(Lack of posts recently has been due to my being way too busy sitting on the beach!)

I met yesterday with the guy that did the repairs on my wind instruments a few weeks ago and got some bad news about my increasingly uncooperative jib furler.  I won't go into all the details, but the bottom line is that my forestay (the wire that supports the mast from the front) has become frayed from the broken furler and is only operating at about 50% of it's intended strength.  So, in addition to not having a  functioning furler, I've also got rigging that's too weakly supported to handle sails!  Looks like lots more motoring!  :o(

I'm going to spend some time trying to figure out exactly how to get this handled.  My inclination is to motor the boat to a yard in the Norfolk area and get the mast pulled there.  Most of the trip up to Norfolk is motoring through the Intracoastal Waterway anyhow.  All I need to do is find a boat yard that can do the work.

After an extremely hot night on the boat which produced much-interrupted - but thankfully lots of - sleep, I'm semi-well rested sitting in an air-conditioned coffee house in Manteo sifting through hundreds of emails.  Of course, only about 20% of them are worth reading, but I gotta clean house!  (How did J. G. Wentworth get my name!?)

My major item for the day is getting a car.  The aforementioned car accident (that I'd still rather not talk about!) left my car in the shop while I was sailing and left me with the promise that "It will certainly be ready in two weeks."  You can guess how that's worked out!  I have found out that my insurance will provide me another car rental, so I'm waiting on Enterprise to call me back.

The smoke from the fire here is actually worse than it was in Engelhard which is right next to the fire!  I got an email from an old high school buddy with some information on the fire.  Click here if you'd like to look at it:
http://outerbanksrealtors.com/cms/real-estate-events/realtor-news-announcements/pains-bay-wildfire-update-6-17-11.shtml .

I'm probably going to rent a modest hotel room tonight so I can get a decent night's sleep, and hopefully be in the beach house tomorrow for some serious down time!

Manteo Bound

Motor sailing towards the Old House Channel that goes to Oregon Inlet which I'll take & then turn north to Manteo.

I've been getting a whiff of smoke from the big fire, but it's not too bad so far. It's supposed to be well up in the 90s today, but thankfully I have high clouds blocking the sun right now.
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Engelhard to Manteo Tomorrow

[Posted about 8pm Tuesday, but low cell service here; won't send.]

I'm in Engelhard, NC on the last night of my two week cruise between beach trips. I'll spend more time on the pros & cons of my cruise south later, but let me just say that although I've really loved the trip, I'm also really looking forward to an actual bed and air-conditioning come Friday!

Engelhard is right on the edge of the big fire that's been raging down here for months, but you wouldn't know it tonight; it's clear as a bell. Of course that probably means that I'll end up sailing through smoke on my way to Manteo tomorrow!

The couple that owns this little marina also have a cafe here and I was able to get here in time today for a fantastic fried flounder "dinner" (they close at 3:00!)

If the weather forecast holds, I should have mostly downwind sailing tomorrow which is good, because I've had some problems with my furler and I'd rather not use the jib unless I have to.

For those of you following my ramblings here, I should be posting lots more thoughts and pictures once I get to decent wifi and a decent keyboard! This little bluetooth keyboard for my cell is nice, but just different enough from a standard one to drive me crazy.

On to Manteo!
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Bound for Engelhard

(9:20am) Just cleared the Big Foot Slough out of Ocracoke bound for Engelhard. I'm motoring into a relatively light wind now (oh joy!), but southerly breezes are forecast for later today which means I might get some actual sail time in.
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Actually Sailing!

Left Oriental this morning & am headed back to Ocracoke. Mostly motor-sailed until the wind picked up. Now sail only! It's downwind but moving fairly nicely. (It's so nice to not have to listen to the engine!)
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Fathers' Day!

I got a phone call from each of my wonderful children today which considerably brightened my mood.

Also helping are forecasted winds that should actually allow me to sail back up to Ocracoke tomorrow! (Keeping my fingers crossed!)

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I had the worst day sailing ever yesterday.  I left Ocracoke early after filling up with fuel because I knew that most of my trip would be motoring into the wind which I just hate!  I reached a point, however that I thought I might be able to motor sail and I put my jib out a bit to catch some wind.  That worked fine, until – The Storm!

The radio starts squawking about a line of dangerous thunderstorms heading straight for me.  So I started getting ready by furling the jib and in the process of doing that the jib halyard broke!  So I had to get the jib down and stowed below decks and get all battened down before the storm hit.  I did and rode its big winds and waves out and found a somewhat favorable wind to head to Oriental (motor + main sail).

That was going fine until – The Next Storm!  It was mercifully shorter but the winds were awful.  My wind gauge showed maximum winds of 50.5 knots - not fun!  So I ride out my second dangerous thunderstorm of the day and of course the winds are dead in my face for the rest of the trip.

However, I did manage to make it to Oriental by about 5:30, drank a rum or two, got some dinner, and hit the rack – for over 10 hours.  (I rarely sleep more than 6-7 on the boat!)

Today has been a bit less “exciting” as I’ve explored my old sailing school town.  I even ran into Chris Daniels, the owner of the school who was my instructor all those years ago.  There was a big art show in town, I got some laundry done, and just kind of chilled for the day.

The experience is more harrowing in retrospect, but it has left me a bit shy on confidence.  I’ll use my few days here to get the boat - and my head - ready for the trip back north.

[I’m posting some more pictures to the flickr.com site.]

I've added more pictures to the set but here are a few highlights.  Check out the full set here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/22029008@N02/sets/72157626851401244/show/

This is a picture of the Manteo Causeway bridge.  Like so many places I've been on this trip, I've been here hundreds of times before, but never by sea!

One of the highlights of the sail from Manteo to Engelhard was encountering a pod of dolphin just off Wanchese.  As usual the camera was not immediately available, but I did manage to get this guy, one of I'd guess 8-10 in the group.

A good shot of one of my dock mates in Engelhard.

Here's the Ocracoke lighthouse from the Pamlico Sound as I entered.  I've actually seen this sight before from sea.  It was about 5-6 years ago when I took sailing lessons out of Oriental.

Here's the Goober at sunset, tied up in the marina in Ocracoke.

Wind permitting, I leave Ocracoke tomorrow morning for Oriental.

RIP Tom Vigour

I just got word through the WHS64 hotline that my old friend Tom Vigour died. We were high school classmates, hiking/camping/caving buddies, folk music enthusiasts, and YPSL members @ St. John's back in the day.

Rest in peace, Vigour!

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Downwind / Light Wind

Heading downwind for Ocracoke on very light winds. Calm & peaceful, but also hot & slow! If this keeps up, I may have to motor!

The people at the marina in Engelhard were as nice as they could be, but the town doesn't have much to offer. They run a little cafe at the marina where I had a great breakfast this morning, but they close @ 3:00pm so I ended up at the hotel eating pizza last night (surprisingly good).

Jeez, I'm down to 1.4 knots!
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Asea Again!

Manteo behind me.
Just turned SW from the Oregon Inlet bridge.
Engelhard, NC this afternoon.
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Smoke Pictures

I just posted two pictures, but I don't seem to be able to post any text with them, so I'm explaining with a phone post.

The top picture was taken from my upper deck in Duck and shows how thick the smoke is in that you are unable to see neither the Duck COE pier in the distance nor the horizon, and it's even difficult to make out the ocean at all!

The other picture was taken of the Manteo harbor where you can barely make out the Roanoke Island side.

Fortunately, the wind is due to shift to northerly this evening just in time to clear the smoke & push me comfortably to Engelhard tomorrow!
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My two weeks at Duck have ended and I'm at the boat in Manteo waiting to head south.  The big event on the Outer Banks this trip has been the big peat fire southwest of here in the Stumpy Point area.  (http://www2.nbc17.com/list/fires-eastern-north-carolina/gallery/)  We have had the smoke to deal with the whole time I've been here.  I have a picture to post (that's not in my computer yet) that shows the view from my upstairs deck where you can barely even see the ocean for the smoke!  I'll post that later.

The smoke has been one factor in my leaving Manteo.  The second issue is the the wind is blowing from exactly where I need to go next, and I'd really rather not motor into the wind for a full day.  The last issue is that I have had my wind instruments replaced and I'm taking a day to learn how to use them!  Here's a picture of the repair guy heading up my mast to make put on the new parts.  (Pardon the picture.  My cell phone has a horrible camera!)

 

The plan from here is to get to Engelhard, NC tomorrow or Monday, and then make for Ocracoke where I plan on spending at least 2-3 days.