Saturday 14 Dec, St. Augustine FL to West Palm day 1: Simply an awesome day sailing south.
We wake up at 5am to the sound of strong gusts of wind and thunder & lightening. Electronics go into the microwave and main oven and mast head aerials are disconnected. Then there is extremely heavy rain. We knew this cold front would blast through during the night, but didn’t expect such a light and sound show! And it’s a very good thing we moved anchorage yesterday, otherwise we would have surely been pushed on the jetties of those properties with these westerly squalls of up to 30kts.
The 7am alarm is very unwelcome. We both feel drugged and operating in slow motion after our disturbed night.
At 9am we lift anchor and head out of St. Augustine, probably for the last time ever. Nice town, but the extreme tourism here gets to you after a few days.
Once out the channel, the sails come out. Looks like we will have our first proper sail since we left Maryland. There is an offshore wind, 15 gusting 20kts. So while there is still a large swell coming from offshore, this new wind quickly decreases it and the motion is reasonable. Well, reasonable when considering we are charging along at 8-9kts, spray on the foredeck and almost a Rooster tail off our stern ( … ok, that was a bit of imagination, but our wake is quite impressive). It’s clearly a good day to be out, 4 boats ahead of us and 4 boats behind, all going the same way.
A large ketch (102ft) quickly passes us. He is doing a nice 10.5kts. But its AIS is extremely weak so we try to call them on VHF to let them know. But the yacht doesn’t answer. Odd for a yacht that size to both have bad AIS and also not listen out on channel 16.
While calling them we do attract the attention of “Entitled”, a 52ft ketch who is just behind us. They give us good information on anchorages in both Fort Pierce and West Palm. We had been planning to arrive to Fort Pierce by breakfast, but if our good progress continues we may stretch that to West Palm now.
By midday the cockpit is hot, and we happily strip off our layers and enjoy the warmth. Amazing how the sun’s rays can re-energise you. It really is a perfect sailing day. And that is how it remains, a steady 8kts in a steady beam wind, all the way to sunset.
There isn’t a cloud in the sky when the sun sets, creating another amazing red sky. This time over Cape Canaveral – the NASA and Space-X launch sites. The massive building, from the 1960’s where they pieced together the Saturn-V Apollo rockets, stands out very clearly silhouetted in the red glow, even at 25 miles away.
Then it’s pitch dark on a starlit moonless evening arrive to the shoals off Cape Canaveral.
In the early evening we run the generator and make water. It’s been a week since we last made RO water, about the limit before you need to pickle the system. Finally we have purged our tanks of “land” water and have beautifully clean RO water from now on.
Late evening an unusual moon pops onto the horizon. Partially hidden behind patchy clouds, makes it look like a candle lit Halloween pumpkin, hollowed out with an angry face and a bright orange interior. Quite spooky! But once above the whisky clouds it’s bright and full, and laying its glittery track across the water. Who could ask for more, sailing at 8kts on flat water in bright moonlight whilst passing NASAs bright lit launch pad. Cool eh?
By 11pm we are passed the shoals and turn 25deg west towards West Palm. Oana wakes for her shift, 11pm to 2am.
What a great day sailing.
