4 April 2016 – Our first ocean outing.
After a very blustery 2 days of big wind coming from the North, today was forecast to be light wind from the East.
We woke up early and prepared for a 0730 departure from Fernandina Harbor Marina.
We enjoyed a short ocean run of 40 nautical miles 8 of which were in channels getting out of St. Mary’s inlet in Florida and into St. Simon’s inlet in Georgia.
The forecast was correct with the light wind but wrong on the direction with what turned out to be a Northerly wind. We of course are headed north and that meant we were headed directly into the wind which doesn’t work well in a sailboat.
Regardless, it was an absolutely beautiful day, the ocean was calm, actually it was more like a lake.
We were able to at least motor sail for a bit.
Using auto pilot most of the time meant for an extremely relaxing journey for both of us.
Another nor’easter is being forecast in the region for the next few days, so we may be sitting in St. Simon’s for a while.
If the weather cooperates, our next planned passage is again to be in the ocean heading north to either Beaufort, South Carolina or another 50 nautical miles further to Charleston. Either way, we plan to have our first overnight passage.