North Carolina Bound! (Post 25-23)

sondrawinter
Jun 8
6 min read

Updated: Jun 14

Friday, May 31 – Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Charleston, SC – Beaufort, NC

After a longer than expected stay in Charleston, we finally left the marina and resumed our trek to the north. After doing donuts in the Stono River and completing an overnight passage, Utopia and her occupants have reached North Carolina.

Commissioning of New Equipment

The updated plan was to have the new Raymarine autopilot control unit installed on Friday followed by another trip out to the river with the contractor, Phillip, for a sea trial to commission and calibrate the new system. When Phillip arrived Friday morning winds were gusting into the 20’s, and we learned the day before that leaving the slip is not a simple maneuver, so we canceled Friday's sea trail. Instead he did as much as he could from the slip and was willing to meet with us at 7 a.m. Saturday morning for the sea trial. Jimmy felt that he could handle the commissioning and calibration on the river if Phillip would be available by phone if needed.

Saturday morning, we left slip at slack tide just after 7 a.m., with very helpful assistance from our dock-mate Ron. Even with his help, Utopia turned nearly sideways on the exit from the slip again, but at least we did not touch any piles this time. Once out of the slip we headed south on the river to calibrate the new autopilot system. After doing some donuts in the Stono River, holding straight courses and performing other maneuvers, Jimmy called the sea trial a success.

Charleston, SC to Cape Fear, NC

180 Statute Miles | 157 Nautical Miles

7 a.m. May 31 to 2 p.m. June 1

Exiting Charleston

We had to traverse a three mile long cut between the Stono and Ashley Rivers to reach the Charleston Harbor Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean. Currents through the cut tend to be strong, plus there is a bascule bridge to manage along the way, so it is strongly recommended to time traversing the cut with the tides. Therefore, after completing the sea trial, we dropped anchor next to the marina to give the currents an hour or so to reduce in strength. Even so, we still saw about 2.5 knots of current, but this was against us making the wait for the bridge to open a bit safer; meaning the current would not push us into the bridge.

The marina staff hinted that the boat traffic on Saturday may be chaotic and they were not kidding! Once we reached the Ashley River (adjacent to the downtown area of Charleston), the boat traffic was very busy even at 10:30 a.m. Little did we know that this would be considered mild compared to Wrightsville, North Carolina.

Up the Atlantic Coast

Around noon, we entered the Charleston Harbor Inlet and later turned northeast to head up the Atlantic Coast. The first few hours we had decent sailing conditions with the winds primarily out of the west or southwest. The waves were small, with an occasional swell from the southeast causing some not-too-bad rolling of the boat. We were able to enjoy some downwind running followed by a broad reach.

Late afternoon on the Atlantic | Breakfast underway | Approaching the Cape Fear Inlet

Just before sunset the waves and swell began to build and I was nervous about our going out on deck to remove the whisker pole (we do this task together), but was surprised to find it not as difficult as I thought it would be. Afterwards I took the first night shift from 8 pm to 11 pm. The forecast called for declining winds, so we had both the full main and jib flying. However the 15 knot winds turned into steady 20 knots with gusts up to 27, bringing Utopia up to 10 knots once, and causing the boat to vibrate whenever she sailed over 8 knots. As a result, we continued to reduce sail throughout the night.

Sometime before sunrise, and about two hours south of the Cape Fear shipping channel, the wind angle shifted and dissipated enough for Jimmy to turn on the engine. As we approached the channel, we watched our chartplotter for cargo ships and monitored both channels 13 & 16, and we were fully prepared to be passed by a 700’ long, 90’ wide cargo ship in the river. Slowly but surely we are learning a thing or two out here.

Cargo ship passing Utopia in the Cape Fear Inlet — Cargo ship passing *Utopia* in the Cape Fear Inlet

Back on the ICW

Now that it was daylight and we were on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), we stopped covering the helm in shifts, with both of us staying in the cockpit. As the morning progressed and we worked our way up to the Wrightsville Beach area, the boat traffic increased becoming rather chaotic. It appears that there are not any no-wake restrictions in this area, as boats of all sizes flew past and in front of us, rocking the docks that lined the waterway. We just held our steady course, hoping for the best and occasionally slowing down when we spotted a boat approaching our forward starboard side. It was fun to see the crazy boat traffic, except when we needed to make sharp turns into new channels.

When cruising the ICW we need to keep a close eye out on the water depth, and it was on the approach to a bridge in narrow Snows Cut Channel when our depth meter quickly dropped down to read zero feet under our keel. I called out “Hold on!” and to my delight we did not block the bridge opening by getting stuck on the bottom. It just turns out that this was the first of many zero readings we would see the rest of the day, requiring some extra studying of the charts as the crazy boat traffic zig zagged all around us.

It was just before 2 p.m. when we reached our intended anchorage and were pleasantly surprised that it was not covered over with boats already anchored that would have required us to weave through a crowded anchorage in such an exhausted state. Many more boats did arrive throughout the afternoon and evening.

Issues encountered

Anchor washdown pump did not work
Foredeck light stopped working
Depth meter frequently dropping to read 0’ (not reading null as when depth meter is not installed)

Other than the depth sounder, the new electronics worked very well on this passage. I am happy to report that the autopilot did not randomly disengage, the instruments stayed powered and the chartplotter screen did not freeze up at all as on our passages before reaching Charleston.

Wrightsville Beach, NC

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and spent the afternoon tidying up the boat, watching the busy boat traffic, eating an early dinner and falling asleep before sunset. Feeling much better on Monday, we did some “chores” in the morning; me remote working and Jimmy troubleshooting the washdown pump, foredeck light and the depth meter. After a small lunch on the boat, we took a very long walk around the Wrightsville Beach area.

ICW to Beaufort, NC

Tuesday, June 3: 42 Statute Miles | 36 Nautical Miles

Wednesday, June 4: 43 Statute Miles | 38 Nautical Miles

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent motoring up the ICW. The weather was pretty and the winds light making for a pleasant, although at times boring trip between the mainland and sawgrass. The mid-point anchorage was interesting as it was within Camp Lejeune where we watched helicopters practice and listened to large artillery booms. The second day was less boring, and that has nothing to do with the fact that we ran aground for a moment about 8 miles south of Beaufort. At the end of the second day, we were happy to find a spot to drop our anchor across downtown Beaufort.