Motion on the Ocean

To arrive in Charleston in daylight, a 36 hour sail, we left Beaufort around 4:00 pm Sunday. Since Fiona Rose departed at the same time, we arranged to sail 'in company'. Overcast and cool, we reinstalled our cockpit enclosure and settled down for a two night sail. The predicted 15-20 NNE wind gave us a bit of rolly ride and Pat, having lost her sea legs somewhere between Norfolk and Beaufort, went below to throw up repeatedly and ask herself, "Why are we doing this?". I meant to take her picture for the blog but forgot. I can tell you that black and white film would have captured her shades of gray very nicely. She hovered in a comatose state the rest of the night, and in the morning, I suggested that we divert to Southport rather than stay out another day and night. She readily agreed (at least, I'm pretty sure "@#*&^%" meant "Okay, fine with me"). She came-to only after we docked at the Southport Marina. I may have to start putting papers down in the cockpit before we head out. What a mess!

Other than that, we had an easy time of it. The rhumb line takes you about 20 nm off shore and you sail a single heading from Cape Lookout to the Navaid off Frying Pan Shoals. Except for the stern light from Fiona Rose, we saw no other vessels until I turned for the Cape Fear River inlet. What great names...Cape Lookout, Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals! According to Mark Twain, Adam and Eve, mostly Eve, named everything in the world and I think they did a bang up job!

I set only our small yankee (a high cut head sail) and mizzen (a small sail flown from the smaller, aft mast, see sail plan) which only added to the uncomfortable motion. More sail would have made for a better ride but I didn't want to deal with wrestling the main sail in the dark and rain should the wind pick up. In hindsight, I could have added sail and sailed off the wind a bit to ease the motion. Lessons learned.

Pat recovered this morning to the extent that I became concerned about desertion. I felt compelled to remind her that she had signed up for the 'duration' of the voyage and read aloud to her the British Articles of War, embodying the standards of discipline for the Royal Navy as established in the 1650's and amended in 1749 and 1757 (by act of Parliament) with emphasis on punishment for unauthorized leave (I read that section twice). These same articles were instituted on Live Now shortly after her purchase and have served her very well. I further reminded Pat that our ship's motto was "Live Now, or else!"

Southport is another 19th century waterfront town preserved for posterity to build expensive condos. Acually, it's a wonderful town. All the houses have names and 'circa' dates posted. Most are modest-sized homes built in the mid to late 1800s or early 1900s on narrow streets with live oak trees and still flowering bushes (gardenias & others). There are several nice restaurants, a nearby grocery and a maritime museum. Today we do laundry, explore the town, and clean up the mess. Tomorrow we will probably head down the ICW toward Charleston; a concession to Pat's wishes as my most valued crew.