I really thought I would update the blog more as the Bahamas trip came together...but alas I seem to be out of practice with blogging.
In any case, the trip to the Bahamas is a go. Due to a variety of reasons, the scheduling of the trip was pushed out to the beginning of this year. I have found crew to accompany me on this adventure. Technically, there is still one slot available if a person or couple wants to fly to meet us in Georgetown, Exuma, Bahamas and make the return trip, but otherwise the crew is set.
I made it back to the boat on January 5th after three long days of driving from Colorado. Overall, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised with the condition of the boat. Yes, it is in need of a bath...one of the tasks that I have not managed yet...but for it having been almost two years since I was on the boat, it wasn't in too bad of condition. Thus far there are only a couple bigger ticket items found. The dinghy, having baked in the Carolina sun for a couple years, seems to be beyond repair. Not a huge loss, as the slow leak and shoddy repair from the prior owner made it a bit annoying at times. The hot water heater appears to be leaking. Don't know if it froze or if it was just time for a replacement, but we can't be leaking our limited fresh water into the bilge. The other question is the standing rigging. From the deck I've noted a little discoloration in a few of the strands, so further inspection is warranted. There have been a number of smaller things like a couple interior lights and stereo (not good) that were not working, but overall still not bad for being mostly ignored for two years and encounters with a couple hurricanes.
I've been working on getting the boat back into shape. Cleaning, inspecting, repairing, and getting everything back into cruise condition. One of the crew will be joining me on the boat later today to help out with repairs and recommissioning. We also have one new project to help make the trip more enjoyable while reducing our dependence on diesel. We are adding 640 watts of solar. The arriving crew member did a ton of research and found some exceptional deals on marine grade parts. If it goes anywhere near plan, the whole system will cost under $1 per watt. When I was building the hardtop and looking at solar, $1 per watt was an exceptional deal for just the panels alone...much less the controller, cabling, and hardware to install it. Having the option of not firing up the generator in the evenings to recharge the batteries will be a welcome change.
So, that is where I am with the boat and the trip to the Bahamas. Maybe I'll get a bit better about posts going forward...but the push will definitely be to get the boat ready and head south.
Showing posts with label Southport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southport. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Back in Southport Again
We departed Beaufort for an overnight sail to Southport just before 4 PM in order to make the Beaufort bridge opening (saving us a little time having to backtrack and take the other route through Morehead City). The drawbridge opening had us and a couple fishing boats heading out for the evening. I don't know exactly what it is about the Beaufort inlet, but for the second time in as many passages, it was a rough ride. I guess the outgoing current combined with the easterly swell to make for a choppy entrance. We bounced our way out and after turning on course, the sea mellowed out...somewhat.
The forecast was for 1 to 2 foot waves on a 12 second period and light winds from the Southwest. While the winds would be directly on our nose, the seas should make for a fairly comfortable ride. Of course, what to weather forecasters know about the weather. The actual winds were around 15 knots, but it was from the south-southwest. There was a swell from the east that was probably a foot or two on 12 seconds, but the higher winds were also creating waves from the south that were also a couple feet on a six second period. Not quite as smooth as forecast.
Still, the winds gave us an opportunity to sail, just not directly toward our destination. We were making about 5 knots, with 2 or 3 of those in the actual direction we wanted to go (VMG). We sailed all night and by early in the morning we had made it a little over half-way. At that point, we decided to fire up an engine and motor sail to get a better angle. As the wind shifted around to be right on our nose, the sails came down and the other motor was started so we could make it to Southport before nightfall.
We arrived at the Masonboro inlet around noon, a couple hours later than planned...but at least we got to sail some so it was worth it. The down side of being late was that we missed the ideal timing window for the trip through Snow's Cut and on to the Cape Fear river. In an ideal case, I would have liked to have been at Snow's Cut at high tide so there wouldn't be a lot of current and then we could ride the falling current down the river. Since we were late, we found we were fighting a 3+ knot current from the Carolina Beach inlet through the entrance to Snow's cut. Something very noticeable when you are only traveling at 6 or 7 knots to begin with. After only making 3 knots over the ground as we approached the cut, we did pick up another knot in the cut.
Once into the Cape Fear river and heading downstream, our speed was up to a brisk 8 or 9 knots even though the waves and wind were (as usual) directly on our nose. It didn't take long until we were in Southport.
Normally I would stay at Deep Point marina as I like the combination of amenities and price. Unfortunately, the number of cruisers heading south combined with the damage caused by Matthew and they didn't have any space available. Fortunately, they did have one space left at their other marina, Indigo Plantation. We made our way there, found the one last space for a wide-beam boat, and we were tied up and secure in Southport.
The following days we retrieved the car left at Dowry Creek, met some friends for dinner, met a couple fellow Leopard owners that were in the area, and started looking into what we should do about the remaining trip. With all the damage in St. Augustine, dock space is at more of a premium than it is here and that comes with a premium price. At this point, we are considering leaving the boat here in Southport. We have a dock at a reasonable rate and it is fairly well protected for the area. The down side is that it is a bit far from our broker and we will need to see about finding someone to keep an eye on the boat.
We haven't made any decisions yet, but we are running out of time so we will need to come up with a plan soon. Meanwhile, we are enjoying this charming town.
The forecast was for 1 to 2 foot waves on a 12 second period and light winds from the Southwest. While the winds would be directly on our nose, the seas should make for a fairly comfortable ride. Of course, what to weather forecasters know about the weather. The actual winds were around 15 knots, but it was from the south-southwest. There was a swell from the east that was probably a foot or two on 12 seconds, but the higher winds were also creating waves from the south that were also a couple feet on a six second period. Not quite as smooth as forecast.
Still, the winds gave us an opportunity to sail, just not directly toward our destination. We were making about 5 knots, with 2 or 3 of those in the actual direction we wanted to go (VMG). We sailed all night and by early in the morning we had made it a little over half-way. At that point, we decided to fire up an engine and motor sail to get a better angle. As the wind shifted around to be right on our nose, the sails came down and the other motor was started so we could make it to Southport before nightfall.
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| Our planned route (blue) and our actual course (magenta). Tacking across the Onslow Bay danger area. |
Once into the Cape Fear river and heading downstream, our speed was up to a brisk 8 or 9 knots even though the waves and wind were (as usual) directly on our nose. It didn't take long until we were in Southport.
Normally I would stay at Deep Point marina as I like the combination of amenities and price. Unfortunately, the number of cruisers heading south combined with the damage caused by Matthew and they didn't have any space available. Fortunately, they did have one space left at their other marina, Indigo Plantation. We made our way there, found the one last space for a wide-beam boat, and we were tied up and secure in Southport.
The following days we retrieved the car left at Dowry Creek, met some friends for dinner, met a couple fellow Leopard owners that were in the area, and started looking into what we should do about the remaining trip. With all the damage in St. Augustine, dock space is at more of a premium than it is here and that comes with a premium price. At this point, we are considering leaving the boat here in Southport. We have a dock at a reasonable rate and it is fairly well protected for the area. The down side is that it is a bit far from our broker and we will need to see about finding someone to keep an eye on the boat.
We haven't made any decisions yet, but we are running out of time so we will need to come up with a plan soon. Meanwhile, we are enjoying this charming town.
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Crossing The Goal Line
If you have been following along on our little journey, you know that we are moving north. You know the reason we are moving north now is due to an imaginary line drawn in the sand by our insurance company that says the boat won't be covered for damage by named storms unless we are north of Cape Hatteras.
While our insurance policy is significantly cheaper by having this restriction, it isn't the only reason we went with this policy. Our original intention was to spend some time in the Chesapeake and further north anyway, so it did, and still does, align with our goals. While we do appreciate all the concern and suggestions regarding insurance, don't fret, the insurance restriction does align with our overall goals.
When we last left you, we had arrived in Southport, NC. We decided to stay at the one other marina in town that we had yet to visit. South Harbor Village Marina sits along the Intracoastal Waterway just south of the town of Southport and I believe is actually part of the town of Oak Island. Overall the people and the facility was nice. They have two restaurants on-site and that is convenient but my wife and I are not fans of the Dead End Saloon when we visited on a couple of prior occasions. We didn't get a chance to try the Italian restaurant but it is reported to be good. Given the marina isn't all that convenient to Southport, I think we still prefer the free laundry, pool, and slightly cheaper rates at Deep Point Marina.
Shortly after arriving in Southport, we met up with some new friends we had made back in Isle Of Palms marina. They were staying at the Southport marina near downtown. We had a nice dinner at Provisions (a must stop in Southport) and then went with them to the weather briefing that is put on by Hank at Carolina Yacht Care (CYC - the same gentleman that runs the boaters shuttle service). If you are ever in the area, it is worthwhile to sit in on one of Hank's briefings. It was there we found out that a low pressure system in the Bahamas might become the first tropical storm of the season and was likely to bring about some lingering bad weather in a few days. This accelerated our schedule to move north and we quickly made plans to get us north of the insurance goal line before the storms arrived and pinned us in place past our deadline.
Until the predicted storms arrival the weather was expected to be nice for an outside run up the coast. This could put us north of Cape Hatteras (35° 13' North latitude) in about a day and a half of travel. We found one of the marinas we have stayed at, Dowry Creek (35° 32'), is about 20 miles north of the line (no matter how the insurance company may try to draw it) and within the two day and one night travel window.
We departed the marina and made our way up the Cape Fear river. With the incoming tide, we were going up river at over 8 knots. High tide was right when we were making our way through Snow's cut and we again had favorable current for the trip to the Masonboro inlet. From there, we jumped out, set sails, shut down motors, and had a nice overnight sail across Onslow Bay. Before we left cell phone range, I called the range master at Camp Lejeune and confirmed that their offshore firing range danger area was not active and we could cut through it without becoming a target of unwanted attention...or unwanted ammunition.
The seas were just as predicted at 1 to 2 feet on a relatively long 6 to 8 second period. The predicted 10 to 15 knots of wind were actually closer to 25 and this combination made for a nice brisk sail. In fact, at one point it looked like we were going to arrive at the Beaufort inlet around 1 AM. While I wanted to arrive at first light, this was a bit too early. I resisted the urge to slow the boat down for a while but I really didn't feel like heaving-to and waiting for first light just outside the inlet.
I finally gave in and further reduced our speed. That, of course, was a mistake. Not too much later the winds started to die down and by first light we were about 4 nautical miles from the inlet going about 1.5 knots. Someday I'll learn you have to take what you can get when you get it. We fired up the engines as the wind completely died and made our way in.
Going in the inlet was crazy. No big cargo or cruise ships to contend with, but the onslaught of fishing boats headed out for the morning was incredible. If I didn't know better I would have thought that someone was giving away free kegs of beer to the first 1000 boats to arrive at the fishing grounds. Fishing boats of all sizes were pouring out of he inlet as we were fighting our way in. Unfortunately this isn't a no-wake zone and every one of them was going full throttle to be the first one out. It was the roughest seas we have faced on the entire trip north, and it was all caused by the wakes of the high powered boats zipping around us on all sides.
Once we escaped the barrage of high powered boats at the inlet and turned north out of Morehead City, things calmed back down. We motored or motor-sailed the remainder of the trip. Other than a minor hiccup with an engine that had me down in the engine room with a wrench for an hour (note to self: never let that hungover marine mechanic in Palm Coast get near the engines again), the trip was uneventful.
We arrived at Dowry Creek (near Belhaven NC) about 5:30 in the evening. We are now officially across the goal line as far as insurance is concerned. Looks like we will be here for a week or so as we do a little maintenance and figure out what is next.
While our insurance policy is significantly cheaper by having this restriction, it isn't the only reason we went with this policy. Our original intention was to spend some time in the Chesapeake and further north anyway, so it did, and still does, align with our goals. While we do appreciate all the concern and suggestions regarding insurance, don't fret, the insurance restriction does align with our overall goals.
When we last left you, we had arrived in Southport, NC. We decided to stay at the one other marina in town that we had yet to visit. South Harbor Village Marina sits along the Intracoastal Waterway just south of the town of Southport and I believe is actually part of the town of Oak Island. Overall the people and the facility was nice. They have two restaurants on-site and that is convenient but my wife and I are not fans of the Dead End Saloon when we visited on a couple of prior occasions. We didn't get a chance to try the Italian restaurant but it is reported to be good. Given the marina isn't all that convenient to Southport, I think we still prefer the free laundry, pool, and slightly cheaper rates at Deep Point Marina.
Shortly after arriving in Southport, we met up with some new friends we had made back in Isle Of Palms marina. They were staying at the Southport marina near downtown. We had a nice dinner at Provisions (a must stop in Southport) and then went with them to the weather briefing that is put on by Hank at Carolina Yacht Care (CYC - the same gentleman that runs the boaters shuttle service). If you are ever in the area, it is worthwhile to sit in on one of Hank's briefings. It was there we found out that a low pressure system in the Bahamas might become the first tropical storm of the season and was likely to bring about some lingering bad weather in a few days. This accelerated our schedule to move north and we quickly made plans to get us north of the insurance goal line before the storms arrived and pinned us in place past our deadline.
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| Tropical Depression 2 - National Weather Service prediction, |
Until the predicted storms arrival the weather was expected to be nice for an outside run up the coast. This could put us north of Cape Hatteras (35° 13' North latitude) in about a day and a half of travel. We found one of the marinas we have stayed at, Dowry Creek (35° 32'), is about 20 miles north of the line (no matter how the insurance company may try to draw it) and within the two day and one night travel window.
We departed the marina and made our way up the Cape Fear river. With the incoming tide, we were going up river at over 8 knots. High tide was right when we were making our way through Snow's cut and we again had favorable current for the trip to the Masonboro inlet. From there, we jumped out, set sails, shut down motors, and had a nice overnight sail across Onslow Bay. Before we left cell phone range, I called the range master at Camp Lejeune and confirmed that their offshore firing range danger area was not active and we could cut through it without becoming a target of unwanted attention...or unwanted ammunition.
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| Camp Lejeune Firing Range area. |
I finally gave in and further reduced our speed. That, of course, was a mistake. Not too much later the winds started to die down and by first light we were about 4 nautical miles from the inlet going about 1.5 knots. Someday I'll learn you have to take what you can get when you get it. We fired up the engines as the wind completely died and made our way in.
Going in the inlet was crazy. No big cargo or cruise ships to contend with, but the onslaught of fishing boats headed out for the morning was incredible. If I didn't know better I would have thought that someone was giving away free kegs of beer to the first 1000 boats to arrive at the fishing grounds. Fishing boats of all sizes were pouring out of he inlet as we were fighting our way in. Unfortunately this isn't a no-wake zone and every one of them was going full throttle to be the first one out. It was the roughest seas we have faced on the entire trip north, and it was all caused by the wakes of the high powered boats zipping around us on all sides.
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| A few stragglers after the onslaught. |
We arrived at Dowry Creek (near Belhaven NC) about 5:30 in the evening. We are now officially across the goal line as far as insurance is concerned. Looks like we will be here for a week or so as we do a little maintenance and figure out what is next.
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| View off of our "porch" this morning. |
Saturday, May 30, 2015
North From Southport
If you have been following along on my Facebook page, you already know we have made it far enough north to satisfy our insurance. Unfortunately, we've been too busy and Internet access has been too sparse to get blog posts done, so I'm going to catch up here as time and wifi signals allow.
We finally departed Southport around 11 AM on Memorial day to make our way up the Cape Fear river and ICW to the Masonboro inlet for an overnight passage. We left at 11 in order to use the tide to our advantage and to time our arrival at the Beaufort inlet the following morning. As you might expect, the waterways were crowded with boaters enjoying the holiday weekend. We encountered a lot of small boats and water skis and I'm not sure all of them were what I would call...sober. But, we ran the gauntlet and made it out the inlet and back into the Atlantic.
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| Sailing in the Atlantic |
We had an Ok nighttime sail with seas that weren't quite as rough as when we left St. Augustine and made good time as we arrived at Beaufort around 3am. We hove to and waited for daylight before making our way in and beginning our ICW bypass of Cape Hattaras. Just past Beaufort we encountered another catamaran and it turned out to be Dragonfly, who we had met in Southport a couple days earlier. We chatted with them on the radio a bit while motoring up the canal.
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| Dragonfly motor sailing with us. |
When the canal opened up into the Neuse river, we were both able to turn our motor boats back into sailboats again. Having more sailing experience (OK, we simply made some mistakes in anticipating proper sail configuration and when to make a turn), Dragonfly left us behind. But we were able to sail most of the river without burning any diesel...and that is a good thing anytime you are on the ICW.
Of course, the river narrowed and we were once again required to engage the old Iron Genny to get us to the next spot where we could sail again. By the time we got to the Pamlico river we were seeing 30 knot winds at our backs. We sailed under reefed genoa alone up through the Pungo river. At that point it was getting late and we were exhausted so we decided to spend the night at a marina in Bellhaven.
As we passed the breakwater in Bellhaven (which was not doing it's job, by the way), we found Dragonfly anchored in the bay. We made our way to the marina and, despite the strong winds, made it safely to the dock. Having not had much sleep in the 36 hours that elapsed since we left Southport, we got the dogs off the boat for a bit and then collapsed in our berth for the night without even having dinner.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Memorial Day in Southport
We have decided to hang out in Southport until Memorial Day, mostly waiting for more favorable winds to continue our trek north (the winds blowing from the north are expected to shift east and then south by the end of the holiday weekend). We are also taking advantage of the marina WiFi to continue researching boatyards where we can have some work done once we get "up north"...wherever that is.
Southport is a picturesque little waterfront town. It obviously survives on tourism these days as the old downtown area has lots of little antique, gift, and knick-knack shops. Right along the water are a few restaurants that are nice places to hang out in the evening, have a beer, and watch the boats on the water. One of the best places to grab a bite to eat is the Yacht Basin Provision Company, better known as just "Provisions". They are a simple bar and restaurant where you can satisfy a seafood or burger craving, and the prices are cruiser friendly (We both had a nice crabcake sandwich for $5.95...sides were extra...and split 1/4 lb. of peel and eat shrimp at around the same price). They even have a dock you can stay at if you can find the space and eat there...but only one of their spaces will fit a catamaran.
Being the frugal sort and yet still wanting to stay at a marina as we get the dogs more used to life on a boat, we decided to re-position the boat from the Southport Marina (where we limped in on one engine) to Deep Point Marina that is just outside of town (about 2 miles). Instead of paying $1.75/ft/day (or $66.50) we are paying $1.20/ft/day (or $45.60) and getting the 3rd night free. In addition, Deep Point has a pool and free laundry...a couple of nice amenities. The down side is, of course, they aren't right in the middle of town.
While we were here, I also got to meet back up with someone I met the last time I was passing through town. Walt and his wife had sent me a note through the blog and wanted to come down and meet me and see the boat. At the time they were just taking sailing lessons and wanted to check out my boat and chat about my experiences. I guess they liked the boat, because now they own a 1999 Leopard 38 too. This time we got to compare notes on the boats and any tips and tricks we had figured out along the way. Getting a chance to see another identical hull is always a great way to get ideas for improvements or just better ways of doing things.
While we were chatting on his boat, a very cool young couple that Walt met the previous night dropped by. James and Emily are in their late 20's and are just getting back from a cruise from New England down to the BVI. And get this, they did it on a catamaran they built themselves. How cool is that! Looking at the boat, you wouldn't think it was home-built...it looks very nice and professionally finished. We had a good time talking with them and hearing about their trip, and I only wish I had thought to do something like this when I was younger...bu better late than never, right? They have a blog of their trip, you can check it out here: http://dragonflysail.com/
So, in this mad rush to get north, we are still taking a little time to enjoy ourselves. Now if I can only find a DIY boatyard in the Chesapeake that can accommodate a 21' 3" wide catamaran.
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| Provisions... |
Southport is a picturesque little waterfront town. It obviously survives on tourism these days as the old downtown area has lots of little antique, gift, and knick-knack shops. Right along the water are a few restaurants that are nice places to hang out in the evening, have a beer, and watch the boats on the water. One of the best places to grab a bite to eat is the Yacht Basin Provision Company, better known as just "Provisions". They are a simple bar and restaurant where you can satisfy a seafood or burger craving, and the prices are cruiser friendly (We both had a nice crabcake sandwich for $5.95...sides were extra...and split 1/4 lb. of peel and eat shrimp at around the same price). They even have a dock you can stay at if you can find the space and eat there...but only one of their spaces will fit a catamaran.
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| The bar and seating at Provisions |
Being the frugal sort and yet still wanting to stay at a marina as we get the dogs more used to life on a boat, we decided to re-position the boat from the Southport Marina (where we limped in on one engine) to Deep Point Marina that is just outside of town (about 2 miles). Instead of paying $1.75/ft/day (or $66.50) we are paying $1.20/ft/day (or $45.60) and getting the 3rd night free. In addition, Deep Point has a pool and free laundry...a couple of nice amenities. The down side is, of course, they aren't right in the middle of town.
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| Deep Point Marina, with Rover on the right. |
While we were here, I also got to meet back up with someone I met the last time I was passing through town. Walt and his wife had sent me a note through the blog and wanted to come down and meet me and see the boat. At the time they were just taking sailing lessons and wanted to check out my boat and chat about my experiences. I guess they liked the boat, because now they own a 1999 Leopard 38 too. This time we got to compare notes on the boats and any tips and tricks we had figured out along the way. Getting a chance to see another identical hull is always a great way to get ideas for improvements or just better ways of doing things.
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| Walt and Us on James and Emily's Catamaran |
While we were chatting on his boat, a very cool young couple that Walt met the previous night dropped by. James and Emily are in their late 20's and are just getting back from a cruise from New England down to the BVI. And get this, they did it on a catamaran they built themselves. How cool is that! Looking at the boat, you wouldn't think it was home-built...it looks very nice and professionally finished. We had a good time talking with them and hearing about their trip, and I only wish I had thought to do something like this when I was younger...bu better late than never, right? They have a blog of their trip, you can check it out here: http://dragonflysail.com/
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| Chatting with James and Emily |
So, in this mad rush to get north, we are still taking a little time to enjoy ourselves. Now if I can only find a DIY boatyard in the Chesapeake that can accommodate a 21' 3" wide catamaran.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Heading into Southport
In case you missed it, the first part of the trip can be found here. Continuing on...
During the second full day of sailing, the winds calmed down and we once again made our way using a combination of sailing and motor sailing in order to make reasonable headway. I guess I can't complain though, if we were in the ditch, we would likely be motoring the whole way and, in addition, we would have to stop at night and that would make the trip take a lot longer. In the afternoon the wind started clocking around to the southwest, dead at our backs. With the light winds, I decided to put up the spinnaker for a little while. I do like that asymmetrical spinnaker, it seems to get the boat moving at over 1/2 the wind speed in broad reaches and downwind directions.
Thus far I've typically planned trips using a speed of about 5 knots unless the trip is forecast to be beating directly into the wind and I want to actually sail it (I haven't figured out what speed I should use then, but am guessing about 2 knots). A good portion of this trip has been in excess of 5 knots, so it looked like we would be making it to Southport around 2am. As evening arrived, the winds started picking up from the southwest and, a bit unexpected to me, the seas started picking up from the southeast to around 3 foot on a 5 second period.
Checking the weather forecast, it was now calling for scattered thunderstorms offshore in the Cape Fear area. As night fell, we could see the thunderstorm clouds building to our east. The lightning would light up the clouds. It is a nice thing to watch...from a distance. Since the winds were continuing from the southwest and the offshore breezes would also come from the west, it should keep the storms to the east of us. But since we had time anyway, we decided to turn the boat westward and make our way closer to shore. We pointed the boat towards Myrtle Beach and made our way from 30 NM off the coast to around 6 NM. When we got closer to shore, we also found a little calmer seas.
After the detour near Myrtle Beach, we ended up arriving outside of the Cape Fear river inlet at Southport around 6am. Since we would be heading pretty much into the wind coming into the inlet, We went to start the engiines. Unfortunately, the starboard engine, which had been just fine up to this point in the trip, decided not to wake up. The attempt made the clicking sound that is reminiscent of a dead battery. That same battery just happens to be the one that also starts the generator and the generator started just fine (and the voltages on the batteries seem fine). My best guess was that there was some corrosion and the starter wasn't getting enough power, so I spent the next hour, as we slowly motored in on a single engine, down in the engine room cleaning all the starter connections. Unfortunately that didn't help. So, here we were again, one engine down and needing to navigate to a marina slip.
This time, having a bit more experience with the boat, I decided to give the marina a call and see if they have a dock I can get to without a lot of tight maneuvering. They did, so I was able to bring the boat into the dock and then, using the lines, the crew walked it around the T-head to the slip. The Southport marina also has a maintenance yard next door and, having just completed a 3 day passage, I was too tired to look into the problem myself. They were able to send a technician over later that day and found that excessive corrosion inside the ground cable end had caused the issue. They cleaned up the cable, crimped on a new end, and added heat shrink to help protect it from future corrosion (the heat shrink on the original cable had failed and that is where the corrosion started). Since I didn't have the tools or parts, it ended up being a good call to have them come do the work.
I guess I haven't really mentioned our furry crewmembers much. For the most part, they are doing fine. They seem to be adjusting to life on a mobile floating house OK. To them it is probably just like a big car ride where we are taking all our stuff with us. The one exception is dealing with the "potty mat". Even though it should have the right smell to them, neither of them are really sure of the thing. Tucker managed to do his business there after some coaxing, but our older dog Madison could only be convinced to pee there once. She held her other business until she was back on shore.
And for Pete, who jokingly mentioned something about eating Spam on passage, here is dinner the second evening...shrimp with a creamy tomato, garlic, and basil sauce freshly prepared en route.
So, now we need to figure out where we are going from here since we still don't have a final destination in mind. Oh, and I guess we have a couple more repairs to add to the list, so we may be looking for a place to haul out again. Such is life on a boat.
During the second full day of sailing, the winds calmed down and we once again made our way using a combination of sailing and motor sailing in order to make reasonable headway. I guess I can't complain though, if we were in the ditch, we would likely be motoring the whole way and, in addition, we would have to stop at night and that would make the trip take a lot longer. In the afternoon the wind started clocking around to the southwest, dead at our backs. With the light winds, I decided to put up the spinnaker for a little while. I do like that asymmetrical spinnaker, it seems to get the boat moving at over 1/2 the wind speed in broad reaches and downwind directions.
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| Spinnaker on the open ocean |
Thus far I've typically planned trips using a speed of about 5 knots unless the trip is forecast to be beating directly into the wind and I want to actually sail it (I haven't figured out what speed I should use then, but am guessing about 2 knots). A good portion of this trip has been in excess of 5 knots, so it looked like we would be making it to Southport around 2am. As evening arrived, the winds started picking up from the southwest and, a bit unexpected to me, the seas started picking up from the southeast to around 3 foot on a 5 second period.
Checking the weather forecast, it was now calling for scattered thunderstorms offshore in the Cape Fear area. As night fell, we could see the thunderstorm clouds building to our east. The lightning would light up the clouds. It is a nice thing to watch...from a distance. Since the winds were continuing from the southwest and the offshore breezes would also come from the west, it should keep the storms to the east of us. But since we had time anyway, we decided to turn the boat westward and make our way closer to shore. We pointed the boat towards Myrtle Beach and made our way from 30 NM off the coast to around 6 NM. When we got closer to shore, we also found a little calmer seas.
After the detour near Myrtle Beach, we ended up arriving outside of the Cape Fear river inlet at Southport around 6am. Since we would be heading pretty much into the wind coming into the inlet, We went to start the engiines. Unfortunately, the starboard engine, which had been just fine up to this point in the trip, decided not to wake up. The attempt made the clicking sound that is reminiscent of a dead battery. That same battery just happens to be the one that also starts the generator and the generator started just fine (and the voltages on the batteries seem fine). My best guess was that there was some corrosion and the starter wasn't getting enough power, so I spent the next hour, as we slowly motored in on a single engine, down in the engine room cleaning all the starter connections. Unfortunately that didn't help. So, here we were again, one engine down and needing to navigate to a marina slip.
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| Another sunrise over the Atlantic |
This time, having a bit more experience with the boat, I decided to give the marina a call and see if they have a dock I can get to without a lot of tight maneuvering. They did, so I was able to bring the boat into the dock and then, using the lines, the crew walked it around the T-head to the slip. The Southport marina also has a maintenance yard next door and, having just completed a 3 day passage, I was too tired to look into the problem myself. They were able to send a technician over later that day and found that excessive corrosion inside the ground cable end had caused the issue. They cleaned up the cable, crimped on a new end, and added heat shrink to help protect it from future corrosion (the heat shrink on the original cable had failed and that is where the corrosion started). Since I didn't have the tools or parts, it ended up being a good call to have them come do the work.
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| Tucker exploring the boat near the start of the trip |
I guess I haven't really mentioned our furry crewmembers much. For the most part, they are doing fine. They seem to be adjusting to life on a mobile floating house OK. To them it is probably just like a big car ride where we are taking all our stuff with us. The one exception is dealing with the "potty mat". Even though it should have the right smell to them, neither of them are really sure of the thing. Tucker managed to do his business there after some coaxing, but our older dog Madison could only be convinced to pee there once. She held her other business until she was back on shore.
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| Madison resting in the cockpit, tethered of course. |
And for Pete, who jokingly mentioned something about eating Spam on passage, here is dinner the second evening...shrimp with a creamy tomato, garlic, and basil sauce freshly prepared en route.
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| Shrimp and pasta for dinner. |
So, now we need to figure out where we are going from here since we still don't have a final destination in mind. Oh, and I guess we have a couple more repairs to add to the list, so we may be looking for a place to haul out again. Such is life on a boat.
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