Hi Brats,
Just an update here. On Saturday the weather was much better than was forecast and we took advantage of it, bypassing Savannah and pushing on to Hilton Head, another 90+ mile day.
Yesterday we made it to Dataw Island, our pull-out location. We timed it carefully to be here at high tide, as the current runs very rapidly through the area and the ramp at the marina is down a concrete chute which is open to both tide and wind under the decking that supports the TravelLift. While our timing was spot-on, the TravelLift was on the decking, preventing us from hauling out and there was no one there to move the darn thing. We also contacted them the afternoon before to make sure that it was open. Someone didn't get the message, obviously.
Typically, this wouldn't be a big deal, but high winds are forecast for the next 2-3 days and Valkyrie is at a dock now while we are at my in-laws. We plan on running down at both high and low tides and hope that there is a break in the weather for us. Fortunately, we don't have to leave until Thursday so we do have some options.
As usual Marcia balanced things out for me saying, "Hey, just relax. We covered about 600+ miles and didn't have any problems to speak of. This is just a bump in the road.". Good advice.
By the way, we saw an older gentleman on the ICW the other day who made our resident minimalists, El and Bill, look like over-the-top materialists! We were crossing a large sound in southern GA and I spotted a small, open, double-ended sailboat with a single, lug-rigged sail in the distance. Marcia got out the binoculars and noted that the sole occupant was rowing the boat.
We anchored that night and the next day, after and hour of being underway I spotted the same lug-rigged sail in the distance. When we caught up with him, we saw that it was a Dracombe lugger (I thought), just like the ones I admired in their catalogs back in the 70's. The sailor was older than me (61) and obviously crusising and living on the boat, which only had a fold-down dodger/tent for shelter. I called out and he confirmed that it was a Drascombe, but I wish we had idled over to talk with him and to hear his story. Definitely a true individual and an adventurer!
Time spent on the net today has me believing that it was a Drascombe Scaffie, about 15 feet long. His did not have an outboard and he was truly roughing it and connected to the elements, but too much for my taste at my age.
Regards,
Nick
"Valkyrie"