Duer Family Cruising Adventures

We departed Cape Lookout on Thursday morning, arriving almost exactly 48 hours later to Cumberland Island GA, about 350km. We had a mix of sailing and motoring in generally calm seas (2-3 ft) with winds from the starboard quarter. Overall the crew felt very good on this 2 day/2 night passage and Tenacious performed flawlessly. For the full week we travelled 600 km.  Sightings over the past week after leaving Hampton VA; 1) Coast guard ship near Cape Hatteras 2) Coast guard plane circling Tenacious at night. It turns out there is a yacht missing in route to Jacksonville so the search was on.  3) Dolphins every day, many times staying with us in the bow wake for 30 mins or longer. 4) Deep blue water of the gulf stream (and man was is warm close to the Gulf Stream - like 20 degrees warmer.  5) Two Turtles 6) 10 Shooting stars 7) Lots of Jelly Fish We will be in Cumberland area which is near St. Marys and Fernandina Beach for the next week, partly to explore, partly to celebr...

Cape Hatteras and the North Carolina Outer banks are collectively known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic - having recored 5,000 ship wrecks since record keeping started in 1526. The trick for the pleasure boat mariner is the Gulf Stream, its nearest approach to the U.S. is right off of Cape Hatteras near an area called Diamond Shoals. The stream moves NNE at 4 knots at its center and is very warm water, while the south bound mariner prefers a northerly component wind, combine this with the south flowing very cold Labrador current is a recipe for wind against current(s) local weather events and just general tough going in sloppy confused seas. The technique is to wait for a cold front/low pressure system to move off the US coast and slip in behind it as the winds clock SW to NW to NE as the next high approaches. Sounds easy except the relative strength (pressure gradient difference) between the low and the high determines how strong these winds will be AND this happens every 48 hours in...

We find ourselves in Hampton VA, having a slightly less eventful week than last. Though, still in boat life you get a "surprise" on the daily, this time a seam in our mainsail opened up, fortunately Jim Miller of Doyle Sails in Portsmouth was able to help us get it fixed. Our mainsail is original 1999 so well past its useful life, thus on the hunt for a replacement - knew this was coming just hoped for a year out of the old girl.  We got a bit of sailing in this week, Deltaville to Norfolk, Norfolk to Hampton then a day sail in the bay. We got to push some mud on our way back to our slip in Hampton, so now have been softly aground in Tenacious - a right of passage for any boat. A overland day trip to Williamsburg left us wanting - it seems we had very found memories from our last visit in 2008, this time around more of a ghost town than a vibrant colonial immersion. Maybe a covid hangover.  So now the wait for weather... Nicole has been named moving over the Northern Bahamas ...