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~ 2014 ~ ~ 2015 ~

Shakedown, Breakdown,   May
  Destination: Neuse River
 So I got my replacement extrusion for my roller furling jib...  launched at the wildlife ramp in Bridgeton, no problems, until I hit the submerged rock near the ramp.  Ok.. propeller not in bad shape, no need to replace right away.  Got to open water and tested the roller furling several times, much easier with a straight extrusion and the ball bearings I added seemed to help.  So I am sailing along, with a fishing poll trolling off the back, I was heading under the big bridge so I started reeling in the line and danged if I didn't have a fish on it... of course it got away because I was reeling it in too fast... oh well.  Picked up the wife and kids at the dock, did some gentle sailing with just the jib to keep the heeling down as to not frighten the kids.  Had lunch and then dropped them off and headed for the ramp.  Ok this is where it gets interesting... as I am approaching the ramp I see 3 to 4 guys with no shirts or shoes and torn up shorts drinking and fishing on every side of the dock.  These were the classic stereotype Southern Hick white trash. As I approach the dock they do nothing...  I yell "comin in"... they still do nothing... so I head for the ramp... I get close enough that they pull out some of the lines.  After docking this one guy with black teeth and missing quite a few (no joke)  I ask "what ya catching?"  he answers  "a buzz" So I load up and head out quick.  So I get about 8 miles down the road and my rusty axle snaps and the tire starts smoking as it rubs up against the fender.  Of course I am on the bridge with two lanes only so I have to direct traffic away from the left lane, to keep someone from running into my boat and obliterating it all the way up to my jeep.  After talking to 911 three times they finally show up and help me direct traffic so I can jack up the trailer and shove a spacer (rock) between the axle and the frame... and then I limp home.  So the boat is in semi-permanent storage until the new trailer comes in.

Ocracoke Again,   Memorial Day Weekend (May-June)
  Destination: Ocracoke Island
 Ok, so it's been a couple of years since the "dreaded" Ocracoke trip.  I had been working with the crew to encourage them on to try again.  It would also be a much shorter trip since we would launch from Cedar Island.  I also just got the new galvanized trailer (see mod section) and started off towing the boat to Cedar Island.  At one point along the road trip we saw a rather large dog in the middle of the road,  actually turned out to be an adolescent bear.  The set up and launching went well, the trailer worked really well... of course I still need to tweak it to make it perfect... Getting out of the launch area was interesting... not much depth, of course the Mac made it easily.  We motored for a while to the first marker, then put up sail for a nice calm cruise... even had a pod of dolphins following along.  I had make reservation for a basic docking so the wife wouldn't do the whole "what if the anchor doesn't hold" bit.  We did the whole rent the bikes, shopping and tour the island.  Then we also sailed over near the beaches and played around (away from the bird sanctuary)  We took off on Monday morning to head back to avoid the wind picking up during the middle of the day... too bad the wind had already picked up.  Had 1 to 3 foot waves, having the dodger and full enclosure made going thru the waves much more conformable... especially for the captain.  The family now has had a change of heart and enjoys sailing again!

Trailer & Prop Tweeking,   June
  Destination: Trent River, Brices Creek
 I started tweaking the trailer and testing it out... ran if off the ramp once... yee ha.  I then tested out the new 9 pitch props, instead of the 11 and 13 pitch props I had been using.  Got an increase of 4 to 5 kts, cool.   I then motored down Brices Creek to my wife's companies picnic.  Got to show off the boat to her boss and of course everyone's kids.  Had my younger daughter join me for the ride back, she loved doing sharp turns "daddy made the boat go completely on it's side... it was awesome"

Fathers Day,   June
  Destination: Fishers Landing
 My younger daughter decided to join me again for a fathers' day outing.  We motored and sailed to the Fishers Landing beach, played around in the warm water, did some fishing, built sand castles on daddy's back and then did some tubing all the way back to the launch.  Ya just got to love the versatility of this boat.

Wife & Husband Run,  August
  Destination: Fast Sailing
 Had a couple of friends that have a boat at Fairfield Harbour so we motored up to their place with the whole family.  Turns out their boat was sitting on the ground due to low water at their dock.  They offered to take the kids to play with their kid and the wife and I went out and did some real sailing... with both sails. Realized I had one little problem... I forgot to extend the spreaders.  It's amazing how much the top of the mast will bend back and forth without the spreaders.  So I went far back into the cove and anchored the boat so I could lower the mast and extend the spreaders... it worked and I didn't kill anything... especially me.  Then we did some killer sailing... 15-20 kts winds, 25-30 degree heel.  My wife liked touching the water on the heel side.  We then docked the boat in front of the Fairfield Restaurant, had dinner with friends and the kids, then had a nice night motor cruise back to the launch site.  The GPS backtrack feature works great at night.

40th Birthday Cruise,   September, Labor Day Weekend
  Destination: Shackleford Island
   Took the boat to the Morehead City Launch early, sailed in front of the Morehead City waterfront and then out to the Inlet... almost made it through before the family called for a pickup at Beaufort.  So I turned around and sailed in front of the Beaufort waterfront and picked up the family.  We then headed to Shackleford Island for lunch and playing in the surf and sand.  Of course the Island was packed with boats... after we anchored... even had powerboats anchoring right behind me.  They had to manually pull me out around their boats later so I could get out.  I then dropped the family off and sailed back to the launch site.  Took three attempts to get into the launch site without ramming into the dock.  Even helped some guy who had been filming me sailing, he had his wife bringing in the boat.

Pirates Fest 07 with NCSail.org ,  2nd Weekend in October
  Destination: Cape Lookout Lighthouse
   Er'se a wee bit of a tale....

So I be surfin' the internet in search of fun and merriment, and I find that the Pirates Fest is comin' up soon.  After hangin' out at the forum, I sign up for a weekend of sailing adventure.

I took off Friday afternoon and launched at the Beaufort Wildlife Ramp on Lennoxville Road.  After anchoring the boat I started applying the decorations; wood grain and gunports on the side, the X Cannon up front, the skeleton figurehead, the black sail, hooking up the fog machine and then decorating myself. 

My wife Jean dressed up for the part for the Friday night dinner at the Net House.  My youngest daughter went with us because she was sick in the morning.  Met a lot of nice people who like to sail and have fun.  After the dinner Jean and Christina went home due to soccer obligations and I hung out with the other 30 plus pirate crews. 

Spent the night on the boat and had a friend from work join for the rest of the weekend.  We took off Saturday morning and proceeded to blockade the harbor, shooting cake cannon balls at the departing pirate vessels.  Even tried to take on a Coast Guard vessel... but keeping a safe distance.

The bombardment was going well until another vessel unwrapped a package of Oreos and returned fire... took several hits and couldn't repair the damage until I hit dry dock.  Of course it would help if my crew would have stopped eating the ammunition. 

After the attacking of other vessels, we took on one boarder and sped from boat to boat taking pictures.  After that we did some sailing / trolling on the ocean side of Cape Lookout.  There were a ton of dolphin pods out swimming and we saw a huge sea turtle with barnacles all over it. 

We then pulled up to the raft of 12 boats and did some socializing.  After a while we unloaded all the food and supplies for the beach cookout and bonfire.  There was a ton of food, big steaks and of course the rum.  We did some singing and prizes were handed out for best decorated pirate boat (KnotShore won), pirate female (Jean won), pirate male (I won) and miniature female pirate (Christina won)... felt a little guilty since I was a newbie in the group, but I think everyone had fun with the part I played.  

Spent the night anchor in the Cape Lookout hook... had eggs and sausage for breakfast and took off to go sailing.  Decided to replace the black sail for the real sail.  Had some good wind and a little iron sail to catch up with the other two MacGregor X's.  There was an Americas Cup moment when one of the X's turned around, dropped sail and I didn't see them past my Genoa until his bow cleared my Genoa and we crossed within less than a foot of my aft and his front. 

We continued sailing in front of Atlantic Beach until the wind died to nothing then we headed in.  There was a bit of a race between the X's to get to the launch... so much that we made a wakes in the no wake zone. 

This was a great trip and Jean was very jealous after seeing all the pictures and swore not to miss the next one.  Here are some more pics from the adventure.

Video of the Attack
(click pic below to watch)