May 19th- Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Our trip north has been quick. This has been helped by long offshore runs when the weather is good. This is different from our others voyages as we rarely went offshore or made overnight runs. We had exceptional weather until we reached the Chesapeake Bay. It seems to get worse as we go north. Hopefully the trend reverses itself soon.
I’m going to break away from my usual log format and try to summarize our trip but sprinkle in some flavor where I remember details. Of course, there are pictures. Currently I have good internet but Lynne and I are pinned down on Evergreen due to wind. We could launch the dinghy but would get soaked trying to get to a dock. It’s been like this since we got here. We can’t get Chinese food but we do have time for painting water colors (Lynne), baking bread (Lynne), making repairs (Brian), blog posts (Brian), and drinking beer (Brian).
April 4th- Foxtown, Little Abaco Island, Bahamas to Vero Beach, Florida
We had a short window to get across the Gulfstream. Conditions weren’t ideal but it looked like there wasn’t going to be another opportunity for the next week or so. The entire passage was going to be straight down wind. We’ve been carrying around a spinnaker pole for a few years but have never used it. We did, infrequently, use one on Catalpa. We don’t use it for a spinnaker sail. We use it as a reaching pole to hold out the genoa so it doesn’t collapse when the wind is behind us. While in Foxtown I rigged fore and aft guy lines so we would be ready to set the pole. The whole thing took some figuring out but once rigged we didn’t have to touch anything for at least the next 24 hours.
Our downwind rig. That little bit of sail had us moving at 6 to 7 knots all night.
Our last sunset on the Bahama bank.
A blustery morning after crossing the Gulfstream.
The crossing was a little rough. I’m guessing we had 5 to 6 foot waves. Evergreen soared along all night with our genoa reefed and poled out. Our autopilot worked overtime trying to compensate for the wave action. It was difficult to get any sleep. Lynne and I do watches at the helm but the boat’s motion and noise volume from the wind and waves made life uncomfortable.
We did make good time. Due to the captain making a wrong calculation and Evergreen sailing very fast we realized we’d arrive early at Fort Pierce inlet. With the wind blowing in and the tide running out there can be very big breaking waves at the entrance. We basically had to drift and sail slow for a few hours to wait for the flood tide at the inlet.
29 hours after leaving Foxtown we dropped the anchor near Vero Beach and passed out. I slept for 12 hours straight. The next day we pulled the hook and headed in to the Vero Beach City Marina for a mooring.
The Vero Beach city marina.
Evergreen spent about a week and a half in Velcro Beach. Captain and crew rented a car and drove across the state to visit family. We enjoyed our R&R in Florida.
We stocked up with as much food and booze as we could fit and dropped our mooring line on April 16th pointing Evergreen’s bow north. We made a few stops on the ICW and eventually made our way down to St Augustine. On the way, I looked at the weather, and started to formulate “a plan”.
April 19th- St Augustine, FL to Beaufort, SC
We were looking at the calendar and felt we needed to shave a few weeks off our northern cruise. The weather looked good so we headed out of St Augustine inlet into the ocean again. 27 hours and 164 nautical miles later we picked up a mooring in Beaufort South Carolina.
Another sunset at sea.
This was a reasonably calm trip. We had a mixture of sailing and motoring. At times we were content with just sailing along at a slow pace. This really helped with sleep for the off watch person. We both got some rest on this offshore excursion. This time the captain timed the flood tide into Port Royal Sound correctly.
We enjoyed visiting our friends on S/V Shanks Mare and appreciated sharing a great Easter Dinner together.
On the 22nd we left Beaufort and made a couple more stops on the ICW along with Shanks Mare.
Evergreen at sunrise anchored in Church Creek, SC. Photo courtesy of S/V Shanks Mare.
Our last stop was an anchorage at Minim Creek. We got there just as a squall hit. On our first attempt our anchor immediately started dragging. We pulled the hook and tried a different spot. It held! It was an exciting, white nuckled, affair. The storm was over within an hour.
April 24th- Minim Creek, SC to Little River, NC
This was another offshore hop. We had light winds on the nose, so motored all day. The only event of the day was coming out of the inlet at Winyah Bay. We were riding the ebb current out and a breeze was blowing in. This made things a little wet but not dangerous. Our front hatch was open but covered by the dinghy which was upside down on our foredeck. The Admiral happened to be standing under the aforementioned hatch when Evergreen’s bow plowed into a wave, pushing a bunch of ocean under the dinghy, through the hatch, and on the Admirals head! New rule: Keep forehatch closed when entering or exiting inlets. 63 nautical miles, 11 hours. We anchored off Bird Island for the night. It’s a great spot with nice beaches but we didn’t go ashore.
April 25th- Little River, NC to Carolina Beach, NC
Plan A was to take the ICW to the Cape Fear River and head up to Carolina Beach. The morning was so beautiful I thought, “Why not just head out again and avoid the shallow spots and traffic?” Well, that’s what we did. This was just a short hop offshore on a perfect day. There was no wind for our sails so Evergreen’s diesel did most of the work. We read and lounged around in the sun.
The Cape Fear light.
Once again the captain was able to calculate the flood tide correctly. We caught the current up the Cape Fear River and eventually made our way to Carolina Beach for a few days of R&R and to restock on supplies. For us, no stop in CB is complete without hitting Blackburn Brothers Seafood for whatever they have that is fresh. This time it was Tile fish. Never heard of it but it was good!
The next few days we spent along the ICW. We made the usual stops along the way. Eventually we made it up to Belhaven and filled up with water and diesel. After Belhaven we made some long runs and covered alot of ground (actually water).
Along the Alligator Pungo canal.
We had a really nice sail across the Albemarl Sound which can be a cantankerous body of water. Normally we head up The Dismal Swamp Canal to cross into Virginia. The canal was closed due to a replacement of the bridge at Deep Creek. We took the Coinjock route which we were familiar with from another trip. While crossing the Albemarl was wonderful, when we reached the North River the winds picked up and Evergreen became a little unmanageable for her tired captain and crew. We wrestled in the sails and powered into a protected spot for the night.
To be continued……
Next up, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and the coast of New Jersey (and a storm).
-From Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Tomorrow the winds look like they are going to calm down for a day. If all works out, Evergreen will head up the East River and get a mooring in Port Washington, NY. We’re expecting some horrendous weather on Wednesday and Thursday. Matt, the guy that runs the moorings and launch service in Port Washington, is a nice guy and usually hooks us up with a protected storm mooring if we call ahead. Since we are expecting lousy weather I’m sure I’ll have more time for repairs, blog posts, and beer!