Morning comes with a small craft advisory. North winds 15 to 20 knots, gusts to 25 knots. Not sure if I will go anywhere today. Hot chocolate with breakfast on a cool, grey morning.
I am well protected and very comfortable under the boom tent. Catch up on the news, check in with the family.
Late morning winds die down save for the occasional strong gusts. Still to windy to sail north on Pamlico Sound, I decide to head west through a couple of favorite canals.
Sail off anchor 12:10 with a double reef tucked in the main. 4.7 in a gust, then we settle down to 3.1. 12:30 passing red marker "4:, decide the wind is good for a sail through the canal.
Slip under the bridge where there is slight lull as the bridge structure blocks the wind, then out into the breeze on the Thorofare Canal.
A series of tacks carries us down the canal, going shore to shore to make the most of the wind. Out of the canal at 1:00.
1:30 tacking into wind and the waves rolling down from Pamlico Sound. Good, steady sailing at 3.6. 1:20 round Long Bay Point, then one long tack across Long Bay.
At 3:20 enter Old Canal, a favorite place because it is so narrow and unkept, wild flowers growing along shore. I sail the first portion, then lose the wind to the growth on shore. Motorsailing. Then towards the west end the wind fills in again, full sail on the canal's quiet waters. Beautiful!
3:45 enter Turnagain Bay. Wind is still strong out of the north. I tack back and forth until I find protected water. Overcast slips away, blue skies and white clouds. Anchor down 4:10.
13.76 NM
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