At Last, Under Sail!

Today was the day we were waiting for since Friday! It wasn't perfect, but it was really great. It was a cold morning, in and out of the boat, but we managed to getup at first light and got breakfast. We took a while at breakfast, but we weren't in a hurry. We pulled up both anchors and got underway.We still had yet to make a decision about whether or not to go back down the ICW or go back to Charleston the ocean route.

We motored down through McClellanville to take in the sights. It is a nice spot to go through on the water. It is a town that makes its living from the sea, and the working craft outnumber the pleasure craft here. We have been through here before, but I never get tired of seeing it.

While motoring through we were listening to the Coast Guard weather reports. Although the skies were fair, and the temperature was considerably warmer, there were gale force wind warnings in effect. Caution seemed to be in order, and we opted to head back down the ICW.

The good news was, once we got going down the channel, the winds were in a perfect position to allow us to raise our sails and navigate the narrow confines of the ICW under sail. It was a bit of a challenge, but good experience for boat handing. Bob also performed the amazing feat of changing out the jib sheet while actually flying the jib!

It was a good bit of quiet solitude letting the wind drive us southward. We saw the occasional boat out there as well, and I like to think that we inspired our fellow sailors in the ICW to raise their sails try the winds as well.

Alternating between motor and sail,we made good time on our southward cruise back to Charleston. But the real excitement was yet to come.

Once we hit a point in the Waterway where channel was not  quite so constrained, we determined that it was time to fly the spinnaker! It is a sail the we do not get to use nearly enough. You need a certain amount of wind going in the right direction to use. It is a big, colorful, fun to use sail that can really show off a boat. One doesn't really get the full visual effect when viewing from ones on boat, but when the wind fills it, the speed difference is more than apparent. We had a great time putting this sail to its proper use, until we closed on the Ben Sawyer Memorial Bridge. At that time, we had to take it down so that we could better approach the drawbridge. Fortunately, we time our approach well so that we did not have to wait 45 minutes for an opening (like we did on Saturday). After that, it was an uneventful trip back to the marina. We were tied up just after five when the sun was setting.

We hustled to get the boat unloaded of our gear and unused food, and found we had time for a quick trip to the Gin Joint for a round of drinks and appetizers before dinner. Overall a good trip. And we acheived our goal of testing the chain plates! We hope that the weather has not soured John on sailing with the Wafflers!

Sun Sets Over McClellanville

Readers will note that a day has been skipped on this voyage. Truth be told,wind and freezing rain sucked out any desire to do any writing. But let me back up a bit...

Friday night at anchor was cold and windy, We were able to stave off the cold, though, with the help of s portable generator that enabled us to run heat on the boat. It was a warm feeling sleeping below under the covers while the wind howled outside. But morning came soon enough, and decisions needed to be made.

We checked the updated weather, and had a quick pow-wow on what we were going do. The weather, it turned out, was going to get worse instead of better, as initially forecast. We knew we could not make Beaufort, and would have a long, hard day to get to our next anchorage. OR, we could go back to Charleston, and spend an evening in comfort at the Greaves' residence. It was a pretty easy call to make.

Foul weather gear was donned, and the anchor was raised. We were underway quickly.  The wind was biting, and it was cold sitting at the helm, even bundled up in gear. It wasn't raining, though. I remember that because Bob was sitting in the cockpit with me, and said "Well, at least it's not raining!"  That was shortly before the rain started.

We got back to Charleston by lunchtime, and got our gear off in record time, and beat it to Fuel in Charleston (great food and great service). We also did a trip to the liquor store for supplies. and anchorage the previous night, there was much discussion about the proper ingredients for a "Dark and Stormy". John was pretty insistent that Gosslings Black Run be used, so we needed to acquire that. We were fortunate that Ronda did not turn us away at the door, and we had a pleasant evening in conversation and enjoyed a nice steak dinner.

This is a good group to sit around and chat with. There is a great diversity among the group, and the conversation is always good.

We knew today's weather was to improve, so we made a plan to set out for McClellanville and anchorage, and then a return sail on Monday. We were out of the house before 9 AM to get an early start to make our goal. The parking lot at Ashley Harbor Marina was well flooded, and all of our boots were, of course, still on the boat. So we stripped down to bare feet, and waded our gear over to the dock and on to the Black Dog. We loaded the boat back with our gear and some jambalaya pre-made by Bill. While disconnecting shore power, we noticed some boaters in trouble, and hustled over to assist.

One of the great things about the boating community is that everyone helps each other. We had noticed that a 34 foot Legacy Grand Banks was being forced into the dock and and another boat by the current. We were able to assist them with a little muscle, physically pushing them away and providing some steering direction. They were very grateful, and we felt good helping.

Once we got underway, we a tense moment at the St John's Island Connector. Normally, we slide under it quite comfortably. Today, however, the weather had added considerably to the high tide, and we inched our way up to it, until we were sure we could clear the bridge. We made it,but just. Once we cleared that and made it to Charleston Harbor, we ran the jib out for  great sail across the harbor to the the ICW. It was a great pleasure to be under sail, even for a bit.

It is a nice scenic stretch on the ICW from Charleston to McClellanville, and aside from concerns about water depth at low tide, it was a pleasant motor to where we dropped a hook near Town Creek.

Both anchors were set as the sun dropped and we settled in to a pleasant evening aboard. We were all set with good food, good drink, and great storytelling. Bob and John are long time friends, and Bill and I are enjoying stories about the wild times, and of course we have stories to tell John about Black Dog adventures.

Tomorrow, we will need to come to a decision about returning to Charleston by sea, or by ICW. The weather offshore will be a factor, but a short blue water cruise could be in order. Fingers crossed!

Shakedown Cruise!

 The chain plates are done,the Wafflers ave converged on Charleston for a shakedown cruise. Of course in true Waffler fashion, we picked the coldest, rainiest weekend we could. We haven't actually gotten to sail yet, bur we got out.

We got up early, but it took a while to finally get moving. We did a quick trip to ... you guessed it ... West Marine. After that is was breakfast and a provisioning trip to the local Harris Teeter. Thus being well stocked, we headed back to Bob's house for the purpose of getting the dinghy back to the Black Dog. One person needed to motor the dinghy about three miles back to the boat. The general consensus was that Bob should test his own patch job, so we sent Bob off with the dinghy and we went to load the boat.

A short while later, with the dinghy stowed on the davit and the provisions taken aboard, we set out from our slip the fuel doc for some diesel. The temperature was cold, but undaunted, we headed south down the ICW (intra-coastal waterway). Heavy winds and high seas prevented any off-shore activity, so we motored south, towards are eventual anchorage off of Edisto Island. Somewhere along the way the rain came. Dropping anchor was challenging because the windlass seems to not want to work.So we will have to raise the anchor by hand tomorrow. Fortunately, we are not in a rush.

Once we securely anchored, we holed up in the main cabin to try to get warm, no easy task. The cabin temperature started at 54 degrees, but has crept up now that we have closed everything up. Of course Bill did the cooking, and we had a nice hot dinner. It should be noted that we are joined on this trip by John Keena, Bob's  long time friend and overall good guy. We are all enjoying some post dinner chat and cocktails. We can hear the wind whipping up, but we are comfortable down here. We will see what tomorrow brings...