Day 90, Year 11: Passage to FL, Day 1—Love That Sunshine
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Cold, High 45, Low 40 F; Wind N to S 5 knots
Latitude: 33 13.349 N
Longitude: 079 06.494 W
Location: Sailing ~3 Miles Off Georgetown, SC
Miles Traveled: 54 Nautical Miles (7:30 am to 4:45 pm)
It was a chilly start this morning, but the sunshine has kept us warm all day. It was so cold this morning that the lines were frozen to the dock. But with a few tugs, Mark got the frozen coils unstuck and we were off. The weather today has been as forecast—partly sunny with almost no wind coming from the NE and moving to the S in the afternoon. Some reports say we will have very little S wind all night and others indicate that we could have up to 20 knots from the SW. We vote for the “very little” forecast. Of course, this means motoring, but we were prepared for that. The seas are flat and the ride is smooth—very nice. The temperature in the cockpit has been around 70 degrees most of the day, but when the sun goes down, so will the temperature. That’s when we’ll turn on the Mr. Heater and hope that it adds a few degrees of comfort to our night. Weather aside, it feels good to be out here.
We are running close to shore and have had phone service all day. We talked to our friends Ed and Lynne Kirwin in New York this morning. And then we talked to my niece Janet and my sister Patsy in Nashville. Weather was the topic of the day. New York is preparing for winter storm Jonas to hit this weekend and Nashville was closed down today by cold, snow, and ice. It doesn’t take much to close down Nashville as they are not prepared for this kind of weather. When we hear the ‘s’ word—snow—and the ‘i’ word—ice—it makes our choice to head south as quickly as possible sound like a really good idea. And weather aside, it just generally feels good to be out here.
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| 160120 Day 90 Passage to Florida–Day 1, A Chilly Start |
