Day 61, Sunday, November 27, 2016
You can monitor my trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live
Today is the last travel day of this trip. Tomorrow, I will be pulling the boat out of the water and heading back to Ohio. This day began with a significant wind that blew cold from the north. We pulled the anchor at around 8:00 for a relatively short 20 mile trip towards Jacksonville, FL.
As we were leaving the Fernandina anchorage, we passed at least 6 wrecked sailboats that were either sunken with only their masts sticking out of the water or driven high and dry on the land. One boat that appeared to be about 30 feet in length was sitting upright in the salt marsh with about1/2 of her hull sunk in the water and her jib torn to shreds flapping in the wind. It is a sad sight.
The wind was strong enough that we flew the jib and at one point, I saw 6 knots on the chart plotter. It was a nice way to end the trip.
Our destination was a boat ramp/dock probably 15 miles north of Jacksonville. As we approached, the wind was probably blowing 15 knots and the current was at our back so pulling into the dock was a bit of a challenge. We were directed to a fisherman’s dock on the ICW so our landing was fairly easy. The other boats in our group had to turn into Little Sister’s Creek with the strong current wind and current pushing hard at their side. All of them made varying degrees of crash landings.
The number of boats in our group had dwindled to seven. The bridge that adjoins our docking area is under repair and several of our bunch went off shore to avoid it. Others have left the team for a number of different reasons. I assume that when they get to St. Augustine that number will again swell to around 13 or 14.
Dwight and I began taking nonessential items off of the boat in preparation for our departure. We pulled Damn Dink Too up onto the dock, flipped her over and scrubbed the slime off of the bottom. I took off the head sail, cleaned out the ice box, and straightened up the inside of the boat.
The most exciting thing about getting the boat home is that my friend Stuart with whom I left my truck and trailer in Annapolis is going to bring that rig all the way down here to pick me up. He is dropping his daughter off at Duke University where she is a student and will then travel on down. He called me to let me know that he had run into significant traffic and was running behind. His original goal was to be in Florida late tonight but he was not sure how far he would be able to get before pulling off for the night. He will then travel on south tomorrow.
As we were getting ready to prepare dinner for ourselves, Sue and Kevin on the boat Reliance came by announcing that cocktails were being served on their boat. We wandered over and joined all of the others who were docked here for a great evening of socializing. As I mentioned, this has been a fantastic group who are most interesting and compatible. I have truly enjoyed being a part of it.This will be the last blog of this trip.
Tomorrow Dwight will get on a plane and head for Ann Arbor while Stuart and I drive back to Annapolis. From there I will make the final trek home. This has been a great trip but it will be great to be home.
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