Sailing With JAY!

NOTE:  
The sailing vessel Glory Days has since made her way north into the Chesapeake Bay as of August 10, 2016.  With that in mind, THIS particular post is from 2 months ago and it  could just as well be titled "LOOKING BACK!"  June 21-25.  

Welcome to "Sailing with Jay!" A time when my friend Jay Schoelfield came down to spend a few days just chucking around and carousing with yours truly. 

I post this now in a belated effort to chronicle these cruising adventures as a personal reference for my own records, sorta like a journal to help me remember things i always forget.  

 If in fact anyone else cares to peek into the prana of these stories that's fine too....  all the better.  Thank you. Love on. 

With our minds made up, we chose to venture fearlessly out onto the deep blue sea and all estuaries in between.   Onward!!

Jay proved to be an able seaman, competent crewman, and all around good guy. I think he had a blast in fact  

On June 21 my buddy, Jay Schoelfield and I, drove to Charleston, SC for a few days of mischief on the sea.  Leaving Atlanta, we were eager to get our feet onto the fiberglass and sail this girl around the Charleston Harbor.  I guess that is why we made the 6 hour drive in 5. 

The longest day of the year was met with great gusto and exceptional expectations. It's going to be a good day. You can feel it. 

June 21, summer equinox 2016, at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina was a welcome respite to return to. Jay would be on board for about 3 days as we would move the boat about 55 miles north to the quaint little town of Georgetown, SC.

After provisioning the boat that afternoon at the Harris Teeter in Charleston, we were ready to launch into the harbor early-thirty the following morning. 

Conditions seemed calm at departure, but that would soon change. So we thought it was ok to have a breakfast beer. 😎

Things soon picked up. It didn't take long for the winds to kick up as we sailed on towards the historic Fort Sumpter. It got a little crazy.   Before we knew it, we found ourselves making a feisty 9.1 knots as we rode the current AND the ever increasing winds. Dayme!!

 In retrospect, I probably should've  reefed the mainsail BEFORE we left but conditions seemed benign at the time we departed. 

 No worries, we trimmed the genoa instead and had quite a sleigh ride for a couple hours before pointing north towards our destination, Georgetown. 

 We covered about 30 miles before dropping the hook in a remote anchorage at a place called Long Creek. Ah yes, the serene beauty of a quiet anchorage.

 A sweet sunset in the middle of a nowhere river marsh.

Agreat dinner at a great anchorage with a great friend is a great old time anyway you look at it. 

After coffee the following morning, we cruised into the quaint little town of Georgetown, SC.

 Georgetown, South Carolina is eat up with historical facts and events that I cannot even begin to quote.  All I know is they have a rather nice riverfront wharf with shops and eateries and cool birds passing over my mast. 

Colerful homes and stately antebellum 

style homes abound.

 "We can do this." Two wild men on the loose in a strange town.  What could possibly go wrong?

 Meet Rich Brand.  He is on a personal quest to paddle his kayak 5000 miles around The Great Loop.  We met him as he was bout 2000 miles into the trip.  He pitched his camp next to us on the marina dock. You could just tell he is a nice guy cause he's basically doing the same thing as I just in a different format... Living the dream. 

We shot the breeze for quite a while and met at the local cafe the following morning for a hearty breakfast before another day on the water.  Rich is one of the good guys. You can check out his whole message and adventure at this link:  
Captured Heartbeats - Rich Brand

So long Rich!  He and I would soon meet again further up the waterway.  Thanks JAY!

Stay tuned!  Coming up next, The Waccamaw River - possibly the prettiest river I have ever known .