The Long Ride Home

This was the hard part, the part where Don as our crew earned his keep. Three days and three nights we stood our 3 hour watches.  Some of the trip was great, we sailed with fair winds through the heart of the gulf stream, reaching the amazing speed of 12 knots! However, once we reached the coastal waters, wind and weather turned against us. Winds from the north and east put an end to pleasant sailing. Our second night the boat rocked and pounded into east winds and oncoming waves and no one slept. The third night was slightly better, but we still rocked and pitched  in the following sea. Storms chased us up the Georgia and Carolina Coasts. The winds shifted to the SW, coming directly behind us. On our third full day, with the wind still behind us, and fuel running short, we raised the spinnaker and sailed in inconsistent, gusty winds, which puffed from 5 to 15 knots and angled  back and forth, 30 degrees behind us. For over an hour, the spinnaker snapped and heaved and finally the shackle separated spilling the sail into the water. Rick and Don  were able to pull the sail back aboard, and an inspection proved that we were lucky. The sock that encloses the spinnaker remained attached to the halyard, so we were able to lower it to the boat and the only problem was with the shackle itself. So we pulled out the main again and moved at speeds of 3-5 knots in the water for the next 5 or 6 hours, until we were confident that we had enough fuel to motor the remainder of the way to Beaufort, North Carolina.

One of the unique features of the crossing was the mascot which found us about 70 miles off the coast of Florida and stayed with us until we tied up at the pier in Beaufort. Bob (or Betty) the Bird was exhausted and starving when he landed on the boat. Cookie fed and watered him, while Rick and Don muttered and cleaned up bird poop. He spent one night in the bathroom, when he flew into the boat and could not be caught. When we finally got him out to the cockpit again, and used the companionway bug screen to keep him out, he spent the second night sitting on a line attached to the radar arch. On our approach to Beaufort, he sensed the land and made flight after flight toward shore, returning each time to the security of the boat. About the same time, he began hopping on our shoulders and pecking at our fingers....a strange way to thank us for bringing him back to shore. 

We made Beaufort in the morning just 73 hours after leaving the Bahamas, passing a great freighter as we entered the harbor.