We left Beaufort on Saturday evening as the blow that had been hanging around started to move off. We were sad to say goodbye to Lori and Paul, who came by to help with our lines, but that’s part of cruising life (and we’re pretty sure they’ll catch us in Charleston).
Departure was easy and the inlet calm. We raised a reefed main and kept the jib rolled up, but even so we were seeing speeds of around 8 kts, surfing at up to 11. We had a beautiful sunset, and in the lee of the land, the breeze was sporty but seas calm. That was not to remain the case for long.
The conditions were no surprise, but that first night was rough – 7′, short-period seas and gusts still reaching into the low 30s. Windara handled it beautifully, but it took her crew some acclimation. I tried to sleep, but a wave train that wasn’t aligned with the wind unceremoniously threw me right into the table (bad on me for not rigging the lee cloth… we’ll not talk about the bruises nor where they are). I gave up on the idea of sleep and decided to go back on deck. Despite taking Dramamine, the time it took to gear up made me queasy… and it stuck with me most of the night. I never actually got sick, but there were a few iffy moments there.
I’ll admit that I was uncomfortable with the conditions as well, and that didn’t help. I don’t think I would have been able to hand-steer, and while our autopilot has been reliable to date, I know better than to not at least consider the “what ifs” – things have a way of going sideways at the least opportune times. Fortunately, the autopilot (still to be named – any suggestions?) worked just fine and my watch was uneventful.
The seas eventually calmed to 3-5′ and each of us was able to get a little rest. Sunday was cloudy and rainy with brief periods of sun peppered in, and we had three separate visits from dolphins who played in Windara’s bow wave. No matter how many times we see them, it’s always a magical experience and I was thankful it was calm enough for me to go forward and watch them for a while. It was like Mother Nature’s gift for putting up with everything else.
We dropped anchor in front of the USS Yorktown at 0115 this morning, neatened up, decompressed and finally got some much needed rest.
I still can’t get over how fast this boat is and how well she handles unpleasant conditions (you’ll probably hear that a million times over the course of this season – apologies in advance). In three weekends of travel, we’ve covered what took us two months last year.
