Offshore Sailing Aboard Veritas

Our friends Susan and David invited us to cruise from Beaufort, South Carolina to Hampton, Virginia, aboard their Island Packet 40, S/V Veritas. Like us, they are on the Great Loop and have 500 or so miles remaining to cross their wake and complete their own Loop adventure. Susan is recovering from a broken arm so they've been off of their boat for a year. They wanted our company and support.

Beth, Dave, David and Susan aboard Veritas

We've been off of our Alberg 35, Mystic, for a year as well. Gaining the offshore experience was appealing to us so we jumped at the opportunity to join them. We drove to Hampton, Virginia where we would leave our car during the cruise. The four of us headed to Beaufort, South Carolina in their car. It was a long 16 hour day on the road for us. We arrived in Beaufort late in the evening. The change from fall in New England to the warmth and humidity of the south was crystal clear. There was a lot of excitement as we planned our course.

We spent two days in Beaufort preparing food, checking all systems on the boat and focusing our mindset for the two day, 300 mile, offshore jump. The guys looked at weather predictions from Beaufort, South Carolina to Beaufort, North Carolina, using Marv's Buoy Reports and Chris Parker who is the Chief Forecaster at the Marine Weather Center. Consensus was that we were in a favorable weather window to venture offshore.

South Carolina Spanish Moss

Check out the ramp pitch

Six to eight foot tides in Beaufort, SC

Veritas on the dock at Beaufort, SC

Cool floating docks in Beaufort, SC

Reflections in Beaufort, SC

The Marina in Beaufort, SC

Cool lighthouse like tower

It's a long walk to Veritas

David talking to Chris Parker

Susan in the galley

Beth armed with the salt loaded fly shooter

Marina neighbors

Dave and Susan

Skull boat passing us by

Preparations

David in the galley

David and Dave checking weather reports

Commonly scene on the laptop

It took a while to get the correct pronunciation of these two towns with the same name. The South Caroline Beaufort is pronounce BYOO-fort, the Northern one is pronounce BOH-fort. We rose early on Sunday morning, August 19th, and left Byoo-fort, heading out toward the Atlantic. It took four hours to get around the shoals; then another 44 hours to safely dock in BOH-fort, NC. Since we had two David's aboard we began referring to Dave Rogers as "Roy". It's his high school nickname back home in Minnesota. The first day out, Roy was sea sick. You can always tell when he doesn't feel well because he gets really quiet. We tried putting the scopolamine patch on him, it didn't help a bit. I gave him meclizine, a vertigo drug, but that didn't help either. He was feeling miserable and David Taylor and I were talking about ditch points on our course. We were thinking that if Roy was out of the picture we may have to abort the offshore run at some point. Roy was fighting nausea all day and finally heaved overboard then fell asleep. We were not sure what was going on but he was better the next day. He was wearing bi-focal sunglasses. Since he is new to bi-focals, we are pretty sure it caused his stomach issues which went away once he switched to sunglasses with no correction.

Sunrise in Byoo-fort, time to depart

David working the dock lines

Susan at the helm

Roy harnessed in and ready for big water

Beth harnessed in, seatbelt on, ready, set, go

David securing fenders

David at the helm

Veritas under sail

Storms building around us

Our first sunset

12 hours down, 36 to go

Beth at the helm, Roy catching some zzzz's

Moon over Veritas

Showing our fatigue

Sailing Veritas

The weather was just as predicted with a tail wind that gave us gusts of 20 mph but also barely registered at 5 mph at times. The seas were washing machine confused and rolling. It got quite uncomfortable but we were harnessed in safely. Once we got used to the pattern of the roll we settled in. Everyone slept on deck, taking turns at the helm and catching "naps" whenever possible. Our second day out we were hit with waves on the starboard stern that shoved us forward then rocked us violently side to side for several sets of rolls to starboard then to port. This pushed the boats gunnel to each waterline, side to side. We didn't get a lot of sleep but the crew of four figured out a balancing act of rest and watch. The evening watches were the hardest. We couldn't see very well. We were surrounded by squalls with lightening and thunder but nothing passed over us in our little pocket of movement. I managed to film a bit of the light show in the distance. In Roman mythology, Veritas means Truth. The truth is, long offshore passages are not easy. If you are not on watch and not asleep you need to be scouting for those who are on watch. It's a lot of work with little sleep in a changing environment. But we did it! We made our way safely to our destination in Bohfort, South Carolina.

Video: Just keep rolling, rolling, rolling...

Beth in the princess seat, being the eagle eye for David

David at the helm

Veritas heading North

Sunset on night two

Gorgeous sky

Video: Lightening ~ Sqaulls all around us

We arrived in  BOH-fort harbor around 8:00 am. I had the final offshore watch; at the helm from 3:00 am to 8:00 am. During the sleepy twilight hour, I focused on completing this challenging 300 mile hop. We slipped up next to the face dock around 8:50 am, ready to relax and celebrate. Fatigue and adrenaline flowed freely through our veins. We needed to sleep but were more excited to explore our accomplishment and this new port.

Veritas docked in Boh-fort, NC

Towne Creek Marina ~ Boh-fort, NC