Category Archives: Cruising Guide

Information for other cruising boats. Our experiences finding places to anchor, dealing with officials, provisions, etc.

Days 2 – 4 on the Passage from North Palm Beach, FL to Deltaville, VA

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Friday, June 20 – Sunday June 22 — On Thursday, we’d mentioned that our speeds inside the Gulf Stream were incredible. Eric had had calculated that if we could maintain a speed of 10.2 knots, we’d get in a full day ahead of schedule, so he’d increased RPMs to 1750 to get us up to 10.2 knots. Then our speed picked up even more, eventually getting to 11.7 knots!

After that peak, our speed slowly crept back down, and by 0800 on Friday, we were doing 10.4 knots. While the extra speed was exciting, we were on track to arrive in the middle of the night, so Eric dropped the RPMs back down to 1650 for a daylight arrival. At 1650 RPM, we were still doing a blazing fast 8.8 knots! The speeds continued to slowly creep down the rest of the day, and by 0800 on Saturday. we were down to 7.1 — which was still a great speed.

On Saturday, the speed slowly crept back up. Eric kept reducing RPMs to keep us on track for a daylight arrival. By midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning, we were doing 9.3 knots at 1500 RPM! On Sunday, our speed was a yo-yo, but we were still averaging a fast enough speed that Eric continued to gradually reduce RPMs to 1425 — and we were still averaging 5.5-knots at 1425!

On Sunday evening at about 2000, Eric changed our course to avoid the shipping lanes in the Chesapeake Bay. The new route added more miles, which was fine as we needed to arrive later, anyways. Once he’d re-routed us, he increased the RPMs to 1650.

On Friday, for most of the day, the sea conditions were the same as they had been on Thursday: 2 -3 foot swells at 5 -6 seconds with 1-2 foot wind chop. But on Friday evening, we were hit with a squall at about 1830. It was ominous on the radar.

The wind went from nearly dead to strong in an instant, and the seas rapidly worsened. We’re pretty sure it rained a little bit. But it passed relatively quickly, and all went back to being calm almost as fast as it had picked up. We could see the silent lightning from the storm for a long time after it had passed.

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The Beginning of the Passage From North Palm Beach, FL to Deltaville, VA

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On Thursday, June 19, 2025, we spent the morning getting ready to go to sea. Johnny came to Kosmos to say goodbye and pick up his car. We untied at about noon and headed south.

Given that it was a Thursday, the ICW was surprisingly busy, especially around Peanut Island, and the ride was a bit rocky from all the wakes. The current was about 1.5 knots against us, which made the autopilot sometimes struggle to stay on course. Making the trek through the ICW a little stressful in the tight quarters.

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Finishing Up the Boat Work and Getting Fuel in North Palm Beach, Florida, USA

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On Tuesday, June 17, we missed the sunrise, but here was a morning shot.

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday finishing up the projects. Eric confirmed radios were working, the other two air conditioning units were descaled, and Yacht Tech finished up the waxing, stainless polishing, and the gelcoat work. Unfortunately, not every gelcoat spot was repaired. There had been two separate work orders, and due to a misunderstanding, Eric had only authorized one.

We’d mentioned that the bottom red boot stripe had been touched up. Yacht Tech also touched up the smokestack stripe. When all the outside work was completed, they gave Kosmos a good washing and wipe down.

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Recap of Kosmos’s Two Weeks in Seminole Boat Yard, Palm Beach Gardens, Floria, USA

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Seminole Boatyard was responsible for hauling us out, pressure washing/scraping the bottom, and giving Kosmos a space to be worked on with power and water. For the actual work, we’d hired a company called Yacht Tech, who specializes in Nordhavns. Yesterday, when we’d said that Eric had met with “the staff,” we’d meant Yacht Tech.

The primary purpose for hauling out was to get new bottom paint. Usually, they’ll do spot sanding where needed and, wherever the paint is fine, will simply put another coat over the existing coats. But it was time to sand off all of the old paint and start fresh. The sanding took a couple of days. They waited to paint the bottom until the rest of the work on the hull had been completed, so the paint didn’t get done until the second week.

It was also time to balance the propellor. The propellor was removed and taken to a machine shop for balancing. One of the blades was off balance and had to be adjusted. It took four days before the propellor was put back on.

Propellor removed

We’d requested that Kosmos’s hull be compounded (old wax removed) and waxed. In yesterday’s post, we’d failed to mention that as soon as she was situated in her spot, they’d started working on the compounding/waxing along the waterline. We decided to go with compounding this time because, being out of the water, they had leverage that they simply cannot get when the boat is in the water (and normally the boat is in the water during waxing).

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Hauling Out in Seminole Boat Yard, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida USA

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On Saturday, May 24, the three of us flew to San Diego. The flight was uneventful. We got a great shot of the Lake Worth Inlet and the southern portion of Lake Worth from the plane.

On Saturday, May 31, after an incredibly busy week, Eric flew back to Palm Beach so he could take Kosmos into the boat yard and oversee the work being done. Christi and Keith opted to stay in San Diego until Kosmos was back in the water. Here was twilight in Palm Beach.

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