| In the Year 2006
Solo Sail, July
Destination: Neuse River to Oriental
I took some time off from work one Friday because the
cold weather had finally snapped and I was feelin the itch.
Originally I was just testing out the boat for the upcoming season...
ended up making a whole day of it. Called the wife around mid-day
to see if she wanted to bring the trailer up to Oriental and meet up
with the kids for dinner at M & M's restaurant. Sailed all the way
from New Bern to Oriental, anchored in a calm creek while waiting for my
ride and un-stepped the mast on the water... easy to do with no waves.
Boat tested out perfectly.
39th Birthday Tall Ship,
Sept 2nd
Destination: Norfolk, Virginia
 Always
wanted to experience a tall ship cruise. So I loaded up the family
and booked passage on the American Rover.
(
http://www.AmericanRover.com )
We had dinner at a local restaurant, then boarded the ship for a nice
cruise in front of the Naval Shipyard. Got to see military ships
and submarines. I actually took the helm for a while... Nice
boat... er Ship.
Impromptu Trip,
Sept 4th
Destination: Cape Lookout
Had a couple of friends who left a message on our
answering machine after just the wife and I got back from a nice dinner
at the Crab's Claw on Atlantic Beach. We had a nice romantic walk
on the beach while the kids were at a slumber party. The message
was "hey we are heading out to cape lookout... the girls would love to
play together at the beach...." So we quickly got the boat ready
in the morning, trailered it over to the slumber party, picked up the
kids and launched the boat in Beaufort. We sailed most of the way
on the ocean side of Shackleford Island. Then motored into the
cove area looking for their boat. I was showing off a little to
see if I could get their attention... since I had no idea what their
boat looked like... and what do ya know.. they waved as I went screaming
by.... kinda hard to miss a sailboat speeding by... and those cool
racing stripes... Had a nice time playing in the water, finding
live sand dollars and baby crabs hanging on to them. We then
cooked up a few steaks and had a nice dinner on-board. It's a
beautiful thing to have a boat you just hook up and go where ever you
want.
Rough Sound,
Sept 23-24th
Destination: Bogue Sound
We decided to try to take the Mother-in-law out again on
the boat. I launched at the Morehead City ramp... not a very
friendly ramp in rough water... which it was, white caps on the waves in
the sound and 16+ kts winds made launching in the dark solo...
challenging. Got out without damaging the boat at all and tied up
to a mooring buoy for the night. I'm still surprised how much this
boat gets pushed around at anchor by the wind. Got up in morning
and sailed over to the launch to pick up the rest of the family.
Wind was still blowing the same and trying to get back into the launch
area proved difficult. The wind slammed me against the end of the
dock, picked up my passengers and took off. We sailed over near
the port of Morehead City and watched the high speed racing boats while
having lunch. The steering started clicking against the pressure
of turning... so we beached on an island across from Morehead City.
I thought I had beached it hard so I got off the back and got caught by
the strong current and had to swim to shore... when I noticed the boat
floating away. I came swimming about fast to get back on board...
told the wife to throw the anchor quickly... she did... without
attaching the other end to the boat.... oops. I was able to get
back on board and start the engine and beach her again. Ws stayed
on the island and played... I looked at the steering and determined
nothing. So we headed back to the launch under slow power.
Again we slammed into the launch dock... gel coat fix time... and got it
back on the trailer and headed home. |
