TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

April 28, 2008

And we’re off! We left Windmill Harbour about 1:00 on the 27^th, headed for Beaufort. Seems as though we spent two weeks of constant working, getting ready to leave, shopping and stocking the boat, making sure all systems were working, and finally shining up the condo, which we have once again put on the market. Maybe three’s the charm!!! We had an uneventful trip to Beaufort and made great time with an outgoing tide down Port Royal Sound and the head sail out. I think we made the trip in less than 4 hours. We docked without incident (always a good thing), had dinner at Luther’s, and settled in for the night-pretty tired after all the preparation work. Our boat has so much stuff on it, I’m sure it looks like it’s sinking. However, the cat is absent this trip-safely in Duluth with daughter Ann. I’m sure she’s much happier, even with granddaughter Kathryn loudly proclaiming she’s a “CAT” whenever she sees her.

Around 3:00 a.m. the wind picked up to a howl. That coupled with a dockmate’s wind generator, kept us up until about 4:30 a.m. when the wind finally lay down. It’s always a transition getting back on the boat after months on dry land. We’re doing pretty well adjusting to the small space, marina bathrooms, and unpredictable weather. We left the Downtown Marina a little before 10:00 in time for the half hour swing bridge opening . We passed through without incident and Bill has assured me that there won’t be as many bridges on our trip north. The weather is cloudy with 80% chance of rain, but fortunately we had only a few sprinkles on the way up. We are safely anchored in Tom’s Creek about half way between Beaufort and Charleston. Now the rain is coming down steadily, but we are grateful we were able to anchor and get settled before the rains set in. The weather report for the rest of the week is great.

Oh, I have to tell you that the Christine II and her evil sister are lashed on the deck. Bill sprayed both bikes with some kind of marine rust inhibitor, which offended them so much, that both bikes squeak and squeal whenever the brakes are applied. Christine also inflicted pain on Bill as he was assembling her. I’ve stayed as far away from both as possible, with the exception of riding the evil sister and howling with laughter whenever I applied the brakes. Bill just scowls—somehow he doesn’t find it amusing. Our neighbor said now we don’t need a little bicycle bell as everyone will know we’re approaching.

We’re headed for Charleston tomorrow, where I’ll send this once we get in cell phone range again. Guess Alltel doesn’t have a network that follows you everywhere on the intercoastal.