5 day sail to Charleston, SC

[TheSandPebbles]

Hey everyone,
I completed this sail with my brother-in-law just in time for Thanksgiving. I wanted to share the video with you. I plan to head on to the Bahamas and Caribbean later this winter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPnSWxDhVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPnSWxDhVM

[barfwinkle]

Nice Video. Well done.

[shavdog]

Nice video...we enjoyed the music, the sail and the dolphins...best to you and your adventure...craig and leslie..in minnesota

[chase]

Very cool. I have never used Bogue or New River inlets before, how were they?

Sounds like a great passage to start your voyage, have fun going south. Cumberland Island at St Mary's entrance is a great stop if you're heading south. All of my family wish I could magically transport Anne Freeman there now.

Chase

[TheSandPebbles]

Thanks, The music is from my favorite movie "The Sand Pebbles."
Both Bogue and New River inlets are awful and I recommend skipping both. I touched bottom on both and were I a more experienced sailor, I never would have tried it, I would have known better. If you have to choose one, use New River. Regardless, I had a great time. I can't wait to head south until the butter melts.

[Zeida]

Jake, I loved your video. if by chance you come by Miami on your way south, please let me know to say hi. Would love to meet you, Alexandra
and the 4-legged crew.

[TheSandPebbles]

Zeida,
I may take you up on that, it would be great to have contacts along the way, especially Miami. I'm in Charleston for a couple months to prepare for this trip so I'd enjoy meeting with anyone in the area and talk/ show boats.
-Perry

[Sea Hunt]

Hello Perry:

If you plan on spending a few days in the Miami area allow me to unabashedly put in a plug for getting a guest mooring at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club ("CGSC"). If you go on their website www.cgsc.org you will see that the club and its mooring field is ideally located in the center of Coconut Grove (Miami's answer to NYC's Greenich Village). The club has guest moorings available, 24-7 launch service, showers, etc., plus it is only sailboats (no powerboats). Guest mooring prices are reasonable and set out on the website. Riggers, diesel mechanics, etc. are all familiar with CGSC.

There is one negative to getting a mooring at CGSC which I feel obligated to disclose to you as a fellow "CDer". Because you will be only a 5 minute walk from the epicenter of the Coconut Grove social scene you will be easily distracted from the important work of sailboat maintenance, provisioning, etc. by the bevy of beautiful women who gravitate to Coconut Grove from all over the world from November to March. Indeed, more than one sailor has been known to all together abandon his plans for a circumnavigation, electing instead to enjoy the warmth and charm of Coconut Grove for an entire year.

Zeida is familiar with CGSC. It is a short car ride or sail from her dock on Key Biscayne to CGSC.

If you decide on a stay at CGSC, please let me know via PM and I will assist in anyway I can.

[MFC]

Hi Jake -
That looks like a great trip. I have loads of questions in part since I recently came north and after hoping to sail outside around Hatteras, unltimately chose instead to stay inside.

How did you go about planning to go outside hatteras? What sort of weather did you look for and how long did you wait for it? Did you spend the first night offshore off of the outerbanks? How far out were you? Did the gulf stream slow you down much -- what sort of speed over ground were you making? Did you motor sail or motor much? You show that you "entered frying pan shoals" at night -- did you pass the inner sea bouy or did you run one of the sluices?

Was the Bogue to New River portion of the trip planned? Why did you head in for that section of the ICW?

What did you use to catch that tuna?!?

Thanks, and congratulations on a great trip so far. Enjoy Charleston!

Matt

[TheSandPebbles]

Matt,
I passed through the Frying Pan shoals an hour or so before sunrise, I was using my GPS and charts and could see one of the lights on the chart. You can see in the photo below my general course through.

I decided to go outside of Cape Hatteras because it's faster and sailing further from land makes me feel safer; less traffic, more space between the keel and the ocean floor, more space between the boat and shore, etc.
When I pull into ports, I keep meeting people with these beautiful, capable boats, who don't sail them! They just motor down the intercoastal for weeks. "It's all the convenience of owning a sailboat without the inconvenience of sailing" as my brother-in-law put it. Whenever I turn on the engine I can't wait to turn it off again, though I'm glad to have it.
to plan the trip I looked up offshore weather forecasts online, using links off this board. I didn't have to wait for weather. Yes, my first night was off Cape Hatteras. I had great weather there. I've personally seen a waterspout in Pamlico sound, and would rather have miles between me and the shore than be stuck in a shallow area in a storm. I was typically 10-20 nm offshore, to try to stay in deeper water. I think where I went through those shoals was the furthest out I had to go. I usually average 5 to 5.5 knots over a long period. Day 4 was basically windless for 20 hours, we motored a little, but we mostly creeped south at 2 knots. That was the night we anchored for about 5 hours, 10nm off of Georgetown, SC. The chart showed 10ft, but I can tell you it was over 50ft deep. It was dead calm out there. At sunrise we got a good breeze.
As for Bogue and New River inlets, that was not planned. I wanted to sail the entire trip offshore. We did about 3 hour watches and for the first two days I could stand watch and sleep fine, but couldn't keep down food or water for some reason. We decided to pull in for a night to rest. After that I was fine, and kept down that delicious tuna and everything else. I must repeat though, neither of those inlets are good for entering the intercoastal, had I know better I never would have attempted it. They were nerve-wrackingly shallow.
The Tuna was caught with heavy line and a silver lure (5"?) with a yellow feather and nasty big hook. You see me using a rod in the video, but the line I caught the tuna on was just attached to a bungee cord to the lifeline stanchion and hand pulled in.
Hope that answers your questions.
-Perry

[MFC]

Thanks for the details Perry. Sounds like it was a great trip.
Matt

[marv brinn]

Would like to meet you down in Charleston, have been sailing there for some time on and off in the harbor...Have brought a boat down from NYC ..

[TheSandPebbles]

Marv, I sent you an e-mail
Matt, No problem

[Zeida]

hi Perry... just a thought... get in touch with Fred from "Fenix" the CD28 where he completed a 2+yrs. circumnavigation. In his website you can see the upgrades he did to his boat, etc. you can really pick his brain (he loves it) in as much as autopilots, windvanes, sat.phones, communication equipment, how we all were able to follow his course during all that time via this board... anyway, it was fascinating. he posts here quite often. He just sold the smaller 28 and has bought a larger boat which he is preparing to take off again. He is a marine encyclopedia. Cheers. Check out some of his videos!

[marv brinn]

pls resend to marvbrinn@juno.com