Hi All,
We are just settling back in from a week off, sailing the Eastern North Carolina sounds and rivers. The week prior was hectic, preparing Respite and trying to finish the work on the old dinghy sufficiently to get it in the water.
We left Fairfield Harbour, near New Bern, late afternoon on Saturday, June 30. Linda Carol and I sailed down the Neuse River on a 5 knot beam reach to the anchorage in Oriental harbor, arriving about 8:00 PM. We got a leisurely start the next morning about 9:00 AM, sailing with about 10 -15 knots of wind dead astern, clear skies and warm sunshine... What the Heck! We decided to pop the chute. Not having flown one in about 15 years, I managed to make every mistake in the book, including setting it head down on the sheet (actually it flew best that way, pushing us along at a steady six knots)! Not wanting to be too embarrassed, we reset it. By this time the wind had picked up to 15-20 knots as we entered the Pamlico Sound. My sheet was too short and I couldn't get enough purchase to get the downhaul to level the pole and there was too much pressure on it to raise the mast slide. As a result, we started oscillating enough to worry the Admiral (and captain) and manage to blow out the two bottom panels of the spinnaker. So down she came. Soon we made Brant Shoal marker. A lift in the wind and course change put us on a reach for Okracoke making a good six knots under the 130 genoa and full main. As always, the wind really started honking when we approached Big Foot Channel. This is the Sound side entrance to Oregon inlet and the approach to Silver Lake harbor on Okracoke Island. It is a narrow channel with extremely shallow water on each side. The tide (2-3 knots) and wind (25 with gusts to 29 knots, according to the Weather Service) were on the nose going out the channel. With the sails down and a 7.5 hp OB as auxiliary, it was slow going, and, of course, we had to deal with all three ferries at the most awkward parts of the channel.
We spent two days enjoying the rustic harbor and met many new friends. In particular, we met Tom Parrish, the owner of a particularly beautiful Cal 31 (whose name escapes me right now). We told him about the list and hope to see him on it. He has done some gorgeous canvas work on his wife's sewing machine that would do credit to any commercial shop. I hope we see him join us soon.
We left on Tuesday morning headed for the Pamlico River. Wind abaft at 10 -15 knots, we kept it simple running under the 130 only. We averaged about 4.5 knots and skirted a couple of rainsqualls entering the River. We anchored behind Indian Island, in South Creek for a very pleasant evening. The next morning the Fourth of July, we reached up river at 5-6 knots to Durham's Creek. We anchored near Linda Carol's sister's cottage on the creek and joined her family for the day's celebrations. There are no significant lunar tides here, but the wind tide blew a foot of water out of the creek that night, and as we had ventured as far upstream as our keel would permit us to anchor, we ran aground trying to leave the next morning (reaffirming my sobriquet, Muddy Rudder). Big Earl vainly tried to pull us across the bar with his pontoon boat until I finally braved hooking a halyard to him, letting him pull us over and driving across the bar with the auxiliary. Free at last, we sailed out of the creek and down the river to Goose Creek. This is the entrance to this part of the ICW. With the wind on the nose through the entrance, we dropped the sails and motored south. As we progressed just past the fishing village of Hobucken, the water pump quit. We shut down the motor, restarted to verify that it had not overheated and swapped it for the 3.5-hp Nissan dinghy auxiliary. We tied up next to a big Shrimper, called for a ride from LC's sister to our car and headed back to 'civilization'. We were lucky to find Gene at Mobile Marine in Bayboro, who was willing to pull the lower unit, after hours, and fabricate a pin to key the impeller replacing the rusted out one that the mechanic who had serviced the pump failed to. We spent the night at home and arranged transport back the next day. We resumed transit of the ICW under gloomy skies about Noon. As we entered Jones Bay the wind steadily increases and edged around forward. We made the river marker and headed west under a reach before it got too bad. We reached up to broad creek at 6 knots under the main in 25-29 knots of SE wind. We met and rafted up with the prior owners aboard their '68 Morgan-34. We had picked up some fresh shrimp in Hobucken, which provided the makings of a sumptuous feast with cocktails and friends. We finally caught one of the squalls that had been passing us. Did a 360 on the anchor, which held and retired early. We cast off about 8:00 yesterday morning (Saturday) and sailed up river to Fairfield. Winds were light, from the East and dead abaft. With the spinnaker damaged, we ran under the main alone and averaged about 3 knots, arriving about 5:00 PM. We tied up, cleaned up and disembarked. We logged about 180 nm, mostly under sail. After resting up today we'll return to the real world tomorrow.
Fair Winds,
=====
Chris B.
1973 Cal 27-T2 #148
"Respite"
Farmville, NC