Arrival in Charleston!

The overnight watches into Day 3 (November 4) were speedy ones. At midnight we were seeing 25-30 knots of wind, and that stuck around all night. A SOG of 11.6 and boat speed of 9.3 in 25 knots (shown below) was par for the course as we sped along through the dark, with a whole bunch of other boats for company (at a distance, of course).

Dawn greeted us with more wind and waves.

On previous watches, we’d been shouting “sky juuuice!” when our speed topped 10 knots, which had been an occasional event, but on this watch we definitely started to lose count of how many sky juices we were hitting. (Sky juice, or gully wash, is a gin-based drink served in the Bahamas…which we are looking forward to having when we get there!) At one point we saw 14 knots, which is definitely a speed record for Oestara.

Just as we were about to do another watch change around 9 am, a whole bunch of dolphins showed up to play. They were leaping like crazy across our bow and in the rolling waves (see featured photo on this post, and below). I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of seeing them appear.

We kept on sailing right into the afternoon and up into the channel into Charleston Harbor.

By 1630 we were tied up at Carolina Yacht Club, with a sweet view of the Ravenel bridge and just a short walk into the main historic district in Charleston. (Many thanks to the Ewings for securing dock space at the club for us!)

What a ride it had been! We couldn’t believe we’d been lucky enough to sail, and sail fast, the entire trip from Hampton to Charleston. We were off to the Blind Tiger to toast our excellent progress, and then it was back to the dock for a sublime nightfall, and a solid night’s sleep.