I had grand plans for this Spring, that then became summer plans, than now might become Winter plans, to go sailing for a month on my boat. Unfortunately the boat yard gods conspire to keep me from my plans.
Fortunately, friends buy boats often located in areas inconvenient to themselves, but in just the right location for a short adventure. Just such an event transpired when my friend, Kirk, purchased a Nautical Development Offshore 40. It was berthed in Ft. Lauderdale. His insurance said it needed to be in the loving arms of a harbor north of Jacksonville by July 1st.
We dropped a car at the marina in Charleston and grabbed a rental for the ride down. This way we could tote a ton of gear. The car proved useful as a pack mule, pack and forth from multiple runs to marine stores in order to stock up on necessities, grab spares and repair some items. After all, it was a “new to him” boat.
When we arrived late Sunday, if was getting dark. We unloaded the car and opened the boat up. It wasn’t long before we found the first issue. The forward air conditioning unit was not functioning. We disassembled. No luck. We found a few other items during our day and a half of watching the bridges open and close. 1 seacock that would not close. The outboard would not work. But over all the boat was in shape to go.
After we chased down the parts and provisioned, we decided to set sail Tuesday morning. Returned the car and caught uber back and it was time to shove off. For his first time handling this big of a boat in tight quarters, Kirk nailed it. He has an instinctive feel for the boat. Four bridges and a fill up at the Lauderdale marina and we exited the port, hoisted sails (well technically rolled them out) and took a left turn.
I really like the slot of ocean between Florida and the Bahamas. Within a few miles of shore the gulf stream awaits. And delivers an unbelievable lift. Soon we were hitting 10 knots over ground. Big grins covered each face as the thought of 240 mile days hit us. But nature wiped that grin off when the wind died and we were forced to crank the engine up. The first night would be a motor sailing one.
We pretty much threaded what appeared to be two perpetual, parallel, squall lines, by staying on the edge of the gulf stream. The lift provided by the current was still signficant, but we stayed away from the storms the build over the central part of the Gulf Stream, while also avoiding the summer storms building over the Florida coast.
As the coast fell away and the day faded into darkness, we settled into the watch schedule. With three experienced sailors the schedule was an easy 4 hours each and only at night to boot. The first night was uneventful. The rattling diesel kept everyone company in their dreams.
The second day saw us tracking cargo ships on AIS and a cruise ship outpaced us towards Charleston. We saw few wildlife. Simply flying fish and a sparrow. The bird stopped for a rest. It stayed only a few minutes, possibly as many as 20 mins and flew on. At this point we were 70+ miles off shore. I hope he made it. That night was not as pleasant as the first. Our forecast called for 9 knots of breeze out of the south east. It was close, I guess, sustained 17 knots with gusts up to 38 (the max seen) and out of the west. The gustiness made it difficult to decide on a sail plan and the pitch black with thunderstorms around allowed us the easy choice of no sails. That is until after midnight when they steadied enough for us to risk putting out some sail. Honestly, we could have just reefed down. But the thought that some of these storms might produce 60 knots of wind at the front of the squall line kept of from getting too courageous in sail choice.
The next day we would would have great sai
ling in 14 to 20 knots of wind. As we approached Charleston we had numerous weather alerts. But the storms dissipated as we approached. We timed it to the dock an hour and a half past low tide.
Overall the trip took 55 hours.