South = shorts

Last heard we were relaxing in the winter cold weather anchored just outside Wrightville Beach NC – “relaxing” meant staying in our boats (Reboot and HOBOII) while the winds and cold blew around us – so cold and windy that we could only look out our pilot house windows at the once (I am assuming this) warm and inviting beach area. Although many boats sailed by us en route down the ICW to the next debacle, bridge, current and/or grounding, we however, decided to stay one more day to wait for a warmer weather window, which thankfully arrived the next day.

Beaufort, N.C.

We motored down the ICW (will we ever learn?) to Southport, where we stayed the night preparing for a two day coastal sail to Savannah. The company on the dock were mostly Canadians, from Toronto none the less, which was quite entertaining (our second sun downer party, ever.)

Next morning we set sail south with a nice breeze that eventually disappeared.. A group decision was made to make port at Charleston and motor a bit down the ICW – which turned out to be, non-eventful. We all got some much needed sleep and left again to sail along the coast to Savannah, ETA after dark.

The Savannah channel is a Class A inlet, which means that it is deep and easily navigable in the dark. Another addition to a class A inlet is that ocean vessels use it as well. Upon our arrival in the channel we first passed 3 anchored container ships, secondly, 3 vessels were departing Savannah and passed us by in the channel – now in the dark with lights everywhere it was difficult to know what was a huge vessel (and they are especially large when they suddenly appear out of no where) what lights were on land and which lights were the navigation buoys. The vessels have only a few bright lights to distinguish them and well, sometimes they look as though they are the red buoys you think you are to aim for....and they are quiet, they can easily sneak up behind or in front of you without you even knowing they are there – thank goodness for AIS and Reboot. Reboot (Roger) is very good with the radio and always broadcasts security calls to advise ships that he and his troupe of Hobo’s have arrived.

Savannah

Once past the vessels, we were blinded by a manufacturing plant that was lit up like Shanghai – it completely destroyed our night vision, and made it difficult to determine the channel. Up crept a container ship behind us, that saw our dilemma (actually the pilot saw our dilemma not the ship) and radioed us the correct coordinates and suggested he make a 'slow pass' and that we follow him into the Savannah harbor...it was quite surreal. The pilot showed us his southern hospitality, by slowing his boat down to pass, providing a lead to follow, and then having one of his colleagues (who was passing by the downtown Savannah dock) to check out if there were any empty spots for us to tie up to - his colleague was piloting a similar container vessel and took the time to have a look outside for dockage space for the HOBO troupe.

We ended up with three perfect spots right in the old town on River Road – we were however part of the tourist attractions as everyone (tourists and locals alike) promenade down River Road, to view the harbor, the ships and have a drink/dinner/or purchase souvenirs.

Savannah 

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is a beautiful city, that has an American revolutionary, civil war era feel about it and George Washington did actually sleep in a few places here, or so the plaques say. The city is easily navigable with a grid pattern of streets that are interspersed with 22 park like squares. The squares honor historical figures who supported, fought and/or contributed to the south - the trees are old and huge with the Spanish moss hanging from their branches.

Savannah city's architecture and historic buildings are well kept and interesting, likely due to the Savannah College of Art and Design who own many of them. The college also owns most of the older hotels (1960-1980) that are used as dormitories and two movie theaters used to showcase students films and art. What a great campus for a college.

Shripper in Doboy Sound - can you see Mr. Gump?

After three days we left Savannah and traveled down the ICW to Doboy Sound, preparing for an offshore sail to Daytona Beach. The ICW itself holds its own stresses without the need of crazy boaters who pass you too close, too fast and in the narrowest of channels – and of course the chart plotters that lead you one way but the buoys say something different, which to choose, which to pick? I now just practice the 'close your eyes and go trick” that I so often did while driving in Toronto...just kidding, really, just kidding.

Roger

Doboy Sound is an easy access the ocean and/or ICW depending upon your whereabouts. It was a beautiful evening and we left the shore behind as the sun went down – Reboot and HOBOII sailed to Jacksonville and we continued south to St Augustine, where we flew into the harbor with an east wind blowing up standing waves, shoals on either side and a very narrow channel – once through we breathed a little easier. And for awhile, all was peaceful on the ICW...until we grounded not once but twice in the same place. Our plotter showed us on land but our boat was in the middle of the channel, the channel had silted up in this curved part of the ICW and well, we just stopped. Thank goodness we are a sailboat and there was a wind blowing – we basically sailed ourselves over the silted area to deeper water. Happy to be over the hump, so to speak – we ended up in the Palm Coast and spent the night at the Hammock Beach Marina, which was so nice and inexpensive, we stayed an extra night. Mostly to recuperate from the night sail and the ICW, and well they had a pool and a gym and laundry....

said pool....

Yesterday we arrived in Daytona Beach and as we motored past the Memorial Bridge we got a call on the VHF from our friends Diane and Richard, who were on shore waiting for us. What a wonderful welcome! We sailed with Richard and Diane on Cap Oceane from Quebec City to the Magdalene Islands - it had been awhile since we had seen them and were looking forward to spending time with them here in Daytona. They left their boat in Quebec City and traveled down in their RV to spend part of the winter in Florida.

Will let you know about our adventures with Cap Oceane in the next blog.


P.S. currently we are wearing shorts... yeah!

Travelling the ICW

We left Morehead City a few days ago and decided to follow the ICW to Cape Fear.  We are currently anchored in Wrightsville, NC and tomorrow we will stop in Southport.  That puts us south of Cape Fear with a chance to head out to open ocean bound for Savannah, Georgia.  After two days on the ICW, I am ready for some open ocean.

Many of you already have some experience with the "ditch", so this post will not shock or dismay you, but read on if you care to read about a typical experience on this well-used and historic waterway.

Picture this: about 30 boats of various shapes and sizes setting in a 1.5 knot current towards a lift bridge that won't open for about 20 minutes.  The fleet stretches back over a mile from the bridge.  Off to river left, a sailboat is aground with 3 feet of hull showing and being held from falling over by a tow boat until the tide rises.  All the boats still afloat are each facing a different direction and either moving upstream or downstream going either forward or backward.  The channel is only about 200 feet across, probably less.  Spacing between boats is down to feet, and every head on every helmsperson is swiveling like a spastic barn owl.

By some divine intervention, with no loss of life, limb or gelcoat,  the bridge opens and a less-than-orderly procession of boats passes under the bridge.  Downstream, on the other side of the bridge there are a few boats waiting in the river to go upstream.  They are clearly unaware that it is November and the world has tilted to pour boats southward.  To make matters worse, the channel on the other side of the bridge is even narrower because there are marina docks on either side, so now you have boats crossing from one side of the channel to get to the other side.  Let me summarize - 30 boats pouring through a narrow lift bridge, running a dock gauntlet through hovering boats waiting to go upstream.

But it gets worse.  It is approaching low tide, which is why the current is running strong.  Just beyond the marina on port side, about a 100 yards from the bridge is Motts Channel which under normal circumstances takes you to a bay in front of Wrightsville where there is an anchorage.  Under THESE circumstances, however, the water is too shallow so the first sailboat that turns in runs aground and twists across the mouth of the channel.  It was a Catalina 36 from Montreal; he held up his hands at shoulder level and shrugged helplessly as REBOOT and us passed astern with inches to spare.  I had just given a two-whistle blast of my air horn (put one on your boat if you don't have one yet) to indicate to a large power boat that I was going to cut across him and that there was little he or I could do about it.

I was feeling pretty good about dodging the power boat and the shipwreck.  But the good times passed pretty quickly because I was following REBOOT too closely and he abruptly ran out of deep water and did a bat turn about one boat length past the shipwreck - we were sitting in that one boat length.  Again, another miracle occurred because neither of us collided with a) each other b) other boats transiting up and down the channel and c) the ship wreck.  We completed the 180 and followed HOBO II who wisely didn't follow us into hell and continued down the ICW.  As it turned out, about a half mile down, there was another channel that lead to the same anchorage. We took it and here we sit.

Earlier that day, we did see something pretty cool: a kite festival in Wrightsville.  Here is a picture taken from the ICW.

Flying whales and other surreal sea creatures

Branko

A Year Ago Today

I woke up this morning and asked Maggie what we were doing exactly one year ago.  We were not sure, but we figured that we were probably getting ready to or already covering the boat with shrink-wrap plastic.  We had not had any snow by that point, so it was a matter of getting ready for the big chill.  We were probably trying to get the Webasto furnace working, so that we could heat the boat and have hot water for washing the dishes.  That was a big job, and I thought I would never get it working.

One year later,  the furnace has worked without a hitch (I shouldn't have said that because I just jinxed myself), and there is no winter in sight.  In fact, I am sitting in a rocking chair at the nearby marina, having an ice cold beer that cost me $1.61, and wondering whether or not I am going to get a sunburn if I don't move into the shade.  I decided to take a chance on the sunburn as a tribute all our friends in the frigid north ... and I will have another beer.

The last couple of weeks have been a pleasant change in routine for us.  After racing south from Nova Scotia, we have moved far less and spent more time in one spot relaxing and doing some small maintenance jobs on the boat.  That will change shortly once we meet up with our boat buddies tomorrow.  Then we will continue to work our way south to the Keys, but at a leisurely pace.

Well, I did not have much to say because nothing much has happened, but November 1st seemed like an auspicious date to report.  So, I will leave you with this thought:  no matter what is going on where you are, the sun is shining - somewhere.

Branko