I was a seasoned sailor, but not being from the eastern seaboard I had a couple of surprises when leaving from
Annapolis to
Florida in Mid October. We went outside from Norfolk around Hatteras with a goal of
Morehead City. We failed to figure how close the
Gulf Stream would be to shore after rounding Hatteras. We had a lovely trip most the way, Hatteras was flat calm at daybreak. As the day carried on it was beautiful blue sky and the
wind built to 25 off our port quarter. The
water was running with maybe 6-8 foot waves but they werent too steep and the
boat would plow down them reaching 8-9 knots at times. Unfortunately, once we finally discovered that we were in the
gulf stream we realized we werent going anywhere very fast ! It just
felt like we were going fast and we were hypnotized by the wonderful sail and the warm
water occasionally splashing aboard. As the day wore on, we searched for where the stream wasnt as strong, but became uncomfortable with getting super close to shore in unknown territory. We could already see details on the beach! Shoals extend many miles out to shore... especially just before
Morehead city. We had to
head offshore for miles at that big shoal for comfort. Dark was approaching and by the time we turned the corner around the shoals the
wind was blowing 35. We had to decide whether to try to find anchorage in the dark or just head out to sea. Being conservative I headed out. We spent a very uncomfortable night hove to with waves covering the entire boat until I decided "to hell with heaving to" and ran for it. I'm not sure what the lesson was, we were just unfamiliar with how close the stream was to shore in that area and under estimated how far out the shoals go. Locals probably know the way through the shoals. In retrospect I would have trusted my
radar and went in... Anyway, the point is give yourself plenty of time in that
passage... :>)
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