the weather has not been helpful

The weather, cold and windy, has not been helpful for the winter maintenance.  I have most of the epoxy work done but need to do the six or eight coats of Bristol Varnish.  The good thing about the varnish, should we get a day in the fifties, is that I can do at least four and possibly six coats in one day.  Typically varnish needs to be sanded between each coat but in the case of the two-part Bristol additional coats can be layered on within a certain time frame (two hours maybe?) and the varnish will have a chemical bond (vs. the physical bond you get with sanding).

The coming winter storm has me thinking about the weather I experienced on the winter trip down south last year.

The first day, with the drive down from Georgetown and the launch at Wappoo Cut, had a light fog in the morning but it was beautiful by 10:00 or so.

That first night was very pleasant on Rantowles Creek, the above being one of my favorite photographs showing a tug pushing a barge up the ICW sometime in the middle of the night.

Day two was sunny and hot as I sailed alongside Doug in his Marshall Catboat behind Edisto Island.

Day three began with a thick fog but that cleared away and it was sunny and hot by late morning.

Day four had a little bit of everything, beautiful morning sailing, heavy overcast, strong winds.  By the time I got to Hilton Head it was like a nice summer day, people walking around in shorts and tee-shirts.

The next two days were the only bad weather of the trip and it really wasn't that bad at all.  Just breezy and a little bit of rain.  Perfect timing as Webb invited me to wait it out in his condo, how nice was that?

Day seven it was very chilly as I left Skull Creek Marina, Webb taking this nice photograph of SPARTINA as I motored away on a windless morning.  Wind arrived later and by 11:00 it was hot.

Day eight was great wind, comfortable temperatures and I crossed a couple sounds, including St. Catherine's Sound under mizzen and jib.

Day nine, yeah, well, plenty of wind, cold and rain.  I was comfortable in my dry suit with some thermals layered on and heading south so well I expected to cross three sounds that day.  At least that was a plan until the mizzen broke.  Patrick from Boat US, who gave me a tow to a marina, said with the wind and rain he thought he would have an easy day, like who is gonna be out on the water on a day like that?  

In retrospect the weather was perfect for sailing a small boat down the ICW.  I'll hope for the same this winter.