This week we're still hanging around in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Commodore's aunt, Venerable Great Aunt (VGA) Diane will be here this week, enjoying the sights (and tastes) of the Low Country with us. Specifically Shrimp and Grits.

19th. Monday.

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

Hung out, waiting for VGA Diane to arrive. CA cleaned out the V-Berth for her.

I—patiently—entered data from some previous voyages into a spreadsheet. This allows me to do some analysis of speed and fuel consumption and the like. For example, our first-ever overnight motoring passage took 35 hours, burned half a tank of fuel (about 38 gallons), and took us a total of 146 nautical miles.

The overall average speed for this passage is low because I didn't carefully log the time we were stopped while I took the line off the propellor, and the side-trip into Ocean City Maryland. After those two stops, we did 116 nm in 18:40, for an average speed of 6.2 knots, which more properly reflects Red Ranger's capabilities.

Also, we hung out with Mike and Diane on the Primrose and talked about project boats and ketches. They recently retired to a 40' Moody that they bought in New Bern. They did their shakedown ("breakdown") cruise from New Bern to Charleston.

Diane drove down from her home near Asheville, NC, to spend Thanksgiving on Red Ranger with us.

Dinner at the Low Country Bistro. Elegant presentation of Shrimp and Grits.

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20th. Tuesday

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

As a spiritual discipline, I know of some folks who have been posting the things they're thankful for all during the month of November. We have a number of things we're thankful for Red Ranger.

• Our good health. We wouldn't be able to consider this if we weren't blessed with (essentially) perfect health. No chronic diseases. No steady stream of medications. We are so blessed by this.

• Our strong, supportive families. We couldn't do this if we didn't have families that were also in tip-top condition. We know folks with special-needs children, parents who need a lot of care, sisters or brothers who can't cope on their own. We're not tied down by the complexities of caring for our families.

• A supportive cruising community. Books, magazines, boat associations, bloggers, and the folks we meet dockside are all ready, willing and able to help us. We can get questions answered, we can trade spare parts, we can share meals with this larger "cruising community" that hangs around the waterfronts of the world.

• Helpful governments. Some countries have serious and cruel restrictions on travel. We're blessed to live in a country that doesn't care very much at all about travel. We have the burden of DHS "Security Theater" at ports of entry, but cruisers report that US entry and exit procedures are better than most other countries. There's a deep silliness to many aspects of immigration control. Customs and Pratique (health check) make some economic sense.

• In addition to the lack of travel restrictions in the US, we also have bridges and waterways that are maintained to high standards. Some states (e.g. Georgia) have problems, but most states do an excellent job. I'm happy that some of my tax dollars go to bridges, canals, aids to navigation, the US Coast Guard and the National Weather Service. I wish that more of my tax dollars went for these domestic "entitlements" instead of foreign wars, but I remain thankful that our waterways are so good.

• Fortunate career choices. I worked for one company for almost 35 years. CA worked for one company (and and off) for 15 years. We were paid well for what we did. We suffered no workplace injuries. We didn't burn through our savings looking for jobs when a company failed.

• The patience to have crept up on this lifestyle slowly. Our Sailing Resume reaches back almost fifteen years, when we first took a class in sailing at the Lake George Sailing School at the YMCA camp. We went to sailboat shows in Annapolis over and over again. We went initially because Annapolis is fun, then we kept going because sailboat shows are fun. Now we go because we need stuff that's available there for a discount.

• The willingness to do the necessary hard work. We've had to learn a lot about boats, the ocean, navigation, knots, sails, diesel engines, weather, radios, aids to navigation (ATONs). We've also had to learn a lot about our domestic lives: what we really like to eat and drink, how to keep clean with minimal water waste, how to manage the limited stowage on a 42' boat with 22 "register tons" (100 cu. ft.) of interior volume, how to rest while taking turns driving the boat on overnight passages, how to speak clearly and plainly about line handling. How to discuss an anchorage without it turning into a domestic squabble.

• The sense of perspective to realize that we're blessed. Our chosen life style may end tomorrow and we may have to go back to apartments and jobs.

Lunch with friend Nancy who moved to Charleston.

Some wandering about with VGA Diane.

Dinner at The Griffon. Quick pub-food after Nancy's lavish lunch.

Tomorrow, we may ask Diane to take us to West Marine in North Charleston so we can buy some stuff we need for various small projects we've accumulated. Mostly we need yet more fasteners, lubes and adhesives. Also, one of the little LED task lights I put over the fridge sections didn't last very long; a better light is required.

Travel

21st. Wednesday

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

West Marine for various things.

ABC Store to restock the single malt and rum. Wound up at Holly's Liquors on James Island. What a find! She knew her stuff and had a variety of non-Bacardi rums.

Jestine's Kitchen for lunch. Distinctive Shrimp and Grits.

Then off to The Spice and Tea Exchange, and Knit.

Back to the boat to do some knitting. And painting some more holiday/greeting/thank-you cards.

Some excitement when the water tank pickup stopped picking up. There's no warning. The pump just runs because there's no more water going through the system, just air.

We know that the pickups are pieces of polyethylene hose, and they can develop a bit of a J-hook curve to them. Especially if you're not careful and put the pickup near the baffle. The J-hook will leave the business end of the pickup above the water level when the tank is getting low. So we took the inspection plate off, straightened out the hose, reassembled and let the pump run until it built up to cutoff pressure.

We had ordered a case of water filters, so we changed the filter at this time, also. We'd like the filters to last two full months, so this is a little premature. But, you can hear the pump "laboring" to pressurize the system when the filter gets dirty.

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22nd. Thursday Thanksgiving.

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

We did a few chores: cleaned and filled the starboard water tank, replaced a few lighting fixtures that either broke or still used incandescent bulbs.

After chores, it was off to Tommy Condon's for our thanksgiving dinner. Some of us had—what else?—Shrimp and Grits. Some of us had the Turkey Supper.

Then, back to Red Ranger for the post-turkey knit. CA is making an afghan for our daughter's new house. Diane is (always) making something incredible; usually rather complex sweaters out of luscious yarn.

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23rd. Friday

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

A few errands today: some shipping, some check cashing.

We toured the Drayton Hall plantation. It's in a state of preservation; it hasn't been restored to some prior period's level of grandeur. It's empty. Access is, consequently, limited because to prevent wandering around. The first-floor ceilings, for example, are all hand-carved plaster, and the floor above isn't terribly strong, leading to certain damage to the plaster from people tromping around.

Also, there are some inconsistencies in the interior that would need to be "fixed" to restore the house to some specific historical period. As it is, these inconsistencies are part of the tour's focus.

After reviewing the plan for sailing down to St. Mary's in a series of jumps, we're thinking that that single 150 nm (30 hr) passage would be better. It sure would be simpler.

Overnights are challenging, but six separate trips are challenging, so we're waffling.

Dinner was a soup of potatoes, cauliflower and chick peas supported by corn bread.

No shrimp and grits.

Travel

24th. Saturday

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

Laundry day. Some "big" grocery shopping to provision for the trip south. We're almost out of green veggies and eggs.

Replaced the gasket on the saloon hatch: it leaked during hurricane Sandy. Added Port Visors to the ports for the heads. This will allow us (in warmer weather) to leave the heads open without worrying about rain.

High Tides Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are 5:21, 6:04 and 6:44 respectively. These are good times to depart the dock and head down the Cooper River to the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina to top off the diesel.

According to http://www.passageweather.com (which has terrible URL's) there will be very light winds all three days. According to http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/Atl_tab.shtml the weather will stay north of us. The detailed zone forecasts for AMZ350, AMZ352, AMZ354 and AMZ450 all look similar:

Sun: N winds 5 to 10 kt...becoming SW in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 ft.

Sun Night: W winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 1 foot.

Mon: SW winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 1 foot.

Mon Night: SW winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 1 foot.

Which means essentially flat calm with a significant chance of motoring. Maybe we can motor sail with the wind out of the W. Also, Lee Chesnau's Wind and Wave Forecast seems to confirm this.

Dinner at the Noisy Oyster Seafood. Narrowly avoided the shrimp and grits to focus on oysters.

Freeze warning. Overnight low of -1°C (30°F). We have shore power, so we're running both of our little 1500W heaters.

Travel

25th. Sunday

Docked at 32°49.93′N 079°56.03′W

Stowed yesterday's grocery purchases. This was a serious, multiple-hour undertaking. It required some care and planning to find a place for everything.

We bought a pair of Defiant® multi-color LED flashlights from Home Depot. Mistake. One worked, the other didn't. Merely opening the lens end of the device broke the delicate internal wiring. A flashlight with delicate internal wiring which can be touched by a user is a design error of the first magnitude. Buy two because only one works.

Warranty? Sure. But. Requires driving back to Home Depot to complain about a $9.00 pair of flashlights. $4.50 value, less $3.50 for bus fare and there's no point. Sigh.

Kissed and hugged VGA Diane goodbye. It was a great week with her on the boat. She's fun. She loves the water. And she's a helpful guest. We'd love to have her as crew for our next leg. But she's got a house and cats and a job search.

Looking at the weather for the coming days. We still have SW winds for Monday and Tuesday: right on the nose. They're light enough that we can simply motor to St. Mary's.

If we wait until Wednesday, however, we see something like this:

Wed: N winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 ft.

Wed Night: N winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft.

That looks like a wind that will carry us to St. Mary's, Georgia.

We still need to top off the fuel, but that can wait until the day we leave.

Dinner: Hand-made pasta, tomato and vodka sauce with broccoli.

Tomorrow will be some pre-departure chores. And knitting, and downloading weather charts.

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This Week

Engine Hours: 0. Diesel Gallons: 0. ICW Miles: 0.

Books: (still) Circle of Bones, skimmed Heavy Weather Avoidance by Ma-Li Chen and Lee S. Chesneau.

Read Aloud: A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire.

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