On the go again
SY Cookielicious
Private
Fri 10 May 2013 21:35
75:13.59
Our short stay in Beaufort was a very good break for both body and mind. And for Cookie. She got hosed off, vacuumed and fuelled up. This morning we left refreshed as the sun was rising over the pretty little town. We were not the only ones in the channel - there was quite an exodus of sportfishermen around us. We first had to round Cape Lookout, just on the outer land strip of Beaufort. From there it was on to Cape Hatteras, notorious for its thunderstorms. Not today though, as we had picked a nice clear day. The sun was out, but there was a hazy atmosphere on the water for the entire day. Light SW winds, so another day of motorsailing. Good for bread making, which was due. We must have had some effects of the Gulfstream despite the fact that we were not in it, just parallel to it. First indicator was the rise in temperature of the sea, from 14 deg C to 18 deg C. Next we got catapulted up the coast, the first 16 hours we managed to do 9 kts, at least one knot of current with us the whole time! This means that we will go past the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay in the early hours of the morning. Starry night so far, no moon for the foreseeable future.
No birds on board today. That leads us to the conclusion that it must have been the unusual Westerlies blowing them off land.
The forecast for later tomorrow sounds a bit squally and wet, with Northerlies after that. For that reason we are kind of sticking to the direction of Cape May where we could pull in should the weather become really atrocious as in thunderstorms. If not and the winds do switch to the North, then we will continue through New York's East River to get into the Long Island sound to give us a better wind angle to reach Newport rather than beating straight into it.
Let's see what decisions the weather will dictate.
Cheers,
Geoff & Merel