It’s early afternoon on Tuesday and we are about  130 natuical miles from Ft Pierce inlet.  I say it’sTuesday but to be truthful, I had to get out a calendar and take a look to  be sure.  While we are only into our third day at sea, calendars and the rest of the world for that matter, seem very far away.   If I wasn’t keeping a log of our progress each hour, I would have a great deal of difficulty in keeping track of exactly how long we have been out.   It all sort of a blur, a warm, sticky, salty blur.

With water views in all directions, we might as well be a month from port, or a few hours.

The last 24 hours were challenging with winds peaking at over 40kts, something that I have not seen outside of brief thunderstorms.  It’s pretty impressive how much the waves build after just a few hours of strong winds.  Fortunately, we were heading with the wind so the waves, some over 15′ tall, were passing under us, even if they often broke nearby.  Sometimes,  they broke off fo the transom and washed somewhat under the transom door and wet the feet of anyone standing at the helm.   Going with the waves was dramatic, to go against them, terrifying.

While it’s good to have wind behind us, Pandora can only go just so fast, around 9.5 to 10kts, so any additional wind and seas just pile up on her and make her work hard to stay heading in a straight line.

When we left Beaufort on Sunday we were running off the wind with our full main and genoa unfurled.  As of last night we were down to just a third reef in the main and no head sail at all.  We had doused the genoa, put out the smaller jib. Then we put a reef into the main, then a second and finally a third.  And, even with only a main with three reefs about 10% of our sail area presented to the wind we were still pushing along as much as 10kts and sometimes even in the low 11s.

I had a third reef put into the main when the sail was built but had never used it.  I am very glad that we rigged it in Beaufort as without it, we would have been in a tough spot.  Much more wind than the 40s we saw and we would have had to run along with the sails furled and just the mast and rigging to propel her.   With anything more than the triple reefed main and we would have had just too much sail to be safe given the sea state.  It was really more about the seas, more than the wind that made conditions difficult.   When I was up on the deck putting in the 3rd reef last evening, it took over 30 minutes to put it in place and crank down the sail because we were bucking around so much.

And, with all that wind and big seas, the autopilot had to work very hard to keep us on track.  As a result, we used up a lot of battery power which has made it necessary to run the engine to charge things back up several times.   At this time of year the sun just isn’t high enough in the sky for the solar panels to do much good.

While there are no meaningful leaks in Pandora, the level of humidity is stifling down below now that the weather has warmed up and with all the salt water being flung every which way, the salt spray has gotten into everything.  Earlier this morning, while I was on watch,  a wave hit the side of the boat and flung a huge amount of spray, no, make that hundreds of gallons of water at the boat, with a good amount washing under the dodger and into the cockpit.  At times there was water running all over the deck and you could see it flush over the deck hatches like a river.   The cockpit is quite salty and while I’d love to give it a rinse, I expect that the effect would be very short lived.

Yesterday, when the wind and seas were building we were treated to show by a school of dolphins, perhaps  a dozen, that played around Pandora for hours.   Every few moments, for hours on end, one or more of these amazing creatures would shoot up along side Pandora and leap completely free of the water, sometimes corkscrewing in the air on their way back down.   It was fun to see them in the waves as they piled up behind us which made the dolphins higher than we were in the face of the wave, for a time, as the waves rolled along.
We have traveled over 400nm since leaving Beaufort and are now almost 80% there.   If we keep up our current boat speed of a bit more than 7kts, we should arrive in Ft Pierce tomorrow morning.   My flight doesn’t leave until Saturday so that will give me a few days to clean her up so she will be ready for me and Brenda to rejoin her in mid January.

Speaking of “cleaning”.  It’s just amazing how much salt has gotten below on the boat, tracked in on boots and foul weather gear.  The cabin sole is completely salty and I will need to wipe down every interior surface to remove the spray.   Besides, some mildew had been appearing here and there so a good wiping with vinegar will straighten things up.

I am so glad that we didn’t do laundry prior to leaving Beaufort as everything is now salty, blankets and all, and will need a good washing prior to be ready for proper habitation.

Being a bit of a clean freak, all of this grime is a bit tough for me to take and I will be happy when things are back in order.
You’d think that with nothing to do but drive the boat 24 hours a day, that there would be nothing to do.  In fact, with all of the tasks of keeping her moving along with cleaning up spills, cooking and trying to get some sleep, there is little time for anything else.

So, here I am at 1:30 in the afternoon just finding time to pen this post.

As much as I enjoy sailing, I can’t wait to get to a dock so I can clean things up, especially me.  Can you say sticky, no make that “megasticky”?  Did I say that it’s hot and sticky?

When I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, about our plans to head offshore from Beaufort NC to Ft Pierce this week, he said that we would run into what he likes to say are “salty” conditions.

Well, it’s Monday morning, we’ve been out a nearly 30 hours and he wasn’t lying…

The seas are in the 10′ range with some much larger and Pandora has been speeding along, often at 8+ kts since yesterday afternoon.  With winds solidly in the 20s and gusting into the low 30s at times, it has been keeping us on our toes.    The autopilot keeps us on track pretty well but when we get a 30+kt gust, sometimes we have to take over and hand steer.  This means that whoever is on watch has to keep a very careful eye on the wind speed and direction.

The wind has been from the north which means we are on a run or broad reach with the wind coming from behind us.  That does make the wind seem less strong but makes steering somewhat tricky.  Last night, as things really piped up, we found ourselves being pushed off course enough several times to suffer unexpected jibes.  That wasn’t good as it put major stress on the rig.  Fortunately, nothing major broke and we are still moving along nicely.  We are now steering a more conservative course and things are much more controlled.

I spoke with Chris Parker earlier today on the SSB radio and he reported that the forecast isn’t going to change in the next few days so it seems that we will continue to move right along with brisk northeries and significant seas.  He does expect that the wind will shft to a more easterly direction as we head down the Florida Coast on late Tuesdayand early Wednesday and he doesn’t expect that the wind strength will diminish.  Me, I could do with a little less wind. Right now we are running nearly 8kts with only a double reefed main.   That’s not a lot of sail. Along with the brisk winds we should expect that the seas will continue to build so we are in for a  bit of an “exciting” and yes, “salty” run as we continue down the coast.

All and all, however, it’s good to be sailing and it sure beats motoring into the wind.  Yes, a silver lining.  And, no major broken gear.  Fingers crossed that it will stay that way.

We did break the line on our preventer last night when we jibed but it was probably too light a line anyway.   At one point I had to go up on deck last night and underestimated how wet it was.  Oops… I got completely soaked and had to shower before I got into bed.  Not good.  One set, of only a very few, clean and dry clothes are now in a damp heap.  I won’t make that mistake again.

Yesterday, as when I was coming down the Jersey coast earlier in October, we had a feathered visitor.  A sparrow size bird landed on Pandora and hung out for a while.  I had to wonder what the little guy would have done if we hadn’t happened by at the right time.  It’s likely that some, perhaps a lot, of birds perish in the ocean when they get lost on their migration south and north again.
It’s also been fun watching the dolphins jump and play around Pandora as we race along heading south.  With regularity the come up on our stern and you can see them in the water as the waves pile up behind us, and sometimes they seem to be higher than I am standing in the cockpit.  After zooming toward us,  they race along side and cross our bow.  This activity is repeated over and over again.  It looks like they are having a great time.  And, as if to give us a show, they sometimes jump clear out of the water, just feet from Pandora.  The rough conditions don’t seem to bother them at all.

In the first 24 hours we covered just over 180 miles, a very respectable distance indeed.  There aren’t many cruising boats in our size range that can boast 24 hour speeds like this.  There was a time when very few boats of any size could boast anywhere near 200 mile per day but now, with the extreme racers, distances more than twice ours, and sometimes a lot more, in a 24 hour period are possible.  However, for cruising boats, not many can make this sort of time.

I stood the 04:00 to 08:00 watch this morning and a number of times I saw speeds on the knot meter in excess of 10kts.  That’s moving.    Our average speed since leaving the dock yesterday morning is 7.6kts.  To be honest, I’d be happy with a little less speed and a little less “salty” conditions.   Fast is good but not particularly comfortable.  Oh well.

I do hope that conditions hold and that the wind doesn’t move too far toward an easterly or southeasterly direction so that we can continue to sail the whole way.  If things do get nasty we can always pull in and run down the ICW for the last bit once we are in FL waters.

I guess that’s about all I have to say today.   Here’s hoping that we continue to make time.  More to come.

It’s Sunday late morning and we are romping along nicely under sail with a brisk NW wind on our starboard quarter.   Pandora performs particularly well under these conditions and she has already proven herself by running past a somewhat larger sailboat on the same track, leaving it on the horizon behind us after just a few hours.   It is so satisfying to be faster than most other boats on a long ocean passage where the difference in speed of only a few knots can make a trip days shorter on a long run.   On a run of say, 1,000 miles, the difference in that the run will time if we can make 7.5kts, verses 5.5kts, is 5 ― days verses 7 ―, days.  That’s a big difference.    Me, I’ll take the 5 ― day passage.

With about 20kts of wind on our stern, we are under full sail and moving along at between eight and nine knots through the water, a very respectable speed, for sure.   I am hopeful that we can keep our average speed in the mid 7s or low 8s for this run.  Fingers crossed.

Last night, the wind shifted from the south after the front that left us with several days of rain passed by.   Our plan was to leave Beaufort after the wind shifted to the north, a favorable direction for sailing south and one where it’s forecasted to stayfor the next few days.  If things continue as expected, we should be able to continue to make good time all the way to Florida.   I expect that we will have to motor for the last day on our way down the FL coast as the wind is expected to veer toward the east/south east, and drop to about 5kts by the time we get there.

Yesterday afternoon, after the rain finally stopped, we moved Pandora from a mooring to a dock in town so we could take on water and fuel.  Brenda left that morning to drive home so it’s me and my two crew members, Bob and John, who are with me taking Pandora south.
Bob is skipper of The Abby, a much larger sailboat that I helped deliver from Nassau to Norwalk CT two years ago, my first trip north under sail.  That was good experience for me and to have him aboard for our run south is great.  John, who lives near us in CT is a very experienced sailor too and has done this run many times.

Yesterday, after moving onto the dock, we spent several hours getting everything in shape for the offshore run.  This included deflating the dink and lashing it onto the deck between the mast and dodger along with ensuring that all gear was properly stowed and secured for the run.  It’s not a good idea to have the dink in the davits when we are offshore as if things get nasty the dink can work itself loose and cause all sorts of mischief.  Besides, in the event that we run into trouble, the easiest way to launch the life raft is through the transom door and that can’t be opened easily when the dink is in the davits off the stern of Pandora.

In keeping with the ongoing saga of technical issues that we have faced on this trip, I have been concerned with a turnbuckle on the aft wire stay (one of the wires that hold up the mast) that had become corroded.  Given the fact that the standing rigging is only a few years old, to see the corrosion was particular cause for concern.  After speaking with some folks that I know on another boat visiting Beaufort, I decided that something had to be done to ensure that we would not find ourself in rough conditions and loose the rig from a gear failure.

With this in mind, I contacted a local rigger who came out to the boat yesterday to review things.   As expected, he agreed that there was a real risk in leaving port with the backstay in it’s current condition.  After much discussion, we decided to set up a supplemental backup stay of high tech rope (Spectra), a soft grey rope/line that is actually stronger than steel and easy to put in place.  We rigged up a double strand of ž” line running from the starboard stern turnbuckle, up through the roller on the main stay and  back to the turnbuckle on the port quarter, in essence, setting up a “sister” stay to double the current suspect stay.  In the event that the suspect stay breaks, the Spectra “sister” stay will hold up the rig.  It’s really tough to imagine that a piece of line that is so soft to the touch is actually as strong, or stronger, than steel.   I’d like to think that the stay in question won’t break, but I am not inclined to take any chances.   Besides, I am pretty confident that loosing the mast in heavy winds and seas would not be fun, make that “double not fun”.  Happily, I haven’t had first hand experince on that score.  Let’s hope I can keep up my lucky streak.

The source of my concern with the back stay was a rusty spot called “crevice corrosion” where the wire was attached to the turnbuckle, a problem that can easily lead to the loss of the rig, or worse.   When a boat is being run offshore, you can’t be too careful  so anything suspect needs to be addressed immediately.   I am certainly glad that I was able to find a rigger that would come to the boat on short notice.

All seems to be in good order now so let’s hope that nothing breaks.  Given the fact that we are going to be moving in conditions that Chris Parker, the weather router, calls “salty” for this trip, we want to be sure that everything is in perfect working order.
Along with dealing with the suspect back stay, we also rigged the third reef in the main.   This is a very deep reef that cuts the amount of sail area dramatically in the main.  If we should find ourselves in winds in the 35 knot range, something that could happen on this trip, I had a third reef sewn into the sail when it was constructed but have never used it.  So, yesterday we rigged lines and shackles in place so that we can easily pull the sail down to the third reef if needed.   The third reef cuts down the rig by more than 2/3s.  In this condition the main sail is quite small and that, combined with my storm jib would put Pandora in good shape to handle really “salty” conditions.   Storm sails, like a life raft, are the sorts of gear you want to have on board and hope you will never use.

So far, so good and our current course will take us to our first turning point off of Frying Pan Shoals, an aptly named point with very shallow waters off of the coast about 90 NM (nautical miles) from the entrance of Beaufort.  At that point we will head toward another waypoint just west of the western wall of the Gulf Stream which will keep us inshore of the strong northerly running current of The Stream.    The Gulf Stream is a great “conveyor belt” of water that makes for a fast run north but you want to stay out of it when going south.

If you are inclined to plot our plans on a chart, the first coordinates we will point toward after rounding Frying Pan are 32.00.00N Latitude and 79.20.00W Longitude, approximately.   After that we will have another imaginary point to go to, 31.20.00N, 80.00.00W and then 30.00.00N, 80.30.00W that should allow us to continue south without messing with the adverse currents of The Stream.   Any further east of these waypoints, and we would find ourselves fighting a nasty current that runs several knots against us.  And, with north winds opposing these currents, big and sharp waves.   Those conditions would be totally “unfun”.

It will be interesting to see if Chris’s coordinates are right.  Only time will tell.

Sorry, no pictures in this post as I sent this to my son Christoper via e-mail on the SSB long range radio.    This technology is very slow and not suited to big files.   Perhaps in Monday’s post I will include one small photo.

So far, so good, as Pandora romps along on the third leg of our trip south to Florida in preparation for Brenda’s and my run to The Bahamas in late January.

It’s late Friday night, nearly midnight and I am waiting for my crew to arrive.  Bob and John have driven nearly all day from Norwalk CT to Beaufort NC.  I can’t believe that they are still on the road and the day is nearly over.

I feel badly that they have had such a long day and even worse that I will be picking them up in the dink at the dock and schlepping them out into the night where Pandora is moored.

We had planned to bring Pandora into the dock today so that it would be easier to get them on board but decided against it at the last minute as the wind was really honking and blowing right onto the dock.  Yes, we could have done it but I wasn’t into excitement first thing this AM and the easier decision was to just stay put.  Now that Bob and John are about to arrive, I do wish that I had taken a slip. I expect that I will get some teasing.  Oh well.

As the day wore on today I was able to go shopping for provisions, specifically for fresh food and meals that will be easy to prepare underway.   Brenda helped me to make a list of meals for the trip and I am hopeful that the guys will be happy with what I have in store for them.

The weather forecast for the next few days is a bit uncertain, as is so often the case.  There is a front coming through tonight and tomorrow which will shift the winds from the south to the north, a favorable direction for our run south.  The bad news is that the winds will be quite strong, in the high 20s with gusts that are even higher.   Worse is that as we get further south, toward Florida, we will see stronger winds that will begin to shift to the east.  That means that the winds will become less favorable and will be stronger than I would like.

When I spoke with Chris Parker, the weather router, earlier today, he suggested that our best option would probably be to stop in St Mary’s on the Fl/GA border to wait a few days for more favorable winds to make it down the FL coast.  He feels that we will be able to carry fair winds to the FL boarder but after that, not so good.  The problem is that we will be heading on a more S/SE course once we are in FL than we will have for the NC/SC/GA leg that will have more favorable winds.  A complicating factor in all of this is that we have to stay fairly close to shore to avoid the contrary northerly flow of the Gulf Stream.  On the way north, the Stream is our friend, not so on the way south.  This means that we can not carry a straight course for FL but will have to head SW with the coastline and then begin to shift to a more southerly and then SE course as we get closer to Florida.

In any event, time will tell as to what the winds will do.  For now, it looks like we may be able to leave later on Saturday afternoon or perhaps on Sunday morning.

One rub that has gotten into the mix is that I have a fitting on the back stay that looks somewhat questionable and I have asked a rigger to come down to the boat on Saturday morning to take a look at it and probably replace it.  I had all of the standing rigging replaced just a few years ago but one particular fitting on the end of the back stay looks corroded and might not be safe for offshore work.   With this in mind, I am having it addressed in the morning, as soon as the rain begins to moderate.

I normally don’t have much in the way of technical issues with Pandora and it seems like this trip has been full of fun (not) details that have had to be addressed,  I sure hope that the worst of these is behind me for now.  Unlike the issues related to the engine work, I can’t blame this on them.  I guess that there must have been a bad fitting used by the rigger a few years ago.  Who knows.

I will know more in the AM.  Fingers crossed that we won’t be totally dumped on with rain and that the rigger can get to me early.   I sure hope that this won’t delay our departure.  Fingers crossed.

For now, I am getting a bit pooped and can’t wait to hit the rack.  Sleepy…

It’s Thursday morning, the sun is just peaking over the horizon and it’s Halloween. Speaking of Halloween, it seems a bit odd to me, as it did last year, to be aboard for a holiday that is largely ignored by the sailing community.  In years gone by, this holiday was a big deal for us and our boys.  Now, hardly a ripple.  Times change.

However, for some it seems, dressing up in costume is a big part of their lives and Halloween is just one more excuse to head into overdrive and really dress up.  I heard that after Christmas, Halloween is the second most “decorated” holiday. I believe it.  One particular group that I expect falls into that category of “decorated” for Halloween are the folks that live aboard a pint size “pirate ship” here in the harbor.  Celebrating pirates is very popular with all sorts of festivals, dressing up as swashbucklers (the friendly type) doesn’t become less important as they age.  

In any event, here’s a shot of Beaufort’s own pirate family lair.  And, believe it or not, I think it’s a live-aboard pirate ship.  No part time pirating for these swabbies. They even have a lookout on board.  No, make that an ex-lookout.It will be interesting to see what other sorts of “seasonally adjusted” evil doers we will encounter today.

On our run to Oriental the other day, we shared the channel with a barge and tow. We tend to think of the ICW as being for pleasure boats, but other than in the Dismal Swamp, there is plenty of commercial traffic.  As they say, “objects in the mirror are closer than they appear”.  Brenda didn’t want to steer as we s-l-o-w-l-y. passed this tug and tow.  Pretty big. There are more sailboats than power on the ICW and you very occasionally see a beautiful classic.  I expect that the guy on the bow is not a lowly crew member. He certainly looks the part of “owner”. Speaking of classics, this was one of two Chesapeake oyster buy boats that passed us.  Very pretty.  Shrimping is big business here in the warm shallow inland waters of the bay and the shrimp boats are in abundance.  I find it hard to believe that they can get a decent buck for their catch when competing with the farm raised variety from Asia, even if they taste better.  We have seen shrimp boats in various ports. How about a sunrise over the fleet in Oriental?Sometimes, if you ask nicely, you can buy seafood from a commercial boat. I Approached the owner of this one, the Lady Bella, and was able to buy a few pounds of shrimp, head and all yesterday morning.  He said that he normally only sells a minimum of 25lbs.  Too much.  Reminds me of buying a “peck” of oysters in Elizabeth City last fall.  I only wanted a dozen.  A peck?  That’s a lot of oysters. We ate the shrimp last night.  Very good.  However, I think it took more time to “head” them and peel the shell, than it took to eat dinner.  Isn’t that always the way for good cooking?It was fun to watch them unload the catch.  After being taken out of the hold they are cleaned on a conveyor belt.  After cleaning they are put in bags, boxes and plastic bins to be sent off to market. A really BIG bag of shrimp.  Big… Shrimp… Seems like a contradiction in terms.  Hmm…Big or shrimpy, that’s a lot of shrimp.  Getting my two pounds, which turned into about two plus pounds, cost me $10.  A lot of shrimp for the price.  Of course, with heads on, there was a lot of waste but still a bargain.  Brenda didn’t like looking at them with their heads on.  Looked to much like a “living thing”.  “Are you sure the are dead?”  

Speaking of shrimp boats, how about these two rafted together, Redemption and Forgiven.  I expect that the know each other.   “Forgiven calling Redemption. This is Forgiven looking for Redemption”.   They found each other, Praise The Lord!  Yesterday we headed from Oriental NC for the 20 mile run to Beaufort.  Speaking of Oriental, as I logged into my site to begin this post, I realized that I had not published my last post.  Not sure how that happened as I though I had but it was still in draft form.  Alas, two posts in the same day.  Not really, the unpublished work of Pandora… The lost post… Not exactly.

In coming here from Oriental yesterday, it was flat calm, just like it’s been for some time.  However, Chris Parker, the weather router we use, says that’s all about to change when a cold front comes through later in the week.  The big question is just how windy it’s going to be over the weekend when I head out, with crew, to make the run to Florida, the final leg of this current delivery trip south to stage Pandora for our winter in the Bahamas.

Leg one, the run from Essex to Annapolis, earlier this month, went without incident as did the run, with Brenda, from Annapolis to here.  That’s of course, if you forget some of the “technical” issues with the engine.  And no, I still have not called the yard in Deep River that bungled the work on the engine to talk about some sort of adjustment to my bill for pain and suffering.  I am not particularly looking forward to such an “awkward” discussion.   Perhaps today.

Beaufort is one of our favorite stops on the ICW as the down-town area is very pretty with some shopping on Main Street along with scenic homes on the nearby streets.  Shopping for provisions isn’t particularly easy as the supermarket is more than a mile outside of town.  On top of that, it’s pretty clear that my starting battery is kaput and not holding a charge overnight, so a visit to West Marine or another marine supply spot is probably in order.  I’ll have to get that done prior to the arrival of my crew on Friday night.

Regarding our departure from Beaufort, that depends on when the front comes through, bringing with it brisk northerly winds, something that we will need if we are going to make a fast run south.  And, another question is just how “brisk” the winds will be and how long they will last prior to shifting back to a more southerly direction.  I am happy with “strong” winds, a relative term, when they are from aft but am not thrilled with the thought of strong winds and seas if we are beating into them.  I should be able to learn more from Chris Parker in the next few days.

One of the downsides of using crew for a run like this, is that they inevitably have schedules and have to be home by a particular date.  And, having a deadline makes for problems as you might find yourself heading out when it’s not a particularly good idea, or worse.  It is often said that the most dangerous piece of equipment on a boat is a calendar.  Needing to be somewhere by a particular date can cause all sorts of problems.   Oh well, perhaps we will get lucky and get symmetry between calendar and schedules.

Well, crew is arriving on Friday night, late and we will have to see how things develop.  Here’s hoping that like today, our trip south to Florida will be more treat than trick.

Happy Halloween!