Keene Sailing

Monday, Nov. 26 – Charleston to Jacksonville

We did 2 outside the ditch runs: we sailed from Georgetown to Charleston, we got a late start getting fuel then got into Charleston at night anchored on front of the Battery – beautiful spot, views of the bridges and downtown area. But it was pretty rollie all night, we left early and boy was it cold in the low 30s! Got to get to Florida. So we sailed about 25 miles offshore 28 hours later we made it to Jacksonville/St Johns River, we continued on our way to St Augustine to spend the night and probably the next day.

Friday, Nov. 23 – Calabash Creek to Georgetown, SC

We left on a falling tide, but it turned out it was in our face till almost noon. I thought, for sure, we would have to find an alternative anchorage to Georgetown because of the 1-1.5 knot loss to the tides. But at 4:30 we got a slip at The Boat Shed, not the best Georgetown Marina, but the only one that answered my call for a slip. Immediately after docking we hustled to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, turns out the walk to and from was well over a mile each way and it was dark on the return. The town has lots of old Victorian houses that are mostly restored but there were other areas that had been neglected. The Riverwalk was where all the waterfront restaurants were; we liked that area, but ate on the boat.

Not sure what we will do tomorrow, we can’t make Charlestown going down the ICW, but we could if we went “outside” in the ocean. Tomorrow the winds outside are still around 20 with 4-6 foot seas, the boat can easily handle that but can the crew…

Thursday, Nov. 22 – Thanksgiving

7:15 Start, big winds from the North, 25 plus, motor sailing with reefed headsail making 7 knots at 1800 rpm. No draw/swing bridges to deal with made good time to Cape Fear, no traffic on the river at all. Make Southport at 11:30 no issues, beautiful anchorage at Calabash Creek. We were about to have happy hour when a cruiser single-handing a smaller older boat ran aground. I watched for a while, gave him a call on VHF then jumped in the dinghy and went to help him get off the shoal. Success, now I can talk that shower, have happy hour get some sleep after a long day.

Wednesday, Nov. 21 – Swansboro to Wrightsville

Got an early start, motor sailed most of the day. No much to report, several places along the ICW we had Dolphins playing alongside, which was pretty cool. 3 bridges were a pain trying to time them, in all cases we failed and had to wait, not easy when you have 2-3 knots of current pushing the boat into the bridge, slow down too much and you have no steerage. After the 3^rd bridge we anchored in the town of Wrightsville, NC actually not far from Wilmington.