I’m pretty sure the wind never went below 20 kn. At one point I got an alert on my chart plotter that winds were over 40 kn. That’s impossible because out in the ocean on my way to Saint Augustine the cups blew off of my anemometer. Anyway, the goal was accomplished. Avemar is in Stuart, Florida. @April returns to the boat Sunday night and we have a slip for a month at our favorite quirky marina. In February Avemar gets hauled out for a while so that we can hike 2200 miles on the Appalachian Trail!

Progress was made towards picking @April up on Sunday in Stuart, FL. It was a long day, but uneventful. We had nice wind for sailing and motor sailing. It the clouds cooperate, we should see a SpaceX launch tonight which will be cool.

Last week I bought Navionics card for my chart plotter but I didn’t receive the card I ordered. When I returned it, the card I wanted was no longer in stock. Instead of waiting, I decided to upgrade C-Map since that is what I have used for the past four years and I had been generally happy with the charts. The Reveal+ has much more detail than my previous version. Tonight, as I was coming into an anchorage that should protect me from north and northeast winds, I ran aground in a spot where my new fancy chart showed eight feet of water. Unfortunately, my depth sounder said 4.6’. I noticed that after I was stopped. Avemar draws 5’. @DamageControlSailing came over to assist and we tried pulling the mast over with the spinnaker halyard. Sput took my anchor out into deeper water and I tried to winch myself out. I didn’t move. BoatUS pulled me out later. Afterwards the captain said I was on a hump with 7-8’ all around the boat.

The forecast this morning wasn’t too pretty, but somehow Avemar managed to sneak between the rain cells in a front that passed through and then got far enough south that we also avoided the wind line that rolled across the south today. It was a pretty smooth motor down the intercoastal waterway. @DamageControlSailng followed us and we timed the bridge openings together. We’re heading south on the inside towards Stuart over the next couple of days together.

Today was a very long short day. We covered about 25 miles, and I dropped the hook at 1430. I woke April at 0415 this morning to climb out of the V-berth. The wind didn’t feel right, and the waves didn’t sound or feel right. Both @DamageControlSailing and Avemar had chosen a spot to anchor in Charleston on Wednesday night to avoid as much of the SW wind on Thursday as possible. I knew that after that storm on Thursday passed us, the shift would be from the North, but I didn’t know when that would happen. Well, it happened around 0400 this morning. The depth sounder showed that Avemar was in 11 feet and the anchor was in 22 feet of water, but the chart plotter showed the stern sitting at 5. I started the engine, made coffee, dressed, drank coffee, went up, and pulled the anchor after putting on even more clothes and two pairs of gloves!  The wind chill was 31º F. Avemar motored up the Ashley River and anchored at the entrance to the ICW to wait for the 0930 opening of the Wappoo Creek bridge. We were through the bridge by 0935 and breezing with a nice current push at 8.5 knots. That ended about an hour later when we crossed an inlet timed with a tide change where we slowed below 4 knots due to a current of 1.75 knots against us. April worked below all morning and had a previously scheduled video conference call to be recorded. This Perkins 4.108 is LOUD. A recorded video conference call would not be good. I searched the charts and found a cool finger off the Stono River near MM 495 in the middle of a marsh. We will hang out here for the night, recoup from the frigid weather, wake up well before dawn again, and take on Day 18 tomorrow morning!

I was asleep and then was hit in the head with a Honeycrisp Apple, jolted into the reality of being in a port-side lee cloth sailing in the ocean. I sat up, swung my feet to the floor at the end of the settee, and stepped on two bananas. That’s pretty much the story of the second half of the trip from Beaufort, NC to Charleston, SC. The macrame slings from Etsy that hold our fruits and vegetables inside on the starboard side had swung past the point that the cup hooks keeping them attached couldn’t do it anymore. Fruits and vegetables flew across the cabin. The waves were large and the boat was rocking but we were still sailing along at 6.5 knots so I took it in stride and cleaned up banana mush on the floor in the dark at 2:30 a.m. That’s blue water sailing in a nutshell. Our original plan was to sail to St. Augustine. The forecasted southwest gale force winds in the ocean off of Savannah on Wednesday night, followed by strong winds on the nose Thursday afternoon heading further south caused us to reconsider our destination and so we headed into the Charleston Inlet. We’ll miss a mooring ball, showers, mail, good food at The Drunken Horse St. Augustin’s, and amazing live music (on Sunday afternoons - I’m sure they are good every day but Sunday afternoons are over the top!) at Dog Rose Brewing Co., the  Marine Supply & Oil Co which is a must-visit place for any sailor, plus the bonus of a Christmas Parade this Saturday. As you can tell, I love St. Augustine, in short bursts, particularly on Sundays. The constant in this sail was that the wind blew from roughly 010º. After a few slow hours leaving Beaufort, NC, wind speeds picked up and never dropped below 20 knots. Perfect for Avemar. It was a very cold, one-starboard tack sail except for two short jibes to get around Frying Pan Shoals. Two reefs were in the main and two in the staysail. Avemar’s Wind Pilot steered for most of the trip. The story of the trip, other than the apple-to-the-head wake-up call, was about the huge waves during the night on Tuesday. Winds were still 25 knots with higher gusts from the same direction, but the waves changed from the stern to hitting Avemar on the starboard side for a few hours. It was chaotic but we both hit the sack and got some well-deserved sleep. As a bonus, after 34 years of sailing, I finally experienced a wave coming over the stern and swamping the cockpit with 5” of water. I was on watch at the time and thankfully I was sitting in the companionway under the dodger and only the pillows I was sitting on got wet but it was quite an experience for a first-timer! All in all, it was fun. I got to sleep. April enjoyed her midnight to 4 am shifts at the helm and counting shooting stars. We are happy to be at anchor with the woodstove burning and waiting out the upcoming blow in a protected spot and are now looking for the next window to our next adventure… southbound!

At this pace, Avemar will be south of Charleston at this time tomorrow and then the winds build and build. Will we be far enough south? I don’t know but I’m developing a bail out route to St. Augustine. After a slow start from Beaufort, NC yesterday afternoon, winds picked up today! 25 knots from behind and 6.5 to 7.5 knots of boat speed for most of the day. The swell has set in now making things below a little uncomfortable but April and I are enjoying sailing again vs. the ICW! Oh, we lost the cups on our B&G wireless wind instrument at the top of the mast. That sort of sucks if for nothing else but to record these gusts in our logbook! We’re hanging on below!

April and I met our friends Sput and Suzy on SV Validated this morning in Oriental, NC and we cruised together to Beaufort. We had the tide with us for most of the trip so it was a leisurely day. As we were turning into the Taylor Creek from the river, we hit a submerged jetty. HARD!! The obstruction is well marked with signs, so we took the green nun #3 at the entrance to the creek wide to port. Well, that mark is not in the right location. If you are ever coming in from the ocean, stick to the reds!!