Thursday, May 1, 2014

Timing

We departed Fernandina Beach Fl on Sunday at 9AM, headed for Southport SC and the Cape Fear River inlet. Our departure was timed to ride the current out the St Mary`s inlet. We had 2 days of good weather to reach Cape Fear.



A nice pic of us sailing taken from S/V Willet who sailed with us for a while.



Of course we had the mandatory visits at dusk and dawn by the dolphin patrols.



Speaking of dusk, another great sunset.

The Cape Fear River inlet only gives about 5 hours of favorable flood current before turning out on the ebb. On Tuesday that window was from 4AM till 9AM. We didn`t want to enter till dawn so our window was 6:30 to 9AM. We spent 2 days calculating and recalculating our speed and timing. We arrived at 7AM! Perfect timing. Of course, it`s always something and this `something` was fog and a giant tanker passing us in the narrowest part of the river.



Our timing was so good we rode the flood all the way to Snow`s Cut where it turns against us. We arrived there just as it turned and rode that favorably, the rest of the way to Carolina Beach. That was nice timing! We took a mooring ball and stayed 2 days, comfortably letting severe weather pass through the area.