The Shakedown Cruise

We had closed on the sale of Miles on October 28. We had several projects to complete before we could start our trip around the world. Of course we needed to move aboard, also. We additionally drove two loads of stuff down from Colorado, visited family and friends, received a safety award, went boating on the Tennessee Driver, quit our jobs, and dyed our hair blue (first time with hair dye for both of us.) Kind of a busy time.












By my birthday on December tenth, it seemed like we could continue working on the boat forever, and not go anywhere. We had heard that it happens to boat owners. Our Buyers Agent, Richard Jordan, mentioned that boatyards are places where dreams go to die. Wow, that's sad. We didn't want that to happen to us!
We made a list of the critical safety and operational items we needed to finish before we left, and found that we had completed them. Whoo-Hoo! We could go boating! We decided to leave on our shakedown cruise, and begin our circumnavigation, on December 10, 2019.

Leaving Shelter Cove Marina had some challenges. We have a deep draft. That means our keel is 6'6" below the water. Anytime the water is only 6'3", well, we test our ability to be embarrassed, and maybe test out our tow insurance.
We left at mid-tide, and cut it a bit close. We only had four inches of water under our keel. 
Then, we needed to wait until almost low tide before we went under a low bridge. Our mast is 65 feet tall, and there is an antenna on it. The bridge clearance is 65 feet also. You can see our post on measuring the bridge on You Tube. Search for Sailing Miles. Like, and follow us, to see what we are up to.
We motored around the creek for a while then made our move!


We exited the Tybee Roads Channel at 13:58, and decided to follow the three-nautical-mile line going south. We had great weather, saw dolphins, and ended up using our "B"anchorage, due to time. We did cover 37 nautical miles down to Wassaw Sound, where we anchored in 7'9" of water. We had a nice sunset, and Steve had a cell so he could get some work done. 


Our first anchorage was pleasant, nice sunset, although we had some scares when our anchoring app kept sounding an alarm. We consulted with our mentors, Jamie and Behan Gifford, and found out that we needed to set the parameters on the app to account for how much anchor chain we had out. 
Well, we figured we would learn more by doing, and we were right.

Location: Wassaw Sound, Georgia 31410, USA

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