a beautiful morning on the Coosaw River

 Having trouble uploading videos from

My phone.  Click the link below to see

a video from this morning on the Coosaw River. 

https://youtu.be/1Mwo5LhWAk4?si=as8W9ST4_I7dhtPq

the first couple days

Some photographs from the first couple of days on the water.  Good trip so far.  Now on Rock Creek just off the Coosaw River, waiting out some morning rain.  

 

packing today

 gone tomorrow

tracking map here

a few numbers

12        The temperature (˚F) when I plan to leave

my home headed for Charleston

Yes, cold.  It is the third batch of cold air coming down to the south.  My truck and SPARTINA will both be packed the day before.  I just need to hook up the trailer to the truck and be on my way, with the heater going full blast for at least the first few minutes.

16        The number of Sounds along the ICW 

from James Island, South Carolina to 

Jacksonville, Florida

I dug back into my logbooks to find my list of Sounds that I should sail on the way south.  Some of the Sounds are broad expanses of water.  Others, such as Buttermilk Sound and Manhead Sound, are bends in the river.  They are all beautiful in their own way. 

49         The temperature (˚F) when I hope to

 rig and launch SPARTINA

On launch day the cold weather, which is forecast to reach as far south as Georgia, should be sliding back north.  It will be cold overnight (I'll be in a hotel near the ramp), but it will be comfortable by the time I rig and launch. The forecast shows temperatures from the 40s all the way up to 70 as I head south.

I've completed the trip from Charleston to Palatka three times.  I have done it in as few as 13 days, and as many as 20 days.  These times include days sailing and non-sailing days where I visit places like  Beaufort, SC, a favorite town, and Hilton Head where I see friend Webb Chiles.  I think the distance is something like 320 miles, but can't find that right now in my log. 

I can't wait to get back on the water.

 

track updated, sailor seasoned

With what is described as a "bomb cyclone" approaching the east coast and the cold temperatures that will persist afterwards, I've delayed my departure for the winter trip by a week.  When will I go?  Not this week for sure, there are forecasts for a couple nights at or below 30 degrees.  I don't have the gear for that. So it should be sometime the following week.  It just depends on tides and the temperatures.

I've updated the SPOT track with the new date range.  The tracking URL is the same as I posted a few days ago.

https://maps.findmespot.com/s/3J3R#history/assets

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Joshua Colvin, who ran the Duckworks small boat supply store and also published Small Craft Advisor magazine, emailed me about a week ago.  He is publishing Substack version of Small Craft Advisor.  Josh asked me if I would fill out a questionnaire for their new column called "Seasoned Sailor."  I don't consider myself "seasoned," but with SPARTINA almost 20 years old and a lot of cruising on her, maybe I am.  So I filled out the questionnaire and Josh was kind enough to publish.

I always liked the magazine Small Craft Advisor as I considered it the new version of Small Boat Journal, a magazine that I read for years in the 80s and 90s.  The new Substack has the same feel, interesting stories about small boats and small boat sailors.  Links to the Substack Small Craft Advisor and the questionnaire are below.  Thank you, Josh, for reaching out to me.

https://smallcraftadvisor.substack.com/

https://smallcraftadvisor.substack.com/p/seasoned-sailor-steve-earley

 

of time, tide and temperature

There is an interesting bit of calculus, particularly this winter, to when I can launch at Wappoo Creek to begin the sail from Charleston to Florida.  Usually it is a matter of time and tide.  This year I need to figure in the temperature.

The boat ramp I use at James Island is at Wappoo Creek.  It is a good ramp and this time of year, with cold weather, there is plenty of room to rig and launch SPARTINA. To get from Wappoo Creek to the Stone River, I need to go through Elliott Cut.  The cut is very narrow with strong running tides the create swirling eddies.  I can only get through the cut at slack tide.  

Above you will see the slack tides circled in red.  The morning tides are preferable.  Leaving in the before noon means I can make a decent distance that first day, maybe reaching Wadmalaw Sound.  With afternoon slack tides, I could get through the cut, but because of daylight I would need to anchor less than a mile down the Stono River in Sandy Bay.  The 4:43 slack tide on Wednesday would allow me just over an hour to get through the cut, reach the anchorage and set up the boom tent.  It could be done, but not ideal for a first night on the water.

The third element is the temperature.  As I wrote a few years ago, "the polar vortex is broken, and I don't feel so good myself." The polar vortex has been reaching down south the past several days and will continue to do so through the middle of next week.  This forecast shows a Wednesday morning temperature of 27 degrees.  I don't want to be out on the water at 27 degrees, I am not geared up for that.  

So can I launch Wednesday morning and make the morning slack tide?  It is possible.  But rigging at dawn at 27 degrees is not easy.  There are a lot of knots to tie, hard to do with numb fingers.  Or do I rig early afternoon when the temper is up in the 40s, make the pm slack tide and plan on anchoring in Sandy Bay for the night?  

 Forecasts change, of course, so I will just keep and eye on things and see what looks best.

tracking URL

 Here is the tracking URL for the winter trip from Charleston, SC to Palatka, Fl.  Or copy and paste the link below.  Track should go live the first couple of days in February, depending on weather.

https://maps.findmespot.com/s/3J3R

the polar vortex is broken, again

The polar vortex is back at it again.  That ring of frigid air that that normally sits over the arctic has slipped south over Canada.  The disturbed weather pattern sends blasts of cold air to the south now and then.  It was freezing weather that caused me to cancel my January trip down south last year.  Fortunately, I plan to begin the sail out of Charleston in early February.  Forecasts show temperatures should be back up in the 50s by then.  Let's hope so.

From The Washington Post:  

The first cold wave will reach the East Coast on Thursday, followed by another surge of frigid air this weekend and a third next week, which may be the most severe of the trio.

Not even Florida will be spared. There, freezing temperatures are expected Friday as cold air plunges across the Gulf of Mexico toward Cuba and Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

 

The masts are now on the porch, the sails in a spare bedroom and the nice rope fenders made by my friend Howard are hanging on the bow sprit.  Cockpit is repainted, and fresh anti-fouling paint on the hull.  Time to start putting gear back in place.

maintenance, surprised

Installing new bits of line and pieces of bungee cord that hold things - duffel bags, foul weather gear, boom tent, etc - in place on SPARTINA.  Finished repainting the cockpit a couple days ago.  Anti-fouling paint coming next. 

Also trying out a new camera system, an iPhone 17 Pro using the ProCamera app which has an easy interface for interval shooting.  I do hope to experiment with the camera (phone) set in remote spots on the upcoming trip.

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Looking over my most recent winter sail in 2024, I was surprised to see that I completed the sail in 18 days.  And that included weather days in Hilton Head, Kilkenny and Doctor's Inlet.  There are a couple of places I have bypassed on earlier trips, so I might take a little more time and visit those places this year.

Palatka????

Why do I end my winter trip in Palatka, Florida?  I have been asked that several times.  Maybe it is the salty oysters on the half-shell at Velchoff's?  Or because it is on the beautiful St. Johns River?  I do like the oysters and the river, but the simple fact is that Palataka, about 30 miles southwest of St. Augustine, has three things I need: a marina to dock SPARTINA, a hotel where I can get cleaned up and get a good night's rest and, most importantly, an Amtrak station.

The train station is just a few blocks from the waterfront.  For $54 I can catch the Silver Meteor (scheduled for 2:30 pm but I don't think I have ever seen it arrive on time) and be back in Charleston by 10:000 pm.  Another good night's sleep and then the five hour drive from Charleston to Palatka to pick up SPARTINA.  It works out very well.

The marina situation in Palatka is a bit fluid.  There is the Boathouse Marina where I tied up on my first successful winter trip.  The next year, the marina was full and a gentleman named Bobby was kind enough to let me tie up at his dock.  And then last year a municipal marina was open, but not really in service.  I was told I could tie up there, which I did, but it was kind of at my own risk.  The docks were fine and they are right at the boat ramp, so it was ideal.

I do need to check on the marinas before heading south early February.