Northbound 2018: Express to Morehead City

As noted in the previous article, we departed Venice at 1140 hours on Saturday. Our goal was a fuel stop in Morehead City North Carolina, which is approximately 900 NM from Sarasota.

By early Sunday morning we were off Everglades National Park when we fixed our position. We noted that the wind and seas were diminishing and that this was favorable for the shallow water approaching the Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon.  We had traveled 130 NM from Venice and 163 NM from Sarasota.

At 0715 hours we crossed under the Seven Mile Bridge in calm seas and headed out beyond the reef to pick up the Gulf Stream.

Approaching the Seven Mile Bridge at Marathon

The bridge and causeway viewed through FLIR night vision

Three views of the opening at the Seven Mile Bridge
Through the window, on our night vision screen and on radar

At 1326 on Sunday we were 8 NM southeast of Key Largo with seas of less than 1 foot. We noted in the log that it "does not get any better than this." A review of the forecast showed that we had a weather window to Cape Hatteras (now three days away) with 3 foot waves along the Florida Atlantic coast.

The photo below shows all good news on our two Garmin GMI 10 instruments. The one to port indicates a current speed of 10.9 knots, an average speed of 8.8 knots since leaving Venice. We had covered 243 NM since Venice and 250.1 NM since leaving Sarasota. The instrument to starboard shows a 4.3 knot wind out of the southwest with a temperature of 81.5 degrees and a steady barometer at 30.10 inches. Remember, the 63 Outer Reef's cruise speed is 8.4 knots. Like I said, it does not get any better than this.

Speed and weather instrument readings in the vicinity of Key Largo

At 1805 we were 5 NM off the Miami Inlet showing an average speed of 9.0 knots thanks to the Gulf Stream. We made a decision to continue north in the Gulf Stream. That decision would cause us to be 40 NM offshore as we passed Cape Canaveral sand close to 100 by the time we reached the Florida Georgia border. At this point we were 303 NM from Sarasota.

Just north of the Miami Inlet  our speed is 10.2 knots and we are in 373 feet of water
Note the AIS return of the vessel just southeast of our position

At midnight on Monday off Palm Beach we observed a current speed of 10 knots and noted that our average speed had increased from 8.7 knots to 9.2 knots in the past 13 hours. Seas were 3 to 4 off the starboard bow owing to 16 knot wind from the east southeast. We noted that forecasted winds and seas were behaving as predicted and that we were experiencing a smooth ride even in the head sea. We calculated 873 gallons of fuel remaining.

At 0700 hours we were 29 NM east northeast of Vero Beach showing an average speed of 9.3 knots. The Gulf Stream had added 9/10ths of a knot to our speed since leaving Venice. We noted that winds had increased to 18 knots and were still out of the east  northeast and that seas were under three feet. Needless to say we were experiencing a smooth ride. We noted 497 gallons of fuel consumed, 457 by the engines and 40 by the generators.

That changed as we approached Cape Canaveral at 40 NM offshore. The winds by mid-morning had picked up to 22 knots out of the east northeast and this increased wave heights off our bow to 4 to 6 feet with an occasional 8 footer. We estimated the wave period at 4 seconds (wind driven and rough) and noted that the winds were substantially higher than the forecasted 10 to 15 knots. We were now experiencing 15 to 25 knots. This resulted in rougher ride and a bit of spray as we cut through the waves. This situation continued until late Monday afternoon.

At 1500 hours I began a fuel transfer operation that moved approximately 270 gallons from the auxiliary fuel tanks located in the lazarette. This was necessary as the auxiliary tanks are not plumbed into the engines. Given the combination of engine and generator fuel consumption we would not have enough fuel to reach Morehead City using the 1,000 gallons of fuel in the main tanks. Morehead City is approximately 900 NM or 1,045 statute miles from Sarasota. The 63 uses 1 gallon of fuel for every statute mile while running at 8.4 knots (9.7 statute mile per hour). Therefore, even without generator usage we would run out of fuel without the transfer. The entire transfer process took an hour and 45 minutes and went smoothly.

At 1700 hours on Monday afternoon we were 80 NM east of St Augustine and still in the Gulf Stream. Winds were still out of the east northeast but had diminished to 17 knots with a commensurate drop in wave height. We estimated seas as 3 to 5 foot and noted a "reasonably smooth ride."

One hour short of midnight on Monday we noted that we were 95 NM due east of Jacksonville "flying" along at 9.5 knots. Winds were now out of the east at 8 to 12 and seas had dropped to 3 to 4 feet. Our comment reads "finally a smooth ride after a day of occasional 8 footers on the nose." We noted 597 gallons remaining to cover a distance of 296 NM to Morehead City. That represents a very comfortable reserve.

Two hours later (0146), on Tuesday Morning May 1, we were 102 NM east of the St Mary's River (i.e., Fernandina Beach and the Georgia border) with 2 to 3 foot seas.

At 0730 on Tuesday morning we were 88 NM east southeast of Charleston SC and continuing to get a boost from the Gulf Stream. Our average speed was now 9.6 knots. Winds had shifted to south southeast and had diminished to 4 knots. The calming winds resulted in calm sea. The photo below shows our position. The blue color reflects the favorable sea conditions.

Almost 100 NM off Charleston SC.

Off of Charleston we show a drop in current speed to 8.7 knots even though our average speed holds at 9.6 knots.

At 1427 on Tuesday afternoon we observed a reduction is current speed to 7.0 knots for approximately a half hour. We attributed this to a "backwater" current which was visible on the Sirius Satellite Weather "Fishing" screen, which indicates water temperature. We had entered a segment with cooler temperatures. We altered course to more quickly exit the Gulf Stream by heading direct to the Morehead City Inlet and increased RPMs to 1,500. This produced a speed increase to 7.6 knots and a 5 NM reduction in distance. Note: The speed increase and the distance reduction to not offset the extra fuel consumption which jumped from 9.1 GPH to 11.6 GPH. We soon cut that back to 1,400.

As readers of this blog may recall, we record a log entry every 4 to 6 hours and generally perform an engine room check at the same time. Below, is the entry for late Tuesday afternoon at 1704 hours.

• Direct to Waypoint 0856 at the Morehead City Inlet
• Location: 122 NM south southwest of Morehead City Inlet
• Current speed 7.8 knots. Average Speed 9.5 knots (since Venice)
• Wind WSW at 8 to 10 knots
• Barometer 30.32 (very high pressure)
• Distance: 763 NM from Sarasota
• RPMs: 1,500
• Fuel Used: 821 gallons engine plus 90 gallons generator. 911 gallons
• Seas less than 1 foot off the port aft quarter.
• Location: Latiude N 32 degrees 51 minutes. Longitude W  077 degrees 45 minutes
• Comment: Sea conditions for the last 10 hours were perfect calm. ETS Morehead City inlet at 0850 hours. Forecasted conditions for traversing Cape Hatteras and on to Virginia Beach show favorable seas of 2 to 3 feet. Past Virginia Beach open water shows following 5 to 8 foot seas seas with southwest winds 15 to 20 knots. Conditions are favorable for a nearshore run and may be OK for direct line to Buzzards Bay Massachusetts.

Needless to say we were all very relaxed and took advantage of conditions to catch up on the news.

Morgan appears to be very comfortable

And so is David

On Wednesday morning at 0747 hours we entered the Morehead City Inlet and 28 minutes later we were tied up at the Morehead City Yacht Basin fuel dock. We had made it to Morehead City in slightly less than 4 days. Key statistics below:

SARASOTA TO MOREHEAD CITY

• Departure: Saturday March 28 at 1140 hours (From Venice)
• Arrival: Wednesday May 2 at 0815 hours
• Total Distance Sarasota to Morehead City: 886 NM
• Distance since Venice: 861 NM
• Average Speed 9.4 knots (Since Venice)
• Total Engine Hours: 97
• Engine Fuel Used: 963 gallons (Since Sarasota)
• Generator Fuel Used: 113 gallons (Since Sarasota
• Total Fuel Used: 1076 gallons (Since Sarasota)
• Fuel Added: 1018.4 gallons
• Fuel Consumption Error: 58 gallons or 6% (over estimate - a good thing)
• Price per gallon: $2.81 before tax. $2.9996 with tax
• Fuel Cost: $3,054.86