Thursday, November 18 - Day 17
It was a blustery day in Great Bridge. Winds were cranking but we were in calm waters at the Visitors Center free dock. Here is Second Wind at the free dock before Autumn Borne came and docked in front of us.
We had just passed the engine hour limit for our oil change so, in the morning after coffee, I ran the engine for 30 minutes to warm up the oil. I then drained the oil, changed the oil filter, changed the transmission oil and refilled the engine. It all went pretty quick and about 2 hours later I had everything cleaned up and our engine was ready for another 170 hours of work.
There is a nice walk through the woods next to the dock so we decided to loosen up our legs after several days without going to shore. Laura and I bundled up a bit then had a very nice hour or so through the woods on the well kept paths. The only problem was about 1/3 of the way through the walk, I tripped over a hidden root (under the pine needles) and "hit the deck". I guess I still have some muscle-memory from my high school football days because I did tuck-n-roll so didn't get hurt too bad. Just banged up my right knee a bit but we finished the walk without problems.
Autumn Borne was docked right in front of us but I guess Dean and Sue were on a different schedule than us today. The few times I knocked on their boat during the day, they were out shopping. We did meet up later and we both decided to leave in the morning even though the winds were predicted 20 knots out of the north which might make for a wild ride. Saturday and Sunday look to be good travel weather so we should be able to make Oriental by Sunday afternoon.
Friday, November 19th - Day 18
The last few days I noticed our wind generator was looking a little crooked. I woke up during the night hearing a "bang, bang, bang" and got up with a spotlight to look around the boat. I saw the wind generator had broken off it's mount on our mizzenmast and was leaning back against the mast. Since it seemed stable and didn't look like it was going to fall, I went back to bed thinking we would have to do something with it in the morning.
The next two low bridges heading south open on the hour and 1/2 hour. The first one, Centerville Turnpike Bridge, doesn't open from 6:30am to 8:30am on weekdays for rush-hour traffic. I had planned on leaving the dock around 7:45am as it was only about a 3 mile run to the Centerville bridge.
Laura and I were both up around 7am and decided she would go up the mast in a bosun's chair attached to a halyard that I would use to haul her up with the winch on the mast. She was a trooper and went right up to about 30 feet off the deck where she used a short rope to tie the wind generator off the the mast. Here she is just about done. If you look closely, you can see the ropes holding the wind generator to the mast that she installed.
By 7:45am we were done with the wind generator (thanks Baby!), had coffee made and were shoving off the dock to continue our trip south. Dean and Sue left a few minutes before us to get fuel and water at Atlantic Yacht Basin across the canal. They would be about 1/2 hour behind us all day.
The forecast had changed a bit to the better with winds predicted to only be in the 15-20 range. No problems with the two bridges as I lowered our boat speed to get to the bridges just before they opened. I was surprised at the number of boats this late in the season. There were 5 or 6 powerboats that passed us in the morning and we traveled with 3-4 sailboats in sight most of the day.
It turned out to be a very nice day for traveling south with the north winds helping quite a bit with out boat speed. No problems as we crossed the most open section of the trip - Currituck Sound. I was a little worried that we would see bigger waves throwing us around through here but they were never over about 1 foot.
We used the jib for extra speed when the wind angle allowed and crossed into NC around 11am. We anchored early at 2:45pm on the north end of North River. There were no decent anchorages for the north winds tonight that we could have made before dark if we kept going.
After shutting everything down on the boat from our cruise, we relaxed and watched a few shows with our Smart-TV connected to the hot-spot on my phone. The wind was still cranking near 20 knots but we were anchored only about 1/4 mile from the shore so the boat stayed very calm.
41 nautical miles today. 572 total trip miles.
Saturday, November 20th - Day 19
The weather Monday and Tuesday looked to be stormy with high winds so we had to hustle a bit. We had about 120 statute miles to Oriental to cover in the next 2 days. Right in the middle was the 21 mile Pungo-Alligator Canal. If we didn't get all the way through the canal today, it would be very difficult for us to make Oriental on Sunday.
Dean and Sue were anchored about 1/4 mile next to us and he texted me last night asking what time we were leaving. I don't think he was too happy when I told him anchor-up at 6am in the dark. The North River is pretty wide open with plenty of water almost everywhere for the first hour or so of our trip today. There should be no problem doing 1/2 hour or so in the dark through here.
I had the alarm set for 5:30am but didn't want to get up. It was only 56 degrees in the cabin (41 degrees outside) and we were toasty under 3 blankets. But, I willed myself to move and started the portable propane heater (Mr Buddy) which pretty quickly brought the temp up in our cabin. I also turned on the inverter and ran our central-heat off the batteries for a bit to warm up the rest of the boat. Once we started the engine, our Balmar 150 amp alternator would quickly recharge the batteries.
I had to use a flashlight to see and wash the anchor chain as we pulled it in. It wasn't too muddy except for the last 10-15 feet. After I have the engine running and all the instruments setup, our process is for me to run the anchor windlass up on the bow while Laura is down in the forward cabin making sure the chain coming in sits nicely in the locker. Once I get the anchor up near the surface, I yell down to her and she comes up to clean the last few feet of chain and the anchor while I get on the helm and get the boat moving in the right direction. It all worked good this morning and it was just starting to get light in the eastern sky as we left the anchorage.
Dean and Sue were about 15 minutes behind us as we motor-sailed down the North River to the Albemarle Sound. The Albemarle Sound is 13 miles across on the ICW route and shallow - only 12-20 feet deep. Any winds over 15 can really kick up the waves. Today, the winds were about 10-15 out of the north. We rolled out the full mainsail and jib. With the winds behind the beam (broad reach) the boat ran 7 knots the whole crossing with only a little help from the engine. It would have been a nice sail but I wanted to keep the speed up to make sure we would make it through the canal before dark. Here is a picture from the helm as we were crossing the Albemarle Sound. We are still bundled up from the cold outside.
By 9:30am we were across the sound and sailed through the Alligator River bridge. This is one of the few bridges on the ICW where they don't make you drop the sails. Now we only had about 15 miles to the canal so I knew we would make it through before dark.
It was a very nice day and warmed up in the cockpit after I rolled in the mainsail and put up the aft panel of our clear windows to keep the wind. When we run the mainsail, one of the back panels has to come off because it would interfere with the mainsheet.
Even with the short daylight this time of year, we made lots of miles because of our early start. We made it through the 21 mile canal and even another 10 miles to anchor on the north shore just east of Behaven at 4:30 pm. Pretty sunset for our last night at anchor for a while.
67 nautical miles today. 639 total miles from Catskill
Sunday, November 21st - Day 20
The winds had gradually died during the night and we woke up to a calm morning on the Pungo River. We slept in a bit and were underway at 7:10am. No wind to help today so it was all motoring for the final 40 miles to Oriental.
Temps gradually rose into the mid-60s and we peeled off layers after the cold, 44 degree start this morning.
The day was quiet and peaceful and we motored on calm waters. Even the Neuse River was almost flat calm which seems so different from other times we have bashed through the steep waves along this section.
Just before Oriental, we motored slowly up the channel into Whitaker Creek. This is another area that is tricky and, depending on the water level, we typically run aground at least once. I only run the boat about 2 knots through here and watch the depth sounders closely.
No problems today as we motored through the shallow channel and pulled into our designated slip at Sailcraft Marina. We have reservations for a month (or more) at this marina and we will fly back to Albany next week for some personal business then probably drive our car back here a few days later.
Here is Second Wind all snug in her slip at Sailcraft Marina.
41 nautical miles today. 680 total miles from Catskill.
Our friends D and Don (s/v Southern Cross) are here and we had dinner together the next two nights on Second Wind. It's great to see them again. We will be here a while and will miss the cruising life (for a bit) but are happy that now we have full-time heat!
To be continued.....
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