Heading south once again
Tue Nov 1st 2022 (330 nm; 2 days, 2 nights) - Departed Salt Ponds marina in Virginia for first leg down south with our buddy boat Free Indeed and many other vessels, all captains taking advantage of a favorable weather window. Great to be on the move again. Our accomplishments over the summer were many; Muti feels faster through the water after getting her new bottom paint; our repaired code 0 sail looks amazing again, and the engines are running smoothly. We are so much more comfortable taking this trip now than in January last year; our confidence level is exponentially higher, both in our abilities and Muti’s capability. We have learnt a tremendous amount after traveling 2000+ nautical miles since purchasing Muti. Gerda has been like a sponge absorbing everything nautical from a base of zero, she now reads charts, plans our passages, pilots the vessel under sail and engine, confidently stands watch through the isolated midnight through dawn hours. However she has yet to start the dinghy motor!
Our dawn trip started with a submarine encounter. They warned us repeatedly over ratio not to get within 500 feet of their vessel otherwise the consequences would be dire; we stayed well away. This was a 2 day, 2 night passage to Wrightsville Beach, NC. The first night watch is always difficult as we haven’t yet established a rhythm for our watches, we are both wide awake and exhausted at the same time. After that life is infinitely better with our sleep patterns sorted. We motor sailed the first leg of the passage, as a NE wind kicking in on the second day, we turned off the engines and sailed to Wrightsville Beach. By the end of the passage the wind was gusting 30kns, we had 2 reefs in the main, and 40% jib. Normally we are trying to coax as much speed as possible but during this trip we were trying throttle Muti down, not as easy as one imagines. And through this all Gerda was not seasick! She has found the magic drug! (Is it ‘shrooms?) And the number of fish Rob caught? Zero. We will be eating more chicken - fortunately Gerda does the provisioning disregarding Rob’s energetic promotion of his fishing prowess.
Accompanying an armada of sailing vessels around Cape Hatteras; safety in numbers is definitely a psychological crutch.
Sun Nov 13th 2022 (150nm; 26hrs) - Left for Charleston, SC. Rough and fast overnight trip, very bumpy.
Mon Nov 14th 2022 - Arrived at Charleston Harbor Marina. Spent 4 days catching up with friends and sightseeing in the quaint city, very charming. Rob found a pub on the waters edge where we met Jason of The Wynns YouTube fame; he has a very appealing humorous streak and is much funnier in real life. The resident marina dolphins entertained us; they swim up and down the marina docks fishing and are way more successful than Rob.
Fri Nov 18th 2022 (75 nm; 13hrs) - Departed for an over nighter to Savannah GA. The wind started off light and variable allowing us to hoist our big sail, the code 0. It’s a lovely sail when flying but we are still learning to furl it when the wind picks up, currently it’s an exercise fraught with mishaps. We ghosted along at 4 knots, a pleasant change from our previous rambunctious passages.
Sat Nov 19th 2022 - Anchored inside the Wilmington River. Gerda found a super anchorage, very quiet and remote in the backwaters of old Georgia marshland. A couple of fisherman passed by and of course the obligatory dolphin. They are becoming like zebra on a safari, the first day one is excited to see them but after that they are just ‘whoop whoop’.
Sun Nov 20th 2022 - Motored up the river to Isle of Hope marina; pleasant enough. Great to get off Muti and walk. The town is very pretty, swimming in southern charm, homes are so quaint with all their wraparound verandas. Biggest perk, they have loaner cars!
Mon Nov 28th 2022 - Left for Brunswick, where we will leave the boat for our Xmas trip back to SA.
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