Alabamy Bound

Today, Wednesday, we left Moss point at 5:30 AM and navigated by GPS in the dark back down the river to the Mississippi Sound to resume our eastward travels---but not without a little bit of regret. Truth is---we had a wonderful time in Moss point. The nicest people you would ever want to meet. To all the gang at Rachel's--Sam, Lucky Jr., Buffalo Joe and Dave and Gene--we send our heartfelt thanks for the opportunity to get to know you and your town and thank you immensely for all the "local knowledge" about navigating the Sound and Mobile Bay; (best gumbo I've ever eaten) and we especially thank Bobby and Lynn for their tremendous hospitality at the River City Harbor Marina, for the use of their truck and for the wonderful stories---BTW---Happy 74th Birthday Bobby---Enjoy the bottle of Jack Black!!
It was about 30 degrees when we pulled out, but we were dressed for it --in triple layers--. The only things really cold were my fingers. The river was a bit tricky in the dark but we made it without incident by paying very close attention to our GPS chartplotter while Diane simultaneously watched our laptop GPS program--Seaclear--. (Down below where it was warm) Between the two visual displays plus the radar display we had very little difficulty making it down the river the 8 miles back to the sound (Seaclear is a very cooool deal. By adding a USB connected GPS antenna to the laptop and downloading the FREE Seaclear software and over 400 NOAA navigation charts we are able to see our boat superimposed on the actual navigation chart published by NOAA and aproved by the Coast Guard for navigation. The GPS chartplotter is excellent but it is a picture of our vessel superimposed over a sketch, just like the one in your car, of the area--not the actual charts) Between the two "pictures" we have great confidence in our navigation. It's amazing how accurate this stuff is. Just in case this fails I have two other less sophisticated GPS devices on board in addition to my Droid phone which has built in navigation---As I mentioned some time back---if I get lost it's only because I'm a complete idiot or the world, as we know it, has changed.
Once back in the Sound we were met with clear skies, light wind from the east, and flat water. But, as we entered back into the ICW and turned eastward again the winds began to pick up and move around to the south. So we put the jib out and motorsailed along at 6+ kts.
We had been warned by the Rachel's gang of two things--with the wind out of the south we could expect some pretty big rollers building on our starboard beam as we passed through the gap between Petit Bois and Dauphin Islands; and--Mobile Bay can be a b....... on a windy day, especially if the wind is out of the north. We were indeed met by some pretty uncomfortable rollers as expected but they subsided as we sailed into the lea of Dauphin Island. Also, the wind, by this time had shifted around to the west by the time we got to Dauphin and we had a fabulous sail to the east end of the Island.
Not knowing what kind of conditions to anticipate once in Mobile Bay we reefed the jib (reduced its size by about 1/2 by rolling it up) --as it turned out, a wise move. The conditions were a bit rougher in the Bay although we had the protection of Dauphin Island to windward for a while. Still we sailed on cautiously in the face of this body of water's reputation for roughness. BUT, after it appeared that conditions would remain steady--wind out of the west at 20 to 22 kts and the seas following us we turned off the engine, let out the sail and sailed across at 7+ knots--almost maximum hull speed. We made it across the 23 miles in record tiome and reached the pretty and protected channel of Orange Beach Alabama at around 2:30 PM (We left at 5:30 anticipating an all day sucker)---but were elated with our progress. It was, all in all, a great day---great sailing, decently cool temps and friendly seas--what more could one ask---I think we had the perfect conditions to cross Mobile Bay. Life is Good!!!!!!!!!!!