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Date: Fri, 7-8 Sep 2023 10:09:00 GMT
Blackbeards
We made it!
Well we survived Idalia but the trip north was long on the ICW...
So today we spent the day trying to get the truck started and ended up
needing to buy two new batteries. We did manage to start our car with a
jump but I'm pretty sure the battery is toasted as well. It's good to be
back at Blackbeards but at the same time we miss the blue water.
Ha ha I guess I successfully predicted the future! I didn't manage to get
the car started yet but I am going to try to jump it tomorrow.
In the Morning we motored into the Cape Fear inlet and took the ICW to
wrightsville beach. Our Friends, Annamaashi pealed off to a marina for a
rest and to do some repairs. We continued to Wrightsville beach and
anchored to get our heads together and get ready for the next leg. We
stayed there for an our around 1600 and had a sandwich. Wrightsville
beach is a wonderful anchorage and I'd recommend it highly for a quick
stop off heading either direction. This route was recommended to us by
some friends as a way to avoid Frying Pan Shoals. It is a viable
alternative. In our case the wind died and didn't pick up again until
about 17:00 so motoring through the ICW at 6 knots saved us a lot of time
that we would have lost becalmed around the shoals.
As we pulled out of the anchorage the winds had picked up to 20knots and
we were able to get 5-6 knots Jib and Jigger so we did that. It was a
quiet with seas about 1-2 feet and later in the night the winds dropped
down to 9-10 knots. It maintained out to the starboard the entire way to
Beaufort. Sam took the first shift at 20:00 to midnight and I did
midnight to morning. I asked him to do 5 and give me another hour but I
could not sleep so I came out anyway. Sam spent the rest of the night
sleeping on deck beside me. The stars were really beautiful and we could
see the milky way so clearly that we could see the black dust clouds that
block the galactic center. I got out the Sextant and took a sighting of
the north star. My reading was about 1.2 minutes off. It was so hard to
distinguish exactly the horizon, but also by the time I got downstairs and
got a reading from the GPS we had moved farther north. Between the two I
had us about a mile off. Let me tell you if you're offshore 1 mile is not
significant unless you miss the island! I used a sextant 23 years ago
becuase we didn't have GPS and I can't tell you how amazed and happy I was
when we found Puerto Rico! After over 10 days at sea and 600 miles off
shore. But it's been a long time since I had to take a sighting from a
rocking boat!
At about 2-3 am I started seeing lightning on the horizon and
it was moving along with us at about 20 miles out. It was not visible
unless the lightning was striking so I kept looking at the darkness
building an image in my head from each lightning srike. I was getting
worried becuase it was moving along with us but growing towards us.
Finally at about 5am it passed far enough in front that it could expand
into the area ahead of us and by the time we got there is had moved.
We came to the Beaufort inlet at about 06:00 just at first light so we
struck the sails and started the engine. We left the mizzen up to buffer
the rolling because we had also taken up the centerboard. The tide was
coming in and the wind was at our back as we entered the inlet. The
breakers started forming. We had 6-7 foot swells with some breakers and
about a 5 second period. It was very spicy. When the power boats would
come by jumping from wave to wave it left a terrible wake crosswise to the
swells and it was pretty, well, frankly, dangerous. We had to fight this
for about an hour.
We didn't stop for much but did a little video tour through Tayler Creek
anchorage and then went along the ICW to the Neuse river. In the Neuse we
found tons of dead fish floating and stinking. It's terrible. I guess
there's too much nitrogen or not enough O2 for them or something. We
motored to Blackbeards and Connie was there to help us dock. It is good
to see old friends again for happy hour here and tomorrow I'll start
working on the car.
The first thing we did when we arrived was to take showers and now I'm
writing this blog from the Blackbeards club house while Connie and Hannah
are cooking something good for everyone.
We are here at the dock for a week before hauling out and Zimmerman's next
week.
We are worried about hurricane Lee that is out in the Atlantic building to
a cat 4-5. And just like 23 years ago we are running north from a
Hurricane. last time the outer bands were chasing us all the way to the
Chesapeake and we had to weather a couple severe thunderstorms in the
rivers of the ICW heading out from Beaufort, but we made it to Soloman's
island where my youngest daughter was born there. We dragged twice on the
way north, once in Beaufort with 40-50 mph winds and again in the Neuse
with even more. We stayed in the outer bands just on the edge of the
storm till it finally moved off shore. I am not not not hoping for a
repeat of 23 years ago.
They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat! Peace everyone!
The videos are coming! please like and subscribe to our youtube, and our
patreon channels! The links are on the front page of the web site on the
left hand side or on the links page.
Cao for now folks!