Back at Home

As stated earlier, " The longer it's been the more fun we had!". Rich read parts of the blog and then said "By reading your blog, you would think we had a good time!" Actually, we did. There were some unsettling moments such as the thunderstorms and general bad weather, but overall it was a memorable experience.
I found myself thinking about the next trip before I had been home a week. What did I learn? Oh, dozens of things. You can ask questions, do research, read books, or whatever, and the actual experience always has a few surprises. Of course, each area you sail in will have its own lessons to teach. And you can almost always say that the actual weather and sea conditions will be worse than NOAA says it is.
What would I change? The thing that sticks out the most is that I want to install a waterproof speaker similar to my stereo speakers so that I can hear the VHF better. I had a handheld, but didn't use it any as the sound from the mounted radio was much more intelligible, plus I have been told I am hard to understand when using the handheld. It may be that I need a new or different handheld.
I could have used some cockpit cushions. We sat on the throwables but they weren't very comfortable.
I installed battery powered LED cabin lighting, and we had adequate light. The squeaky plywood filler panels used to make bunks are going to have to be reworked.

We had a portapotty and some single use toilet bags, but we didn't use either. Fortunately we didn't have to as we managed to make it to a marina most nights. We did make good use of the red plastic urinal purchased at Gander Mountain. This was a wise investment.
Blues Image is in the drive way at the moment with Christmas lights on it. She'll get back in the water at Watts Bar Lake sometime around April. In the meantime, we will be planning her next great trailer adventure!

Friday

Friday dawned bright and beautiful, but with the promise of strong winds. We had decided that with the weather forecast as it was, we would go ahead and leave for home. We tidied up the boat and began to make her ready for the long ride to Knoxville. Rich advised that we should get her out of the water as soon as possible because the wind was picking up quickly. He pulled the boat out of the slip with a dock line while walking along the seawall, gave the bow a little push and then I had enough room to head out without bumping into the next door neighbor, a slum trash Island Packet. (Jealousy rears its ugly head here). I goosed the Honda and we headed out of the channel along the seawall, turned right back towards the bridge, and the boat ramp.

I could feel the wind and waves as soon as we cleared the seawall. Probably about 15 to 20 knots. Rich had walked back up to the Neuse River Suites to get the truck and meet me at the ramp. I circled off the ramp for a few minutes until he arrived, and then I eased up to the windward side of the dock and tied up. For all of the wind, there were several folks going out to fish either for fun or for work, so we rigged the extension tongue on the trailer while waiting for the ramp to clear.
Eventually, it was our turn, and Rich backed the trailer in the water. By now the water was white capping and getting pretty rough even in the harbor. I spent the next 30 minutes in extreme discomfort as we tried to get the boat on the trailer and snugged up with the winch. By the time we were successful, I was exhausted and the boat had quite a few new scratches.
My project this winter will be to weld on some guides and rework the trailer winch so that I can reach it without laying full length over the bow on top of the cleat and under the bow pulpit while straining my guts out to crank the dang thing.
An hour spent taking down the mast, storing all the sails and rigging, retracting the tongue, and we were almost ready to go. We then noticed the boat had slid back from the bow stop about two inches during retrieval and the whole trailer was flexing. Another 30 minutes and two large ratchet straps enabled us to slide the boat snugly up against the bow stop.

In Rich's driveway

A quick stop to get some diesel fuel, and Oriental was in the rear view mirror. A relatively uneventful 11 hours later, I dropped Rich off at his house and then Blues Image was back in the driveway.

Thursday afternoon

Oriental Waterfront from the bridge.

The folks at Oriental Marina were very accommodating. We were slipped in the first berth off the seawall along Hodges Street directly across from The Bean coffee shop. This slip is very visible from the Oriental Harbor Cam on the Town Dock website. Every time I go to Oriental, I call someone I know, give them the URL,  and then stand in front of the Harbor Cam and wave. I know, I know- just like a little kid.
We got the boat tied up with no issues. The dockmaster even loaned us an extension cord so we could plug into the shore power. I have a 15 amp male connector installed in the cockpit. It is rare you can find a marina with 15 amp power, so I had purchased a 30 amp to 15 amp adaptor for this purpose. Unfortunately, I had only brought one 25 foot power cord, and we were always slipped nose in, which puts the inlet too far from the outlet.

Snug in our slip.

Soon after this, we carried the 170 over to the lawn in front of the Oriental Inn and folded it up for stowing. A little routine maintenance, and we headed for M&M Restaurant for dinner. We had considered going to the Steamer, but found out that had been converted to a sports bar after all the damage from Hurricane Irene. Water had risen to three feet over Hodges Street where we were now docked. The Bean, a long time landmark and hangout, was also closed and undergoing renovation due to damage. Dinner was good, and we walked around town for a while and then ambled over to the Tiki Bar for a nightcap. There were two older ladies and the bartender besides us. We purchased a couple of brews and sat there and discussed the week's events. The bartender and the other patrons went home and left us there. We closed down the bar in Oriental!

Thursday

After a relatively restless night, we awoke before dawn on Thursday morning. The water was flat calm and the sky was beautiful with few clouds, the moon setting in the west, and the sun rising in the east. About sunrise, the motor yacht to the east of us raised anchor and ghosted down the river channel. Most likely a snowbird heading south.

Forespar Stove under way.

We witnessed literally dozens of yachts heading south along the ICW during the trip. We could see four or five at a time trailing each other by a couple of miles. It reminded me of being at the Atlanta-Hartsfield airport at night and seeing landing lights for as far as you could see on the jets lined up for landing stacked one behind the other.
Rich fired up the generator (yes, I said generator. You thought we were just a little dinky boat, didn't you?) to charge up his cell phone. Actually, that was the only time the entire trip we used the generator. Rich had brought it just in case we needed some power out on the hook.
I brewed some coffee on my new Forespar galley stove in the percolator. Forespar had fashioned this gimbaled stove after the old Sea Swing stove. I wish I had the Sea Swing, because unlike my Forespar, it utilized rolled aluminum plate for a gimbal and would reflect some the heat back toward the cooking area. The Forespar throws a lot of heat sideways and had a detrimental effect on my varnished companionway door.

Anyway, back to the story. The two sailboats left sometime later, and we followed one out the river channel. Once we reached the Neuse proper, we shut down the engine and raised the sails. There was barely a breath of wind at that hour. Rich went below and turned in for some continuing rest, and I sat in the cockpit and enjoyed the lovely view and quiet. A little breeze stirred from time to time and the boat would move a bit and then stop. I dug out the 170 genoa which I had never hoisted before. After about thirty minutes, a stronger  breeze began to materialize and we started to move.
The weather for Friday was forecast to get rough, with 25 to 30 knot winds and the waves on the Neuse predicted to be 3-4 feet. If you have ever been on the Neuse, and I now had two days experience, you know you don't want to be out in 3 foot waves. They are often referred to by people in the know as "square waves" as they are of such short duration that they generate a washboard effect with a constant pounding on the hull.

With this in mind, I steered west intending to stay in the general vicinity of Oriental as I knew the wind would pick up in the afternoon and it might get rough. We planned to get a slip at the Oriental Marina before conditions deteriorated too much.

Self portrait near Janiero.

Within an hour we were humming along at 6 knots with a southerly wind. Blues Image was heeled at about 12 to 15 degrees and it was just great. Being based on Watts Bar Lake in East Tennessee, it is rare that we can sail more than two or three miles on a tack, so this was thrilling for me. We sailed about three hours passing Oriental and continuing all the way down to Minnesott Beach in sight of the ferries running back and forth.
Rich stayed down below pretty much all this time. He had not slept much the entire trip and was trying to get some rest. The 1/2" plywood storage covers and filler panels under the bunk cushions would squeak mercilessly on their fiberglas ledges every time one of us would roll over or move. Rich had the V berth and I had the dinette berth. They both squeaked loudly with every move, and when you only have 2 inch thick cushions to sleep on, you tend to move a lot trying to find a comfortable position. So neither one of us was particularly well rested.
It was now early afternoon, and rather than dodge the ferries and continuing towards New Bern, I elected to turn around and head back to Oriental. The wind was picking up rapidly, and the 170 was now too much. I pulled it down and put up the working jib. It was no easy task, as the waves were getting up and the bow was bouncing around. By now you have guessed "we don't need no stinking roller furler!" Although at times it would be nice. However, to install one would cost one third what I paid for the boat! I am nothing if not cheap.
As we traveled back east, the wind and waves kept building. In about two hours we were outside Oriental Harbor, and we fired up the Honda and turned into the wind so I could drop the sails. I bought everything I needed to install lazy jacks, but didn't have time to make them up and installed them, so it is a little tougher in a blow. We had to run the engine at half throttle. The waves had already built to 3 feet, and were breaking over the bow when she nosed into the trough. Rich held us into the wind, and I fought with the dancing boat and the mainsail, trying not to fall into the water. The jib has a downhaul line which helps greatly, and the previous owner had laced nylon line from the lifelines to the toe rail which kept the jib from blowing overboard. I finally got the mainsail tied to the boom and we turned around and headed for the channel marker. It was getting scary rough quickly. We got into the channel, and I radioed ahead to arrange for a slip.

Neighboring yacht in South River anchorage

Yours truly at South River

My buddy Mike says I look menacing in this picture. Not true. I merely have not had my coffee yet.

Wednesday evening

We headed northwest out of the thunderstorm. As previously stated, we were pretty tired from the day's travel and getting up early. In checking the charts, it seemed that Broad Creek offered a couple of marinas and several good anchorages. At this point, a nice hot shower and a restaurant meal had great appeal, but alas, was not meant to be. I didn't cross check my lat/lon position against the chart because we assumed we were farther east than we were. Heading for the Broad Creek marker, we soon spotted a nun buoy in the distance. But when we got to it, we found that we had already passed the Broad Creek entrance. The buoy was hidden from us in the poor visibility of the thunderstorm as we passed it by. We were actually a couple of miles west of the entrance. We discussed turning around, but elected instead to turn straight south and head for South River. The North Carolina Coastal Cruising Guide listed South River as a good anchorage protected from southerly winds, which we were experiencing. And the everpresent thunderheads were building again out of the southwest. We were also running out of daylight, as it was about 6:30 pm by then. Running on Honda power we headed south on a 180 degree true heading and hit the South River markers right on the money. We traveled on up South River about a mile by which time it was very dark. Using the depth finder/GPS Humminbird 160, we dropped anchor right on the edge of the 7 foot contour, let out about 100 feet of rode, and dropped a 10 pound anchor kellet to hold the rode horizontal to the bottom. By this time, lightning was flashing almost continuously due south and the wind was building to 20 knots plus. We shared the anchorage with a large motor yacht and two other sailboats. We had gotten pretty close to land and this helped break the wind somewhat. We still had adequate swinging room should the wind shift as long as the anchor reset! We had a quick meal, set the boat up for sleeping and turned in. I woke up numerous times during the night to check for anchor dragging and to just look around. It seemed the Beaufort area was getting slammed with a big thunderstorm. Even though the wind probably was up to 30 knots at times and lightning was frequent, we did not get enough rain to get the boat wet. Most of the weather seemed to skate by us to the south, for which we were grateful.

Wednesday

A little weather moving in...

Between showers

We got up about 5 on Wednesday morning so that we could make the drawbridge opening at 6:30. By going north out of Beaufort instead of south, we did not have to go around Radio Island to head back up to the Neuse. We arrived right at the Highway 70 drawbridge at 6:30 and sailed on through the open bridge. As soon as we cleared the bridge, we started looking for the next channel marker. As it was still dark, Rich brought up the Blue Max spotlight and flipped it on. Pretty soon after that, all of the lights and the GPS went out on the boat. The spotlight blew one of the two fuses at the battery that power the electrical panel. When I had rewired the boat, I had used 10 amp fuses because I was out of 20 amp and  I just forgot to change them. I was still steering the boat while Rich looked under the port settee for the fuse holders immediately near the battery. I put the boat in neutral and helped Rich find the spare fuses. There were no other boats around, so it seemed safe. After Rich located the spare fuses and changed the blown one, we had power restored. The GPS rebooted and shared with us the knowledge that we were in two feet of water. There was a little bit of light by this time and we had drifted over near two sign posts jutting up out of the water. It appeared the channel was way off to port. I asked Rich if he could read the signs as I could not. He replied "yes, Danger, Shoal!" As the boat shuddered to a stop it seemed the information was not received in a timely fashion. Ah, the joys of a swing keel boat! A few cranks on the keel winch and we were off and back in the channel.

Can you go any faster?

Stylish as usual

Another few hours of motoring through the ICW and we were back in the Neuse. The weather was still iffy with a lot of cloud cover, but we headed east towards the Sound. We got caught in two or three rain squalls and spent our time putting our rain gear off and on. We sailed several hours until we were past the outer markers for the Neuse and we were in the sound proper. We could see what appeared to be a wicked thunderstorm coming up behind us traveling northeast. We turned south east to try to get some distance from it. As the wind wasn't friendly for that direction, we fired up the Honda. Unfortunately, we were closing on a prohibited area which is used for gunnery and bombing practice for the armed forces. The farther south we got, the closer we were closing on the bombing range! We could actually hear what we assumed to be 20 millimeter cannon fire in the distance along with jet fighters passing near by. "What are the targets they are shooting at?" Rich wondered. "Probably old sailboats." I replied. As we had run right up against the markers proclaiming "Keep Out!" we had no choice but turn back north into the storm. We weren't really concerned about the rain and there wasn't much wind. It was just the lightning that had us worried. We plowed ahead into the storm. Rain came down in sheets and the visibility dropped to 50 yards. Aside from the lighting, it really wasn't too bad. We were through it in a half hour and the sun came back out. We had been on the move since 5 and we were getting pretty tired, so we started looking for a place to anchor.

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

Howard Stearn's 125' Broward yacht with Mini Cooper and runabout on the top deck.
The 52' Riva next to it also belongs to Stearn. Both are named "Indiscretion".

Blues Image slumming with the neighbors.

Tuesday morning was pretty much as predicted. Overcast, windy, and rainy. We didn't really have any hard rain, just a lot of it. It rained pretty much all day off and on. We had been saving the North Carolina Mariners Museum for today, and we gave it a good going over. I had been there twice before, but Rich hadn't. It is a very good place to spend a rainy afternoon, and a lot of other people had the same thoughts. Across the street from the museum is the boat house, where volunteer workers build  traditional wood boats and rebuild old ones. You can stand there and watch them work on whatever project is underway, and a nice gentleman conversed with us for about twenty minutes about what projects they were currently working on. The museum admission is free, but they do accept donations and suggest five dollars. They build a nice traditional sailboat every year and raffle it off around Christmas. I've bought tickets for two years but have yet to win!

Looking from our slip way down the Beaufort docks.

Still at Beaufort

On Monday, things didn't look too bad. Partly cloudy skies and pleasant temperatures. I had really wanted to sail out to Cape Lookout, which is about five miles or so to the east of Beaufort Inlet. With the weather forecast calling for 2 to 3 foot seas building in the evening, we decided to stick our nose out of the inlet just to see what it looked like and then make a decision. We motored down Taylor Creek and then headed down the channel towards the inlet. About a mile before we got to the last bar, the waves were 3 feet. We proceeded on out to sea. When we reached the last markers the seas were 6 feet at least. Goes to show you can't always trust the weather forecast!
It was a little rough for our little boat with the bow burying into the odd wave now and then. Discretion being the better part of valor, I looked for a chance and did a quick 180 back towards the inlet. At this point I had to crank the Honda up pretty good to keep some steerage way. We were surfing down the front of the waves at 8 mph plus. (I say mph because my GPS is currently set for statute miles not nautical miles). The only other boats we saw were also heading in, so we didn't feel too much like we were overcautious.
So much for our foray out into the deep blue, although the depth finder did show more water than anywhere else on the trip!
We found our way back to home slip home and went to the Dockside Bar for lunch. A little more sightseeing and nosing into the many retail shops took the rest of the day.

On to Beaufort

 Adams Creek becomes Core Creek on the south end of the waterway cut which goes by Beaufort Inlet. We proceeded south under the Highway 70 bridge and around the south end of Radio Island. There the channel leading to Beaufort goes back north. We rounded the buoy and continued up to Beaufort. I had called the Beaufort Municipal Docks by phone earlier to determine if there was a space for us, and we radioed the dock just before turning east into Taylor Creek. They directed us to a great slip within sight of the bath house and along the famous Beaufort Waterfront. The dockmaster made us very welcome and treated us as if we were in a much larger and more expensive vessel! We paid for the night's slip rent and had a free drink at the Dockside Bar courtesy of the dockmaster. He also loaned us a shorepower cord as the one we had brought was not quite long enough to reach.
The weather was not forecast to be pleasant on Monday and Tuesday with high winds and rain predicted. We ambled around Beaufort (pronounced bo-fort with a long O) the rest of the day with our jaws hanging down and drooling over the various megayachts. Without exaggeration, except for a couple of dinghys in adjacent slips, which I don't count as they didn't have sleeping accommodations, we had the smallest boat in the entire marina. I guess that is something to brag about. Best we had, anyway. Oh, and no other boats had Tennessee registration numbers!

Beaufort Dock's slips are considered to be expensive at $2.00 per foot plus $6.00 for electrical power. Our cost per night was about $48.00.

On Adams Creek

We made it to Adams Creek and the Waterway in an hour or so once we turned southwest. The wind was still gusty but as soon as we rounded the point the waves began to calm down. With wind directly from the north, we were still sailing. In fact, we sailed 22 miles without tacking at 5 mph or better. With just the mainsail up! That sorta shows what kind of wind speed we had plus the tide was in our favor. The  scenery was beautiful with natural undisturbed areas giving way to nice (and not so nice) homes on the creek banks. The only rough water we encountered on the creek was the wake from one large powerboat which kicked up 5 foot waves, necessitating my turning directly into them to minimize the rolling. Everyone else we encountered slowed to an idle until they were past us which was very considerate of them.

As an aside, the dates listed on the blog are the dates I am posting and not the dates of the trip. I have not had time to complete the trip narration as I would like and it may take a couple of weeks to get it all down.

Once clear of the breakwater at Oriental, we started to run into some 1 to 2 foot waves from the Neuse. By the time we had cleared the channel markers and were in the Neuse proper, the waves were closer to 3 feet. I had heard over and over about the infamous "square waves" of the Neuse and Pamlico sound, which are generated due to the distances the wind can drive them and the shallowness of water depths, but this was my first official meeting. With the 9.9 Honda running we turned east into the waves to take them on the quarter. Spray was breaking over the boat and the wind was running 15 to 20 mph. This was not what I had in mind! But off in the distance, I could see a couple of boats with sails up, so what the heck. I raised the main and killed the engine. We were soon running 6.4 mph by GPS. This is screaming under mainsail only on this boat! The tiller had severe weather helm but I wasn't about to try to go forward on that plunging bow to raise the jib! It only took about twenty minutes for us to decide we needed to run for some shelter. The other (much larger) sailboats had dropped their sails. Hmm, more likely just furled em'. A luxury we don't have. While Rich manned the tiller, I took a look at the chart and we set course for Adams Creek and the Intercoastal Waterway. This required us to turn southwest and take the waves on our stern. The GPS recorded 8.5 mph as we surfed down the face of the waves. I don't have any pictures of this as we were hanging on best we could and trying to keep dry!

                               Rich on board as we motor out by the Oriental Yacht Club.

We launched the boat without incident. This involves unhitching the trailer, extending the tongue, hitching the trailer back up, backing the boat in the water, pulling the trailer out of the water, unhitching the trailer, retracting the tongue, well, you get the picture. Rich got stuck with this duty coming and going. But he said he preferred to do that than deal with the boat. Smart man.

 Rich drove the truck and trailer back to the Neuse River Suites where they had obligingly agreed to let us park it there on the grass while we were gone. He then hiked the two blocks back down to the Oriental Inn and Marina, where I picked him up at the fuel dock and then we motored out towards the Neuse. Let the adventure begin!

                                                       Rich on the boat wondering what next...

On Sunday morning, we pulled the boat to the public ramp at the end of Midyette Street. It is a very nice launch area with lots of room and a wide ramp. We hoisted the mast in place using the boom as a jib pole and the main sheet tackle for muscle as per the Chrysler manual. I have done this about nine times now. It was very nerve racking the first time I did it. I learned a little bit more each time and now it is relatively easy to raise and lower it by myself. It usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour to raise the mast and rig the boom, sail, and various pieces of rigging. About 30 minutes or less to take it all back down and lash it for transport.

                                                                Just arrived at Oriental

                                                               At the Neuse River Suites

Starting Out

Sunrise on the Neuse

We left Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, October 8 heading for Oriental, North Carolina. This is a pretty long stretch of about 525 miles. My life long friend Rich Roberts had foolishly agreed to spend a week sailing on a 22 foot Chrysler Sandpiper sailboat. He had contributed to the preparations by installing a much needed second axle on the original Chrysler trailer. This trailer is built lightly by anyone's standards. When you sighted down the length of the frame rail, you could detect a 2" bow over the single axle caused by the weight of the boat over time. I suspect they designed the trailer lightly to save as much weight as possible as the GVWR of the trailer exactly equaled the maximum load of the tires. Always one to take two when one will do, I elected to install the second axle and halve the load on the tires.Rich straightened the bow as much as possible and lengthened the fenders. Thanks Rich! We stopped once for fuel for the Ford F350 and for us. The 7.3 Powerstroke will generally get about 19 mpg on the highway at 70, but with the boat in tow we averaged a little under 13 mpg. The advantage to a trailer sailer is that it will go 70 miles an hour, (or more) on the trailer and thus can be launched anywhere there is an adequate ramp. We cruised into Oriental, A Friendly Little Drinking Town With A Sailing Problem, about 6:30 that evening, about 10 hours on the road. We stayed at the Neuse River Suites, which is a very nice place right on the river with a wonderful view and very nice accommodations. This was the last night of the trip with a comfy bed!