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!