Cashing in
Winds from the northeast 15 – 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots. Small craft advisory throughout the day. Seems like those guys should be careful or stay home.
Bulls Bay
Fortune
All elements had marched together toward this Saturday morning. Outgoing tide low at 11, NE wind 10 knots, and the day warming up to sixty degrees. After a week of days not getting much warmer than the low forties, and an absence of sun until Friday, this day boded well. Despite the cold start still
Gray solstice
This December 21st, the winter solstice of 2014 started out as a gray day. On my early morning run the landing told the same tale with waters reflecting the gray sky,and a northeast wind enhancing the gray atmosphere. The winds, and that specific calendar day, inspired me
Reassurance
I have been visited by unwelcome visitors recently in an array of forms. Bothersome pains, old and new. Worries, anxieties and fears that inhabit the mind, and spill over though one’s being. Nagging pains, nagging doubts, unconsciously and consciously making their presence known; concerns
A fine reversal
Sunrise, a light but steady northwest wind, a falling tide pulling the waters out of the marshes toward Bulls Bay and the Atlantic. These were the signs on my early morning run to the landing, all pointing toward a passage out to Bull Island. Kingfisher was launched and we were sailing at 7:45 to Andersonville
A matter of time
Strong northeast winds energized the sail out to Bull Island following a late start after noon. The following days would find a turn of the winds to the southwest and southern warmth flowing into the Lowcountry. This day was found to be windier, colder, and wetter than anticipated. Once in the Bay, headed to the
Extra-time
Sunday morning was a time to Fall Back. I used the opportunity of the hour of extra-time to launch Kingfisher for a sail out to the Northeast Point of Bull Island. I was prepared to get wet
Late to the Bay
I left the preoccupations of home improvement, and the routine of dinner preparations behind, arriving at our landing to an uncommon August atmosphere. In fact it did not resemble August at all, despite heat and a familiar wind from the southwest. Humidity felt like it was on vacation
Visitors
Outgoing tide and a beckoning south wind at 7:30 AM conspired to get me on the water. All the little details of rigging and sailing were just that – little, insignificant, compared to the outward movement through the creek. These were stirring conditions
Dead End Road
Kingfisher had a major addition, or replacement, on this day – a new daggerboard. True, I felt nostalgia for the old board of fine mahogany, extensively weathered, cupped, gouged, oyster-impaled, repaired, sanded, and varnished over and over. The new board
Golden Moments
It was a somber atmosphere Saturday morning when I cast off before 9: gray skies and brown marsh, in stark contrast to the blue skies and golden marshes of my last sail, seemingly a long time ago. Water covered
Sparkling Surprises
The view at the deserted landing was spectacular: a low sun was blazing and reflecting off the moving water. It was blowing already from the northeast – small craft advisory, and Kingfisher is on the small end of qualifying in that category. Weather reports had quite a wide range, from 10-15 knots to 20-25 knots.
Sparkling Surprises Read More »
