Overnight to Charleston!

Arthur Ravenel Bridge,  Charleston, SC

Maryanne lost her mind.  She suggested that sailing offshore overnight to Charleston might be better than taking 3 ten hour days to steer the boat down the ICW.  She may be a psychologist but I suspected something inside her head wasn't working properly.  I pointed out that our first night on the boat in Southport we were freezing inside the boat on the dock at 5 o'clock.  What would it be like to be out on the open ocean in December at 4 a.m. with 45 degree temperatures?  Also, we were dead tired by 10 pm.  She said sure it might be miserable for a little while - say from 1 am to 5 am - but wouldn't be worth it to put up with that time limited discomfort to be in Charleston the next day?  I guess that's the "Rip the bandaid off" approach.  I figured some of the time we saved would be lost as I slept the next day to catch up on a night without sleep.  I also was a little uncomfortable with the fact that once you are out on the ocean in the dead of night there is no turning back.  When conditions deteriorate you are stuck with them - no escape -- and you are all alone out there on a very big ocean.

We compromised.  We would head out of the Cape Fear river into the North Atlantic Ocean and see if the conditions were OK for an overnight.  If everything wasn't perfect we would head to the Little River Inlet only about 20 miles away.  If conditions were OK we would head for Charleston.  We consulted the NOAA marine coastal forcast: Northeast winds 10 knots turning East overnight.  Waves: 2-4 feet; highest in eastern sections.  This forecast was for up to 20 miles offshore.  Passageweather.com showed 2 foot seas and winds the same.  The two foot seas would be on our beam.  Two feet is OK but on the beam can make for some uncomfortable rolling.

Our son, Chad, (cruisingsabbatical.com)said he had the same forecast when he sailed from Cape Fear to Charleston - 4 foot waves.  Maryanne asked him about tricks to keep yourself occupied and distracted as you stand watch in the small hours of the morning.  Chad's reply:  "Mom, I was getting my butt kicked.  Those were the biggest waves I ever saw in my life!"  It seems that NOAA doesn't always get it right.  He was surfing down 6 - 8 foot waves with the boom jibing loudly overhead.  Hmm...more reason not to go off shore. Sooo...

We got out later than we wanted because we had to wait for the tide to turn with us.  I was a little nervous about our ability to make Little River before dark.  The seas seemed to be pretty flat.  We were rolling a bit but not too much for a long overnight cruise.  We decided to go for it.  Maryanne took the helm while I tried to take a couple of naps during the late afternoon.  She also cooked a delicious spaghetti dinner to fortify me for the cold night to come.  The forecast made it clear that the worst seas would be the furthest out from shore.  I was a little dismayed when we began rolling hard to see that we were 20 miles offshore.  I was  very surprised to find that I was overdressed in my long johns and flannel lined jeans.  The combination of the our cockpit enclosure and the 60 degree sea temperature kept the temperature in the cockpit surprisingly comfortable.

I was unpleasantly surprised to find that time seemed to slow down after 7 p.m.  I had to remember that our last overnight to Cape May had taken place when it was still light at 7.  Now we had almost 2 hours of dark.  At 11 p.m. it felt like 2 am.  I wondered how long this night would be!

We were rolling pretty hard from time to time but we were making great time.  In fact, our GPS showed that we were going to get into Charleston at 4 am.  We were doing 7 knots - 1 knot faster than usual.  We were going to have to kill time when we got to Charleston until we had enough light to enter the harbor safely.

I got a little impatient and started into the harbor channel before the sun was up.  The many lights blinking all over the place were confusing but I was able to sort them out as I approached them.  Once I sorted them out I realized that the sunrise was going to make it impossible to see the lights I had worked so hard to identify.  I was a little tired after a sleepless night but I concentrated as hard as I could on the buoys  - referencing them on the GPS and radar.  I really didn't want to ruin the whole night's run by parking the boat on top of the partially submerged breakwaters!

Early morning Charleston

Both Maryanne and I felt enormously accomplished when we brought the boat into the harbor and tied up at the Charleston City Marina a/k/ the Megadock.  Overnight we had covered what would have been a 3 or 4 day 150 mile trip down the ICW.

Finally!