Today I am hiding from some strong wind that is coming in directly on the nose. The forecast called for 20 knot winds and it was holding up to be true. I found a secure anchorage just off the ICW on my way north through NC where I could hide out for a few hours and hopefully avoid the worst of the wind. Over the past couple of weeks I have moved the boat up the coast from Key West, back past Stuart where I purchased the boat in 2025. Continuing up to Port Ponce de Leon where my friend Joe jumped back on board with me. We were going to do what seemed like the best move and that was take the boat straight offshore and skip Georgia ICW altogether. I have been feeling like the trip home was taking a lot longer than I was expecting. There are a few factors, but mostly the boat has a top speed motoring of about 5 knots. 6 knots in a good tailwind. Sailing I could make some better time, but getting offshore or sailing up the coast is a challenge in other ways. Weather, waves, and being able to endure long hours at the helm or being tossed around in a small boat on the ocean make that option one you have to really weigh out.

On our crossing, Joe and I were doing quite well. We made it through our first night uneventfully. The wave action was quite a lot, and on my 27-foot boat, you certainly feel all the waves. The boat is amazingly capable and can handle a lot of wind and waves. However, after many hours of it, the body and mind get tired.

On the 2nd night at 4am we encountered an incident that was a good learning experience. Not one that I want to experience again any time soon. We had been sailing along with all the sails up in the evening. The wind was light, and the boat was handling very well. Even with the light winds, we were making good time. The waves behind us were pushing us right along as well. I felt a few raindrops on my neck and reached for my rain jacket, which was right under the seat. Before I could zip my jacket, the wind went from nice to unbelievable. The rain hit us like a pressure washer. Immediately, the boat slammed to one side and then was slammed over hard to port. We stupidly had 2 port windows open, and the boat was pushed over so far that we had water pouring into the boat. My friend Joe had been peacefully sleeping on the port side bunk and was violently thrown onto the floor and was awakened with water pouring down onto him from above.

I quickly moved to the sheets and released the Genoa sheet. I then moved to the main sheet and was mistakenly trying to release the traveler and not the main sheet. As soon as I was able to release the main sheet, the boat stood upright right away. The noise and slamming sheets and sails were deafening.

Meanwhile below deck, Joe had his own battle with trying to first stand up in a heavily healed-over boat. Then scramble to close the ports, which should have been closed and sealed. Once he got those closed up, he scrambled up onto the deck.

I was working on the main sail to get it put away. My sailboat, Integrity, has in-mast furling for the main. Everyone worries that the in-mast furling will jam at the worst possible time. I believe that’s the case with any furling mechanisms, not just the main sail. However, I have had a lot of practice with this one, and I knew it would go away without issue. It was difficult to put away, but it was because of the tremendous amount of wind on it and nothing to do with the furling. Thank goodness.

The bigger problem was the Genoa. I had blown the sheets, and we didn’t have the entire thing out at night; we were running it reefed, thank god. However, it was flapping like crazy and still causing the boat to heel over uncomfortably. Not dangerously at this point, but still a lot. Joe jumped to the helm, and he started to try to swing the boat up into the wind. It was not responding. We threw the engine on, and I was struggling to get any of the sail put away. Joe moved us closer to pointing into the wind, and I was able to get a few rolls onto the sail. What was causing me so much trouble now was obvious. The sail had wrapped around my Code Zero sheets. I have 3 head sails on this boat, and it’s a lot of fun to sail. What I didn’t realize is that it would be a problem when the sail is flogging around in heavy wind. The sheets were all tangled, and I could not finish rolling up the sail. Joe got the boat pointed toward the wind, and I made my way carefully up to the front of the boat and was able to extract the sheets from each other and race back to the cockpit and finish wrapping up the sail.

As soon as we got the sails down, it seemed like the wind and rain turned off like a switch. It settled right down again, and we had about 10 knots of wind on the beam. With all the adrenaline surging and thinking back to what we could have done and should have done, it made for an interesting morning. For an icing to the unwanted cake, we were chased down by 2 more squalls that morning. However, it was daylight, we were prepared, and we had enough warning that we were running the correct amount of sails. It was still a lot of wind and waves to manage.

We got safely into Charleston, South Carolina. A little further south than we had intended. We decided we should head into shore and make sure that the weather was not going to deteriorate into a worse situation. It seems like these were all isolated squalls, nothing from a bigger system. We did have weather on board, but we were not taking any changes at this point.

We decompressed and got that water out of the boat. The damage from the water was that the fridge/freezer electronics took a hit, and I have to order a replacement. My inverter is not working as it was before. It still seems to start up, but it won’t actually let the AC come on to charge anything, so something is up with that as well. I’m glad that is all that there was for problems with that much water in the boat.

Joe parted ways a couple of days later up the coast, and I have been since making my way up the ICW, sticking to the inside track for a while and trying to make progress home.

Weather permitting, I will be looking forward to the NYC and Long Island Sound parts of the trip.