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Sweet Rain
Mantoloking, NJ
We’re doing our first winter season in the Caribbean! We just recently refitted our 50 year old tartan 34 c, sweet rain. We’re leaving from NJ in early November and would love to connect with others leaving from the east coast to Bahamas!
After 64 days chugging along the ICW, 2.5 months exploring the Bahamas and 18 days coming back…we are home! New Jersey is on fire though, the biggest wildfire in over 20 years right next to the Barnegat bay. Whirlwind of an experience; from learning Sweet Rain to navigating all types of conditions. Troubleshooting issues, you name it. Looking back, the first week; dropping anchor for the first time worried every inch we moved to sailing 3 days offshore. So much growth and still so much to learn. The hard days were rewarded by remote empty surf breaks. The wonderful people. Exploring the water as our backyard and endless insane sunsets. It was such a treat to experience. We’re excited to dial more into sweet rain and ourselves these coming months. For now, we’re enjoying civilization and land life. Bahamas, thanks for the best first crushing experience!!
First time single handed. Cape may to Barnegat light. Winds were SSW all day! Around 10-12 knots. Had to gybe a few times to stay close before the wind shifted west around 730. But it was good. A massive wild fire broke out in NJ yesterday, it kept growing as I got closer and closer to LBI. The smoke was thick and ashes ended up getting on the boat all night long.
What went wrong did ❌Ran out of propane right as we left ❌Two cars on our main broke ❌Blower motor burned out ❌Blew our electric fuse for charging our phones ❌Water leak The forecast never came to fruition despite having a great first 80 miles. Beautiful sunset followed by a sky full of stars. It was pleasant sea state. Shit hit the fan at 1am til 10am. Our west wind clocked NNW and picked up. The swell became 4’ and we were slamming in it. Some slams made me question if we were going to buckle by the sound of the wood! Pete was a champ and manned the night watch. He ended up tacking 6 times 😅 Once daylight broke the wind died. We motor sailed waiting for the west wind that never came. Gas levels became a problem. The last few miles Clark towed us into cape may. And boy were we happy! Sweet rain makes it to her home state!! Taking the weekend to rest. 16 days from Bahamas to NJ ‼️
First half of the day had nice wind and slamming some miles. We had a few bridge schedules and a lock to contend with and luckily squeaked by! The wind one then nose hard the last half of the day with some gusts stopping us right in our tracks. Made it on a free dock just before the last glimpse of sunlight! Another big day for the sweet rain crew 😊
Through the pungo river > pungo canal > alligator river > albemarle sound! It was a big ask to get through this today and the conditions provided! Massive ICW day for us 👏 SW winds made for a drastic contrast on the albemarle from last time. A treat on the way back!
Had a great pit stop at oriental and even meandered through their boat show. we resupplied, fueled up and made our way first thing in the morning. We knew wed have to sail up wind a good amount today, which proved to be a challenge. But we got some decent hours of sailing in between the bashing. Our blower failed as we got to anchor so now we’re jigging one up 😅 Aiming for a big day tomorrow!
Another slog but happy we made the push! Winds strong on the nose and had some current with us. Overall, very slow and chilly.
Dealt with all of the elements! Winds were Forecasted to be very windy but reality proved otherwise. Winds faded out on us mid afternoon really slowly us down Got caught in our worst storm yet. Sort of hove to with engine during it. Wind gusts were 50 knots and lots of lightening. The grand finale was getting into the inlet against a 2 knot current at 1030 pm making a 2 mile trip turn to two hours lol But we made it!
Rode the current up the cape fear river first thing this morning. Wind at our nose all day definitely hurts our progress. Potentially doing an overnight to Beaufort? We will see!
Winds were wonky today and forecasted to be very light. We made a risky decision to go outside with the light winds to avoid current against us. We did luck out and get a south wind for an hour that was our saving grace. It was unexpected and if quickly clocked East. We inched along and prayed for gusts. Can’t believe we made it🤣
Winds were gusting to 40 holding consistent 17knots but our Forrest tunnel was super protected. Almost too protected😅 Slower speeds fighting the current by progress is progress. Love this stretch of South Carolina. Mostly sunny but a surprise thunderstorm crept up on us forcing us to pull in early as the last bridge wasn’t going to open with the winds.
Some stronger winds outside today so we figured we could make a decent run inside the ICW! Back to hand steering and shallow water🤣 But we got so lucky meeting Greg in Charleston yesterday. He hooked us up with a shower and a grocery run. We’re fully stocked, cleaned our clothes and ready to keep pushing on. 550 ish miles to go!
TLDR; the highlights! - capitalized on the weather window - sailed from weds morning through to Friday mid morning with great winds! - rallied after getting sick overboard - broke two mugs, our Honda battery and our wooden hand hold on the galley - dealt with salty conditions - dolphins dancing at the bow - caught mahi (got off), 2x king mackerel & false albacore - 3 sunsets at sea and 3 sunrises - blanket of stars overhead - worked in the middle of the ocean - pushed ourselves out of comfort zone even more and got some great miles! —— We left west end around 5am hoping to make it to fort pierce along side our buddy boat. It was super tricky getting out of our slip, we nearly hit a catamaran. We ended up doing a 360 inside the little channel😅 but made it through thankfully. Shortly after we got out there our buddy boat was aiming more west toward Port St. Lucie then heading to fort pierce. We kept our course. A bit bumpy with the waves on the beam to start with only our jib out. Once we put up the main and the wind filled in, it got more comfortable. We felt we had a good window to get across the gulf and were feeling excited compared to the last time we had to contend with the stream. We were averaging about 4 knots and our buddy boat motor sailed and flew by us. We didn’t see them the rest of the time. I think that was a blessing for us to keep pushing. Throughout the day I started to really feel seasick. It kicked off after my first work call that was 45 mins. I only was able to periodically work so I took it easy the rest of the day. Once we realized we weren’t making fort pierce in the daylight we decided let’s push onward to st. Augustine for the next day. The wind was the strongest around 10pm til 2 before it died. Waves were 4-6ft and occasionally they’d hit the beam and splash on boat. We had a waxing crescent moon that lit up the water until 1am. Pete took most of the shifts and barely got 2 hours of sleep. I was useless. By next morning, we had more of the same conditions and winds were consistent sustained. We sailed great both days and would reef down during the evenings as the winds were forecasted to pick up. So exciting see our speed hover over 7 knots. We continued to be more indecisive on whether to keep going to st Augustine since we’d arrive at dark or push onward to Charleston or south port. We fell off the gulf and aimed toward st Augustine for about 40 miles until we made our decision to head back and shoot for Charleston. Once we picked back up in the gulf the waves got slightly more aggressive and we were back to the motion but this time making great progress. We knew the wind was likely going to die off sometime Friday afternoon so we pushed on. I felt much better Thursday and was fine to work as normal. Pete was hot on the rod and caught a 2xking mackerel, a false albacore and a mahi that got off. We snacked on the mackerel the rest of the day. I was determined to get on a watch schedule so Pete could get some actual rest. He went down and when I had my first watch got soaked by a wave coming over the cockpit🤣. Sadly, this did soak out Honda battery that we had to dispose of :( I got sick over the boat but rallied on! Pete was able to get some rest and we rotated more consistently. The next morning the swell was beginning to calm down and we had to motor sail until the wind fully died as we moved out of the wind band. We slowly motored the rest of the way about 50 miles. This took us all day and through the night before we saw land around 11:30pm. We dropped the hook at the USS Yorktown after dodging two shipping vessels at 1:30am! Massive shout out to @stephan ilberg who gave us encouragement on our first crossing. Who single handed his journey back and took on multi days by himself. You inspired us to get out of our comfort zone and to trust ourselves. Thank you!!
Luckily the lightening hung in the sky mostly and didn’t make its way down to the water last night with the exception of 2 bolts. Some thunder and a rolly evening but overall, manageable. We picked up the anchor and continued toward west end under a little sail. The wind was meant to stay SW most of the day. After 3 miles, the current fighting us and seaweed got wrapped around the plop stopping us in our tracks. Pete freed this and we waited out a little longer to let the current ease up. About 2 miles from west end, our engine cut and we were in the ocean. We were taking the seas on the beam and getting pushed back and forth. We turned away from west end under sail. We considered crossing then since we couldn’t make it into west end under these conditions. We tried switching fuel tanks and managed to get the engine back on. We jibbed and changed direction. We had to tack a few times to make the approach under sail into the entrance. The entrance was super tight and the seas were not making it easier. Luckily we made it in safely! Phew. These last 2+ days have been a doozy. Desperate need of shower and some good sleep!!
We had the full range today. Slow, steady and squally with a side of thunderstorms. We stopped at mangrove cay to reassess and decided to press onward to west end. With 7 miles left to go, we decided to anchor out in the little bahama bank. Shallow and variable winds made sneaking between rocks feel way too sketchy. Hopefully tomorrow allows us to head into west end 🤞weather isn’t too bad tn
We had lots of options leaving green turtle today. Strong winds ranging 15-20; gusting 24knots SE. One option was to sail over night, past great sale; aiming for crossing the gulf mid morning. As we approached Great Sale, our game plan was to throw the dinghy on deck at sunset. But with dwindling light and stronger winds picking up, it would have been a nightmare messing with the dinghy. We decided to anchor inside great sale. Tacked inside and dropped the hook around 8:15. Overall, eventful day today. Stronger winds forced us to get our reef points dialed in as we weren’t doing it correctly before. One sail changed ripped skin off my finger pretty aggressively🤣 Felt like our Bimini experience all over again. Hopefully anchor is set in clean sand!
Calm waters and nice conditions around the whale. Two other New Jersey sail boats making their way as well!
Prepping to go around the whale these next few days. Exploring the northern islands along the way! Pretty uneventful sail. Some rollers but overall soft light hitting the sea and a nice breeze
Had an awesome time with Shannon on sweet rain! Now, sailed her back to marsh harbor for her flight back home. Had slow winds to start and filled in a bit more as we continued on. Gonna miss my bff but home soon enough 🥹🫡
Hunkered down in man of war waiting out the blow. Left first thing this morning back to Hope town for some waves! Winds didn’t come this morning, so we picked motoring 3.5 nm over 8.5 to guana
Happy day light savings! Quick trip to Man of War harbor for upcoming winds tomorrow night. Excited to check this calm place out.
Prepping for some wind heading into the week which means errands! Groceries, water and gas. Prob bouncing between the ancorages these next few days
