EP#299 We Sailed until we Couldn't
December 27, 2024 · 52 min · 278 views · North Carolina Coast
What this video covers
Jerome Rand departs Beaufort, North Carolina solo aboard the Westsail Into Oblivion on December 27, 2024, bound south with the goal of reaching the Gulf Stream before a forecasted wind shift from northeast to southwest.3:12 He anchors overnight in mud in 10 feet of water, gets little sleep due to a tidal 180-degree swing, and sets off at 0630 under one reef in the main and a pulled-out staysail, running dead downwind in a rolling motion he calls the "sparrow waddle."1:43 Speeds reach 9–11 knots surfing waves.23:32 The pipe wrench locking the prop shaft falls off twice.22:22 The tricolor nav light fails; the VHF works.23:41 Seas build to 4–8 feet overnight, leaks develop, scuppers clog with boatyard debris, and Rand discovers 78-degree water — he has wandered into the Gulf Stream.29:56 By 1000 on the 27th a small craft advisory is in effect.24:55 Exhausted after roughly 10 days of poor sleep, he passes Cape Fear around 2100 and makes the call to pull into Charleston, South Carolina, tying up at the same marina he used on a previous trip aboard Prima.43:17 The decision to stop is driven entirely by fatigue, not weather or mechanical failure alone.44:36
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