Tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday have a forecast of rain. More than that really. We're looking at this forecast for Zone AMZ137:

"GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING"

That's alarming.

The whole RED-ALL-CAPS styling really adds to the sense of impending doom.

And. Bonus. It's cold.

So, a few days on the boat will not be a lot of fun.

It's a lot of shivering, actually. While we're out of the wind, it's still cold.

The Galley Stores Marina had a slip available for us. So, we're going to spend some money to wait out Saturday and Sunday here.

The laundromat is a few blocks down broad street. It is heavenly. All New. Brand new machines. Clean. Well-Managed.

A real wow.

In addition the marina is a chance to take on a little more fresh water, too.

Our forward tanks have some kind of leak. The last two times we filled them, a great deal of water wound up in the bilge. So we need to open things up there, get some lights in the space, and see where the water leaking. While I might be able to diagnose it in this marina, I think I want to wait for Charleston where we can order parts.

If we leave Beaufort Tue9 evening and sail Wed10 to arrive Thu11 at dawn, we think we're looking at this:

• Start in AMZ156: "N winds 15 to 20 kt, diminishing to 5 to 10 kt. Seas 6 to 9 ft. Adjacent sounds and rivers choppy, diminishing to light chop."

• Move to AMZ252: " NW winds 5 to 10 kt, becoming E. Seas 3 to 5 ft."

Predict Wind has similar forecasts with different details. We'll see how this develops through the weekend. While 6′-9′ seas can be bad, if the wave period is long enough (i.e., closer to 10 seconds) it's not the thrashing one endures in the Pamlico sound or the Chesapeake. Wave periods of 2-5 seconds are like living in a washing machine.

We're docked at , not far from where we were anchored.

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