Tuesday, 3/29

Masonboro and Wilmington

One reason for me to visit here was to see the battleship 'North Carolina' that was turned into a memorial/museum after the ship was decommissioned. I got a lift from Dave into town and to the ship early in the morning to beat the crowds, and I'm glad I did.



When I got there it was still pretty empty, but by the time I left 3 hours later there were lines everywhere.



The ship is very nicely preserved and visitors have access to a lot of the spaces, including the engine rooms, which I really appreciated. There also were many signs and posters explaining things and adding crew memories and stories, which added to the ambiance nicely. The ship is almost 80 years old.



Inside a gun turret - each shell was propelled by four bags of powder. The shell is inside the barrel at this point. Notice the 'stick men' the curators put in so you can see how the crew worked the guns.




The main conning tower entrance. This along with the gun turrets is the most heavily armored part of the ship - notice the door and wall thickness.



The rudder actuators. Almost like the Caprice. Well, maybe a touch heavier. Two hydraulic rams would turn the rudder axle.



The ship had its own beautifully equipped machine shop. They could and would repair all they could at sea,



One of the targeting computers. Estimated to be one thousands as powerful as your old ipod.



Last not least, shell storage inside the turret. The whole multi story structure with the heavy guns on top is called the turret, and everything is inside its armored walls. Notice the curved gap in the floor? The left side would rotate as the ship turned its guns, while the right part is the ship itself.

There's a watertaxi shuttle between the riverbanks - even though the ship is right across the downtown area of Wilmington, there's no bridge close, and even the ones that are have no pedestrian walkways.
I walked the pretty waterfront and then had some lunch before taking an Uber taxi back to Masonboro.
Dave was very kind to give me a lift both to a propane refill place and to a food lion for me to get new provisions. I decided to stay another night because the people are so nice here. Dave explained to me how to find and harvest oysters, of which there are plenty on the other side of the canal. I rowed across and, wading through the sticky mud, found indeed a nice number of them. The, after cleaning them, I learned how to open them with a knife (and a good glove!).

Eventually I broke my knife. The beasts hold their shells together quite tenaciously, and I can't blame them. My neighbors told me that here they usually don't bother with opening them, but just put them on the grill for 5 minutes. After that the oysters are done and open by themselves,

Wednesday, 3/30

Masonboro

I had gotten emails about some problems with the program I'm working on at my real job (I still have one) and spent a bit of time investigating the situation. It was a good day to hang out in the marina because the wind was blowing rather briskly and cold from the N. I'm a fair weather sailor when possible, and decided to wait and see how things developed.
I met Jimmy again and he suggested he'd give me a ride to the gas station to get diesel in my jerry cans instead of having to dock at a marina again for fuel. I decided to treat him to lunch but instead, when we got our order in at Chick-Fil-A he ended up thrusting his money at the cashier to treat me instead... He turned out to be 71 years old - I would have guessed him 10 years younger. By the time we got back to the marina the wind was still blowing and I decided to work some more and spend a third night here....

Thursday, 3/31

Masonboro to Carolina Beach State Park



I figured out the problem at work and sent emails detailing a solution, and then rowed across the waterway to collect more oysters. I got a taste for them now, I collected a good three dozen of them this time. They grow most where the mud is worst, unfortunately, I ended up crawling around a few times when I was almost stuck in the mud. I had a quick lunch and then decided to leave and head south a little. Dave and his deckhand helped me to get out of the marina and I let a big tug pass me before following him south. It was good to see a big vessel ahead, since where he went I felt confident I could follow. After passing Carolina Beach inlet the current against me became surprisingly strong, with up to 2.5 knots in the cut. Caprice was going through the water at 5.5 knots, but the GPS speed was only 3 knots.

Some fishing boat appeared to have met its fate here not very long ago, it's not marked on my charts...

I called the little state marina in the park and asked if I could enter, and if they would help me dock. A lady called Jeanie graciously came out of their office and took my lines.
The weather was rapidly changing from OK to rainy, but after a short break I headed into the park with insect repellent and a rain poncho (which I ended putting on and off about a dozen times). The park is really pretty and has lots of easy hiking paths.



I ended up walking over 4 miles before returning to the Caprice for an oyster feast. Grilling them is easy, safe and super tasty. I didn't even add any sauce - they have great flavor.



The rain intensified meanwhile and the prediction for tomorrow is worse. I think I might be stuck here another day...

Sunday, 3/27 2016
Cape Lookout to somewhere on the ICW just before Camp Lejeune


I had to leave Cape Lookout, and I'm glad it was a grey and gloomy day so it wasn't so hard to depart.
Leaving early in the morning allowed me to take advantage of the rising tide to get up the ocean inlet at Beaufort. A favorable wind was blowing too, so I used the jib while on the ocean to speed things up. Then next into the Bogue sound and from now on I will rarely have the chance to use the sails.
I quickly learned that the ICW is often really narrow (compared with the Erie Canal, for example) and demands constant attention. The autopilot is not terribly good to use here, but I have to so I don't exhaust myself. The day stayed grey and rainy, but I was comfortable enough under the bimini. However I didn't take any photos of the scenery because of that.
All was progressing well and I was close to entering the stretch of the ICW that goes through Camp Lejeune when I felt the now only to well known sensation of Caprice touching bottom once, and then, before I could turn her away. hitting bottom really hard, almost as hard as last year at Assateague island.
Only, this time there wasn't any surf to shake me loose, which had been my savior then. We had hit so hard that Caprice even had a tiny bit of heel. And the tide was receding, which meant that every moment lost was making getting away harder and harder.
And the chart plotter was showing me right in the center of the channel!
I first ran the engine hard in reverse, but there was no movement at all. A powerboat passed but didn't give me anything but curious looks. I tried to use the engine with his wake, but it wasn't enough still.
I poled out the boom and put my weight on it to try to heel the boat, but it didn't budge,
A sailboat passed and asked if I was stuck but then said they wouldn't have the engine power to free me.
My next best bet was to try to use an anchor to pull me off. But first I had to inflate the dinghy, put the seat into it, get the oars, and then put the anchor into the dinghy and try to row with it. All was clumsy and slow, and the current from the receding tide was becoming more and more of a problem to row. I wanted to put the anchor perpendicular to the bow to try to turn the Caprice, since I had learned that she can turn and that would allow me to run the engine in forward, when it has much more power than backwards. In hindsight I think it wasn't the best idea, and by the time I had the anchor out in position and started cranking the winches nothing came of it anymore.
Another big powerboat passed and I waved for help. They stopped but didn't dare come very close, so I took my ropes and rowed them over to them, with the current and now torrential rain adding to my troubles. The powerboat guys weren't very clever about where to attach the line and would likely ripped out their cleat by now. As the Caprice was clearly heeling by now I told them thanks and to stop trying, as I was clearly stuck too hard now.
I had to wait for the next high tide which would be about midnight and in the meantime hope that the boat wouldn't heel so much that it would take on water. I'm actually not sure if the Caprice would lay down like that, or come to rest on her side at an angle that would keep the rail over the water level. I hoped that the tide wouldn't be so low that it would come to that. Caprice heeled more and more so that walking on her was becoming a problem, and I just sat on the settee and waited. By 6PM the heel had gotten so high that I decided to brave the rain and row around her to take some photos.





Shortly after I returned on board the heel seemed to start to diminish again, and by 8PM the Caprice was more or less upright  for me to resume normal life and make some salad for dinner.
John from Aquinna had recommended I put my stern anchor out and I followed his advice and tightened both anchor lines as much as I could. I decided to wait before pulling more and before running the engine, and by 10PM the Caprice suddenly floated free.
I was happy until I realized that I wasn't quite able to leave yet. To pull either of the two anchors up proved to be impossible because the current put so much pressure on the boat that I wasn't able to pull them by hand. Unfortunately I hadn't thought of this else I would have put the anchors over the main winches first.
Unfortunately because of the dark I didn't quite realize how exactly the anchor lines lay. I let out more bow anchor, thinking that would allow me to pull me close to the stern anchor, but this made things even worse. The current was now hitting the Caprice broadside, and there was no way to move her, unless I wanted to cut one of the anchor lines. It took me a little to figure out what was going on, and I think the only way to explain is graphical:



This diagram shows the initial position of Caprice and the two anchor lines in blue. The current during ebb tide had been pushing her left, but then she was stuck on the mud anyways. When the tide changed, she floated free and the current pushed her back into the first position with both anchor lines holding her, but at great tension. Letting out the bow anchor more at this point made it worse by letting her swing to have even more pressure. At this point I had to stop and wait for the current to stop.
I needed time to consider my next move. Where would I go in the dark, when it's really not easy to find the channel? It would be the top of high tide, and running aground again would be a much worse problem since then I would be truly stuck for good. I decided to stay where I was and in the channel, and wake up early enough to avoid any collision with traffic.
It took another 4 hours, and at 2AM the current became weak enough for me to pull in the bow anchor gradually to just 75 feet, and then haul in the stern anchor until we were almost on top of it and able to pull it up. I had to hurry now to avoid hitting the shallow spot again and powered forward and past the bow anchor and eventually to a spot where I could drop the stern anchor again, but this time in line with the canal. And I put the lines over the winches to be able to haul them in the morning.


Monday, 3/28

Somewhere on the ICW to Masonboro



I went to sleep for 3 hours and was up again at 6:30. A fishing trawler appeared in the distance and I hurried to pull the anchors out and get out of his way, and headed towards Camp Lejeune. This huge military training camp frequently puts on live fire exercises and closes the ICW for traffic. I had even seen the warning flashers last night, and their observation tower in the distance.



It was a beautiful day but a little windy. I passed plenty vacation homes by the canal side, some rather extravagant:


I had a few close calls with getting into shallow water and because of high tide, was a bit nervous to get stuck again. I find the ocean and the Great Lakes much more relaxing, really.



There are plenty opening bridges on the ICW that a sailboat cannot pass until the bridge is open. Unlike on the Erie Canal, the bridges don't open anytime a boat comes, but have a schedule. Some of the bridge tenders are rather strict and will not wait for a boat even a minute. Some cruisers plan carefully ahead to time the bridges right, but I hadn't bothered with it, I didn't even know which bridges were ahead. One usually can see them several miles ahead and I simply either slowed down or sped up to time it right. I hadn't yet realized that even if I'm right next to the bridge, obviously waiting, some bridge tenders want to be called on the radio to ask for an opening anyways. I learned that today when I arrived at a bridge with 10 minutes to spare, and when the full hour passed he didn't open. I called him and he responded that I hadn't called him in time...
That unfortunately meant I had to wait for another half hour, and then subsequently missed an opening on the next bridge where it cost me an hour delay. Meanwhile I passed two reputedly difficult spots (Brown Inlet and Mason Inlet) and went really slow, now paranoid of running aground.
By the time I passed Wrightsville Bridge the sun was almost setting and the marina I had planned to stay at was still an hour away. Dave, the guy running the marina, was really helpful on the phone though and made sure to give me precise instructions and ensure somebody would be on the dock to help me in. All went well and I could finally have a nice warm freshwater shower...
I met an older guy called Jimmy in the lobby of the marina who was very curious about my boat. He turned out to be a Pearson Vanguard owner, which is a very similar boat to mine, just a little smaller. We talked forever and I invited him on to look around and he listed all the stuff he had done on his boat,
He left promising to give me a lift into Wilmington tomorrow and I finally could go to sleep...

Cape Lookout

I woke up from the waves and general noise the boat makes when it's being shaken. The wind had, as predicted, turned NE overnight and my spot at the bottom left that had been perfect was now exposed to the wind and waves. I decided to move to a better anchorage and tried to raise the anchor. That was a bit harder than expected because I didn't have my admiral with me to steer. When the wind is strong it's almost impossible to pull the anchor line in by hand, and I need the engine to push me toward it. Unfortunately, in strong wind the Caprice (like most boats) tends to 'sail at anchor' which means that she doesn't stay nicely in a straight line behind the anchor line. Rather, she moves to the right and forward until the line is almost at a 90 degree angle to the left, at which point she turns left, falls off and sails to the left until the line is 90 degrees to the right. Then she turns right and does the same thing in the opposite direction. This is pretty normal, in fact I read that even aircraft carriers do that in storms...
However, this means that I have to steer her forcefully exactly towards the anchor, and this requires fast and hard rudder movement. The problem is that I have to also be in front and pull the anchor line and bring the anchor up. One possible solution is to have crew (the autopilot is not nearly fast enough). Another is to lead the anchor line all the way back to the cockpit and steer and pull at the same time, which is as hard as it sounds. Last solution is to wait a bit for a lull in the wind, and that is what I did.
When the wind slowed a bit I put the engine in forward, steered towards the anchor and quickly ran forward and pulled the anchor up. While I did this the Caprice turned sharp left and almost ran onto the beach - I had anchored really close and the opposite wind had put me even closer to the beach - maybe 20 meters from shallow ground. I got back in time and steered across the bight.



Another sailboat had arrived overnight and was anchored close to the northern end but was still being shaken by the waves at his place. I followed the chart plotter carefully to get into a pool close to Shackleford Banks. I was suspicious of the map as the satellite photo showed this pool being impossible to reach. It was close to high tide and I carefully moved toward the spot, and promptly ran aground. I'm kind of getting used to this by now but it's a bad habit, and on a falling tide can be rather a problem. I was able to turn and run away from there and then moved closer to the beach at another spot that looked good on the satellite map. Notice that the map and the satellite are mismatched in this area. I wonder how old the map data is.



I finally had a nice big breakfast and relaxed a little before inflating the dinghy and rowing ashore.
There's a herd of wild horses here, and I finally got to see them - in fact I spotted probably a total of ten horses today.


I was able to get really close to one of the juveniles. They seem to be pretty fearless (or ignorant)


When the population grows too large the locals come over and make them into dog food.
Just kidding, they claim they make them into work horses. How to prove one way or the other?

I then walked along the beach for a few miles and found a few pretty shells. I wish my admiral was here - she'd like this place I'm sure.

Cape Lookout

Friday, March 25

The weather forecast for today hadn't been encouraging, and there was some occasional rain squall overnight. I had planned to stay here the day and, if the weather permitted, go for another walk.

Shortly after breakfast, the predicted thunderstorm approached:



A quick drenching and then it was already over and the day brightened. I decided to do some work on the computer and remained on board until lunch, which was a big salad.
It was pretty windy, but the temperatures were nice and the sun was out, so I rowed ashore and walked the other way past some derelict buildings and a pier, to the lighthouse. Along the way I tried to find oysters, John had told me about them being here and I wanted to eat some. But I'm clueless about where to look for them, and as I wanted to take a long walk I didn't want to have to think about keeping them fresh if I found any.

At the light house I finally started encountering other people and a very friendly volunteer manning the visitor center. The light house was unfortunately not open yet for the season, so I headed instead to the ocean beach and headed to the the actual Cape.


The area is gorgeous. I really enjoyed my beach walk, and found that the tip of the land doesn't quite match the satellite picture anymore. After 9.7 miles (!) of beach walking I completed the circle and returned to the Caprice.

The journey continues

Wednesday, March 16 2016

Finally I'm back on Caprice to continue the adventure. I hadn't planned to park her her for so long, and especially not in the water. I had nightmares that over the months the bilge pump would maybe clog or fail, and that the slowly dripping propeller shaft would eventually fill her with water.
Nothing like this happened, I'm happy to say.
I'm glad they have Uber in Greenville now, because that cost me $42 instead of $70-$80 to get to the marina. And the driver was fun to talk to.
Caprice was afloat and dry, and not even smelly as she often was before. But almost everywhere was more or less moldy. After over 4 months in the wet and humid climate, that was to be expected.
I spent the first two days cleaning and laundering pretty much everything on her. Oddly, the mold wasn't at all in the lockers and drawers. I had read that mold doesn't like light or air circulation, so I had expected the lockers to be worse. I'm not complaining.
After two days the Pyxis crew arrived to check out their boat, and they had an awful surprise. Their cockpit drain had clogged from pine needles and other debris, and caused the boat to take on a lot of water. Their carpet was soaked and ruined, and the floor under it was all wet. They were pretty upset, but after a few days of cleaning they found that the damage was mostly superficial. And they could smile again.


When I arrived the weather was beautiful, but now that I was ready it turned seriously cold and windy. Since the Pamlico, like all the rivers and sounds, can develop a nasty chop, I decided to wait it out and reprovision the boat and get a number of other items. I got a WIFI-extender antenna that worked really well int he marina and was even able to do some work via VPN. The marina lent me their beat up Nissan pickup truck to buy stuff in town and I filled up with food (but unfortunately, no chocolate).



After two days of no sun the batteries were running down (usually the solar panels keep her filled) and I plugged in shore power for the first time since being on the Hudson half a year ago. I found that the charger didn't work anymore, so I ended up having to run the engine a bit to recharge. I rarely plug into power because I'm a bit afraid of galvanic corrosion, and the solar panels almost always do enough. So I removed the charger and threw it out. I don't know if I'll get a new one.
Since I had time I took the chance to look at two boats Mark has for sale at the marina - a huge and expensive Irwin 43 (gorgeous really, but a huge step in size and money) and a much more modest Pearson 365. I love the Caprice and she's been good to me, but I sometimes lust after other boats. I hope she doesn't notice...



The Pearson was not exactly in sales display mode, but I got the idea how such a boat looks and feels.

Day 55 - Tuesday, March 22

Washington, NC to Neuse River




Top left is Washington, NC. Right Center is infamous Cape Hatteras. I'm not going near there.

Finally, almost a week after I arrived in North Carolina, the weather looked promising and I left on Tuesday morning. It took some effort to get out of the slip as the bottom was clearly gouging the mud, but with enough power I got clear and motored down the Pamlico. The engine ran like a champ.
It had been very cold overnight (below freezing) but it started to warm up fast and it was clam enough for me to do kitchen work in the cockpit. The beans were so good I immediately nuked some in the Microwave for lunch.



There's not much traffic on the rivers at this time, I saw one freighter and one crabber, and one sail boat going north. I actually enjoy the off-season solitude.


Later the wind started to pick up and got steadily stronger. Annoyingly it also was constantly right on the nose, even when I turned clockwise the wind also changed. By the late afternoon when I reached the Neuse River it was becoming clear that I couldn't reach my planned anchorage before the night. I changed course and found shelter in a beautiful creek on the north shore of the Neuse and spent a good calm night there at anchor.

Day 56 - Wednesday, March 23

Neuse River to Adams Creek



The weather forecast said that the wind wouldn't diminish any time soon, but I didn't want to wait here another two days. There was a small craft advisory until 11AM, so I decided to peek out at noon and see if I couldn't make it the 10 miles up the river and into the creek. It turned out much better than feared, and with the engine at 3000 RPMs (which is much more than I usually run her at) the Caprice powered through and got us to the anchorage in Adams Creek. The problem with the chop on the rivers and sound isn't so much the wave height - it was barely more than 2-3 feet, but the short
wavelength. This makes the boat hobbyhorse and slow down a lot and doesn't make a fun ride.
The wind is blowing here too, especially since the anchorage is pretty open to the SW, but the waves are no big deal.

When I arrived I had the whole place to myself, but shortly afterwards two other sailboats arrived from the south and anchored too, but a good distance away.

Day 57 - Thursday, March 24

Adams Creek to Cape Lookout



My original plan had been to rush south towards Wilmington to make up lost time. However, that's the wrong to cruise entirely! As luck had it, I texted John from last fall's meeting on the Jersey coast and it turned out he had himself just arrived back on his boat in New Bern. He recommended to me to do a detour to Cape Lookout, and I'm glad I took his advice.
The waves coming into the Atlantic at Beaufort were larger than on the Neuse, but at a much better wavelength, and the Caprice rode them out just fine. I suddenly heard a loud breathing sound behind me and there was a pod of 5-8 dolphins right next to the Caprice. Before I got the camera they realized I had no fish to offer though and went off to beg at one of the plenty fishermen in the inlet.
I  got the Jib unfurled to 70% to give some extra drive and stability, and arrived by early afternoon. The place was deserted and beautiful and I anchored at the very bottom corner of the bay.
I inflated the good old dinghy and rowed ashore and took a long walk first on the ocean side and then the inner side of this great place.



I read that it's considered the 'Bahamas of North Carolina' and is very popular in summer and on weekends, when sometimes a hundred boats congregate here. Not now.
Also, supposedly there's lots of turtles here, but so far I didn't see any. It might be too early in the season. And wild ponies, which I also didn't spot any.





I like it here!