80 miles of sailing.  It's so interesting how this seems like the longest part of the trip.  You are ready to be in, but you are still at least 60 miles away.  The miles go by so slowly, especially without that Stream push that we had gotten used to.  Plus, they don't call this the "Low Country" for nothing.  You cannot see land until you are five miles from the Charleston Channel.  So interesting.  Normally we can see land 20 miles out.

Approaching Charleston Harbor Channel we saw two ships leaving.  Our AIS (Automatic Identification System) shows us each boat's characteristics - length, beam, direction, speed etc.  In the length category one ship was listed as being 1/8 mile long!  After figuring this out to be about 660 feet, the next ship was listed at 996 feet long and 144 feet wide!  We steered clear.

The rest was a snap.  We caught a favorable current, known to be strong in this area, and motored our way for the remaining five miles to the marina.  On the way, we encountered these shrimp boats heading over to the "Blessing of the Fleet".  It was a Sunday party day!

Click any photo to view larger

We pulled into the Charleston Harbor Marina and Resort at 11:45am - about 49 hours and 443 miles after leaving Miami, averaging over 9 knots over ground.  It was a sleigh ride for most of the way!  We are happy to be here and look forward to celebrating Greg's 65th and eating our way through town!

Thanks for being with us along the way!  'Til next time.