Well, I made it. Left Savannah 1030am Friday.
Forecast was perfect (foreshadowing here). Motored out the Savannah making 9mph sog. Went 15 miles
offshore, checking
forecast which was for diminishing winds overnight. I had enough
diesel to
motor up the coast, no problem. Gonna be a milkrun (cue scary
music...) for my first solo
offshore sail and first trip in my new to me
boat.
But the forecast was wrong. Very Very wrong. Winds started piping up about 10pm. Hmm, this can't be. Forecast was for dying
wind. I'll wait to reef cuz the winds must be about to die. By midnight the winds were 25 - 30 knots seas 6-8 ft. Running downwind under a reefed
Jib only still over powered. Moon down about 11pm. DARK. Every 5 minutes or so a waterfall would approach from behind. Try to round up the
boat and heel her 20 degrees either way and
pitch her 15 degrees up and down. By dawn I was cramping up from
steering and hallucinating, seeing buildings and
boats around me, talking for friends, Weird. Boat looked like a bomb went off. Drawers opened,
salon table broke, Nexus 7 shattered, sun cover on
jib in tatters. To pull into the bay I had to
motor into 40
knot headwinds. The boat was pitching so violently that the prop cavitated. Wow, what a ride. What an adventure, can't stop thinking about it.
Stuff I'll improve on next time. A good
autopilot. A
storm Jib I can deploy from
cockpit. A
sea anchor that I can deploy/retrieve from
cockpit. Stuff that was great, MX Mariner on the tablet, backed up on the smart
phone. I'm gonna a a
Garmin Handheld at the
helm also. Paper
charts would have impossible. Now I will go about restoring the boat.
Whew, thank God I don't get seasick...
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