It's our first Gulf Stream crossing and to say we are a bit nervous is an understatement. It’s also our longest crossing. We were a bit more relaxed when we thought Jeff was crossing with us as he has crossing experience, but then he was gone…home. And, it was just the two of us. While that is a lovely song, it’s not lovely when it has to do with two inexperienced sailors getting ready to make a major journey.
This crossing has occupied brain space in our waking hours as well as visited us in our worst nightmares. We hear people describe a bad day in the gulf stream as elephants on the horizon. We are heeding every warning by fellow sailors to pick a good weather window and hired Chris Parker to lead us with a forecast and departure nod. Our satellite is connected, the boat is prepped. It is time to go. The good news is that we have 10 fellow cruisers leaving about the same time and heading to the same destination. We have set our 3 on, 3 off helm schedule and have prepared meals cooling in the fridge.
We left West End at 6 am with a successful anchor lift; this was a bit sketchy as we were not sure the anchor would release itself from between the coral, but it did. And, we were off. The seas are calm and there is no wind. We prefer this extreme to too much wind. Our friends on s/v Invia pass us, but we travel with a caravan of slow catamarans for 3.5 days. The only rough part of the trip was the final night when the winds kicked up and the swell hit us on the beam at short intervals. At one point we had 35 knots on the jib which we tried to furl, but it was a bit of a disaster…at least we did not lose any rigging. We released the sheets which wound up like a huge ball of twine awaiting the pounce of a giant celestial kitty.
When we pulled into Taylor’s Creek, we could not have been more excited, but nothing compares to the moment when the engines were turned off and the boat was at rest. We had successfully navigated the gulf stream and our longest journey yet. We only dreamed of setting foot on US soil and talked about it nonstop for the past 10 months, never really believing it would happen.
But, it did. We made it and within 20 minutes had our first cheerleader on board, Jess Washburn who showered us with amazing gifts from the local market. We will never forget what he and Susannah did for us – spoiled rotten. It was SO good to be “home” on US soil, even for the Yankee visiting Eastern NC for the first time!
NEW TO OUR CHANNEL? We are Eileen and Brown Councill. Welcome to our channel and a glimpse into our life adventure! 2020 was a year of uncertainty and change (for all of us, right?), but we overcame the challenges and decided it was time to chase our dream, to sail around the world! Did I mention that we had very NO sailing experience? Before leaving Qingdao, China, our home of 4 years, we sold almost all of our earthly possessions and started our international search to find the right sailboat that we would call "home." After 5 months of unanticipated twists and turns, we found what we were looking for, a used Leopard 44' Catamaran located in St. Lucia.
So, here begins our journey, filled with unmatched excitement and honestly, a bit of trepidation as well. We have much to learn as we travel the world on our floating home and we intend to document that journey and share it with you. We are so glad you have decided to join us, and we hope that you will find our story so compelling that it will inspire you to chase your dreams too!
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It's our final sunset in the Bahamas and we are waiting to hear from our meteorologist but all
the internet has gone down on the west end so we're not sure if we're going to be able to get
that information. He provides us with a weather forecast, waypoints, where to enter and leave
the Gulf Stream, and any potential dangers we might encounter. It's a comprehensive report and
one that we cruisers rely on. It's a big moment. We're leaving the Bahamas. Time to get the anchor up
and we're starting
on our longest journey ever. Wow we are out of here. Goodbye Bahamas. It's been
six and a half weeks in the Bahamas. We're gonna be back, that's for sure. We're definitely gonna
be back. It's our longest crossing ever and on our own as well so hoping for an easy trip.
It is 11 o'clock in the morning. We have been underway for about five and a half hours and
it has been completely dead calm. As you can see the seas are flat thankfully though we have not
reached the Gulf Stream. We will be to the Gulf Stream in 11 more nautical miles. There is a lot
of boat traffic out here so we are paying close attention to what's going on in front of us and
behind us but all is well so far. The sailing vessel India is behind us. That is our buddy
boat headed to Beaufort, North Carolina just like we are. We currently only have 4.7 knots apparent
wind. We're making our own wind basically. Moving at 6.1 knots. The sails are not exactly happy but
we've got the main and the jib up intentionally so that we can be prepared for later on.
Here is our path. This is the Gulf Stream. We're gonna follow that up the coast all the way to
Beaufort. At the moment we are estimated to arrive on Thursday, no Friday at 5 30 in the morning.
We are hoping over the next three days that that will come down and we will arrive on Thursday.
It's about 2 30 in the afternoon and we are motoring, motor sailing at 8.1 knots.
Sometime the wind's pretty bad. We're just producing that right now with the engines
and we're running one engine and the Gulf Stream right in the middle of it and it's relatively
calm and we are moving right along continuing to work our way up north in Florida. This is our
longest passage yet being three full days and throwing the Gulf Stream and it's pretty exciting
plus returning back to America. So we got some sweet potatoes baking here. We've got some with
cumin and some with cinnamon and coconut oil. Lots of good grab snacks for the helm. Underway,
we eat easy to grab already prepared meals like chili, salads, hummus with veggies,
par bars and nuts. We pretty much snack on things all day long. It's sleep, eat, drive,
sleep, eat, drive, repeat. This is our chart with all the information about the wind and the wave
and we are doing 9.7. Engines are off with 18 knots apparent at 60 degrees. That's crazy to have
this kind of speed and it is a beautiful sail. It is flat. It is calm. We've got a little swell but
it's not a big deal and the sun is going to set soon. It has been an amazing day. Here are our
German cruising friends Dorothy and Stefan and their sexy Ultramare 51. They started I think two
hours later than we did and it's almost seven o'clock and they're getting ready to pass us.
Check this formation out. We're all packed together, moving together and trying to get north
of Cape Hatteras for our insurance companies. Well, you've got a full moon tonight with amazing
moonshine lighting the way. It's going to be even better and we are still moving with just the sails
to slow down a little bit. We're at seven knots now. It is Tuesday and we are in full sail this
morning with 12 knots apparent with the winds coming from the west today. We are making good
speed over ground at nine knots. Last night was amazing. We had a full moon and right before I
finished my shift the moon turned bright red and actually set like a sun and while it was setting
the horizon was turning bright orange and red and the sun was coming up. It was really beautiful.
We had a good night. The wind died quite a bit and we had to motor on my shift at three in the
morning. We are motoring now but the winds are pretty steady and if they shift a little bit
we might be able to turn off the engines which would be a great thing. The day is absolutely
beautiful. Bright blue skies with white puffy clouds. It really is spectacular. This could not
have been a better crossing so far. Yesterday we clocked the most miles ever in a day. We did about
185 which is pretty incredible in 24 hours for this kind of a boat. Obviously we had the assistance
of the Gulfstream but that all counts so we are hoping for another day of 185. That would knock
off a lot of our 560 miles to North Carolina. We are on target for a two in the morning at this
point. Thursday morning arrival but that will change over the course of the next 48 hours for
sure. We have been sleeping well doing our three hours on three hours off shifts and when we are
off we always go down and try and sleep. I'm thoroughly enjoying this. The weather is great.
We're getting some sleep which is wonderful and all according to plan. We're moving right along.
I just can't believe we're actually doing this. We talked about this. This seemed like the most
daring scariest type thing but so far it's going great. Can you tell the viewers what you do all
day? I try to eat as much as possible. We're working on our sailing because you're just
sitting here all day so you can fiddle in butts. Sleep and that's what we're doing. Even if you
can't go to sleep, rule is you got to close your eyes for at least an hour. I'm getting probably
about uh I'd say five hours of sleep at night and I'm filling in throughout the day. Today we're
going to try something new. Something that we've never done before on this boat and what is that
I color my hair. Oh you want me to color your hair? Yeah. You must be pretty desperate. Yeah.
Desperate times require desperate measures. This is an extension of Hubby Hairdresser 2.
Check out that video. It's one of my favorite videos where I cut Aileen's hair during
quarantine in China. It's really cool. And we're gonna start with the pre-conditioner.
Here we are 100 nautical miles off the coast of Georgia. We're in the Gulf Stream. Let me tell you
what, if you go to the Gulf Stream this is what kind of a day you want it to be. It's glassy smooth
and this reminds me of the Mona Passage. It is beautiful. What a day to be out here.
One of the smoothest days we've ever had and smoothness like this is comfort and it's safety.
We have just passed the halfway mark on our way to Beaufort. So exciting milestone
and looking forward to the second half of the trip. Night two. Tonight's full moon.
Boy the sky is really beautiful this morning. The clouds acting like a quilt a filter for the sun.
Beautiful. It's day three and we have a lot of traffic on the water. We've got cargo ships
that have just crisscrossed us. A lot happening here as we get closer to the North Carolina coast.
Our ETA at the moment is less than 24 hours and we are gonna have to slow down a little bit
to arrive in the light. We feel good. It's been very different than what I anticipated it would
be. I thought it would be a lot harder but it's actually been okay. The advice we were given was
sleep every three hour block that you're off and that's what we've been doing and it's been
completely fine. So hopefully today will be a good day on the water. We've been motor sailing
most of yesterday and so far a lot of today as well. We just don't have the wind. At 65 nautical
miles we'll leave the Gulf Stream which means that we're headed to our headed on our final
stretch to Beaufort. The engines are off and we are under full sail going seven knots with 10
knots of apparent wind which is pretty amazing. We're gonna really miss the Gulf Stream.
Oh we've finally broken our strength. I'm so excited. That is the best sargassum seaweed
you've ever caught. It's really good to catch this stuff. The seas have calmed down quite a bit
thankfully. When I did my first night watch from 9 to 12 it was absolutely horrible. The seas were
rocking the boat like throwing me out of the home seat. So things have calmed down considerably
which I'm really thankful for. We are about 55 miles from Beaufort. It's going to be about nine
hours from now which is one in the afternoon. We've got 20 knots apparent wind. We just got
the jib up tonight so that's what's going on. We're almost there. What happened? Trying to untangle this
big mast. This is not a shame. This is a lot of inexperience. You have no clue how to take a jib
Wait I know what that's called. The school of hard knots.
You know what's the good news is? The jib is still standing. Nobody got hurt. Don got hurt.
So we didn't blow it up. So thankful for the morning and the final morning. We will arrive in
I don't know four or five hours which is just awesome. Unfortunately we've lost all the wind
so we're not moving very quickly and we are tired. Last night was really rough on the ocean
so the winds got too strong for the jib even and we had to pull the jib in
and had a little bit of trouble with that and wrapped all that. Had to let the sheets go
so it's too strong. So we were able to finally wrap the jib but couldn't use it until late this
morning now that we've untangled all the lines. Moving at 4.9 knots with 12 knots of apparent wind.
So close. After three and a half days of travel we can see land and we are about an hour out of
pulling into Moorhead City, Beaufort, North Carolina. This is a huge accomplishment for us.
It's going to be a busy, busy port because of the holiday weekend so we're just hoping
we can find a place to drop anchor. It's an exciting moment and also a very daunting moment
as we approach the inlet after three and a half days of being out on the water. We're a bit tired
and we haven't had to worry about hitting anything. Now it's low tide and we got a big current.
Gotta watch out. Yep and we're coming into a place that we're unfamiliar. Look forward to dropping
the hook somewhere quickly and not having to be on the move. Cannot believe we've made it so far.
You can say we've made it so far. Part of the beauty of coming into the U.S. is being able to
apply online to pass customs. So I've done that and just waiting for a reply from the
CBP officers. Hopefully that'll happen and we'll get our approval here this afternoon.
We have just done our video chat with Customs and Immigration and what a great way to do it.
Thank you CBP Rome. Thank you U.S. government for an amazingly easy way to come back into the country.
And I used to come to Beaufort and Moorhead City all the time. My parents used to have a place at
Connell Shores. 30 years ago I have not been here in 30 years and we used to be on the water all
the time whether it be scuba diving or fishing or you know just just having a great time water skiing.
And now we're back and I get to bring my sweetie with me.
We are definitely surfing. I'm glad we're riding the waves in instead of fighting them.
Oh my goodness we are so excited. The anchor is down and we have stopped moving. Oh this is so
wonderful.
We made it alive. Yeah. We're home.
Dude. Look at that star. I'm so excited. I love what I'm wearing. Oh my gosh.
This is like a kind of a cooler wrap. Thank you. You're gonna be on the on the video.
You don't charge a modeling fee do you? Oh yeah. Not for your friend. One cold beer.
We're in between ages. Cold beer.
We could not have imagined a more wonderful welcome to Beaufort from the wild dolphins
to the visit from the Washburns. Thank you to Jess, Susanna and family for spoiling us with hugs,
laughter and so many amazing gifts especially the blueberries. One, two, three.
Bye guys.
We were exhausted but our hearts were full as the sun set and we crawled into bed.
If we had an inkling of what the next day would bring we probably would not have been able to sleep
at all.
