Ships Log

Tuesday was nice... took a while winding through the markers of the sound to get to the channel. Finally got to try out the new stay sail and the self tacking system... works really well as the Admiral was able to sit up at the bow and read a book (can't do that with the main head sail running)

Went under the Big Atlantic Beach bridge and then stopped by a restaurant dock for desserts (which was not open yet... bummer... so later that night we went there via land vehicle and did a desserts only dinner... ye ha)

Mothers Day, May 13th
Destination: Minnesott Beach

The "Mom" went out with the kids on the Neuse River near Minnesott Beach. It was a nice day with 15-20 winds and partly sunny... did some motoring with the kids up front getting their feet wet... then went and anchored/beached at Minnesott and relaxed on the warm sand.

Then took off and did some sailing with just the 2 jibs... did about 5 kts consistently with minimal heeling. Wind started to die down right on schedule, so we anchored near the opposite beach and cooked up some steaks, potatoes and beans and enjoyed watching the sun set.

Did run into a lot of string like weeds back in the creek that I launched from... the creek was running low. Had to stop a few times to unfoul the prop. With the creek being low, it made getting the boat back on the trailer a little more eventful.

The Pamlico Sound is not to be trifled with. I met up with another trailer sailor and we were going there together, but after launching the weather was too much for his small boat. (see his post below)

It was a rough ride all the way there under motor... 1-2 foot chop with 3-4 waves intermittent, wind on the nose. I tried to sail about where I needed to turn to get to marker "9"... just ended up sailing back and forth with just 2 jibs making no headway... at 6.4 mph though!

So I was motoring at about 5 mph half of the way... then I remember Billy saying something to the effect of "go faster and skim over the waves" or something... so I shot up to 15 mph and did skim over the waves (cut the hour trip left to 15 minutes) and made for a smoother ride.
The park dock was full, but I was planning to anchor in front of the harbor web cam so my wife would be "worry-free" cause she could see me.
http://www.ocracokeharborinn.com/webcam.html

Great seeing all the NC Pirates that could make it! Had a nice sail back on Sunday, 10-15 mph winds and 1 foot waves, doing one tack all the way back with All 3 Sails.

Post from Buck on "Alert"

I got to Cedar Island on Thursday afternoon and got my boat ready to launch Friday morning when Erik was scheduled to arrive. Well, he drove into the parking area about 9:00 AM, and before I could finish my coffee he had his boat ready to launch.

Them McGregor's take all the fun and sweat and time out of rigging a mast on a sailboat. But, my mast raising equipment is based on the McGregor design, so I commend them for simplification of engineering.

We looked out on the sound, and decide to go, even after Erik warned me about the conditions on the sound. Using guarded optimism, I elected to see within a mile of the dock what it would be like. As usual, weather forecasts are just that, forecasts. The 10-15 Kt winds out of the South in the forecasts had 1 foot waves. I had two reefs in the mainsail and the storm jib in place, but furled. I was pounded by two foot waves and the wind at about 15 kts.

I radioed Erik that I was going to head back to the ramp and "throw in the towel". I told him to go ahead without me and thanked him for the assist on my launching. He concurred and being the kind of friend all of us recognize in the "buddy system", decided to delay continuing and he turned around to beat me back to the ramp. He arrived in time to tie up on the right dock, and run over to the left dock and catch my boat lines to stop it from hitting the ramp. The wave action at Cedar Island ramp can be daunting.

After backing down the trailer to retrieve the boat, he pointed out a couple of jellyfish that positioned themselves around the trailer tongue waiting for me to "drop in for a visit". Well, without much difficulty, I cranked the boat up onto the trailer, and hauled her up to begin the process of getting "Alert" road-ready. Erik said, "I got time enough to get to Ocracoke, why don't you just come over to my boat and have lunch...hamburgers OK? Great hamburgers, even though they were shaped fit a hot dog bun. I'll remember that for next cruise.

Erik and I shook hands, I thanked him for lunch, but especially for coming back to assist me in docking and retrieving. For trailer sailors, friends like Erik are hard to beat. I know we are surrounded by friends here who would do the same to help. Just wanted to publicly thank Erik for what he did for me.

Flamingo Run, June 23
Destination: Cape Lookout

Well the flamingo lost all of its feathers from the gale force winds that were out at the cape, so we went with Plan B... heading to Minnesott Beach for the weekend.

Now I did have a full load this time... 5 teenage girls, 1 wife and 1 dog. Luckily I brought a tent for the kids to sleep in at the beach.

We launched from New Bern and did some tubing up river with each kid on the way to Minnesott. The winds were medium starting out, but by the middle of the day picked up to 25+ mph. So we did a little sailing with just a sheeted jib out to Minnesott.

Got surprised a little as I was expecting to anchor in the cove, as it is usually calm... but the direction of the wind created 2 foot breaking waves in the cove. So we anchored in the lee of the trees on the opposite side.

We set up the tent, made dinner and had a camp fire. Everyone (yea, even the teenagers) had a good time.

Later as the sun set and the winds died down, we set off some sky lanterns.