day seven - artists all around

Up before dawn to take care of chores - stow sleeping gear, break down the boom tent, get rid of trash, clean up the boat.  I plug in a couple battery packs for a stealth charge on the patio of the Oriental Marina and Inn.  Walking back to SPARTINA, I hear my name called out from the porch at The Bean.  It is Keith, a longtime friend and editor of TownDock.net.  I head over to say hello, sit down and enjoy a blueberry muffin and iced tea.

Finishing breakfast I notice cars showing up and people getting out to set up easels.  They artists from the Plein Air Art Festival in nearby New Bern.  I have seen them here in the past, but SPARTINA has always been ignored.  One year the artists focused on Martijn's PRINSES MIA, got all the attention.  I guess having topless mermaids painted on the black hull will do that for you.  This year, for some reason, SPARTINA gets some attention.  How nice!

Three artists take up positions around the boat, two to the stern, one to the bow.  I see other artists painting the shrimp boats across the water.

A woman at the stern tells me to ignore her, she's a beginner.  I think she is doing a nice job.

It is an artist named Sarah that gets my attention.   I see an early version of her painting and like it just as it is.  She tells me to keep coming back, it will be changing throughout the day.

The man up forward is doing three versions of SPARTRINA.  A "working" version at the bottom.  A larger version at top left and then a third image at right.  "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that," he tells me.  They all look good to me.

I head to M&M's Cafe for lunch, a crab cake on a salad.  Excellent.

Back from lunch in time to see Sarah's final painting.  Just beautiful!  We talk about the boat a bit, she is surprised when she realizes I built her.  I ask Sarah how much for the painting, she tells me a price that is more than I can afford.  She is kind enough to let me take a few photographs.  The painting, she tells me, will be shown at a reception in Oriental in a couple of days, then moved to a gallery in New Bern.  I thank her for her fine work.  

 After dinner, a long walk through Oriental.  Then a Dark n' Stormy at the Tiki Bar.

day six - into Oriental

Sail off anchor at 6:20, sunrise coming with a flock of white ibises.  Clear skies, light south wind.  Peaceful morning, quiet enough to listen to the sounds of the marsh.  Tack to the east side of Turnagain Bay to get a better angle on the wind. Making 2.1, then less wind, then more, 3.2.

7:25 rounding the point at Abraham Bay.  7:45 slip out onto the wide Neuse River.

Nothing but the water of Pamlico Sound to the north.  White sandy beach to port.  Making 3.9 on the river. Better wind at 8:25, doing a comfortable 3.8 towards Oriental. 

8:55 approaching the western shore of the Neuse, 4.3.  There is a waterman ahead setting out his crab pots.  Tack just before reaching the first crab pot float, I figure a long run on this tack and I'll be close to the Oriental channel markers.  And then the wind dies.  I struggle to find the wind, and there is none.  Under power with the sails still up.

10:35 the wind fills in just off Whittaker Creek.  A couple of tacks and sail past the jetty into Oriental.  Sails down and motor past the shrimp boats.  A man is standing on the town dock, seemingly waiting for me.  He greets me by name, grabs the dock lines.  His name is Kevin and he tells me he has followed my log.  He noticed my morning track and was there to greet me.  How nice.  We talks about boats and Oriental.  It is good to meet him.

There is a tight fit at the town dock.  After a while I cast off and motor around to the seawall behind Keith's BlueJacket 24 "LIZ."  Just enough room for SPARTINA.

Then off to M and M's for a burger.

Afternoon thunderstorms, then clearing for the evening.

 14.76

back to normal

 It has been all about tall ships for the last couple of weeks.  First, a week-long trip to Richmond on the Schooner Virginia for a three-day tall ship festival.  Then, a day after returning from Richmond, Sail250 Virginia with dozens of tall ships on the Norfolk waterfront.  Those ships are leaving today, bound for Baltimore.  

Yesterday I brought SPARTINA home for some much needed maintenance.  The usual epoxy, varnish and painting, of course.  Plus some rigging work.  She has had a lot of wear and tear the last year or so.

I do need to get back to the log for the Spring trip.  I have posted through day five, so a couple more weeks of sailing to go.  I will get to work on that soon.

My thanks to Ben for the photograph.  He falls into the category of friends I have never actually met.  We have been in touch one way or another for the last couple years but I wouldn't have known him if I saw him.  On Sunday I did see Ben for the first time, a wave across the water. for a Pilot boat.  I hope to meet him in person in the next month or so.  Thanks, Ben, for the nice photograph.

a harbor filled with masts.

With thirty-some tall ships in the harbor for Sailfest250, one can expect to find more than a few masts, figureheads, boats, portholes and anchors.  Spent the morning in light air sailing from ship to ship, it was a treat.

 

tall ships

Out sailing with the tall ships today in the Sail250 Parade of Sail on the Elizabeth River.  Top photo by friend and former colleague Stephen Katz, Blue Angel photo by the Pilgrim.  A great time on the water!

 

gone sailing with the tall ships

Just back from a week-long sail on the SCHOONER VIRGINIA.  Along with the PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II and the OOSTERSCHELDE, a three-masted topsail schooner from the Netherlands, we went up the windy James River to Richmond for a nice tall ship festival.  There were a lot of tall ship festivals going on this past weekend on Chesapeake Bay as dozens of ships from around the world are gathering for SAIL250 this weekend in Norfolk.  

A different kind of sailing for me, a communal experience versus my usual solo small boat sailing.  Five-hundred pound anchors, thousands of feet of canvas, the scale of the ships can be intimidating.  Sleeping in a bunk (more spacious than the bunk on SPARTINA), anchor watches in the middle of the night, shouts from the captain saying "hands to the main!"  I confess it was hot and humid, it IS that time of year.  But a great experience with a lot of good friends.

I hope to sneak out on SPARTINA this weekend to sail with the tall ships.  

 

a shelf cloud

A shelf cloud rolls in over Pride of Baltimore II and the Schooner Virginia at the Richmond (Va) SailFest. 
 

an anniversary

 Sometime in the next week, I'm not sure of the precise day, it will be twenty years since SPARTINA was launched for the first time.  For a plywood boat built in a garage by an amateur, she seems to have held up very well.

How many miles sailed?  How many beautiful days with a crisp breeze?  How many storms along the way?  I can't even begin to count.

The surprise to me is the number of people I have met along the way, the friends I have made.  I am thankful for that.

Thank you, John Welsford, for a boat that has brought me a lot of joy.

The painting above is by artist Sarah Baskin.  She painted it on the waterfront in Oriental on the most recent cruise.

day five - windless

A booming voice calls out "Good morning, boys!"  My wake-up call as the ferry workers arrive before dawn.  Tuck away the sleeping gear and bring down the boom tent.  A windless morning, calm, light overcast.  Push away from the dock 6:25.

Motor out of Silver Lake following the channel that heads briefly south and then east.  6:40 decide to take the Nine Foot Shoal Channel, turn to the southwest.  

6:55 green "5" shows are are motoring against the tide as we run alongside a string of orange and blue crab pot floats.  Glassy calm water.

7:45 turn to port, leaving the channel to cross the shallows of Royal Shoal.  The sun begins to break through the overcast.

8:10 crossing the shoal, Portsmouth Island in the distance to the east and the Cedar Island ferry headed should to the west.  Thin overcast and the slightest hint of a breeze out of the southeast, not enough to help.  Stop to refuel the outboard.  

8:55 at marker "WR7" turn to West Bay.  9:10 the tree line of Cedar Island shows on the horizon to the south.  10:10 can see the entrance to West Bay in the distance.  10:25 no wind at all.  

10:35 see white dunes below the tree line on Cedar Island, houses along the beach and a ferry coming out of the docks.  

11:25 can see the channel markers to West Bay.  Jelly fish and cownose rays in the clear water.  12:10 entering West Bay and feel the caress of a breeze.  Sails up, making 2.1.  Suddenly hot and sunny.  Wind falters, motor sailing.  1:25 wind fills in from the east, sailing against.  The entrance to Old Canal in sight.  A few dark clouds and with the clouds comes more wind.  2.6, then 3.4, then 5.4.  Feels good.  

2:20 the wind carries us into the canal.  2:35 out of the west end of the canal, turn to port on Turnagain Bay.  

Anchor down 2:50.

31.37 NM

Late at night, jolted awake by a noise and the boat shuddering.  I listen, wondering, worrying what it could have been.  Hear large fish jumping in the bay.  Decide it was probably a good sized fish that hit the side of SPARTINA.  Go back to sleep.