Up at 5:30. Sleeping gear stowed, boom tent tucked away. Third customer of the day at The Bean, a cranberry muffin and a glass of iced tea. Keith drops by for a quick breakfast. He says a small flotilla of boats is sailing across the Neuse River to the mouth of Adams Creek to escort Mini Globe racer Josh Kali on SKOOKUM as they return to Oriental. Keith suggests SPARTINA join the flotilla at noon. I say "maybe."
But the day is pretty and the breeze fresh, I tell Keith I gotta get on the water. A few minutes later he is helping me cast off. Sails up 7:45 in the harbor, tacking back and forth, enjoying the breeze. 8:00 out past the jetty.
Tacking at 3.2 in the southeast wind (and of course Adams Creek Canal is to the southeast). 8:20 tack off the Whittaker Creek cannel markers. 8:50 tack. 9:05 better wind, 4.6 and approaching the entrance. Another tack, 4.8, with a good angle to Adams Creek. GPS shows 5.2. 9:30 tack. 9:35 tack, 4.8. 9:40 tack. 9:50 tack. 9:55 one last tack into the creek.
10:30 less wind, 2.6. 10:45 down to 1.3 and motor sailing. 10:55 more wind and sailing again. Wind comes and goes. Quiet on the creek and I can hear baitfish snapping at the surface of the water. 11:45 light overcast moving in. Noon, with the mouth of Back Creek to port, bring down the main and jib. Under power to motor down the canal.
Up ahead I see SKOOKUM and circumnavigator Josh Kali coming around the bend. A friendly wave, I grab a couple photos.
Motoring at 5.8 with a helping tide down the canal. Make better time than expected.
1:20 out onto the Newport River, 1:25 sails up with lots of dolphin swimming in the shallows just outside the channel. 1:55 making 3.3. 2:15, still riding the ebb tide, 5.3 passing the oyster reef.
Coming up to marker "RG" I see a large sailboat coming up from the stern to pass me on the port side. I also see a small tug with a barge ahead coming out of Gallants Channel, I expect they will also want to pass me in the narrow channel on my port side. The sailboat is off my stern with a woman perched on the bow. Moving up on the port stern, they are so close I can talk to the woman. "Do you see that tug with a barge?" I ask. She tells me yes, she sees it. "You know they are going to pass me right where you are, correct?" She looks at me, looks at the tug/barge, runs back to the man at the wheel. The sailboat drops back and gets behind me. The tug and barge pass on my port side.
2:25 we turn into Gallants Channel, as does the sailboat to the stern. Now, with no traffic, they pass on my port side.
3:00 docked on the Beaufort waterfront with the help of a diver in a wetsuit. I motor up alongside the dock in the opposing tide, toss him a line, step off SPARTINA and walk the boat into the slip. Easy peasy.
I put out the lines and fenders, then walk up to the dock house to pay for the slip. I see the diver who helped with the lines talking with the dock master. He points at me, says "That's the guy that crashed into the dock." I shake my head in confusion, tell the dock master I need to pay for my slip. He walks me into the office, tells the woman there "Here's the guy who crashed into the dock." "What's he talking about?" I ask her. I tell the lady to check my boat, check their dock, check their video tapes. If that was an Olympic docking, I would have gotten a 9.5 out of 10. I pay for the slip and leave.
Setting up the boom tent, I hear a voice call out my name. It is my friend Tom, founder of Tidewater Wooden Boat Workshop. He ran the non-profit boat building school for inner city kids in Norfolk for about a decade. He is down in Beaufort building his own boat, a Francois Vivier "Jewell," a gaff-rigged yawl. It is a kit boat and he is building in a boat shop a couple miles from the waterfront. We go visit the shop and he shows me all the pieces, explains the process of building the boat. It will be a beautiful boat and I look forward to seeing her on the water.
We head back to the waterfront for dinner at Finz Grill and Marina. Great seafood and enjoyable conversation, we go on so long the waitress finally tells us we are the only people left and they are about to close the restaurant. We leave a good tip and walk back to the docks. It is good to see Tom.
26.24 NM
No comments:
Post a Comment