"Luna Sea" Goes South

Arrived in Annapolis, MD on March 1 to warmer temps than expected for the delivery of "Luna Sea" a brand new, right out of the box Bavaria 37. My crew member, Lance from Savannah, was already there having hitched a ride from our employer, Seven Seas Yacht Services owner Jack Roden. Jack gave me my first delivery as Capt many years ago so it was only fitting that my first delivery back would be for Jack.

Got the boat ready Friday so we could head out at first light on Sat. Jack was hoping to get us out of his hair on Friday but since I have an old sailor superstition about leaving on a Friday, I said no although I didn't fess up to the reason why!! We had to leave in the dark since Lance showed up with a suitcase much to my horror!! What do you do with a SUITCASE on a sailboat? I told Lance he had to sleep with it and to quickly remove it from my sight for the rest of the trip. Jack was hoping, as was I, that NO ONE saw it!!! :-)

At 0700 we left the dock on Sat to light north winds which would soon build and turn gusty and colder. We romped down the Bay with a reefed main and jib that soon became a very small main and jib, like 2 handkerchiefs. The Bavaria is a light boat and quickly became overpowered even with the deep reefs we started out with. Anyway, we finally got her trimmed and balanced and settled down to a cold night. Sometime during the night hours the wind shifted into the SW, yick for us. We motored the last stretch into Hampton Roads and the entrance to the ICW. Some ship traffic so we stayed out of the main channel and ran along side the bouys but outside the channel where there was plenty of water for our 6' draft. The entrance to the Lafayette River beckoned with it's calm anchorage so we threw down the hook at 0600 on Sunday morning for a couple of hours of welcome sleep.

0830 we were off the hook and on our way. Blustery north wind followed us on our way. Lance had a great time with some old memories when he saw the "Mt Baker" the last ship he was on back in his Navy days. He was all of 18 then!! Anyway, took some pics for old times sake. After a cold day in the "ditch" and equally cold and blustery crossing of the Currituck Sound we tied up at Coinjock Marina, one of my favorite stops from the past. Coinjock is the indian word for a berry that grows there sort of like a mulberry. They used to have great fried oysters back when and I'm happy to report that they still do!! Got a great, warm nights sleep with the "dockside only" heater cranking.

Set off at 0630 Monday morning and headed toward Bellhaven, NC. Had to cross the Albemarle Sound with 20-25 knots of breeze out of the west which made for a bumpy ride. The sound is shallow so it kicks up fast with a short steep chop. Went through the Alligator-Pungo Canal with the Wilkerson fixed bridge on the south end. We scooted right through although on many past deliveries, especially on "Golddigger" with her tall rig, I had someone at the masthead to make sure we would fit!! This bridge is notorious for damaging masts as it is NOT the required 65' off the water. Anchored in the Pungo River at 2030, had dinner and watched a beautiful moonrise. The ICW is not a fun or safe place to move at night, floating debris, tugs etc but it is a great place to catch up on much needed rest before heading offshore. OK, I don't know how I managed to underline most of this paragraph but I did and don't know how to undo it. Oops!!

Awoke to a stiff breeze and wind shift that put us on a lee shore so we got the anchor up and headed on. Destination Moorhead City and the inlet to the ocean. Fueled up, stocked up on more bottled H2O thanks to the kindness of strangers....there was no place to get gallon jugs of water near the marina so a very helpful couple offered to take Lance to the grocery store. His reward to them was a peach pie, he's a good southern boy! Cleared the inlet at 1820 to a beautiful sunset, awesome moonrise and NE wind at 15. Perfect sailing until we had to head more SW. Then there wasn't enough wind as it was now right behind us. Eventually it came around to the S and made life miserable for awhile, slogged into it until we turned the corner toward Southport. There was a lot of SW in the forecast for the next day at 25k so the ICW was looking good again. Our course to the sea bouy off of Jacksonville was SW and I wasn't into getting beat up, now Lance on the otherhand might have deserved it for bringing that damn suitcase but I couldn't do that to him (or me or the boat :-) Holden Beach and a quiet marina was our stop for that night, Wed 07 March.

Cold and overcast was what we awoke to Thurs AM, yick. Just wanted to roll over and sleep some more but alas, the life of a delivery skipper doesn't allow that. We had to keep pushing south, after all, we were heading toward the "warm" Arrived at the fuel dock of Hazard Marina, Georgetown, SC at 2030 that night after a long day. Sleep was looking good!! Have to thank the chart viewer for getting us into the marina safely. It's pretty cool to have the chart right in front of you and at any size you choose. Several times throughout the past days it had us on the shore, which we of course were not, so you had to know when to trust it. With the assistance of the radar and binoculars on this night and most of all the chartviewer we were fine.

Friday's forecast was looking good for heading offshore, NE 15-20. Didn't want to leave on the flood tide as the Waccamaw River, which leads to the sea, is long and it would have been a fight against the tide. Waiting for the ebb gave us time for checking emails and showers, always nice to get clean and catch up. Finally gone at noon to a gloomy day with bits of rain. The last part of the inlet was quite rough and we couldn't wait to clear the jetty and last bouy so we could hang a SW. In these conditions you are constantly accessing the situation and playing out in your mind what your first move would be if you lost the engine. We could have swung around and sailed back in if we had to but the Volvo purred and we were finally free to head on course. With the wind at our back and both sails reefed it was comfy sailing albeit not that fast. The auto pilot needs to be able to steer the course and if we have difficulty steering so will it. We may have been able to carry a bit more sail and make better time but after trying a bit more and watching the auto pilot get pissed off, we went back to 5 + knots and a happy autohelm.

Friday morning we were treated to a dolphin show!! Started with two, maybe they were the scouts who passed on to the pod that we had a good wake going. Anyway, about 8-10 more joined up and entertained us for almost an hour. What a cool way to start the day.

Entered the channel at JAX at 0130 to be greeted with thick fog as soon as we turned out of the St John's River into the ICW. Found a good spot to drop the hook for a few hours until daybreak and catch some Z's. Lance, who can worry more than any mother, stayed awake trying to figure how to save his suitcase if we got run over by a tug in the fog!! :-)

Shoved off Sunday AM for the short hop south to St Augustine. On the dock at 1445 at Camache Cove Marina. The last docking was a challenge, parallel parking between a trawler and a sailboat with the wind pushing me onto the trawler. The first go I decided to back out as it wasn't feeling right, second approach was fine and the docking perfect. Whew, would have hated to scratch the boat at the end!! "Luna Sea" turns on a dime, is very responsive and adequately powered....all that makes docking pretty easy.

Total time underway 8 days 8 hours. I didn't die or even get sick from eating out of a cracked bowl or using a filet knife that was closed before being completely dried out inside. Some of the things Lance fretted about :-) As for the suitcase, it was buried under Lance's mountain of stuff in the dock cart as he left the boat so I think the secret was safe except maybe from the prying eyes of the cab driver!!