Last night we anchored on the Great Wicomico River. It wasn’t because we
wanted to, but the wind and cold conspired together to encourage us to pull
over. Rather than taking one long day to go from Deltaville to Solomons, we
decided to break it up into two days. (Actually, we more of “negotiated” it
with the weather forecast.)

When we left Norfolk on Monday morning it was sunny, 70 degrees, and we had
a nice light breeze behind us. We motored along and sometimes we unfurled
the genoa to let it pull us along when the winds were strong enough to help.
But that afternoon we knew things would be changing. We pulled into Fishing
Bay on the Piankatank River near Deltaville, VA just as the wind clocked
around from the south to the northwest and some rain arrived.

The next morning in Fishing Bay it was supposed to be blowing, but the
weather was calm, albeit cold. We quickly decided to get going and enjoyed
sunshine and some light winds until noon. We debated continuing on to
Solomons, but soon after we anchored on the Great Wicomico in the early
afternoon the wind shifted again to the northwest and increased. (Since
we’re heading northwest, we’re trying to avoid northwest winds, they’re
directly on our bow and very cold.)

Hopefully today we can reach Solomons, and eventually home by this weekend.
Since it’s cold and the winds are against us, we’re not traveling at night.
We’re used to traversing the Bay in a day or two when there is good weather,
so taking 5 days seems excruciatingly slow.

Add that to our previous 6 days in the ICW and I’m simply wishing I could
click my heels together and be home!

Heading north from Charleston we enjoyed the South Carolina low country but after we cleared Myrtle Beach the ICW became an intricate path of unmarked shoals and shifting sand bars. We ran aground 3 times in the channel but were able to free ourselves each time. The last time we ran aground I called Towboat US to ask where the channel was but they didn’t know. The Coast Guard called me and described where to find the channel, which was strange because I was aground in that exact spot…. After that point our trip became nerve-wracking, constantly watching the depth sounder to see if the channel was meandering, trying to visually reconcile how sand might have shifted during the winter storms. (It didn’t help that we were heading north so early that maintenance crews hadn’t had time to dredge the areas or shift channel markers to better indicate the shoaling.)

It’s well known that this stretch is a problem area. The numerous inlets and shallow bays lead to the shoaling, and that’s why we’ve always skipped it in the past. In fact, dating back to our first journey on JV, (just after we bought her in Wrightsville Beach, NC) we’ve always skipped this portion of the ICW. Counting a journey on a friend’s boat, that’s 5 times we’ve gone outside, versus this one time on the inside. In the future, I’ll continue to use the stretch from Norfolk to Morehead City, but I’d have to think long and hard about ever continuing south from Morehead City inside.

At long last we finally anchored in Norfolk on Easter evening. For Easter dinner Sabrina prepared ham, asparagus, potatoes, and had carrot cake ready for dessert. We fueled up the next morning and it felt great as we motored out into wide open expanse of Chesapeake Bay. Even dodging cargo carriers and tug boats on our way out of Norfolk was better than puzzling over un-known shoals.

I have come to the conclusion that ICW doesn’t stand for Intracoastal Waterway, but instead I Can’t Wait (to get out of here!)

Now, I understand you might be confused about why we’re excited. We often talk about hitting speeds over 8 knots, or sailing along at 7+ for a few hours in good wind. But to maintain that speed for 3 days was unheard of for us! Most offshore monohull cruisers would say that when planning a passage they assume they’ll travel 150 nm every 24 hours. That 150 nm is an easy number to remember and comes out to an average of 6.25 knots. (And to be truthful, we rarely average that fast if we’re on a multi-day passage.) On the other hand, offshore monohull racers approach 600 nm in a day in the Volvo Ocean Race, so everything is relative.

It’s a give and take, we want calm weather, good winds, a comfortable sea state, and a stable boat. That typically means that we’ll sacrifice speed for boat stability while underway. In addition, our weather window is typically picked to provide a safe sail, not necessarily a fast one. But, Sunday morning on the 17th from midnight till 3:30 a.m. I was on watch and we were running in the Gulf Stream with 30 knots of wind singing through the rigging. The seas were calm, and I had a double reef in the poled out genoa as we regularly topped 11.5 knots! The Spot track states that we covered 31.3 nm in that 3.5 hours, an average of 8.94 knots!

When we tied up in Beaufort, NC on Friday afternoon after several days in the ICW, we realized we had left the Bahamas one week earlier. It was great to make that fast trip, but the temperature difference was a little shocking to our systems. Now that JV has had a week of rest here, we hope that it’s warmer as we head north again.

Our 537 nm path shown in green

]]> http://svjointventure.com/2013/03/speed/feed/ 0 http://svjointventure.com/2013/03/housekeeping/ http://svjointventure.com/2013/03/housekeeping/#comments Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:37:43 +0000 Brad http://svjointventure.com/?p=2949 Continue reading »]]> [I think I finally fixed that pesky link between the blog and my facebook account. I know some folks just follow the blog through facebook, so I wanted to post the missed blogs here just to keep things orderly. So, while I continue to work on the post that summarizes our trip north in the Gulf Stream, enjoy these recent blog posts.]

Some photos from our when our friends Sean and Shannon visited: Guest Shots

Time to leave Georgetown: Heading Home

An update from our trip north up the Exumas: Update from the Passage North

Photos from our time in Georgetown: Spring Training

Talking about getting ready for the trip to the USA: Staged and Ready

It was so calm in the Gulf Stream that I was able to post while underway: Steaming in the Stream

On St. Patrick’s Day I was lucky and landed a yellowfin tuna: My White Whale

Currently the boat is safe Beaufort, NC at a friend of a friend’s dock. Our new friend Julian had just pulled his boat to get ready for spring and our friend Glen from Havre de Grace put us in touch with him.  The cruising community is great, and I hope we can repay the favor to Julian sometime in the future when he sets out.

JV resting after a long trip from the Bahamas

On St. Patrick’s Day we had just had a spirited sail overnight in the Gulf Stream. As the sun came up the winds died and we began to motor. It was a lot calmer, so I decided it was time to fish, and I decided that the only lures worth running on St. Patrick’s Day would have to be green. I dropped four lines back and waited. About 5 hours later I was in the cabin getting lunch when Sabrina yelled that there was a fish on!

When I got on deck I noticed something was different. I didn’t want to jinx it, but normally a mahi would be jumping above the water. This fish dove deep and he was fighting hard. I stayed on the rod, fighting and keeping tension while Sabrina cleared lines and prepared for the fish to come aboard.

Minutes later my suspicions were confirmed when I saw the tuna materialize from the deep. There were a few suspenseful moments while we hoisted him aboard, but after that I could breathe again and we began to celebrate. Shortly thereafter I had him cleaned and chilling in the freezer. The wind picked up later that afternoon, so it wasn’t a good idea to start waving sharp knives to make sushi, but the next evening we had a magnificent spread.

That first night for dinner we had sushi, sashimi, and hand rolls. Then I made “Spicy Tuna Nachos” from some of the trimmings for lunch (thanks Myron and Dena for the idea.) For dinner the second night we had the largest loin seared and still cold in the middle. Even after all that there are still two loins remaining in the freezer for later (as it got cold in the ICW we switched to heartier, hot meals.)

The tuna was as great as I’ve ever dreamed. As I sliced sushi that first night I was eating it straight off the knife, and I don’t even like fish!  Finally landing a tuna was a great end to our fishing while cruising, I consider it the luck of the Irish!

[I'll have more on the rest of the trip later, but I wanted to get these photos up while we had access to internet tonight.]

Our start was wet, but fast. We had great sailing as we headed east, but we
knew the winds would be dying throughout the day. Late that afternoon the
boat speed varied between 4 and 7 knots, but we still averaged 6 nm every
hour. At 9 that evening though, the wind finally died for good. Since then
we’ve been motoring.

So far the only fish I landed was a small barracuda that I caught in deep
water just north of the Berry Islands yesterday afternoon while Sabrina
napped. Shortly after I threw him back, I watched a 4′ cow mahi dart in with
her tail half out of the water and leaving a wake. She attacked my squid,
hooked up, and jumped twice before she shook loose. It was an awesome sight
to watch and a beautiful fish – but I wasn’t too sad to lose her. I’m
getting really tired of mahi! (I know it’s crazy, but what I really want to
catch while fishing is a dozen spicy garlic buffalo wings, with maybe a
draft beer, mmmm….)

We established a watch schedule based largely upon my favorite shows on our
XM radio. I wanted to be up for the St. Patrick’s Day edition of “Celtic
Crush” this morning from 7 till 10 on “The Spectrum,” Channel 28 (it’s my
favorite show and Sabrina’s not as much of a fan.) So we decided I’d take
3:00-7:00 p.m., Sabrina would do 7:00-11:00, and so forth for 11-3, 3-7,
7-11, etc. We were both able to sleep during our first off watch, something
that doesn’t normally happen on the first day of passage. I attribute our
ability to fall to sleep to our two early mornings on Thursday and Friday.

Friday night we were motoring through the North East Providence Channel
which leads to Nassau and the Caribbean. I think every cruise ship in the
Florida fleet was heading out that way (or heading back.) It looked like a
boat parade extending from horizon to horizon. After we turned towards Grand
Bahama the cruise ships were replaced by tankers heading into Freeport. All
in all, it was the busiest traffic night we’ve ever seen, and we’ve been
past some busy ports in our travels. (Side note: Our AIS receiver was
indispensable in this situation, and I highly recommend AIS to all boaters
that travel at night.)

We’re now steaming north in the Gulf Stream trying to reach the forecasted
winds that are to the north of us. Hopefully we can catch them soon, or
we’re going to have to pull over earlier than we wanted to take on diesel.

While we would always wish to be sailing, the calm seas and gentle swell
have been relaxing. I’m typing this email in the cockpit, and I had the time
this morning to make spam and eggs for breakfast. Sabrina was able to whip
up chicken enchiladas for dinner, and Nermal will get to play on deck until
dark tonight.

Gotta run, right now I need to switch out some fishing lures, what brings in
buffalo wings again?

After our busy Tuesday, yesterday we moved to Spanish Wells to fill up on
diesel and spend our last five Bahamian dollars on groceries. That afternoon
we prepared the boat for passage, Sabrina worked on food preparation while I
reviewed weather and charts. We also started to relax and rest before we do
these next couple overnights.

This morning I awoke at 5:00 when some stronger winds started to blow from
the north. Moments later I jumped out of bed as I saw lights moving outside!
A boat had dragged past us in Royal Island Harbour, luckily the boats missed
(like ships passing in the night?) and their anchor caught before they ended
up on shore. We stayed up to make sure everything was fine and then began
our day. The early morning wake-up call was actually a good thing, we want
to leave tomorrow morning at 5:00, so now we’re kind of on that schedule.

Early this afternoon we dinghied over to talk to the nice folks that had
dragged anchor to make sure everything was okay. They keep their boat near
us on the Chesapeake Bay and knew Minx, (I’m beginning to think all knitters
know each other somehow.) Later their friends from another boat came over,
and they also keep their boat near us. It was great to reminisce about back
home and all the fun places on the Bay.

After our afternoon visit it was time to stow the dink and batten down the
hatches. We then moved outside of Royal Island Harbour so we wouldn’t have
to navigate the exit in the dark. Now we’re quickly finishing up odd jobs
and planning for an early bed time.

Tomorrow we plan to sail past West End and then turn north with the Gulf
Stream. The winds will be light on Saturday, but we’re hoping to catch the
tail end of some wind further north on Sunday. Be sure to follow along on
the Spot and see where we end up!

Our new friends Austin and Jeremy were racing their boat, Fernweh, in the “Around Stocking Island Race” on Saturday March 2nd and allowed me to crew for them. They were both experienced racers, so I jumped at the chance to pick up some pointers. Sabrina didn’t want to race, but agreed to be the photographer in the chase boat. The race was very close, and we narrowly lost to our friends on “Friends Z” by 11 seconds on corrected time after 18 miles of racing! Unfortunately the race course favored the larger boats that day, and the 11 second difference was to decide who took 4th place in our division….

During all this fun, our freezer decided to stop working. While lamenting this issue to our friends Myron and Dena on Hold Fast, Myron mentioned that he had gauges and refrigerant to get things running again. I jumped at his offer, and Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon we worked to get the unit vacuumed and recharged. Myron definitely had the know-how and on Sunday the freezer was back to working great. It will probably need more work when we get home, but for now it’s freezing all the fresh fish we catch, and that’s a wonderful thing. (Thank you again Myron and Dena, can’t wait to see you when you come through the Chesapeake this summer!) 

On Sunday night the moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived, it was time for the annual softball game! I originally went to the first practice with Stretch weeks before, then Chris and I practiced while we waited for weather to leave the harbor. Now the practices were finally going to pay off and the “Cruisers” would take on the local Bahamian team. The event is played under the lights, and is more entertainment than a sporting event. (It’s like going to a Harlem Globetrotters game, but the Bahamians play the Globetrotters and the Cruisers are the Washington Generals, we get stomped year after year.)

I have to admit, playing softball under the lights was a rather surreal evening. The locals had striped the field and provided us with matching t-shirts. Walking into the outfield I thought of “Field of Dreams” but instead of a corn field, we were playing softball on sand and scrub brush. (We even had my new friend Wes playing barefoot, our very own “Shoeless Joe.”) There was a strong wind blowing out to left field, and at my second at-bat I hit a line drive that carried over the left field fence for a home run. It was the only cruiser homer that night and the place went wild. Most of our team rounded the bases with me before celebrating at home plate. The Bahamians didn’t celebrate as raucously when they hit home runs, I think it would have worn them out, they were consistently pounding it over the fence.

Unfortunately, the weather Sunday night for the game was cold and blustery. Strangely, it didn’t hurt the crowd much, I was amazed at the number of folks that came out. Sabrina couldn’t make it though, she was still cleaning up the freezer debacle and sorting through the food that had spoiled. (I also think she secretly didn’t want to sit in the stands in the cold while it threatened rain.)

Tuesday was the second race of the sailboat regatta, the “In-Harbor Race.” Fernweh was busy picking up a guest that morning, so I literally “jumped ship” and ended up racing with other friends, Logan and Caroline, on their boat “Gemini.” We had a blast racing in the light winds. Logan was an experienced racer and we worked Gemini hard to the finish line where we took 2nd. Fernweh ended up racing also, and even took 3rd place in their division in that race. (They joked that I was holding them back in the previous race.)

That night we all met up at the awards ceremony and celebrated the race. (We didn’t attend the previous awards ceremony, the winds that night were blowing too hard to make it an enjoyable dinghy ride to the party.)

During all of these activities we were still playing beach volleyball in the mornings with folks that we had met during our time in Georgetown. The culmination of all that practice was the 4-on-4 regulation volleyball tournament on Wednesday, March 6th. Unfortunately, we weren’t on teams (remember, we thought we’d be long gone before the tourney) but Sabrina got on a team due to dropout due to illness. She had supported my racing and softball, so I dutifully watched the games and cheered on her team while heckling our friends. Sabrina’s team finished with a “perfect” record, but didn’t place in the top three…. at least they had a good time on the courts in the beautiful weather that day.

Throughout the hectic schedule of the regatta events we still found time to go hear live music, attend bonfires, hang out at dinghy raft-ups, eat dinner with old friends, and hang out with new friends. Though as the days wore on the talks shifted from, “What’s going on tomorrow?” to “When do you think the weather is going to change?” Most everyone we were hanging out with was trying to head north, and all of us were stuck in Georgetown longer than we planned.

At least we can say we made the best of a bad situation, I can’t think of a better place to wait for weather than Georgetown during the Cruising Regatta.

Finally the winds were starting to swing, and yesterday looked like a great
day to leave Georgetown. Unfortunately, the huge winter storm that recently
moved across the USA was creating a large NE ocean swell headed for the
Bahamas. Sunday looked bad for the swell, so we pushed up our departure a
day to Saturday to try to beat the swell and escape to the bank side of the
Exumas.

We were motoring out of Georgetown Saturday morning when I started to smell
diesel. I quickly investigated and discovered a leak in the diesel return
line. We made an immediate 180 and dropped the hook in a nearby anchorage.
What I thought was a split diesel fuel line turned out to be a loose
fitting. After a second opinion from our friend Myron on Hold Fast I removed
and inspected the fitting for cracks and then tightened things back down.
The leak was fixed, so we were back under way (2 hours later than we
wanted….)

While I worked on the diesel engine, Sabrina took the dinghy into shore and
hiked to the ocean side to check out the sea-state. After she returned she
prepared the dinghy for passage and we took the time to get the outboard on
the rail. On our way out of Conch Cay Cut, the anchor got a wonderful
washing as we repeatedly buried the bow into the steep swells.

Saturday while heading north we were tight on the wind (it would have been
better on Sunday) but we were able to sail till mid-afternoon when we
finally had to start the engine to make sure we could transit Cave Cay cut
with enough daylight to see obstructions. It worked out well, after we
started the engine we managed to reel in a 4′ mahi, followed by a 3′ and a
30 incher. We took pity on the 30″ mahi and released him, the two larger
ones would provide us with plenty of food for the trip home.

Running the cut turned out to be fairly easy, and we found a suitable
anchorage near Cave Cay for the night. Sunday morning we awoke and tried to
figure out Daylight Saving Time and how it affected the tide tables. After
adjusting our watches and the chartplotters, we sailed off the anchor and
enjoyed beautiful winds to Shroud Cay. As we passed Galliot Cut we could see
breaking waves across the entire cut as the tide opposed the wind and swell.
We were very happy that we decided to reach the bank side of the Exumas on
Saturday.

This morning we left Shroud Cay with a forecast of diminishing winds
throughout the day. We had 65 nautical miles or so to cover, so we thought
we might have to motor in the afternoon to arrive into Royal Island Harbour
before dark. Thankfully the winds never diminished, we even had to reef the
genoa at one point when we were seeing 25 knots apparent! We raced up the
bank side from Shroud Cay to Royal Island, averaging well over 7 knots for
the trip, (occasionally hitting 9 knots in gusts.)

Our very fast trip meant that we arrived in Royal Island well in time for
cocktail hour. As we unwound and prepared for dinner we heard a boat
announce on the VHF that they had news regarding crossing to the Abacos. We
had already abandoned crossing tomorrow due to the reported swell, but we
thought it might be good news so we followed the VHF traffic. The boat
announcing had just called Troy at Dive Guana (the local BASRA
representative.) He urged all boats to stay off the water, reporting all
cuts into the Abacos as un-passable, and even said they had to rescue two
boats today!

With that report it made our decision that much easier. We’ll wait till the
swell subsides later this week and keep an eye on the winds to continue our
trip.

Until then, we’re 150 nm closer to home, ready for the next jump.

I haven’t had a chance yet to write about the fun of Cruiser’s Regatta – from a softball game under the lights, to the 4-on-4 volleyball tournament, to two separate sailboat races – but I’ll get the photos together and post them the next time we find good wifi. (And yes, we’ve been busy filling our time while we waited for weather.)

Last night we said our goodbyes to our friends, some we’ll see again soon as our paths cross on the way north and some we hope to see this summer when they pass through the Chesapeake. Others are heading south, and we wished them well on their journeys.

We’ve had a great time in Georgetown this winter, but now it’s time to head home. Follow along on the Spot!