Slow down
What? you say. Slow down? You're on a five knot boat trying to cover hundreds of miles on the ICW! What are you talking about?
Departing Sloop Point with iPad Chart Plotter
What a difference a week makes. I'm back into the groove, the rhythm of TALESPINNER. Every boat has its rhythm and most of the OPB's I've sailed on in the last few years have had faster speeds, faster paces than my little boat.
I was making good time in the first few days after I left New Bern. That first day I actually had a wonderful few hours of sailing down the Neuse River with the engine silenced. I crept into Spooner's Creek that night, anchored and got Chip rowed to shore just as the last glimmers of light left the sky.
Lockwood's Folly Inlet
The next day, I barely missed a couple of restricted bridge openings and got held up circling and waiting and then crept into the Sloop Point anchorage thirty minutes after sundown on New Year's Eve. Missing bridge openings, passing shoaling inlets, and anchoring after sunset – these things build confidence when what you fear might happen happen – actually does happen and you manage it okay. I even negotiated the Cape Fear River without running afoul of any ships, shoals or tugs.
It was weather that forced me to stop a couple of days ago. The forecast was for an arctic air mass to bring overnight lows in the teens, and I knew that since I couldn't run my propane heater all night, I needed to get to a dock to run the electric heater. This was the kind of cold that could kill people or pets. I pulled in to Osprey Marina here on the Waccamaw River south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and it is the best marina I've ever stayed in – great facilities, reasonable prices and nice people. Last night when my electric heater bit the dust, the dock master loaned me a heater off his own boat. And best of all, they have great wi-fi so I was able to get lots of work done while I was here. But, when I fueled up and then sat down and did the calculations, I discovered I've been burning about three quarters of a gallon of diesel an hour. My little thirty-horse Yanmar doesn't need to burn that much fuel if I stop racing around thinking I need to do the speed of a forty-footer.
Today, I met a young Canadian fellow who pulled into the marina this afternoon after his first ever days run on a little boat he just bought. Now, compared to him, I'm a waterway veteran, but he certainly opened my eyes with his comments. As we chatted, I asked him where he was headed in the morning. He said he was headed for a spot only about thirty-five miles away because he didn't want to run his engine flat out, and he wanted to enjoy his trip down the waterway. I came back to my boat, looked again at my guidebooks and charts, and realized he had an excellent point.
This mad dash south is causing me to miss some very cool stops. You don't get to see much of an area when you arrive at sunset or after – and leave at dawn. 
In fact, what's the big deal if it takes me a week or two longer to get back to South Florida? We just had some pretty damn cold weather and Chip and I survived. If we get another cold front like that, we'll just have to go into a marina again (and buy ourselves a new electric space heater). But the further south we get, the less likely that is to happen, and we do fine with overnight lows in the thirties and forties.
Tonight, I met a man and woman doing the ICW in a twenty-nine-foot sailboat with an 8-HP outboard. They are delivering this boat that was a donation to a non-profit organization in Tennessee! They will cut through Lake Okeechobee and head up the gulf coast to the river system and on to Tennessee. Though their boat is only a few feet shorter than mine, without a good battery/electrical system, their living arrangements are much more primitive than mine. Yet, they seem to be enjoying their adventure at their own pace
There's sort of a cycle we go through when we attempt to do something new, whether it's a new job, a new hobby or a new sport. At first we're afraid we don't have the skills, then we start to feel confident but still try to overachieve, and finally, there is the moment when we can start to relax in our confidence. It's time for me to slow down, relax, and enjoy this waterway adventure. I'm happy to report that we have a spell of nice weather ahead, so tomorrow, we'll cover only thirty-five miles and enjoy Georgetown.
Fair winds!
Christine
author of the sailing thriller CIRCLE OF BONES available on Kindle and Nook
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