1.19 – Saturday

It was a surprisingly nice, easy day today. Good weather – so warm I even took my hat off! The channel was wide and deep nearly all day, so even though we’re running one engine, today wasn’t too bad. The weather played a huge role in that, it’s amazing how much easier life is when your extremities aren’t numb.

Tonight is supposed to get pretty wild. Winds around 30 knots, gusts up to 40. Since we can’t back down on our anchor with only one engine (we absolutely cannot reverse in a straight line, we just spin like a top), dragging anchor is a real risk in high winds.

Kyle found a little marina right on the ICW with open face docks – theoretically we can slide right in and slide right out again, even with our limp.

I’m happy because now I can sleep tonight, safely tied up to a dock and ready for the wind. Bucksport Marina’s nightly rate was less than the monthly rate we were paying at Cooper River Marina. Bucksport was severely damaged during Hurricane Florence due to incredible flooding, so the facilities were almost non-existent, which is why the rates were so affordable. They didn’t have gas or diesel available either, both pumps were unusable after the flooding. The flood line on the trees is a stark contrast.

35 miles today. 8.5 hours (4.1 mph / 3.5 kt)

1.20 – Sunday

The wind last night was crazy – I am so thankful we stayed at a marina! I popped outside just to watch the wind blow. It was surprisingly warm out and the wind was howling too loud to sleep. Our monohull neighbor was heeling over about 20° in the wind.

By morning it had calmed down somewhat, but the strong winds are supposed to continue for the next two days. Running one engine we can handle regular wind, but strong wind might overpower us. Today the forecast was for winds in the mid-20s, with gusts up to 36 knots.

We spent most of the day in the Waccamaw River, a wide, deep body of water. As the river widened, the wind and waves increased. I could barely hold our course, the wind was blowing us to the left. At one point, I had the wheel hard over to the right but we were still drifting to the left shore, which just happened to be a marina. Finally I gave up and turned almost the full 360° to the left until I could drive us back to the right side of the channel again. You better believe that made Kyle come running to figure out what was going on!

The next maneuver I had was to follow the channel to the left side of an island. I felt like I was on a teacup ride at a fair, trying to keep the teacup pointed in one direction. I finally got behind the island, which blocked most of the wind and waves. I handed the helm over to Kyle, I needed a break after all that.

With Kyle at the helm we approached our next challenge: a fixed bridge. After my battle to hold course, I kept wondering if we could keep Hobbes between the abutments. Since we move so slowly, the bridge came into view at hour before we passed under it, so there was plenty of time to go over all the “what if” scenarios. Kyle took us through the bridge, no problem, so all that worrying was for nothing.

We planned on stopping in Georgetown, but it’s known for poor holding in the anchorage, and we still had strong winds. We were riding an outgoing tide and making good time, so it was an easy decision to keep going.

Mid-afternoon, we were doing 7 knots, which means almost half our speed was due to current. Basic math means that if we were trying to go the other direction, we probably would be overpowered by the current. We had to turn out of the river into a tiny, narrow, shallow cut. Kyle basically drifted the boat at a 45° angle around the corner, trying to compensate for the current without getting pulled into the rocky bank. It was crazy, but he did a fantastic job.

Soon after that we anchored in a small river. Again, we can’t back down on our anchor, but the river has really good holding (according to our waterway guide). The anchor seemed to set really well, but I sat at the helm watching the shore for a long time before I shut down the engine. We anchored at slack tide, the wind was blowing us towards shore, and we were so close to shore than if our anchor broke loose the rudders would be in the mud in seconds.

The current picked up and pulled us away from shore, we watched a movie while keeping a side-eye on the chartplotter. The winds should reduce to 15 knot / 25 knot gusts by the time we go to bed, so if the anchor holds until bed we should be able to trust it. I still won’t sleep at all.

Today was hard.

39 miles today, riding the current almost the whole time put us at 5.6 mph / 4.8 knots.