I left the marina about 9 am monday morning after topping off the fuel tank. Forecast was for 3 to 4 ft seas and 15 to 20 knot winds. I put the main up with a reef in it just after leaving the marina entrance. I was blowing every bit of the forcast. As I motored out the inlet the waves started building in the mouth of the inlet so that between the current and wind I was barely making progress out the inlet. It was rough and I was taking lots of heavy spray over the boat as I tried to pound though the waves. Finally I just rasied the blade and turned the motor off. With the blade up and one reef in the main I had plenty of power to tack out the channel and through the inlet out to marker 8 and then take a right to head down the coast. As soon as I started sailing the motion of the boat became much better and it was a much drier time. It took about 6 tacks to get to the #8 so I could turn right and get around the shoals.
Listening to the forcast I had thought that I would be on a beam to close reach for the day as I headed to little river inlet. Well you couldn’t get much wronger.. If a race committe had tried to set a windward mark they couldn’t have done a better job. The wind wasn’t more than 15 degrees off all day long from being directly from little river inlet to bald head Island. about 6 long tacks later and 7 hours of sailing on the ocean I finally got close to little river inlet.. at 26 miles from inlet to inlet I had an average vmg of just over 4.4 knots most of the day. Not bad at all for a windward leg.
The high point of the day was sailing about 15 feet away from a sea turtle swimming on the surface. It was about 4 ft long and a brownish color.. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of it.. Oh well maybe next time. It didn’t see me till I was even with it and then disapeared in a flash of startlement.
The low point of the day was when about half way through the bushings that go in the rudder pintles started to wear and the rudder frame started flexing with the steady seas and the heavier winds it really started to flex after a while. The looser the bushings got the worse the flex was. I babied the rudder and it lasted the trip.
It was a long day. being by yourself sailing all day in those conditions with no autopilot will wear you out. Torward the end of the day I was fighting nodding off at the tiller. I did use my jacklines and saftey harness and tether all day.
Total time out dock to dock was from 9 am to 6 pm… or 9 hours total. When I got in I just packed up and closed the boat up and went home and fell into bed.
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