Yesterday's forecasts looked good for a run down the coast. We took on water, cleaned up, did laundry showered. We had a final checklist for this morning's departure.
Today…
Well. It was a difficult decision to make. And there's always the regrets after making the decision.
Did I do the right thing? Shouldn't we be heading south?
The pre-dawn conditions were nice. Cold, but calm up here on the Cooper river. Not indicative of conditions at sea.
This morning's weather for AMZ350:
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON……
Today: N winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts to 25 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft.
Tonight: N winds 15 kt...becoming NE 10 to 15 kt after midnight. Seas 3 to 4 ft.
Fri: NE winds 10 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft.
That means we just have to gut it out through the rest of the daylight hours. We have to fight through gusts of 25. That's a matter of second reef in the main, and stays'l. We've done that kind of thing before. It's manageable. It's actually fun sailing.
If we fight through the day, tonight it will settle down a bit and tomorrow will be very nice.
The other end of the trip in St. Mary's (AMZ450) looks like this:
Today: North winds 20 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Inland waters choppy. Isolated showers in the morning.
Tonight: Northeast winds 15 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Inland waters a moderate chop.
Friday: East winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet. Inland waters a light chop. Isolated showers in the afternoon.
The 4-6 feet part of that part means a right unpleasant trip in the early morning hours of darkness.
If Friday is so nice, why not leave then? Because Saturday's arrival will be nasty. Here's St. Mary's forecast for Saturday.
Saturday: South winds 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet. Inland waters a moderate chop. Isolated showers.
Bashing into the wind? No thanks.
We're paid in full for another two weeks. Why rush out of here? Why not head south as quickly as possible?
We're looking closely at Sunday-Monday and possibly Monday-Tuesday as the next weather window.