Relaxing in Jacksonville

Everyone has had just the best time over the last few days with Gayle and Cameron in and around Jacksonville.

Dulcinea at St Augustine Marina

We left the boat on the mooring at St Augustine and Gayle picked us up at the weekend as planned.  Gayle has two lovely nieces, Sara and Lacy, and they took the kids almost immediately whisking them off to a local amusement park.   Gayle, Nic and I then went to the local Yacht club to have dinner and watch the sun go down.  The club is in the grounds of a place that used to be owned by DuPont.  It was very extravagant - huge grounds and buildings.  We sat in the bar and relaxed with a beer and some food catching up with Gayle.

The concert was next.  It was held in a local theatre in Jacksonville so the crowd was not too big.  It was an amazing show and anyone out there who gets the chance to go and see Eddie Vedder should take it.  He was alone on stage most of the time with just a selection of guitars, mandolins and ukuleles but the sound was awesome.  He also had a great rappor with the crowd and chatted a lot.  All in all a really entertaining show which was all the more enjoyable given that its the first time we have been out to an event in about 6 months.

The next few days we borrowed Gayle’s car and ran a lot of errands while Gayle or Sara and Lacy looked after Sam and Calley.  It was great - the kids did not want to shop with us so they enjoyed either hanging out at Gayle’s place or visiting local attractions and we could move around a lot quicker.  On the Monday, Calley went into Cameron’s school to meet his classmates and talk about the trip.  Gayle was with her and said she did an awesome job.  She was standing up in front  of the class explaining what we were doing, the route, the boat etc and then answering questions.  The kids were just amazed at her stories and really interested in what she had been doing.  Must say thanks again to Gayle for organising and to Mrs Weaver, Cameron and class for making Calley feel so welcome.

Calley and Cameron at school

Sara, Lacy and kids at Alligator Farm

While the kids were having fun, Nic and I were trying to complete a lot of shopping.  We are getting close to the time when we will be leaving the US and that means leaving the convenience of getting whatever we need, whenever we need it.  Honestly the US is incredible in terms of the stuff that is available - if not immediately then certainly overnight or within a few days.  We decided to stock up on dry food as much as possible and so armed with a store card borrowed from Gayle and a full wallet we visited Costco and got enough food to fill a Volvo SUV.  I had ideas of spreadsheets listing out consumption per person per day corrected for ambient temperature and mood but instead we just wandered around grabbing items.  Nic would say “how many of these do you think” holding up a 2kg bag of flour, I would take a stab in the dark “ooh four or five” and then after going back and forth for a few minutes like an auction we would settle on a random number hopefully somewhere near to what we need.  So we will either be starving halfway across the Pacific or be setting up a food shop when we get back.  I actually think we have got enough dry goods for around six months and will need to stock up again in Pananma but some things should last us longer.

Some of the provisions

While we were out and about we picked up various outstanding gear for the boat as well.  We had already ordered most of the spares but there is always something else and undoubtedly we will end up forgetting lots.  There are the obvious things like engine spares but then also need light bulbs for every different type of light, consumables like oil, transmission fluid, filter elements etc, everyday items like printer cartridges and batteries, cruising guides, tools for all fasteners etc, etc.  The list goes on and on.  On the fun side we also got a kayak and a stand up paddleboard as toys for the boat.  Hope these will give the kids and us some fun and exercise.

Although the shopping was a bit of an ordeal, the loading of the boat was even worse.  We shifted the boat into a slip at the marina and then started moving all the food from Gayle’s house.  It was a big job as we had to load the car, then unload the car and load the trolleys, then push the trolleys out the jetties, then load it onto the boat, then carry it down below and then store it away in various recesses.  Eventually everything was stowed away but its hardly in seaman like fashion.  Again I was envisaging lists detailing exactly where every item was cross referenced with a schematic of the boat.  What we have got is food jammed in where it would fit.  Plan is to unpack it all in the Bahamas and do an inventory. Thats the plan anyway!

On deck we had to find a place for the kayak.  Almost as soon as it was onboard I started cursing it  for being in the way.  The only good place for it is in the water but during transits we will stow it either lashed on the rail forward or across the stern.  Nothing is ideal.  The paddleboard is inflatable and so not so much of a problem.

After stowing all the gear Nic and I went for dinner and a wander around St Augustine.  The night was really pleasant  and we found a simple outdoor restaurant to eat at.  The town is really pretty as you can see from the photos below.  By the way, there are people there but we took these early in the morning.

St Augustine

Old city Gates St Augustine

On Wednesday afternoon we said our goodbyes to Gayle and sailed out through the Bridge of Lions and across the St Augustine bar.  As usual the weather had turned colder.  Its like our cue to keep heading south.  The wind had picked up from the day before but had some west in it which made the passage across the bar ,while still rough, nowhere near what it had been during the entrance a few days before.  We set a course for Cape Canaveral with a good Northerly blowing.  The sea was still pretty rough which made for an uncomfortable ride but with 20kts of wind we were off Cape Canaveral by early morning and moored in yet another marina by 0900.

We have a few things to do here, the first being a surprise visit for Calley to see Winter the dolphin at Clearwater Marine Park.  He is the one from the film “A Dolphin Tail” about the dolphin which gets an artificial tail fitted.  Calley was really taken with the film so she should be really excited.  Also trying to catch up with friends Nina and Walt in Bradenton.

Finally a huge thank you to Gayle, Cameron, Sara and Lacy.  We all had such a great time and really enjoyed  our stay in Jacksonville.  Hope we will catch up again sometime, somewhere - Galapagos?

The Broach

Next leg of the journey completed and we are sitting in a mooring in St Augustine at the northern part of Florida just across the state border from Georgia.  

We had an interesting sail with Gayle and Cameron from Charleston.  Great wind but wrong direction.  It was blowing 20 to 25kts from the North and we were headed south.  Ended up leaving early in the morning and putting in a couple of big tacks out to sea to eventually make our course but taking a bit longer.  We sailed overnight which has become a bit easier and into the next day.  In the morning it was clear that we were not going to make St Augustine so we made a decision to pull into a place called Fernandina Beach for the second night.  We anchored up and Gayle and Cameron departed as they had Thanksgiving commitments.  The next day we sailed the remainder of the way to St Augustine, about 50 NM.  This proved to be probably the hardest leg yet.

Gayle and Cameron sailing

We knew it was still blowing but the wind was still from the North so were not too worried.  Again the route was basically due south and so had to tack.  We got out and set a genoa only as the wind was howling.  The sea was pretty unsettled - an underlying swell with short steep wind waves - which together with only the single headsail made the motion of the boat pretty uncomfortable.  Lots of rolling.  At St Augustine there is a channel in from offshore and it has sand bars on either side.  The buoyage is not marked on the chart because the sands shift all the time and so they have to reposition the buoys.  The more I looked at this the more nervous I became especially with the confused sea that was running at the time.  It was breaking over the sand bars and making it very difficult to see the buoys.  In addition the depth and width of the channel was difficult to ascertain.  As we drew nearer to the entrance it looked more and more daunting due to the sea that was running in and breaking over the sand bars.

We lined up the first mark which we spotted and started in.  Nic was in the cockpit with the binoculas trying to spot the channel marks.  The boat was pitching and rolling and we were trying to keep an eye on the seas breaking around us and the instruments.  We looked OK when Nic spotted the next mark and we were out of the channel.  As we corrected the depth sounder recorded zero and so we did an immediate 180 degree turn and motored back out to sea to reassess.

We held station just off the channel for about half and hour while we talked to the marina and a guy from a company called Sea Tow to get some local knowledge on running the bar.  There was no real choice for us as the next nearest larger port was either 30 miles into a 25kt wind or 100 miles south and we did not want to just heave to in this weather for the night as the next day was forecast to be similar.

We made the second approach to the start of the bar and lined up the first mark and started motoring in.  Nic had a good visual on the buoys but to make it even more interesting the sun was at a point where its reflection was making sighting them difficult.  We kept motoring in and seemed to be going well until a breaking wave caught us.  I believe that the way to run these bars is to have sufficient speed to keep in front of the waves but in our boat we do not have the turn of speed and besides given the uncertainty with the depth I wanted to take it easy.  As a result we are exposed at certain times.  A wave was breaking and it caught our starboard stern.  I have no idea how big it was but it picked up the stern of the boat and started driving us down the wave face making the boat tip over to port to an alarming degree.  At the same time the bow of the boat skewed up to starboard as it attempted to escape the face of the wave.  I believe the sailing term is a broach.  Nic screamed from the cockpit and I saw her struggling to hang on to the dodger with her feet braced on the cockpit table.  I was hanging onto the wheel trying to too get the bow pointing back to port.  Within an instant the boat righted itself and we got back on course - everyone was shaken but OK.  Nic had a bad scrape on her shin and Calley had a bruise on her arm from when she fell out of bed but luckily that was the extent of the damage.

We continued in through the bar,  got hit one more time by another wave but not as bad and then suddenly we were through and were in flat water.  That is one of the most amazing things about boating.  You can be in the middle of a maelstrom one moment and then the next you are sitting at anchor or in the bar leaning back on your chair sipping a beer.

We were now in this small bay and proceeded down a marked channel towards the towm of St Augustine.  There is a bascule bridge which spans the entrance to the inner harbour so we had to wait for the bridge to open before transiting and picking up our mooring.  Once we got secured we sat down, opened a beer and let out a big sigh of relief.  It was a very dicey moment for us and the closest we have come to real damage.  Nic was a bit shaken up but the kids were OK.  The boat had handled it amazingly well.  Every day we sail in the boat it reassures us more.  Even in the extreme motion we had experienced nothing major had come loose or let go down below.

St Augustine is the oldest European settlement in the US.  It was settled in the 1500’s by the Spanish but was later taken over by the British.  Its a really nice town.  We went ashore the next day after more schoolwork in the morning and had a look around.  It was as if we had changed countries.  The weather was beautiful and the town has Spanish influenced architecture.  There are lots of old houses and narrow cobbled streets with small shops lining each side.  At one end of the historic area is an old Fort in excellent condition called Castillo de San Marco which guards the entrance to the inner harbour.   There are other ruins around the town which add to its character.  Some of the streets have small squares with fountains in them.

Relieved Crew onshore

Castillo San Marco

Calley enjoying the sunshine

We wandered around for a few hours in the afternoon just enjoying the ambiance of the town and the beautiful sunshine.  We walked out to the fort and sat on the walls overlooking the channel into the bay and thought about yesterday.  What a difference.  The kids ran around on the grass glad to be off the boat for a while.  It was a really relaxing afternoon.

Our plan for the next few days is to sit here and catch up with Gayle.  We also want to do some provisioning of the boat and buy some spares etc.  We have a new microwave coming also that needs to be installed.  Of course we have the schoolwork to do.  Nic and I are off to a concert tonight with Gayle to see Eddie Vedder who is playing in nearby Jacksonville.  Gayle has organised sitters for the kids.

Modern message in a bottle

We seem to be getting stuck in one place more and more often recently.  It seems that when we pull into a marina we tend to stay longer.  When we are anchoring overnight its easy to pull the anchor in the morning and get going.  Also when we are in the marinas life seems to be a lot more hectic - there is always things to do like shopping, schooling, laundry etc.  Its like we are back in the real world for a spell.  At anchor we are still in the cruising mode.  Also the cost of staying ion the marinas is substantially more.  When we were in Maine we went for a period of about 6 weeks without going into a marina but now we can't get away from them.

We are still in Charleston and the lovely weather we had on our arrival has deserted us.  It lasted about two days - just long enough for us to think we had cracked it - and then vanished.  So we need to continue to push on South.  We had always anticipated staying for 4 or 5 days but it will be 7 or 8 by the time we leave.  Still its been pretty good fun.

The downtown area of Charleston is beautiful.  Its very clean and the old buildings are very well preserved.  The main walking street, King Street, is lined with palm trees and is full of small boutique stores and restaurants and lots of art galleries and studios.  The place has a really great feel to it when you walk around.  We liked it so much that we bought our first painting for the boat here which shows a Charleston street scene.  Its now hanging in the guest cabin.  We spent an afternoon and evening wandering the streets on the day that the weather broke.

The next day we took a trip out to one of the old plantation homes called Boone Hall.  Its been a plantation for around 400 years and was started when Charles II was giving out land grants to “deserving” english gentry.  Obviously it used to use slaves to work the fields back in the 1700’s and all the slave cottages are still standing.  It was a really interesting tour and I think it was great for the kids to see, especially Sam who as part of his school work is reading a book on the deep south during the time of segregation and the civil rights movement.  We listened to a couple of different talks and had a tour around the plantation fields.  The plantation house itself was not as grand as we thought it would be although the interior was furnished with period furniture from the US, France and the UK and looked beautiful.  The centrepiece to Boone Hall is the driveway which is what you imagine a plantation house driveway to be.  Its must be close to 300m long and lined with  live oak trees which were planted close to 200 years ago.  The branches have all met at the top and are festooned with Spanish Moss (which, by the way as we learned is not Spanish and not a moss).  The effect is very stunning as you can see from the photo.

Driveway to Boone Hall

Boone Hall Plantation Home

The next stop was Savannah.  We hired a car and drove south into Georgia the next day.  The original intention was to sail there but there is a long river passage to get to Savannah from the Atlantic coast and limited berthing once there so taking on advice from others we decided an overland excursion was called for.  Savannah is stunning.  The city is laid out around a whole bunch of squares with statues or fountains as a centrepeice.  The historic district houses are gorgeous and full of history from the first settlers, the indians, the revolution and the civil war.  In addition its been used as a film set for numerous famous films one of which was Forrest Gump.  So its a really interesting place to just wander around.  We stayed overnight in Savannah and Nic and Scott even got to go out to dinner on their own - again - I think thats twice now since we started.

Even the downpipes in Savannah are interesting

Not sure if this is THE Forrest Gump bench but its the right square

We wish we had more time here because its such an interesting area and the people are super friendly.  Would recommend anyone holidaying in the US to visit.

We are back in Charleston now contemplating the weather and the next sail.  A friend of ours Gayle who Scott met while at Harvard is going to sail with us to just south of Jacksonville to a place called St Augustine.  Gayle lives in Jacksonville and so is driving up today to join us onboard.  She has a wee boy called Cameron and Calley is so excited at the prospect of having someone along to play with.  Unfortunately the weather is still a bit lousy - rain and wind 20 to 25kts - due to a stalled weather system.  We will be sailing overnight and may delay departure until Tuesday to hopefully get a more comfortable ride. Then Gayle has been kind enough to invite us to spend Thanksgiving with her and her family on Thursday which will be great.  We plan to stay around St Augustine for a few more days to look around and to catch an Eddie Vedder concert which we managed to snag some tickets for.

Looks like we have also nailed down our plans for X-mas primarily due to the efforts of our sister in law Diana.  We will be meeting up with Scotts family in the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas.  Diana managed to find a house with a dock outside it which is big enough to take Dulcinea.  So we now have a date and destination to aim for and look forward to.

PS  Just got Calley’s test results back and she aced it.

PPS.  Just reorganised the tools onboard the ship so they now stow on the back of the engine room door.  Just have to show you all, the results.  Graeme - take a look as you may want to incorporate something similar on your tug.

Here Comes the Sun

Sunshine Morning

Had to show the above photo first on this post.  Its about an hour after sunrise in Charleston, South Carolina and we are at the marina sitting in the cockpit in shorts and t-shirts enjoying the glorious sunshine.  Man what a difference a few hundred miles makes.  There would be a 20 deg F temperature difference from Norfolk.  We are moored in a place called Charleston Harbour Marina which when we pulled in yesterday had dolphins swimming around inside.  The marina is in a great location; downtown Charleston is only a water taxi away, the USS Yorktown, a old aircraft carrier, is parked next to the marina and we have a view of Fort Sumter which was the location of the start of the civil war.  So this is the neighbourhood for the next week.

  

Dan Meggitt 

We ended up departing Norfolk around 4pm on Wednesday (8th Nov).  It was still blowing hard and the forecasting service had advised an early morning departure but we felt confident and did not want to lose the wind too early..  Our passage crew member arrived mid afternoon.  His name is Dan Meggitt and we got in contact via a website forum.  This was the first time we had taken crew who we did not know onboard and so there was some concern as to how they would fit in.  We had got a reference but still that is only worth so much.  Am sure Dan had similar concerns about who he was to be sailing with as he had no chance to get any references or see the boat..  Turns out we had nothing to worry about.  Dan is a certified skipper and has completed a solo circumnavigation about 10 years ago onboard a 32ft  boat so sailing wise he is was more than competent but he was also a really nice guy and we all got on very well.  Dan lives in Beaufort in North Carolina so he drove up to Norfolk to join us.

Once Dan was onboard and had been shown around the boat and Nic had got her last Starbucks we headed off.  It took us about 4 hrs to motor out of the harbour, across the Chesapeake entrance into open water.  Once there we tried to set the main but the wind was almost directly behind and so it was tricky to hold our course without gybing.  We pulled down the main and set the genoa.  There was a fair sea running and so we were rolling more than was ideal but we were making 8kts so could not complain.

We rounded the Cape Hatteras Mark at around about 9 o’clock in the morning with it still blowing 20kts and set a course SW towards Charleston.  That was the hard part of the sail completed and it seemed like after that the weather just gave up.  By 8 o’clock that evening the wind had died and we had to put the engine on.  The weather stayed light for the rest of the trip which mean’t we motored for approx 36hrs to reeach Charleston around 0830 on the Sunday.  Total distance covered was approx 400NM.  This was a big milestone for us.  There are certain sections of the trip which you know are going to test you more that others and this was the biggest of those in the the US but as it turned out it wasn't as bad as we thought.  With this completed we can enjoy the remainder of the US but obviously not relax too much.

Dolphins playing in the bow wave

Dolphins playing in the bow wave

The above photos shows some dolphins which surfaced near us on day two of the trip.  There was about half a dozen of them and they swam around the boat for a bit and then played at the bow for a couple of minutes before breaking off and disappearing.  Its always great to see dolphins and especially the kids were absolutely amazed at seeing them and being so close to them at the bow.  It looked like they would roll over on their sides to get eye contact.

Having Dan onboard made such a difference.  That extra person just gave us that bit more coverage and sleep and he was really easy going.  The way we organised it was that Sam and Nic did a 4 to 8 watch, Dan drew the short straw with the 12 to 4 watch and Scott did the 8 to 12 watch.  All in all it worked pretty well.  There was overlap particularly during the day but you could get enough rest and Nic was on for breakfast and dinner time.  The first night is the worst until you get used to the routine.  Sam did great getting up for all his watches.  It was really interesting speaking to Dan about his sailing trip as much of the route we are doing is the same.  He gave us some reassurance regarding transiting the Panama Canal and crossing the Pacific.

Dan and Sam getting Fenders ready

We have decided that we will probably be looking for someone to join as crew from Panama.  Whoever it is will need to be able to stand a watch on their own and hopefully help with teaching the kids.  Thats our ideal crew member anyway, although the most important aspect is compatability.  We were really lucky with Dan.

We will spend the next few days exploring Charleston and may even range as far as Savannah before pushing onto Florida.  Not too sure if that will be another overnight sail or if we can stop overnight along the coast.  We are hoping that a friend of ours Gayle from Jacksonville will be able to join us with her small boy for that trip.

Just want to say thanks to our friends who are staying in touch by posting comments on the blog, particularly Aunt Margaret & Uncle Ian and Steve & Julie - we love hearing from you :)

Waiting at Norfolk

So we made it safely to Norfolk and are now moored at the Waterside Marina waiting for the weather to turn to allow us to head to Charleston.  From last post we had a couple more days on the water to get to Norfolk - man that Chesapeake Bay is big!  One day was sailing entirely with the wind gusting over 30kts.  We set deep reefed main and staysail and the boat was very comfortable.  We anchored once more overnight at a sheltered bay off the main Chesapeake waterway and got up the following day (Sunday), to the wind having dropped to less than 10kts forcing us to motor the final 5hrs leg into Norfolk.

I think I am right in saying that Norfolk is the centre for the US Navy.  There are a number of other key areas around the country but this is one of the, if not the, primary ports.  Here there is Norfolk itself and also Portsmouth which is across the Elizabeth River.  For all intents and purposes its one big city with the Naval base making up a large part of it.  As we lined up on Hampton Roads to enter the shipping channels an active naval vessel was coming in behind us from the Atlantic.  It was far enough away that we did not have to maneuver away but close enough to see as it steamed in behind us and then was met by tugs firing water cannon and finally as it docked at the Naval slips .  The naval ships are pretty awesome to see on the water even if you have to stay at least 500m away.  There are warships all around the docks.  Coming into the inner reaches of the harbor is a large naval dockyard with grey ship after grey ship lined up along numerous jetties jutting out into the harbor channel.   The first two ships we saw were aircraft carriers and then there are all manner of frigates, destroyers and support vessels.  It is very impressive and you can see why the US is considered the world superpower.  

We continued along the entrance channel down the river.  Norfolk is also a busy commercial port with bulk carriers and cruise liners moving around.  Its about 10 miles from the start of Hampton Roads into the marina which is located right beside the downtown area.   We motored through the various channels to get to the marina gawking at the ships lining the waterway.  It is always very interesting approaching a new city from the water.  At the marina we were directed to a berth on the outside wall of a jetty and tied up just in front of an old three masted schooner.  The marina location is fantastic and we had a look around downtown Norfolk for the first day, after some school of course.  The town was quiet but its a really pleasant place and very neat and tidy.  Believe this is where Douglas MacArthur was from.  There is also  a huge mall within walking distance so Nic is extremely happy.  We ended up at the mall and while we were in the Apple Store saw Stevie Wonder – obviously had to explain to the kids who this guy was.  Let me tell you even famous personalities get bald and put on weight as they grow old!  The Apple Stores in the states are always mobbed.  There would be twenty support staff and if you have a technical question you have to book a slot to see one of these guys.  But the whole feel of the place is like a computer club.  It is incredible how Apple have managed to foster this and it’s the same at every store we have been to. 

Norfolk Mermaids

The next day after more school we went to the Nauticus Centre which is the Naval museum here in Norfolk about 5 minutes walk away.  Great museum with loads of exhibits that interested the kids but also plenty of history on the American Navy from the Revolution to present time.  The centrepiece is the battleship Wisconsin which is just spectacular.  It has not been long decommissioned and was actively involved in the bombardments during both Gulf Wars.  One thing about the States is that the opportunities to see things like this is fantastic especially for the kids.  We finished off the day with dinner and a film – first time in a cinema since July.

Bow of the Wisconsin

AB's Sam and Calley

Kids at Nauticus

We have two days left now to see a couple more sights, to do some laundry and provisioning and get ready for the sail to Charleston.   The trip around to Charleston will be the longest consecutive leg yet at around 450Nm.  This will entail spending 3 nights out at sea.  We have decided to take on a crew member for the trip to share the load of the night watches.  It should make a huge difference.  His name is Dan Meggit and he joins us later today.  He is from Beaufort in North Carolina and seems to be pretty experienced.  Its interesting looking for crew because there is a certain dynamic that needs to work as its such a close space and I guess this is even more relevent when its a family sailing.  You just have to rely on how he sounds on the phone and any references you can get.  He would be in a similar situation though noit knowing what the baot or crew are like.  The kids especially Calley very interested in this development.  In addition to taking on crew another added precaution we have taken for this leg is to contact a weather routing service.  These guys will, for a small fee, analyse the weather and give you the optimum departure time and if necessary routing directions.  There is a storm system moving up from south so currently we are waiting for that to pass over today and should be looking at a Thursday pm or Friday am departure.  The marina if filling up with other boats waiting to do the same.

Did we mention it is bitterly cold now.  Drops to 4 deg during the night.  This was definitely not in the brochure!

Saw these two on a passing boat

Farewell Annapolis

Left Annapolis yesterday heading for Norfolk in Virginia.  Its always good to leave a place especially after being stuck there for a while.  Annapolis was a nice town - not too big and everything was close enough for us to walk to.  Interesting fact is that it was in Annapolis that Kunta Kinte from Roots fame was landed way back in the 1700's.

We tidied up the boat once the after effects of the Hurricane had subsided.  The most notable effect was the boat was covered in leaves.  It was as if we had been sailing through a forest!  It took us the best part of the day to reinstall all the deck gear but were delayed by the missing halyard for a few hours.  Both Nic and I took turns at the mast head in a bosuns chair trying to feed the messenger line down but it appeared to be getting stuck halfway down the mast somewhere because we could not see it at the bottom exit hole.  Eventually we had to give up and delay our departure for a day.

Annapolis after Sandy

Not as bad as it could have been

This is a memorial to Alex Halley - he is reading to kids who are not supposed to be swimming

It was about this point that I started wondering whether I had bitten off more than I could chew with the whole boat adventure.  Every now and then it kind of overwhelms you for a time and the frustration of the halyard had brought it on.  The issue for us is that when something goes wrong its always a first and we have a learning curve to go through to fix it which is very frustrating and takes time.  Next morning I got back up the mast head with a couple of new ideas.  It doesn’t help that it extremely cold at the moment from the back end of the hurricane.  After a couple of attempts we managed to see the line at the mast base, hook it and pull it through the opening (which is only the size of the rope).  It was great and the best thing was that the whole family had been wrapped up in this issue so we were all extremely happy and relieved.  We installed the Genoa on the roller furling and continued tidying up.  Nic and the kids went into town for some essential supplies and a last look around.

Thursday morning we left around 10:00 and motored into the bay.  The forecast was NW 10 to 15Kts gustuing 25Kts so pretty blustery conditions.  We set a double reef in the main and a full Genoa as we were on a broad reach.  Once out on the bay proper we reefed the Genoa also.  The boat took off doing an average of 9kts and was hitting 10kts at times.  Very exhilarating sailing which drew compliments over the radio from one passing motor vessel.  Shortly after, the wind was gusting over 20kts regularly and so we swapped the genoa for the staysail to settle the boat down still making 7 or 8 kts which was very timely as we were getting regular gusts close to 30kts.  It is however very cold sailing in these conditions.

We pulled in to shore part way down the bay and anchored overnight.  We will take off tomorrow and stop once more before we get to Norfolk.  Once at Norfolk we have to wait for a weather window for us to make the big passage to Charleston.  We have contacted a professional weather routing service to try and give us the best shot at this.  The real incentive is the temperature - we were debating whether to bring doona’s over when we were packing in Singapore and eventually settled on thin ones for all the bunks.  Now we all sleep with two doonas and when anchored or in port have the heating on.  The temperature here at the moment is around 10 to 12 deg C.  This should nearly double once we get down to Charleston to a very reasonable 20 deg C.  We have all had enough of the cold.  The boat is really a warm weather adventure and it is set up to be outside.

Calley at school