fetchinketch

After much too long tied to the dock, yesterday we dropped lines and left Brunswick, GA. We spent last night at anchor in St Simons Sound, and are now underway northbound for Savannah. The weather is mild, partly cloudy and calm. We expert to motor the whole way, ad arrive this evening.

This will be our first stop in Savannah. For a long time it was difficult to visit. There are no anchorages near town, and the only place to tie up was the city waterfront, which was convenient, and free, but it was all first-come-first served. Without a reservation, you always risked arriving, and not having a place to stay. Now there is a marina across the River with frequent ferry services to downtown.

We’ll spend a few days there, then jump to Charleston, then on to Annapolis.

We are spending the middle of winter here in Brunswick GA. It’s a place we have spent some time before, and we will probably be here for about another 5 or 6 weeks until we get all my medical clearances to resume our sailing. Hopefully, I can catch up on some project notes and points of ineterest here!

In the meantime, I have been working on some boat projects and getting some maintenance and repairs to the good ship Harmonie. Today’s project was to try to repair the navigation lights at the top of the main mast. They had become a bit unreliable, not something you want for critical collision avoidance equipment! Unfortunately, repair doesn’t seem likely, so we will replace it, and back up the mast when the new fixture comes in.

We haven’t yet finalized our cruising plans yet for the coming months, but wherever we go, it will be fun!

In the meantime, I have a project waiting for me down in Martinique. I’ll be traveling down there to help a fellow Amel owner with a major engine project the last week in January.

And just for fun, here is your vocabulary word for the day. One of those fun words that aren’t really used much these days, more’s the pity! It would make a great boat name!

We pulled out of Wrightsville Beach inlet yesterday just after sun rise, and had a truly glorious day of sailing. as soon as we cleared the inlet we had sails up in the forecast northwest wind, and started making great time. Most of the day making 8 and 9 knots.

We had a 47 foot catamaran that was just in front of us out of the inlet, and by the time we rounded Cape Fear, they were almost three miles back in our wake. The sailing performance of the Amel never ceases to surprise me, in the best way.

Over night, the wind faded, again as forecast, and we fired up the Volvo to keep moving along.

Not all the boats around us were so lucky. 250 miles off shore a catamaran was taking on water, and called for a Coast Guard air evacuation. That’s past the maximum reach of the USCG Dolphin helicopters, so I am guessing they had a Jayhawk nearby with an 800 mile round trip range. Everybody was taken off and returned to land safely. This morning a sailboat entering Charleston Harbor ended up on the rock jetty at the entrance. We have no information about how that came to happen in totally benign conditions.

We are now about 50 miles from the sea buoy off of Brunswick, and should be arriving at the marina shortly after midnight.

The offshore weather forecast for yesterday had southerly winds at 10 knots. Rather than deal with that, we decided to break off and head into Wrightsville Beach. A good decision it turn out to be, because that 10 knot south wind actually turned out to be more like 25 knots. Even better that we had friends already in the anchorage.

A good dinner was had ashore with good company. Rising with the sun this morning, we’re underway again with a wind from the northwest at 15- 18 knots. We’re making excellent time under sail, and all is good! We should be in Brunswick tomorrow evening.

The next leg of our trip to Annapolis was a delightful venture. Sailing was delightful, with very modest winds the whole way, almost completely from aft of the beam. We had the chance to do some fishing, and catching.

Some of the highlights of the trip were the spectacular weather, seeing more whales up close as we rounded the end of Cape Cod, numerous pods of dolphins scattered all along the route, including at the anchorage where we ended up, and the chance to put some tilefish in the freezer.

We had one strange fish story while trolling lures past the Hudson Canyon. We had a bite on one of the lines that ran off a couple dozen yards of line, and then dropped off. Over the next ten minutes, the lure was repeatedly attacked and harassed by a large sailfish. Sometimes he’d just hit it with his bill, sometimes he’d grab it and run off while always managing to avoid the hook. Not the worst outcome for us, as sailfish are not considered the best eating.

We ended anchored behind the breakwater in Lewes, Delaware. We spent a quiet night, and will shortly be riding the flood tide up the Delaware toward the C&D Canal. It is likely we will miss the afternoon tide through the canal, so we will likely anchor nearby until morning for our passage into the Chesapeake and down toward Annapolis.