Pot Luck!

Weather: Temp range 68 to 75 degrees; the day began mostly cloudy, by 1100 it was partly cloudy and by 1200 it was sunny; North winds @ 12 to 18 knots; 1’ chop on Port Royal Sound with many whitecaps

Comment:
It’s 0730 and time to get up! After breakfast and some cleaning chores, it is up anchor (0820). We need to get going so we can make the 0900 opening of the Lady’s island Swing Bridge.” Since it’s only ¼ mile away, we’ll have an easy time of it.

We arrived at the bridge fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled opening. Anna Marie contacted the bridge keeper via VHF radio to notify the keeper that there were three southbound sailboats standing by for the 0900 opening. The bridge captain requested to know the hailing ports of the vessels passing through and, at the appointed time, the bridge swung open.

We motor sailed down the river and into Port Royal Sound with an 18 knot following wind. Once in the sound, we made a turn to starboard that put the wind on our beam. We hit speeds of 10 mph and had a quick crossing. The sail was rolled up as we tucked behind Hilton Head Island. After following the rather narrow channel to the fixed bridge, we unfurled the sail and once again were motor sailing, this time, in Calibogue Sound. After a turn to starboard at Dafauskie Island, we rolled up the sail and entered Bull Creek where we anchored for the evening. The anchor was down at 1330 hours. Anna Marie occupied the time to clean house while I waxed the cockpit.

At 1700, we were joined by the crew of the other vessels (“Kallista,” “Tally Ho” and “Reflection,” for a pot luck supper. After consuming mass quantities of delicious food, we settled down for another enjoyable gam and, a sing-a-long! As the sun set, the various crew boarded their respective dinghies for the short trip back to their boats.

We enjoyed a quiet night at anchor until 0430 when the wind piped up. We had been lying nicely to the current and now we were “hunting” aka “sailing at anchor” between the wind and the current.