Charleston, well, close to Charleston

Yet again the day was planned around tides. We'd been told that the current through our destination, St. Johns Yacht Harbor, could be a problem. Slack time should be around 10:30 am.

We were up around 5:30 to walk dogs on the shore. Then we weighed anchor and headed out before even having our coffee. 

After a quick round of texting with As You Wish it turns out slack tide was closer to 11 am. Moreover, once we turned a corner the tide was pushing us right along at 7.5 knot as near-idle speeds. We were getting in closer to 10 am. About an hour out we called the marina to tell them we were coming in early. Right away he warned us of the current and it would be a thing. We planned on doing a stern in, but knew if things were tricky we'd just bow in.

Last time we came this way we stayed in Charleston, which was handy for getting to the history downtown. However, the weather got so bad and our boat tossed madly just sitting in the marina that I abandoned ship and checked myself into a hotel. This marina isn't on the Charleston bay. We'll go to and through the bay when we leave here.

John serving "tiny beers", a looper favorite.
It's really Liquor 43 (really cold) with a float 
of heavy cream. Tastes like a milkshake!

As we turned the corner to come down the fairway, between the current and the wind, inQuest crabbed on me, her stern coming around a bit. Yep, we're going bow in. That position put us perfectly into Poughkeepsie mode, so I mostly let the forces move the boat down to our slip. Then I bumped her forward as close to the up-current boat as I dared as I moved her nose into the slip. It was perfect.

As You Wish arrived about an hour later, timing the arrival on slack tide perfectly. From that moment on the day was spent celebrating their loop completion. Champagne, tiny beers, and the changing-of-the-burgee.

It was kinda sad in a way. This was really the end of the loop. All of the loopers we'd been traveling with had now finished. Today, we're not loopers. We're just boaters. That doesn't have the same ring to it.

Congratulations, crew of As You Wish