shifting shoals and a lost shrimp burger

Thinking about the upcoming spring sail in North Carolina, I reached out to friend Chris Farr today for some information.  Last year I struggled with shoals on my sail north from Cape Lookout Bight to Core Sound.  Early in the sail, I misread the temporary buoys around a dredging project just north of Barden Inlet and found myself stuck on a shoal.  That was my fault.  Later in the sail, about midday, I was surrounded by shoals just below the town of Atlantic.  You can see those shoals in the satellite image above.  This was not my fault.  Those shoals seem to be constantly on the move, and the few navigation markers are useless.

Looking for better options, I reached out to Chris and had a text discussion about the shoaling and different canals.  Chris does a lot of sailing in the area with his family on board the Menger Cat TIGGY and knows the area well.  He confirmed that Salters Creek Canal, which begins below Atlantic, is navigable and leads north to Long Bay.  From Long Bay, I can head north, east or west.  Perfect.  Thanks for the information, Chris.  

Looking at the charts and satellite images of the area reminded me of shrimp burgers I had years ago when sailing Core Sound (back when there was less shoaling and the nav markers actually meant something).    I could not remember the name or location of this great little waterfront restaurant, so I had to dig back into the logs for some information.  The place was called The Grill and it was perched on the shore of Core Sound at Morris Marina.  

It was easy access from the sound, located just about where "Morris Marina Ferry" is marked at the bottom right of the satellite image below.  There was plenty of space for tying up SPARTINA, and it made for a nice lunch stop on the way up or down Core Sound.  

The image above shows that the marina is being (or was - there is no date on the image) developed and the The Grill, which only served a handful of locals and a wayward sailor or two, no longer exists.  I am glad for the memories or those early cruises, and the great shrimp burgers enjoyed along the way.

 

1200 miles…

I’ve got SPARTINA on the river and have been doing a lot of day sailing, spectacular day sailing.  Blue skies and some very good wind.  I was out a few days ago and saw this little trimaran come around the bend from the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.  I was glad to see the boat, I had been the only sailboat on the river all day and was pleased to have the company of some local folks out for a nice day sail….or so I thought.

As the boat got closer, I could see lots of gear neatly secured on the boat.  They were cruisers!  “Where are you headed?” I asked.  The man on board pointed past me and said “That red buoy right there, that’s our finish line!”  It was Brian and Janet on board.  They had launched out of Key Largo on January 1 and spent 82 days working their way up the ICW.  How great is that?  “1200 miles, the long miles,” Brian said.  The destination was red channel marker “36”, which also doubles as Mile Marker “0” on the ICW.  We spoke just briefly, long enough to get the impression that they camped ashore along the way.  I knew they wanted to celebrate, so I said goodbye and sailed off.  What a great journey they must have had.

*quick update - Brian just sent me this link to the online journal about their trip

I’ve rec’d a few questions about the Pathfinder capsize test video in my last post.  Am I concerned about SPARTINA capsizing and going turtle?  Not in the least.   

I messaged ANTARES and was told that the only ballast on the boat for the test was the designed weight put into the centerboard.  My set of plans shows that to be 44 pounds of lead (my plans are about 20 years old so that might have changed).  SPARTINA carries about 200 pounds of ballast in the form of the steel plate centerboard (100 pounds), lead on either side of the cb trunk (60 pounds) and water stored below the bunk flat (somewhere around 40 pounds).  

Three guys in the video of the test had a difficult time of capsizing the boat.  Pathfinders are solid boats (the first comment for many people getting on SPARTINA for the first time is about how stable the boat feels).  As for turning turtle, with wooden spars above (ANTARES speculates about metal vs. wooden masts in the video) and all that ballast below, I have a difficult time imagining SPARTINA turning turtle.  I hope never to find out.

Add to the above, 18 years of sailing the Pathfinder in all sorts of conditions where I never even felt close to capsizing.  (I’ll point out the obvious: matching sail configuration to wind and wave conditions is critical to safe, comfortable sailing.). Yes, I’ve inadvertently put the rail under and taken water on board, one time putting a lot of water on the bunk flat and aft cockpit. (I knew it was a lot of water when I saw my brand new mini-IPad floating by in a cheap plastic case!)  No big deal, round up, bail out and keep on going. 

I do think there is value for any small boat sailor in seeing the capsize video and much appreciate it being posted.

 I’ll have SPARTINA on the river for maybe another week, then haul out for some maintenance prior to the spring cruise in North Carolina.