Century Club: Keith Donald

 A sunrise start was necessary to time the first of three bridges that opened either on the hour or half hour. That resulted in a combined delay of about one hour. Mild temperatures and a gentle afternoon breeze from the south resulted in plenty of motor sailing with full main and jib. An enormous wildfire in the Croatian National Forest was visible from a distance and from our anchorage in Swanboro.

Upon entering the harbor and rolling in the main, the spare halyard used to raise Christmas lights rolled up inside the mast along with the topping lift to which this spare halyard was attached. The main was now hopelessly jammed halfway furled. As Debbie followed the ICW in a mostly windward direction, I wrestled with the jam, eventually by pulling on the topping lift, I was able to fully unfurl the main. However, the topping lift was still jammed inside the mast. Fortunately by loosening both the main halyard and topping lift the jam was freed and I was able to fully furl the mainsail. That spare halyard has been retired. I'll use it again but only for Christmas lights. We reentered the harbor two hours later. We decided not to go ashore. Fortunately there was only one other boat anchored. There was a strong current and a dragging anchor would have resulted in being swept into a low clearance bridge. That new anchor investment last year really paid off.

Anchorage: Swanboro Harbor

Distance today: 53 nm

Total distance: 816 nm

Just prior to the approach to Little River, the current was 2.5 knots, the strongest we have encountered so far. On our way to the anchorage behind Bird Island, we opted to go out the Little River Inlet for an hour sail in the ocean. As we turned to parallel the shore, the transition from river water to seawater was abrupt and startling. We ended the afternoon with a dinghy ride to Bird Island and a walk on the beach. Perfect weather today!

Anchorage: Behind Bird Island near the Little River Inlet

Distance today: 44 nm

Dustance to date: 709 nm

We are back on the road. Louise was discharged from the hospital on Sunday and we had dinner out. She insisted that we continue on our cruise as originally planned and convinced us she was well enough for us to proceed. However prior to the knowledge of this fortunate outcome, I could not be sure how long we would remain in Charleston so Keith Kersey took the opportunity to return to Annapolis with Kris.

Keith Kersey did help out with some routine maintenance such as an engine oil and filter change.  The transmission oil change was due as well. I discovered that the transmission oil level was woefully low due to a slow leak, another disaster diverted.

After fuel and pump out we departed around 9:30 am for an eight hour trip to South Santeria River.  The weather was great and the wind direction and wind speed were perfect for motor sailing with a fully deployed jib.  The tide was very low so we did ground a couple of times.

Anchorage: South Santee River

Distance today: 45 nm

Total distance: 629 nm

We had mostly favorable current due to flooding on the Waccamaw River. On the lower stretches, we managed to set full main and jib and cut the engine. After returning to the confines of the ICW we set full jib only and continued our journey under reduced engine throttle. Our first anchorage attempt on the Awendaw Creek was far to exposed to the Easterly winds so we continued another 4 miles to Graham Creek. Our favorable conditions had us averaging over 6 knots for the duration. Another evening of grilling although this time we ate down below due to rain.

anchorage: Graham Creek

Distance today: 59 nm

Total distance to date: 558 nm