St Augustine FL and 60 degrees at 12....

We left Winyah Bay in SC on Saturday morning bright and early and with a forecast of 48 to 60 hours of favorable winds influenced by a wonderful winter high pressure over Florida. While we did have to motorsail most of the way, there were some periods of perfect sailing in bright sunshine. We once again found our magic number...Apparent wind at 60 degrees off the bow at 12 knots. So for the non sailors...apparent wind is the combination of wind created by movement of the boat plus the actual wind speed. With an apparent wind at 60 to 110 degrees off the bow, Iemanja gets up and runs like a deer. Well maybe not quite but it sounds good.Ozzie our autopilot drove the entire way except for an hour or so where the perfect winds allowed for a great feel of the helm by me..

An overnight sail helps you work out the kinks after sitting at a dock for so many months which really makes you and the boat lazy.
We commissioned the watermaker and had a couple of leaks which need attention......not serious. A door latch to the head that now has failed so while we are here in St Aug, we will hit up Sailors Exchange...a great second hand store that will likely have a bin full of spares for that Perko latch. A slight steering glitch that I have to investigate.

So lots of running today to get part and food and stuff. Tomorrow we will fuel up early and head south down the ICW once again, as the next 3 days of weather outside will be with winds on the nose which we have had enough of for right now. So down the waterway we go with stops at night. Next stop  Vero Beach.