I got us up early this morning, fixed some oatmeal and hot coffee. It was 46F inside the boat and about 38F outside. We got underway at 0715 and followed the Mackay River south to St. Simons Sound. The wind and tide were opposing so there was some chop. Fortunately the wind was less than 10 knots. Our speed picked up as we turned southwest and then west as we headed toward Jekyll Creek. Things went well in the creek because the water was rising.
When we exited the creek into Jekyll Sound the wind was picking up and opposing the tide here too. The fun began when we rounded Jekyll Point and headed out into St. Andrews Sound. I had the jib out to help give us some speed. We began taking a pounding. As we neared the turning buoy to head southwest behind Cumberland Island, the engine suddenly started stalling. We were healing so much, the fuel pickup became exposed and cavitated. The motor died so we continued sailing, rounded the buoy and surfed our way into the Cumberland River. As we got into calmer water, I got a fuel can stored forward and added 5 gal of fuel to the tank. We had to start the engine several times and let it run rough and slow until the air was worked out of the system. I guess I should have added fuel to the tank before we started out.
I kept the jib out for the remainder of the day. It helped us speed through the Cumberland Dividings and past Kings Bay Naval Base and into Cumberland Sound. The choice now was either go to St. Marys or to Fernandina Beach. I wanted out of GA so Fernandina was the choice. It’s not so funny how Murphy makes you pay for this kind of decision. As we approached the inlet from the north, the wind was from the north and the tide was going out. Pretty smooth sailing until we reached the point where the Amelia River flowed into the sound and out the inlet. The wind now opposed the tide and it became real choppy. The boat was smacking into waves and almost stalling. Then the wave would pick us up from behind, push us forward and we’d surf down the wave. Fortunately we only had to endure a couple of miles of this before we reached the turn to Fernandina Beach City Marina. We were assigned a inside slip where it was much calmer.
All-in-all a rough but exciting day and we covered a good distance. Most of all, we were out of GA and into FL. Hooray!!!
Location: Fernandina Beach City Marina, FL, MM 718
Started: 0745 Stopped: 1430
Distance Traveled: 51.8 mi, Avg spd: 7.1 Max spd: 10.4
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