Winter came early……

Well, it was a pretty good start to Savannah from Beaufort where I had beautiful warm weather – shorts and T’s… no socks. Caught the tide about right and made a good 30 miles to a lovely protected (mostly) anchorage.

Was there all alone till early evening when a small trawler arrived and dropped anchor. Still it was a quiet and pretty spot, complete with another great sunset.

The plan, based on the latest weather forecast was to leave in time to ride the tide and cross the busy Savannah River at slack water. Not all plans evolve as expected.

Winds began to pick up overnight causing the anchor chain to drag around on the bottom, and vibrate all through the hull – restless sleep. Got off all right in the morning (7am) and caught the tidal current. I also caught a cold, grey sky and 15 to 30kts of biting wind. It was a somewhat more exciting ride to Savannah, but done in really good time with 1-2kts of favorable current and wind that was mostly from the stern. (Really busy – no pix)

The landing at the dock at Hinckley Marina & Yacht Yard in blustery conditions with winds opposing the tide was less than perfect, but none of the 6 helpers on shore, nor the boat, sustained any damage – just a small dent in my boat handling pride.

The water pump will be here today – per UPS – and should get installed tomorrow. New crew comes Friday and we’ll be off again Saturday morning – hoping the cold forecast turns out to be as wrong as the one for today………