day eight - light winds to Cape Lookout

A blueberry scone and an iced tea at the CRU (consume, relax, unite) Coffee & Cafe.  Walk back to the docks and ready SPARTINA for sailing.  A man walks by, asks where I am headed.  Cape Lookout, I tell him.  He says for decades he ran the catamaran boats taking tourists out to the Bight, recommends I use an anchorage all the way at the south end of the bight.  I typically anchor in the southwest corner, but he tell me if I anchor in the little cove by the pier, I can walk to the old community and coast guard station.  I thank him for the information.

7:00 cast off from the docks, sails up 7:15 out in the channel.  Motor sailing to get around the west end of Carrot Island.  7:25 sailing at 4.9 with the ebb tide.  7:35 2.9 at the south end of Radio Island.  7:40 light wind and motorsailing.  7:55 out of the inlet, almost no wind and under power.  9:00 a little wind, sailing at 2.6, a slow but steady pace off the beach of Shackleford Banks.  Pleasant sailing.

9:00 red marker in sight at the Bight entrance.  9:25 making 3.0 approaching the Bight, small fleet of fishing boats just outside the entrance.  I ask one boat what they are looking for.  Cobia, I'm told.  9:40 past the red marker, choppy in the entrance with ebb tide against the wind.  

 

9:45 past the sand spit at the Bight entrance, noting that the spit runs quite a bit farther north than the charts indicate.  Overcast breaking up.  9:50 sail through swirling waters and I don't understand what it causing the eddies.  10:00 making an easy 2.9 across the bight.  10:30 less wind, a gentle 1.2 towards the old Coast Guard Station pier.

I spot the little cove that I had been told about, looks like excellent protection.  There are two Island Packets anchored outside the cove.  I sail between them, a man on the boat to starboard says something but I can't understand him with the wind.  I wave, then hear a voice to port and see a woman perched on the bow sprit of the Island Packet to my left.  I am not sure what she said, I nod toward the beach ahead of me and ask if she gone there.  She says no, tells me there are going to visit the lighthouse today.  I say "enjoy" and sail into the cove.  

11:10 anchor down in the cove.  A lock of white ibis fly by.  I look to the stern to see a sea turtle swimming in the clear water.

I walk across the shallows to the beach and an old house, then follow the road that leads me to some other homes.  It is a nice walk through some island history, barracks for the men who built the jetty, a couple of old homes and then the old, no longer used, Coast Guard Station.  I can hear waves breaking all around, but can't see the ocean because of the dunes and trees.

Back at SPARTINA I lift the anchor and drift back to deeper water.  Set up the boom tent to get out of the sun.  Read, relax and enjoy the idea of this calm pocket of water out on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

11.86 NM

day seven - tacking between the oyster reefs

A blueberry muffin and iced tea at The Bean, sitting with April from a neighboring boat at the Town Dock.  Cast off 7:20 with goodbyes from Bill and April.  Blue skies and a northwest wind, perfect to head to Beaufort.  

7:40 full sail outside of the jetties, 2.0.  Getting away from shore the wind fills in, 2.8 on the Neuse River, then 3.3 on open water.  

8:15 less wind with slatting sails, motor sailing to the Adams Creek Canal.  8:50 in the canal.  Spread out the sail cover in the cockpit to let them dry from the morning dew.

9:00 red marker "6" shows a helping ebb tide.  Waterman's boat with stacks of empty bushel baskets zooms by.  Motoring but getting a little help from the sails.  9:20 red marker "8" and wind on the beam, sailing up the creek.  

10:25 main and jib down, motoring on the canal.  10:50 passing under the Core Creek Bridge, pilings show a surprisingly strong ebb tide.  I tip my hat to OLD GLORY,  a trawler style boat, for slowing down to reduce their wake.

11:25 out of the canal and on the Newport River, feels like slack tide but pilings still show the ebb carrying us on our way.  11:45 wind and sailing at 4.6 close hauled, tacking between the shoals.  

12:00 oystermen working exposed oyster reef on both side of the channel.  Still getting some help from the last of the ebb, wind on the nose and tacking the width of the channel, absolutely wonderful sailing.  Follow the markers and sometimes slip outside the channel as the clear water shows we have a little room to cheat.  One last long tack to the junction with Gallants Channel.

A few more tacks and then 12:30 main and jib down, passing under the bridge.  Radio ahead to the docks, they tell me to pick any slip I like down at the small boat docks on the west end of the waterfront.  Docked 12:55.

Pay the slip fee at the dock house and in return get a couple of wooden nickels, each good for a beer at the Dock House restaurant.  Afternoon is lunch and a few errands, cleaning up the boat.

I cash in my wooden nickels then head to Finz for a crab cake dinner.  What a great day.

21.99 NM

day six - Oriental

The day starts with a walk to Lou Mac Park to look out over the wide Neuse River.  And then back to the town dock for a muffin at The Bean.  Plenty of folks on the porch there, some I know from earlier visits.  

I've only been out for a few days, but there are plenty of chores to be done.  Top off the water, do some cleaning and reorganizing.  I splurge and get a room at the Marina & Inn to get a shower and charge batteries.  Sit in a chair in the shade, catch up on the log book.

Both lunch and dinner at M and M's, the only place near the waterfront open on Mondays.  No complaints, it is good food.

A good night's sleep on the hotel bed.  Off again tomorrow morning.

 

maintained, launched

Above is a photo of SPARTINA at the dock on Scuffletown Creek just off the southern branch of the Elizabeth River.  I launched her this morning for a few weeks of sailing on the Elizabeth.  There should be a lot of early morning sailing when it is cool and some evening sailing (which is a hot time of day but the wind is excellent approaching sunset).

I've been working on maintenance the last couple weeks including:

*    Touching up the brightwork with two-part Bristol Finish.  This is a rough sand, epoxy (if needed), sand, and four coats of Bristol Varnish.  SPARTINA has a "work boat" finish, and that is all I will ever hope for.   I am the master of the work boat technique.

*    Outboard tune-up by my friend Jim, an ex-submariner.  You want precision work done, find a guy that helped maintain the submarine he lived on for months at a time under the ocean.

*    New anchor line.  As of now the anchor system includes 60 feet of 3/8" three-strand line, 10 feet of chain with a ten pound mushroom anchor as a sentinel at top and a five pound plow style anchor at the bottom.

*    Patches to the boom tent by Angel at Little Bay Canvas.  Angel and I designed the tent together and she made it nine years ago.  It had worn through at two points, not bad after nine years.  Angel put matching canvas on the outside and a rubber-like material on the inside.

*    I sent my main sail up to Evolution Sails for a patch and survey.  The results were not good.  I was told the cloth is fragile and the resin is gone.  I am waiting on an estimate for a new sail.  

*    The trailer is due for a new set of tires, need those for the 1000+ mile drive up to Maine.

There are a few more jobs to be done, those will be take care of in July.  Now it is time to sail.

 And there is SPARTINA tucked in at the dock near the Schooner Virginia, left, and the Battleship Wisconsin.  Nice company to have.

day five - wrong forecast to Oriental

Calm night with some distant thunder and lightning, nothing ever came close.  Grey morning with low overcast.  Forecast had called for blue skies with light wind out of the west.  Why am I tacking into a strong southeast wind on a cool grey morning?

Several tacks to get down Broad Creek, then a long run from red marker "4" to Piney Point at 7:40.  Steep waves are bigger than I expected at the wide mouth of the creek, lots of spray.  One more long tack to get far enough east to round Gum Thicket Shoal to the south.

7:55 fall off and out of the channel.   8:15 round up to tuck in a reef, quickly realizing I don't need the main at all.   

Tie the main tightly to the boom and gaff.

Mizzen and jib with wind on the beam and making 5.0.  8:45 wet sailing, making 3.8 as waves slap against the hull and the spray flies.  A little patch of blue in the grey sky to the west.

9:10 surprised to be off Oriental this quickly, 4.4 with red markers in sight ahead.  Calmer water, skies getting brighter.  Turn in past the jetty, round up to drop the jib.  Motor into the town dock and tie up.  Look behind me to see a larger sailboat coming in, they will need the draft at the dock and I don't.  So push off and motor to the seawall right next to the dock.  Docked at 10:10.

I meet my new neighbors, cruisers on a big Catalina.  We share a ride on the Piglet Shuttle to the Piggly Wiggly for some supplies.  

Dinner with the neighbors at the Toucan Grille, then a couple dark n' stormys at the Tiki Bar.  It is good to be back in Oriental. 

11.91 NM

day four - heavy rain

Rains begin early morning.  Strong wind at times,  I think about Angel, the canvas woman who made my boom tent, and in my mind I thank her.

Hot chocolate with breakfast, hot tea mid morning.  Thunder comes and goes.

I read, relax, stay warm and dry in my drysuit.  I wear the drysuit not because the tent is leaking, but because with the wind and heavy rains moisture is everywhere.

I catch up on the logbook.  A little before noon the heavy rains stop.  A few straggling thunderstorms pass nearby.

Sunny mid-afternoon, open up the boom tent.

Evening.  Boom tent back in place.  Dinner.  Climb into the sleeping bag with flashes of lightning all around.

 

day three - a bloom of jellyfish

Calm, peaceful night on the creek.  While bringing down the boom tent I notice off to the starboard side a "bloom" of jellyfish.  I google the term for a group of jellyfish and it is a bloom, or a smack or a swarm.  Bloom feels about right to me, but it also strikes me that it is early in the season for jellyfish.

Sails up at 6:35 but we are in the wind shadow of the trees.  It is a slow, pleasant drift out to the creek.  Making 0.6 to the wind-ruffled water.  7:00 on Bonner Bay, motor sailing at idle power with dolphins in our wake.

7:25 all sails down to motor through Dipping Vat Creek, a man-made cut through the marsh from Bonner Bay to the Bay River.  I used the cut years ago, then used it again last year as thunderstorms were approaching and I needed to get to the shelter of Bonner Bay.  Easy motor through the cut, outside on the edge of Bay River at 7:45.

Better wind and making 4.3 to Maw Point where the Bay River meets the Neuse River.  9:00 grey fins of dolphin slicing through the green and blue water.  

9:10 tacking to the southeast past Maw Point.  9:30 tack back west towards shore, pleasantly surprised by the distance I'm making in moderate winds.  I suspect a flood tide is helping me.  9:45 better wind.  9:55 tack out from the long white sand beach next to the entrance to Swan Creek, very pleased to be there so quickly.

Sailing into the chop that has arrived with the better wind.  10:35 tack back towards the western shore near the Long Point Shoal marker.  10:40 crossing the shoal inside the marker.  Chart says there should be three feet of water, but there is less than that so turn back out at 10:45 for a final tack to  round the shoal.  

11:20 passing the entrance channel markers for Broad Creek, find calmer water there.  Looking for shelter as the forecast calls for heavy rain and some wind overnight and tomorrow morning.  The wind is at first on the nose so more tacking up Broad Creek, then a long reach while looking for a good anchorage along the way.  12:00 sails down as the afternoon gusts begin to roll in.  Anchor down inside a little notch in the shoreline just inside of Brown Creek 12:50.  Set up the boom tent, relaxing and reading on tap for the afternoon.

19 NM

 

day two - Bay River and Bonner Bay

A calm, mosquito free night (surprising for Mouse Harbor!).  Southwest wind, pretty morning with the sun creeping over the horizon as the anchor comes up.  

6:45 Pamlico Sound, crossing mouth of Little Porpoise Bay, 4.0.  Round up to put bibs and boots on, lots of spray.  

7:30 tack to the west.   Big Porpoise Bay.  7:40 tack to the southeast.  7:55 tack towards Middle Bay.  8:10 tack out towards the Sound.  8:20 in Middle Bay.  8:25 tack southeast towards Sow Pen Point.  8:40 at the Point, two quick tacks, then a third, then a fourth to round the Point onto Jones Bay making 4.0.

9:20 doing 4.6 with a green marker ahead in the distance.  Spray coming over the starboard bow, water sloshing about in the boat.  9:55 main and jib down, under power to the little cut to Goose Creek Canal and the ICW.

10:25 in the canal.  We follow the canal south, skirt around Gale Creek Point and enter a little creek just north of Bear Creek.  11:00 anchor down, dry out the boat, strip off bibs and boots.

12:10 wake from an unexpected sleep.  Sunny and hot.  I guess I needed the rest.

12:40 sail off anchor.  Raise centerboard and rudder to slip over a shoal.  Out on the Bay River less wind than this morning.

1:30 tacking up the Bay River, 3.9.  2:30 at green marker "5" come about to head back down the river.  2:40 doing 5.7 in afternoon gusts.  2:50 tuck in a reef, then skirt a long shoal.  

3:00 round a second shoal, slipping into Bonner Bay using crab pot floats as depth markers.  

Make several tacks up Spring Creek, the wind good and the water calm.  Wonderful sailing.  Bear to the east to where two small creeks open onto Spring Creek, charts showing three feet of water and there is good protection from the wind.  Anchor down 4:00.

32.99 NM