The trip was a total success in that we made it in about 60 hours without any breakage or significant problems. Weather planning was excellent until the forecast fizzled out at the end of 3 days. The first day was light reaching and motor sailing in light southerly breezes. The thunderstorms stayed inland on this day as predicted.
The second day was had slightly more wind pressure as predicted, but the thunderstorms came off the beach as they often do in Florida in June. We caught the edge of one but handled it easily by taking off all sail and turning away from it.
The third day brought even more pressure than predicted but from the right direction. That direction was SW and we wanted to go NE. By late afternoon we were headed to South Carolina at 5 knots under bare poles only. But that day the thunderstorms were exploding off the beach. We were cuffed by one and missed the worst ones. More unsettling was to watch the "power of God" lightning displays out over the Gulf Stream. That night the wind was over 25 knots and the 6 to 8 foot waves were really pushing the boat around. The watches were difficult and off watch worse. As dawn broke the jetties of Charleston were a welcome sight. The SW wind built to over 30 as we were safely motoring into the harbor.
We are docked at Charleston City Marina which seems nice, but we are to exhausted to tell. Bedtime is projected for 7:30 pm.
Regrettably we do not have any good pictures. However, I do not believe that any camera I know of can really display the eerie colors of a building thunderstorm if the sun gets behind it. It is like a rainbow, but one from another world. There are metallic blue greens and odd yellows that do not other wise show up in everyday life. Plus the menace (which usually does not pan out) just adds to the weirdness.
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