Sailing to Beaufort NC USA

Leaving Charleston

We set the alarm for a little after 4am and were on our way from our anchorage in Charleston within the hour. Charleston is a busy commercial port and we were passed by a number of large ships as we made our way out through the entrance.

Glassy calm in the afternoon

The forecast for the day had been for some wind to help us on our way (whereas the previous day’s breeze would have been firmly against us) but instead it was light and variable to begin and then glassy calm in the early afternoon.  So we motored – and achieved quite a lot in terms of catching up with the blog backlog [Ed: the blog backlog will become a bit of a theme!]

Happily the local dolphin population didn’t care about the lack of wind and joined us several times during the passage for some entertainment (theirs and ours) by day and night.  At night we could see them zipping around BV’s bow like phantoms trailing long cloaks of phosphorescence.

The wind eventually materialised at about 1700 and we sailed wing on wing with the genoa poled out to starboard for the next 5 hours or so.  The forecast had suggested that once it had arrived, the wind would remain with us until our expected arrival in Beaufort, so we were disappointed when it died out again and, once more we resorted to motoring.  In the early hours, off the Frying Pan Shoals of Cape Fear we gybed the mainsail but the wind didn’t fill in again enough to sail until breakfast time.

[Ed:  Photo from slightly later in the passage, just after we had lowered the mainsail to approach Beaufort]

From then on in though we had a cracking sail in ever increasing winds.  We’d planned the passage to reach Beaufort before the next front came through, bringing with it a forecast near gale for several days [Ed: hence our enthusiasm to motor through the very light winds].  Those final 8 or 9 hours brought the best sailing of the passage – as well as more bow wave riding fun for the dolphins.

By the time we reached the entrance to the inlet at Beaufort/Morehead City there was a good southwesterly Force 6 blowing, so we took down the mainsail and headed for the channel under poled out genoa alone.  With shallows on either side and a strong onshore wind there was a lot of sea in the approach but the channel is deep and well marked, so it was an exciting approach rather than a nerve-wracking one.

And once we were in through the narrow entrance everything was far more peaceful.

Making our way in towards Beaufort.  Top: Passing Radio Island and the red-roofed apartment block which is a clear marker from a long way out.  Middle: Beaufort ahead.  Bottom: Taylor’s Creek out to starboard

Taylor’s Creek is the main anchorage off Beaufort and the town has recently cleared it of a large number of semi-wrecked and deserted boats.  Even so, it looked pretty busy and the tide runs swiftly through it so that the boats all swing at anchor on the changes of the tide.

Continuing up towards Town Creek with the new fixed road bridge between Beaufort and Morehead City in the background

With the wind forecast to blow a gale overnight we decided to anchor in the less well-frequented Town Creek.  The anchorage in Town Creek is pretty much out of the tidal flow so the boats sit to the wind rather than the tide, which makes working the geometry of anchoring amongst others a lot easier.

Anchored by the new road bridge

But, as it turned out, we were the only yacht in that anchorage so we had our choice of space amongst the couple of moored boats.  And to celebrate reaching Beaufort we cooked ourselves up a homemade pizza dinner and ate it whilst listening to the wind howl through the rigging.

Sailing to Beaufort, North Carolina, USA