BEAUTIFUL MORNING leaving Charleston, BETTER EVENING MEETING COURAGE

We arose early today to leave at 7 am because today we had near 85 miles to do today. It was beautiful leaving and the sun was coming up on my left as we passed by Ft Sumter on my right. Water was perfect with only a slight ripple. We were behind a private 120' Yacht named VICTORIOUS, captained by a young (25) man we met in the marina schuttle
The befor. Very quite guy and polite as people were asking all kinds of questions of him. The largest ship in the marina was the 190' SV ATHENA owned by Mr.Clark, who founded, then sold, the company Netscape, which was anchored on our dock. She is a ,real beauty as most 4 masted schooners are. With a crew of 20 she's well taken care of.... and looks it!

The trip up the Waccamaw River was a piece of cake today. Winding around the countryside with old Cypress trees on both sides. There were numerous tributaries feeding this swift, moving river. Unfortunately today we had the current against us all day. That's about 1.5 mph that you have to buck and it slows down your time and sucks up more fuel. If we could time our leaving, providing we were going in the right direction you could make some time and save fuel.

We made good time, better than expected, and we reached a point where we had to make a decision on wether to stop for the day or continue on. We chose the latter and continued with our new destination as Bucksport Plantation Marina. I made the call for revervations and on we went, with a new arrival time of  4:45. That's where we first met Jeff and Jeffery. A father and son team and new owners of the marina. You couldn't ask for more accomnating owners. Jeff managed the tie up and Jeffery watched. He's a young man of about 25 years and a wounded veteran from the war in Iraq. We asked about a restaurant and Jeff said Jeffery would take us and sit and wait for us.... and he did! He took us to Food Lion and then to a local place to eat. He was going to wait but I asked him to come inside and eat with us that I was buying his supper. He did and he told us he had been a cadet at VMI and was there on a wrestling scholarship. After graduation he enter the Army and went to Iraq where he was injured and suffered a broken neck, back, and numerous other injuries. He was in a comma for months and ended up weighing just 80 lbs. He was told he'd never walk again and yet there he was doing it, yea with a limp but as well as me. It hit home what a waste of youth a war really is tonight. A young, vibrant kid is now handicapped for life. What was unique about today was Jeffery was ok with it, he didn't quit, and he was doing what he could to help his father by contributing in his own limited way and doing so with a great attitude!