Beaufort Sailing March 9th 2014

It was great to get the East Coast lady back in the water. 4 weeks is too long. I actually started to get depressed, but "finally" they set her back in.

A lot of work got done A short list looks like this.

Haulout and pressure wash

2 Coat bottom paint

New Zinc anode

New Garmin Echo 50s GPS

New Standard Horizon GX-2200 AIS,GPS, VHF Radio.

Rebuild 6 thru-hulls and replace the poo out valve 1 1/2"  Bronze seacock

Sunday Sailing 

Wow!

That’s how I would summarize the day we had ailing this past Sunday. Wow.!

We left the dock at Port Royal around 10:30 or 11:am and headed north toward the City of Beaufort. We only got 1000 yards before I gave the order to raise the mainsail. The winds were off the nose and light. The tide was against us as we motor-sailed.We were still able to get a smooth 5 knots with the new bottom paint.

In the hopes to tack up wind and up current, I gave the order to Hoist the 115% headsail.

It did help some but not enough to shut down the iron jenny."Diesel Engine" We continued to the downtown bridge and turned back south. My good friend said “Never seen Beaufort from the water before” I said “want to buzz the waterfront? He said sure lets do it. So I turn her hard over and headed straight for the dockage at the waterfront. I got around 100 feet or so from the concrete sea wall and cruised the full length of the waterfront area.

We then turned south again and headed back towards the Broad river, but this time the wind had picked up a little. As we made the next 5 miles or so the wind got stronger and stronger. By the time we got back to Port Royal at the harbor in front of the Hilton Head Island Yacht club, the wind had grew to a respectable 11 to 17 knots. We had a great time.We decided to stay in this 7 mile stretch of the bay because the wind was here. My friend Chris was drinking dark and stormy. I had some Heineken, Debbie had her Smirnoff but poor Michelle had no alcohol to drink. In the coming video you will see all of us having a good time.                      This summer will be a great year sailing. I am excited to get the sails in the wind. This being the 3 year of the dream, I have to have some offshore work done and some overnights trips to keep my promise to myself .My promise to myself was that in the summer of 2018, Debbie and I would be skilled, Equipped,Trained and ready for extended cruising the ICW or the "DITCH" as some call it.
     We sailed 66 miles this past Sunday. There were 28 tacks and 5 Jibes.One of the Jibes was unintentional and could have been dangerous. It's these little mishaps on a cruising boat that have to be experienced to be hard wired into memory. All I can say is I was down below relieving myself and had left the helm in capable hands. We had a fantastic experiance. Please make a commitment to get out on the water this summer. Get your family out into nature. If boating aint your thing thats o.k go fishing, Biking, Hiking, Go stargazing.Do somthing to get the kids out from infront of the t.v and other media trash. Make a commitment to "LIVE" this summer like its your last day. Don't just exist. 

Enjoy the video and come sailing with us.
 We would love to have you.

Capt, Debbie, and Curt