THE TRIP

New Bern to Oriental:
We got to the boat Friday evening and had a nice sunset before our start the next morning. We left New Bern, for good, the next day (relocating our boat to Oriental after the cruise) at 1500 after cleaning up and provisioning during the morning. We had a FANTASTIC sail to Oriental (as a stopover) covering close to 22 miles in just 3 hours! The wind was 15-20 from the SW and we were close reaching most of the way at 7 to 7.5knots.

This is what the wake looks like at 8 knots close reaching in 15 knots of true wind. When we got to Oriental, we called the Oriental marina on the VHF and they were completely full. We decided to anchor in the harbor, but while looking for a spot with the 'nocs, we noticed an empty spot at the Oriental town docks! - unheard of! We quickly motored over to it and tied up without incident (getting more and more common if there is no wind).

As we were talking to the boat captain tied up next to us, we found out why there had been an empty spot at the town dock. He told us that with the 15 knot SW wind he and most of the other sailboats there would be sitting on the ground in only 3 feet of water by morning - thank goodness for a catamaran! We had a great supper at the Trawl Door and crashed.

Oriental to Beaufort:
Winds were predicted to be 20-25 from the SW today and then 30+ for Monday. We will try to make it to Beaufort and then hang out there until the front goes through. We didn't feel like messing with the sails just for a 30-45 minute beat into 25 knots of wind to get across the Neuse river to Adams Creek. So we motored out of Oriental to the mouth of Adam's Creek.

NOTE (to myself): 2700rpm produced 5 to 5.5 knots of boatspeed with 25kn wind 30 degrees off the bow. Everything was pretty calm once we got into Adam's Creek, but there was a lot of traffic. We passed a Gemini 3400 "Kiltara" about halfway down, heading North to the Chesapeake.

Once out of Adams Creek, we chose the Russell Creek fork to go down to Town Creek Marina for the night. We hailed Town Creek Marina on the VHF and asked about availability. We got a very cold "negative, captain." as a response with little or no help about where to anchor. The Town Creek bridge had just closed, so we had a 30 minute wait in a crowded area with a 25 (still) knot wind blowing us down onto the bridge. It finally opened and after passing through we called the Beaufort docks on the VHF and there was room there at the Beaufort waterfront. We had heard stories about the major current in Taylors Creek and the trouble people have had getting in and out of there. To top that off, we had all this wind!

As we came around to pull in, the guy on the VHF said, "just power her on in here to overcome the wind -- don't worry, we'll stop you!" Yeah, right, easy for HIM to say. It turned out that I got very LUCKY with my throttle timing and made the turn into the slip, letting the wind do some work turning the boat, again without incident! This can't go on much longer! Even though there were three of them, I don't think those guys could have stopped the boat the way they wanted me to come in - the dock maybe, but not those guys.

Beaufort to Cape Lookout:
30+ knot winds as predicted all day yesterday. Hung out. Watched an egret try to eat a fish that was WAAAY to big for its skinny neck! We left this morning at 0900 to large chop in Beaufort inlet. S wind at 5-10. Let's see... the WORST time to go out an inlet is ebb tide with onshore winds, right? Hello? didn't you pay attention?

Well, slack tide would have been too late for us (that's what we told ourselves, anyway). Most of the chop was probably due to the front having passed the night before and churning up offshore. It was weird having this large of chop with not too much wind. Nevertheless, we were SLAMMING into every second wave and taking water up two levels of bridgedeck to the dodger! Later checked for leaks (first time having major water over the bridgedeck) and found none!

We turned East at R"6" and motorsailed (wind 2-5kn) with the mainsail all the way to Lookout bight. We anchored on the western shore of the bight about 300yds from shore. I put out 180ft of rode in 25ft of water. On the right is a picture the beach where we anchored inside the bight. The picture at the left is the beach we anchored next to. We put the dinghy together and motored across the bight to the eastern shore to check out the Cape Lookout lighthouse and the boardwalk to the ocean side of the Cape. On the ride back, we dinghied along the beach on the inside of the bight, checking out the only other boat anchored there. Here is the Cape Lookout lighthouse and over here is the beach near the lighthouse on the inside of the bight.

The water was VERY clear. I had not seen water this clear anywhere else in North Carolina. It was not Bahamas blue or anything, but it was clear. I could see 15-20ft down.

We saw a LOT of jellyfish (no swimming for me!), a porpoise and a sea turtle swimming close by. Winds were expected at 15kn SSW through the night.

Cape Lookout to South River:
Awoke to find that we were about 1000yds further down the beach than when we went to sleep! I assume that the wind shift of 90 degrees broke loose the 35lb Delta and it took that long to reset in the sand. The wind was not strong enough to have drug (15-20kn). I am not sure what I could have done different besides setting another anchor (the 22lb Danforth), I had 7:1 scope out. The anchor line was still slack and the rolling hitch version of the bridle held very well (see Anchor Bridle "project").

We left the bight at 0830 with no wind to speak of. It was kind of boring motoring all the way back to Beaufort inlet. Once in the channel, though, the chop started again only this time we were surfing down the 2-3ft waves. We managed to hit ebb tide again with a 5kn onshore wind. Is that it, or is Beaufort inlet ALWAYS like this? We continued motoring up to Adams Creek, this time going under the 65ft span of the bridge instead of the Town Creek route.

Coming out into the Neuse, we turned East and then South into South river for the night. We anchored in 2.6ft of water in the middle of a crab pot field. 100ft of rode should do it - What is that, 38:1 scope? Fished for supper with no luck. Couldn't bring myself to pull up any of the crab pots. Looks like a Campbell's kind of night.

South River to Ocracoke:
Motored out of South River into 20-25kn wind from the NNE and a lot of chop (again!). 2800rpm was producing only 3-4 knots average into the 25kn wind and waves. Some of the waves would bring the boat speed down to 1/2 to 1 knot temporarily. Once we made the "NR" marker we could turn East and put up the sails. We turned heading 94M and put up the main with a single reef and the genoa out to about 110%. The boat immediately sprung off to 7.5 knots. We were able to keep this up for about two hours when the wind slowed and we were down to 6 knots by 1400. We put up the rest of the main and the full genoa and were able to keep beating at 5-6 knots in 10-12 knots of wind.

As we approached 9 foot channel we called the Anchorage Inn marina and they said that they could only put us up for 1 night (Thur), we would have to be out by 1100 the next morning. Both West Marine and the Neuse Sailing Association had rallies that weekend (Memorial Day) and everything had been reserved. We declined the one night and had pretty much decided to anchor in Silver lake.

I assumed that the park service docks would be full also, but on a chance I called the visitor's center and asked them to look out their window and see if there were any spots open (they are first-come, first-served). She said that she could see two or three spaces open, but could guarantee that they would be there long. We made it in time and squeezed in between two boats at the bulkheaded waterfront (again without damaging anything--spooky!).

The park service docks were very nice 30A service and low pressure water. Bathrooms, but no showers - 80 cents a foot. Here is a picture at the park service docks. We were met by some friends and stayed for three days biking, etc. I just couldn't get enough of the Jamaican crabcakes or the sunsets at the Jolly Roger! Some really nice sunsets in Silver Lake Harbor. And here is the moonrise with some boats anchored on Silver Lake Harbor.

Ocracoke to Swan Quarter: Our friends had taken the ferry over to Ocracoke so we were going to sail with them back to the ferry terminal at Swan Quarter and drop them off at their car. We started out trying to sail toward Ocracoke with varying winds 0-5kn coming from all directions (note the erratic behaviour on the GPS track log above), then gave up and motorsailed towards Swan Quarter. Around 1300 the wind direction stablized and came from the SE at around 5-6 knots.

We poled out the genoa and put a preventer on the boom and ran downwind at 3-4 knots (in 5 knots of wind!) for about 2 hours. Near some of the shoals on the Pamlico sound we saw A LOT of skates or stingrays going by in the opposite direction. Some swam right between the hulls! As we were approaching Swan Quarter, the big, hulking ferry bore down on us and we put the sails down to motor the rest of the way up the narrow channel to the ferry docks.

After dropping them off, we motored out and around, heading for Deep Bay on the other side of Swan Quarter Island (well just a marsh, really). We anchored just behind a southerly spit of marsh (15-20 knot wind from the SW now) in 4ft of water. Marsh was blocking the Sound chop, but not the wind.

Nice sunset here too.

Swan Quarter to Oriental: Pulled out of Deep Bay at 0730 into SW wind at 5-10 knots. Motorsailed mostly, then motored only down the Neuse back to Oriental dead into the wind. We checked into our assigned slip for the next calendar quarter at 1500 and then daysailed out of Oriental for the next 4 days. We experimented with different sail combinations a bit on these daysails and found out that, with only the genoa up, "doublewide" will do 6 knots at an angle of 55-60 degrees off of true wind blowing 15 knots. With both sails full and the leeward centerboard down, she will close reach (45-50 degrees true) at easily half the true wind speed blowing at 5-15 knots.