Position Report #2:
Current time:
6:10 pm, June 9, 2012
Current position:
North 30d 45.76′ West 81d 28.44′
Miles traveled:
7.6 nautical miles
Vessel status:
Anchored…..
A blog we follow (Zero to Cruising, see the link in the side bar) recently
wrote about the most difficult maneuver to perform on a sailboat, “The 180
Degree Turn.” After days of being stuck in Fernandina and Cumberland with
the weather, the stars were starting to align. I was getting a series of
favorable forecasts to facilitate our offshore run. The winds would be
clocking around from the northeast to the southeast throughout the day, so
we didn’t need to leave until late afternoon. The thunderstorms would be
behind us at that point, and we’d only experience some light rain and
moderate winds. So we went into town one last time, gave our $15 bike to
charity, checked out the “Goin’ Coastal BBQ Cook-Off” and put the dinghy on
deck.
Halfway out the St. Mary’s channel we decided that while the forecast may
have looked good, the actual conditions were much different. We were
experiencing 20 knot winds with gusts to 25. Not too bad, but the problem
was the wind was still north of east, which meant we would have been tight
on the wind as we sailed (i.e. miserable and wet.) In addition, the Sirius
Weather was showing a line of nasty thunderstorms that was coming north, not
south like predicted, which would throw some thunderstorms into the mix as
we fought our way to windward up the coast. The final straw was the outgoing
tide opposing the wind that was stacking waves through the long St. Mary’s
entrance. When we plowed through a series of three tight eight footers and
we hadn’t even reached the end of the breakwater, I knew it was time for our
“180 degree turn.” Now we’re anchored at Cumberland Island, and we’re going
to let the storms pass this evening (hopefully they’ll finally get out of
here.)
Tomorrow morning we head NORTH. Whether it’s through the ICW or the ocean…
we don’t know yet, but luckily we’re flexible.