Category: Uncategorized

What a wonderful day, celebrating Radeen’s 60th birthday with Alan and Kathy of IP420 Flatlander! Alan’s birthday is also in March and we were happy to celebrate together again. We shared fond memories of Alan’s Spanish Cay birthday a few years ago. Radeen thoroughly enjoyed her Moet & Chandon Imperial champagne, parmesan shrimp over angel hair pasta and creme brulee. It was a day to remember!

This has been a very breezy winter with lots of east wind and very few opportunities to sail to the Bahamas. We planned to be here in Miami all of February with boat shows and our Denmark friends visiting to present seminars about their Arctic sailing, Now it is mid March and we are still here in Miami. Not a bad thing, as we do love it here, but we are looking for a weather window to move over to the Abacos. We plan to spend March, April and part of May in the Abacos. Now if we can only get the boat ready and a few items fixed and find the winds to allow us to cross, we will make the jump over.

Oops….ran out of fuel, towboat and mega yacht

Touring Fort Lauderdale homes

Hayden, Radeen, Kathy and Alan of IP420 Flatlander

Dale Chihuly glass and Butterflies at Fairchild Botanical Gardens

Butterfly in the enclosure at Fairchild. This is the same butterfly as the next photo!

This butterfly is nearly invisible on a wooden log with its wings closed.

Chihuly exhibit on the water

My favorite Chihuly photo

Happy Birthday Radeen, champagne celebration at The Charthouse

This is the Weather window we let go, full moon rising at sunset

WYS mobile office, Miami, Hayden works every where

At “the Office” working 🙂

Rental car upgrade, Chevy Malibu LTS, for 4 days to run to Tampa

South Beach Wallcast, again, this time Bach and Vivaldi Coffeehouse, a fantastic night

Haul out and survey of the IP35 we have listed, such a beautiful yacht

Survey and Sailing the IP 35 we have listed. Brand new sails

Wawa has made it to Florida, YAHOO, love their coffee!

Road Trip, driving Miami to Tampa to Miami, via The Everglades

Bumped into Boat Buddies Bob and Nina at West Marine….AGAIN!

Nothing left to buy in Miami, it is all on Island Spirit

Radeen buying even more provisions and trying to store it all on the boat

Melges 20 World Regatta this week with 45 boats and many well-known sailors

Working at my local coffee shop

We always enjoy this sculpture at the local school

21.2 amps coming into the boat via solar

12.96 volts on the house bank

522 Amp Hours of a 525 amp hour bank = FULL

Boat runs on wind and solar power

Saturday winds, 20-25 knots and not SE, but ESE, this would be a beat with winds 40 degrees off the starboard bow

Sunday winds, lighter, but a little more SE This would be a motor sail….yet again!

The hardest part of any trip is LEAVING the comfort and safety of port. Trying to figure out the winds and sea state for a gulf stream crossing is a real challenge.

Play the Weather Router Game yourself, and look at this link. Use the GFS winds and look at the winds. Then look at the waves. When would you cross????

http://passageweather.com/index.htm?http%3A//passageweather.com/maps/florida/mappage.htm

…Judith and Haakon enjoy a fine red wine when we Dine with Reuben…

We have just wrapped up a two week visit with Judith and Haakon, Island Packet 380 TOUCHE owners, who flew into Fort Lauderdale, Florida and presented Arctic Sailing seminars at the Miami boat show and the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. We have been planning and anticipating their visit for months.

The IPYOA Flag with the Danish Cruising Club Flag

When special events like this arrive, they seem to happen so fast and before you know it, the fun is over! We are sad to see this time end, but the amazing aspect is all events and activities turned out to be better than planned. We really enjoyed getting to know Judith and Haakon and we appreciate their effort and expense of flying here from Copenhagen Denmark. Their seminars were about the two months they spent last summer far above the Arctic Circle as they explored the island of Svalbard. They reached the northern latitude of 80 degrees. After swimming with icebergs and photographing polar bears, beluga whales, puffins, geese, arctic fox, walruses, and beautiful fjords and icebergs, they sailed south to the northern tip of Norway.

Here is a list summary of our two weeks:

Wed Feb 11, Judith and Haakon fly in from Denmark
Thur Feb 12, We connect and meet with lunch onboard and we tour the club
Thur Feb 12, IPYOA meet and greet 18 IPowners, then dinner together at Green Street Cafe
Fri Feb 13, Boat show, Judith is on a panel discussion with Jimmy Cornell and Ellen Leonard, Lunch with Reuben IP380 PRIORITY and Dinner with Reuben and Al IP32 HALF MOON
Sat Feb 14, Boat Show, Judith seminar on Arctic Sailing, tour show, dinner with 6 Danish friends
Sun Feb 15, Coconut Grove Art Show tour
Mon Feb 16, Boat Show, Judith seminar on Arctic Sailing, tour show, dinner at Tokyo Blue Miami
Tue Feb 17, Day off, Sailing on IP380 PRIORITY, thank you, Reuben!
Wed Feb 18, Coconut Grove Sailing Club dock and Judith seminar Arctic Sailing, 55+ people
Wed Feb 18, Boat Buddies IP38 MOONDANCE, Bob and Nina stay onboard
Thur Feb 19, Relax at CGSC Docks, too windy to sail due to Arctic Vortex Cold Blast, 30 knots
Fri Feb 20, Sail to Boca Chita Lighthouse with IP38 HOLIDAY, Champagne toast and cannons
Sat Feb 21, Sail Boca to South Beach, anchor, WallCast Concert with SHAWNEE & HOLIDAY
Sun Feb 22, Return at 9am to Coconut Grove Sailing Club, Judith and Haakon drive to Key West
Sun Feb 22, Boat Buddy SP CATSPAW Carey boards for a day of sailing, Brunch with IP380 PRIORITY, Reuben and Molli and Dinner with IP380 SHAWNEE, Drew and Deb.
Mon Feb 23, Wash boat and water up at the CGSC docks, Judith swims with Dolphins in Fl Keys
Tue Feb 24, Judith and Haakon visit Harbour Cay Club to meet the Island Packet Fleet there at the Tiki Hut and return to Island Spirit
Wed Feb 25, Casual Breakfast onboard, Drive to Ft. Lauderdale, West Marine shopping, take a New River boat tour of yachts and homes, Lunch with IP38 MOONDANCE, Bob and Nina, coffee and treats at Cheesecake Factory, Flight out at 2200, we Uber Car back to CGSC.

What a fantastic two weeks. We really packed in a lot of activities, days of sailing and boat show and even a WallCast. We love when a plan comes together and when it is even better than expected!

Here are some photos….

Jimmy Cornell with Judith assisting

Judith, Seth, Ellen and Haakon Seth and Ellen Leonard sail Alaska and attempt the NW Passage

High Latitude Panel, Judith, Ellen and Jimmy

George Day of Blue Water Magazine and Judith

Judith with Lamar and Sherry, IP420 Winterset

Judith explains the Gulf Stream and its effect on UK and the Arctic

Fine dining always with boat buddy Reuben, IP 380 PRIORITY, our good friend

Our table at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club seminar Sponsored by Whiteaker Yacht Sales

Judith at the podium CGSC

Thank you, Debbie and Ed Whiteaker, for sponsoring Judith and supporting our IPYOA fleet

We moved Island Spirit to the docks for the seminar

Judith and Haakon present the Club with the Danish Cruising Club Burgee IP29 DRIFT, Dan and Chiara

Judith at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club with club members Dan and Chiara, IP29 DRIFT

The seminar room at CGSC, all set up and ready to go

The advertising posters made by CGSC to promote the Arctic Event

Happy smiles after the seminar. Seminar #4 complete!

Boat Buddies Bob and Nina, IP38 MOONDANCE Made the trip in/out via train and bus, thank you for coming to the seminar

Happy Sailing team at BOCA CHITA, the most beautiful place

Our team atop the light at Boca Chita

Two boats sailed to Boca Chita, IP35 Island Spirit and IP38 HOLIDAY

Sunrise on the Lighthouse and Island Spirit

25-30 knots E winds, let’s sail north to South Beach

Selfie Hayden and Judith heading into the SoBe Wallcast

At the New World Symphony WallCast about 4:30, 3 hours before the concert, we get our spot

The projector and our front row space, front and center

Sunday beach day with boat buddy Carey, SP CATSPAW

GoPro photo sailing dead downwind

GoPro selfie of the champagne team at Boca Chita

Radeen made a fantastic dinner and Pat and Deb brought the best desert Chocolate Wine and Russell Stover Candy!

..Island Spirit at Coconut Grove..

We have moved from Harbour Cay Club, in Marathon, FL, up north to Coconut Grove Sailing Club in the Miami area on beautiful Biscayne Bay. We were so very lucky when we arrived in the harbor! A mooring owner had just left for two months, opening up a front row mooring, number A-12 and we were able to take it immediately. This is unreal, lucky us! We wanted to be based here in the CGSC mooring field because our friends and Island Packet Yacht owners from Denmark, Judith and Haakon, will be here Feb 11-25, 2015. Basing here, we can easily come and go to shore using the club’s 24/7 launch service. We also decided to join the club as a non Florida resident since this club has been so helpful and kind in setting up the seminar that Judith and Haakon are presenting on Feb 18 at 7pm.

IP 380 TOUCHE off Svalbard

These adventurous sailors sailed north from to the Island of Svalbard, far above the Arctic circle. They spent July and August last summer as far as 80 degrees north. The sun never sets all summer long above the circle! They also jumped off their boat to swim with icebergs. OMG, that is crazy. They saw polar bears, walruses, puffins and more. What turned out to be an invite to come over and spend a couple of weeks in Miami has grown into three Miami Boat Show presentation and one Sailing Club presentation sponsored in part by Ed and Debbie Whiteaker of Whiteaker Yacht Sales. THANK YOU! Judith and Haakon are the latest super stars among our Island Packet Fleet and we look forward to hosting them.

What do we like about the Coconut Grove Area?

Coco Walk our local hangout at Starbucks

WOW, what is there not to like? We love the beautiful waterfront with palm trees and walkways for miles along the water. These walkways lead into city parks with rubberized trails and boardwalks along Biscayne Bay. Coconut Grove has a town center, half a mile up the hill from the harbor, where you will find pubs, restaurants, Starbucks Coffee shop, surf shops, movie theaters and much more. We go for 4 mile walk every day. First, we ride the launch into the docks and then hit the parks and trails, usually taking a coffee break along the return route.  We really like spending time in the Coconut Grove area.

Typical action at the sailing club

The CGSC has a club bar and a cafe where they have taco night on Tuesdays for $5, fajitas on Wednesdays for $13, and live bands usually on Friday night. The bar has a happy hour every week night with 2 for 1 drinks. All this is only open to club members. The club also hosts world class sailing events and sailing classes open to the public. Last week it was the RsX world cup and this weekend the Melges 20 Audi Cup is here. We have bumped into several Olympic sailors and have seen sailors from all over the world. This is THE sailing club in Florida.

Here are some photos of the area.

Sailing Biscayne Bay with Miami over the bow

The Coconut Grove Sailing Club Bar

Island Packet Buddies, Hayden, Roger IP45 Sanderling and Dave IP37 Cay Paraiso

Our local shopping Fresh Markets store

View of the Harbor from the Sailing Club Bar

Radeen at the club

Hayden, happy to be sailing Biscayne Bay

Heading over to South Beach for the weekend for a Wallcast Concert

Typical car in SoBe

Island Packet Buddies Jim and Loretta IP380 Plan Sea with Radeen

The Collin’s Canal, passing under bridges via the dinghy into SoBe

The Main Channel at Miami on a Friday, 5 ships

Ahhhh, sailing on Super Bowl Sunday

My favorite photo subject, Radeen checking her phone

Now THIS is the way to do laundry, drop it off, pick it up finished

Remember, this is a sailing club, Here is a Melges 20 sailing off our cockpit

Our beautiful walking route along the harbor at Diner Key Marina

They presold 85% of these new twin high rises before construction started 1 to 2 million dollar condos. Coconut Grove is one of THE Place to live in South Florida

We plan to be here until the beginning of March when we will look for a weather window to sail to the Bahamas and into the Abacos. Sail along….

Typical sunset, Marathon, Florida…

We have been lost in the peace, and the beauty of Harbour Cay Club, HCC a small paradise in Marathon, Florida. We have been here since Dec 16 and we will depart tomorrow, Jan 21. We will move back north to Miami where we will stage up for the Miami Boat Show and our friends Judith and Haakon arriving from Denmark. In the mean time, please forgive us for not blogging and posting updates, but the time here is priceless. We skipped last year due to our IPY refit program, but decided to return here for Christmas 2014. What a joy it has been. Good friends Craig and Liana came down for Christmas and rented the condo, the best deal on the east coast! We toured Key West and sailed Florida Bay and had a wonderful time together.

Christmas 2014 on the boat

The HCC club had a great Christmas Dinner and a New Years Day Dinner, thanks to the wonderful owners of Harbour Cay Club. Radeen and I both agree, there is no place like HCC that we have found from Maine to Key West. This place is very special, hands down. The property owners are so kind and so friendly making you feel welcome in their home marina. It is a 24 slip marina, where there are only about 9 slips for rent. The rest are filled with the fine yachts of the liveaboard owners. This place is a small and peaceful. It is  a beautifully kept gem that is private. You are a guest in the home of the owners and the 2.5 acres grounds, clubhouse, lanai, tiki hut, bathhouse, and landscaping show their pride of ownership. We feel honored to call the owners our friends. We feel at HOME here at Harbour Cay Club, what a great month it has been. We love it here! We already booked in for two months next year as we plan an Island Packet Fleet sail from HCC to Cuba 2016! So plan to come on down and Harbour Cay Club and join our fleet. You will LOVE it here.

Here are my best photos of the month…..enjoy…

NOTE: These photos cover from Vero Beach, heading south on the ICW, through Fort Lauderdale to Marathon Key and then Harbour Cay Club.

Happy New Year 2015

We hope your New Year is off to a great start. We are excited for our 2015 and the adventures that await us as we sail back into the Bahamas and then Home to MD.

Judith sails above 80 degrees north!

This is the 12th year of the Island Packet Yachts calendar. The photos this year are from my own collection, plus one very special IP photo from Judith L. Jacobsen who sailed far above the Arctic Circle to the island of Svalbard. She and her husband are incredible sailors. (She even jumped in and swam among the icebergs!)

This year I also searched deep into my IP photo collection of over 100,000 pictures and found a fantastic shot of our IP racing days during the 2009 Rock Hall, Maryland rendezvous. In this photo, three IPs are sailing hard. Each photo tells a story, and I am very lucky to have taken so many great pictures of Island Packet Yachts.

 I hope you enjoy the photography and I thank you for supporting my IPY web projects. The $5 proceeds from the sale of each calendar helps to pay for the servers, software, programming support and software licenses needed to support and run IPphotos.com and IPYOA,com. The Island Packet Yacht factory does not pay for or donate money to support my web sites. These sites were created and built out of the passion I have for Island Packet Yachts as an owner since 1991. Thank you for your support.

To order a calendar, please follow this link: http://CafePress.com/ipphotos
NOTE: Set your start date to JANUARY. unless you want your calendar to start on another month.

Here are the months of the year….

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

July 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

The Cover with the new IPY L24 Family Launch

To order a calendar, please follow this link: http://CafePress.com/ipphotos  Thank you!

Good friends from our home marina, Kathy and Gary of Sabre 42 GATSBY, made a delicious dinner on board….

We feel at home in Vero Beach City Marina because we always see so many cruising friends here. The city has created one of the best cruising stops on the entire east coast. There are plenty of mooring balls with a great marina, fuel dock and a nice laundry and bathhouse. The boaters’ lounge has a TV, computer desk and book exchange, plus the city provides free bus service every hour to and from town! The ocean beach is only 4 blocks to the east and there are bike and walking paths throughout the parks, marinas and town. What is there not to like about a stop in Vero Beach City Marina? NOTHING!

Our raft of three on mooring ball #24 IP350 KISMET, IP38 SLOW FLIGHT, IP35 ISLAND SPIRIT

This place has a nickname among the boating community and that is “Velcro Beach” because we all tend to pull in here for a day or two and then we stay and some never leave. They get stuck, if you call this stuck. We happily spent the winter of 2007-08 here on our boat while working on new Masters’ degrees in Education from Drexel University. We set up a Verizon Broadband network and two laptops and processed 45 graduate credits from the boat! That was exciting and very challenging. So, returning here year after year is wonderful. We really like Vero Beach!

Here are some photos of the good friends and the good life at Vero…

Vero Beach City Marina to the East of the AICW

The Merrill Barbor Bridge, Welcome to Vero Beach

Boats are rafted three per mooring ball

Wendy and Craig were vacationing in Cocoa Beach, FL, so they come to visit us

Wendy and Radeen by the banyan tree

Craig and Hayden

Radeen posted a sign….why not have happy hour on a Monday? There is one every Thursday, too.

Craig played and sang; he is the Team Island Spirit band

John of ISLAND GYPSY played along on his harmonic

All the ladies love Steve of IP38 SLOW FLIGHT, including Radeen and Michele of IP35 SIMPLE LIFE

Radeen, Craig, Wendy and Hayden after dinner at TooJay’s

The view over our bow in the mooring field

IP38 ALPENGLOW with Tim and Susan are ahead of us

The north mooring field at Vero Beach

ISLAND SPIRIT rafted to SLOW FLIGHT, with the south mooring field in the distance

Breakfast with Radeen’s homemade coffee cake Thank you, Steve, for the Champagne for mimosas…. we are roughing it with Laurie and Jim of IP350 KISMET

As it seems now, with the us needing to fly to AZ for our family Thanksgiving, we too will get stay here and not press on to Miami. Oh well, we cannot think of a better place to be. Vero has got us again, and so it truly is VELCRO BEACH……

Sunsets at sea are so special…

Spending nights at sea on a sailboat is a special aspect of cruising. It is also challenging, exciting, boring, beautiful, and very tiring. So why do it? We set sail for sea to cover longer distances in shorter periods of time. Then again, there are some trips where you must spend nights at sea. Running the East Coast to the Caribbean can take 10 to 15 days and nights!  Cape May NJ to Block Island is a 36 hour run that takes one overnight. That is a summer trip we have made  ten times. Sailing from Acadia Maine to the Cape Cod Canal is also one overnight trip. So, we do it because we want to get to the destination. We do it because we have a lot of confidence in our boat systems, fuel system and engine. If it breaks or stops running offshore, then we have to fix it. Lucky for us, our brand new engine, with 100 hours, ran perfectly. Hand built by a Bavarian, we now call it Yannie-New BMW, and it runs like one too. What a great engine. Thank you, Alfred, of Schooner Bay Marina, Wisconsin!

Radeen harnessed in

We try to run watches at night so that we are each on in two hour shifts. That way the one off watch can catch some sleep. Sometimes we extend this to 3 hours, but we find we are so exhausted and tired that the one on night watch usually needs relived in two hours. Hayden usually does not sleep well and in this 52 hour trip, he only had 4-5 hours of sleep. While on watch, the person at the helm needs to be harnessed onto the boat so that they can not be lost overboard while the other person is asleep. No one is allowed to go onto deck unless the other person is up. No sail changes alone. If anything is not clear, like a ship crossing or a navigation issue, then get the other person up to help. Keep the boat moving, push 5-6 knots of speed with sail, or sail and motor to keep it going. We are not out here to extend the trip, we want to make a safe and speedy passage. Usually this means that if the wind is over 15 knots then we can use sails only. If it is 15 knots or less, then we add some engine to keep the speed up. This trip was forecast to have 10-15 knots NW, but we had 0-10 SW winds. (See previous post for weather map proof!) On a course of 195 degrees, this required sails and engine at 2,000 to 2,300 rpms. On day two, the winds came in as planned and we had 15-20 NW. We finally killed the engine and sailed the final 9 hours!

So here we are in FLORIDA. We are 964 nautical miles from Rock Hall, MD where we departed on October 8 for the Annapolis Boat Show, the beginning of our Fall 2014 cruise.

Check out these ocean sunrise and sunset photos

Ship crossing in the AM sunlight

Here comes the sun

Sunrise off Cape Canaveral, FL

I love to take these sunrises at sea

A focus on the ocean waves. This is a calm sea, 30 miles offshore

Radeen, the librarian, reading and happy Her book? Seven Wonders by Ben Mezrich, author of :Breaking Vegas (made into the movie Bringing Down the House) and The Accidental Billionaires (made into the movie Social Network)

Ship on the horizon under the jib

The blue sky, clouds and sunset

The moon over our mast, but look at out worn out mainsail..ugh

Good Morning sunrise as we sail SOUTH

The sunrise is always exciting and wakes you up

This is a CALM inlet as the 3 knot flood current pushed us into the inlet

We always have sails up in inlets in case our engine stops!

Fort Pierce over the rock jetty

Bell Buoy with a wake, 3 knot flood current taking us in

This is WHY we fear SHIPS….look at this 34-40 sailboat and a 1,000 foot ship

Another view of the same sailboat and this 1,000 foot ship! They run at 15-20 knots of speed

We are so grateful to be on anchor, safe and secure in Fort Pierce. Now we can enjoy the Farmers’ Market and then move up to Vero Beach to see good friends and boat buddies.

Ocean, SC to Florida…

We will head to sea today, Nov 12, taking the ebb tide 22 nm out to the sea buoy from the wonderful town of Beaufort, SC. Again, that is Beuuuuuuuuuu-FORT, SC, not Bowwwwwwww-Fort, NC! We waited out the last north winds due to high and confused seas. Now, the low has pulled offshore and the waves are calming down to 2-4 feet from their 4-6-8 feet level over the past few days. Of course, there is now less wind and it looks like it will be a motor sail for much of the leg.

We are pressing on as we need to store the boat near Miami so we can fly to AZ for our family Thanksgiving. This leg will be a 300 nm trip, if all goes as planned. As Captain Ron famously said, “We must be close, because we had just enough fuel to make it and we just ran out of fuel!” Our motoring range is about 350 nm and this trip is 300 nm, so we better be able to sail some of this or else it will be a Captain Ron event as we near Fort Pierce! (Just kidding!)

North winds 10-15 knots off our stern

If you are interested in planning ocean routes and looking at sea state, pressure and winds, then we direct you to study up at www.PassageWeather.com. We find it very helpful to learn what we can expect when we get to sea.

Here are the planning photos…

Low pressure moving out

Marry Poppins Winds, North Winds, here we go

Ocean waves in meters. The arrows point down wave

Sunset Ashepoo Coosaw River, our anchorage before Beaufort

Arriving Lady’s Island Swing Bridge…ahhh, Beaufort SC We enjoyed our 24 hours here…drinks with Jeff & Marjorie of IP 45 Far Niente on the deck at Luther’s and an amazing dinner at the Old Bull Tavern

The waterfront park of Beaufort is beautiful

22 nm to sea from Beaufort

A direct route would be 50 nm offshore, we may curve toward land to stay away from the Gulf Stream

The Fort Pierce FL inlet, where we will arrive Friday late afternoon

Thanks for following along. We will be pressing our SPOT at noon, 6pm and midnight and 6 am. This will show up on our SPOT maps HERE.

Radeen and Captain Bill IP 380 Tamarack, our good friend from Rock Hall, MD We enjoyed low country lunch alfresco at Amen Street on East Bay. Cheers!

Our next plan is to get to Florida ASAP and that was to include heading out the inlet today, but with high waves, 5-6 feet, and a building low pressure with 25 knot winds gusting to 30, we will move down to Beaufort SC and head to sea from there.

Here are a few more photos to our time in Charleston, SC

Our MD-SC team: Reuben, Nina, Bob and Hayden touring Fort Sumter

Our Buddies from our Home Dosck Hayden, Radeen, Bob, Carol, Bill, Cherie, Ken and Dave

Cherie and Dave, IP380 Blue Skies

A must stop, the pecan praline candy shop

Longtime good friend Janet stopped in for a  lively visit

Saturday Date Night with Radeen

Hayden and Radeen, on our way to dinner at Toast with Rock Hall friends

Annual HOSPICE memorial with one umbrella for each who passed this year

Circular Congregational United Church of Christ

Beautiful restored Johnson’s Row

And this is great wind for sailing south…..but…

The waves are building to 2-3 meters!

So, down the ICW to Beaufort, SC, that is pronounced Beauuuuuuu-Fort, SC, not to be confused with Beaufort, NC or Bowwwwwww-Fort.

Brrr, departing Georgetown for sea…

Charleston, South Carolina is always one of our most favorite stops on the AICW. This time, for the first time, we departed Georgetown, SC, at high tide and ran the current out to sea. Exiting Winyah Bay between the submerged jetties with a 3 knot outflow against a 15 knot wind made steep 4 foot waves! Our boat was going vertical, then diving under waves like a submarine, then driving skyward like a rocket. Holding onto the wheel was a task and, lucky for us, it only lasted for a mile or two. Once past the jetty, we turned south and headed out to the 30 foot deep water where the waves subsided and we could motor sail south to Charleston 68 nm miles away.

Sunrise heading to sea, so calm…just wait

At one point we were asking ourselves….WHAT THE HECK are WE DOING?…..as we did not foresee the current against wind situation. Our buddy Reuben aboard svPRIORITY, single handing, was harnessed in and hanging on and so was IP38 MOONDANCE. After a great ocean run, we turned into the Charleston Harbor and up to our favorite little spot, the Maritime Center at 10 Wharf Street. This location is so good because it is right off East Bay Street and very close to the Harris Teeter grocery store.

REUBEN did it! 630 nm single handing to Charleston, SC L-R Reuben, Bob, Nina, Radeen and Hayden

With our team safely docked in Charleston, it was time to celebrate, as this was the first time Reuben on Buddy Boat IP380 PRIORITY had single handed such a long trip. Three weeks ago exactly, Reuben departed Baltimore by himself and ran with us for 630 nm to Charleston, SC! WOW, that is truly amazing and we are so proud of his accomplishment. Reuben is a fantastic man and we really enjoyed our time together. This was truly a time to celebrate with a bottle of Champagne and good snacks. Cruising is such a great life – it is more about the friends than the destinations that you reach. We really have great friends and we enjoy sharing this life together. From here, the team may be going in separate ways and at different times. Reuben will be having crew arriving Tuesday, Bruce Gregory of IP32 Morning Star. Moondance will be making a direct ocean run for Fort Pierce. Team Island Spirit extended our dockage until Monday as we have some other jobs to work on. For now, we will simply walk the town, enjoy the services, and tour the historic sites. There is nothing on the East Coast like Charleston, South Carolina. To arrive from sea makes it that much better.

Here are some photos

Nighttime photo of the Ravenel Bridge and Island Spirit

Auto Carrier GRAVITY HIGHWAY arrives to offload Korean cars

Gravity Highway auto carrier close to the docks in Charleston, SC

One tug boat docking the Gravity Highway

The Old and the New, Gravity Highway and the schooner Pride

Hampton and Connie of mvSNARK, good friends and former IP32 owners

Fine dining at Oak Steak House with our team, Radeen, Bob and Nina

Our good friend Reuben with Hayden

Fine dining for steaks and good red wine. Thank you, Reuben! Reuben, Hayden, Radeen, Bob, Nina

The Arthur J.Ravenel, Jr, Bridge opened in July 2005.

Charleston is a major shipping port, this is another Auto Carrier

The car lot offloaded and the train cars ready to load,

Sunset on the Ravenel Bridge with the Charleston Harbor Resort Marina

A tour of Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired

Fort Sumter has an impressive display of cannons from all eras

Fort Sumter

Walking the Straw Market Place of Charleston, SC

Cooking Shrimp and Cheese Grits for the team’s farewell dinner

City Hall, Charleston, SC and the First Bank

Charleston has the most beautiful historic buildings

Sunrise over one of the many churches of the “Holy City”

The manager and horse trainer for Old South Carriage Tours

The HUNLEY was a Civil War submarine with a torpedo pole bomb! Human powered

Mrs. Charleston, Radeen, in front the replica of the Hunley

To the left is the MEGA dock, to the right is MARITIME Center The action, East Bay Street is to the right.