Belhaven

Saturday June 8, 2013


We were back in the water at Bock by 9:00 AM. All I had to do was pay the bill and we were on our way.  We were tied to an old dock and Deidre and I reduced the lines down to two as we prepared to leave. I flipped off the bow and ran to the Pilothouse, Deidre flipped off the stern - but it did not flip! We were lose except that the stern line had jammed in a gap in the old lumber dock. There was lots of wind (left over from the day before) and quite a bit of current. This is not a nice situation and it took some scrambling to resolve..

The rest of the day was uneventful. We had wind and tide on our stern all day and averaged about 7.5 kts over 52 miles. We anchored in a very well protected harbor at Belhaven. As soon as we stopped the humidity hit us. At one point I went out the back door and let in a million insects. We attacked them with spray and in the AM we had so many bodies on the floor Deidre had to vacuum.

We were overtaken by a beautiful 54' Selene.

Selene

Bayliner just like our old boat

Bock Marine - NOT My Favorite Place! (Well maybe!)

Wednesday June 5, 2013
34 49.432 N
76 41.373 W

It's 1:30 PM, we just tied up at Bock, waiting fr the travel lift to pull us out. I employed a diver to clean and inspect the hull in Charleston and he reported that Tide Hiker had a big "blister" on the port stabilizer. So we have decided to pull in here to have it investigated. Not that Bock is my favorite place - quite the contrary - but sometimes "the devil you know etc..."

The black is stinking slimy mud

This morning we were up at 6 AM and underway 20 minutes later. We had arranged a "guaranteed" opening of the Onslow bridge at 7 AM and it was about 3 miles away. The anchor came up OK, but the chain was as filthy as I have ever seen. What a mess. I just could not put it into the locker the way it arrived and the dlay hosing it down was threatening the bridge schedule. But we made it OK and so made an early appearance here at Bock

On the way we called some friends who were renovating a boat in this area and they plan to pop in this afternoon which we be some compensation. At the moment we are just waiting for the crane.

We were hoisted out at 2:30 PM and after a quick inspection decided to stay and get the fin repaired. There are several large "bubbles" on the fin where the fiberglass has de-laminated. The question now is "Can we get out of here quickly so we can maintain our schedule to the wedding in Chicago?"

Thursday June 6, 2013

The fin was removed first thing this morning and taken to the fiberglass shop. It is badly de-laminated. The "fiberglassman" has removed several large chunks of the surface. he says it has been repaired before - but not well. The yard is doing a great job getting this organized - I am impressed.

The fin coming off

The weather is adding another complication. Tropical Storm ANDREA has formed in the Gulf and is heading this way with heavy rain and 45 MPH wind. It should arrive here tomorrow evening, and so to some extent I am glad we are not on the water.

Deidre and I popped in on the glass man this afternoon. he had finished the first stage of the repair. he will let it "cure" tonight and complete the repair in the AM.

The de-lamination

Friday June 7, 2013

If you look carefully, the yellow bit will go right over us tomorrow night.

It rained pretty hard last night and its very windy today. I suspect we are seeing gusts over 50 MPH. It's noisy in here with all the yacht rigging 'singing" in the wind. Work in the yard is pretty much at a standstill, but the stabilizer fin did come back from the yard and is now installed. My opinion of BOCK MARINE has improved a lot. The plan is to put us back in the water tomorrow morning.

Mile Hammock

June 4, 2013
34 33 117 N
77 19 512 W

Back in October 2012 when we were making our way south thru the North Carolina ICW I vowed that from that point on I would never travel this section of the ICW again. But here we are again. It was just too rough to "go outside" this morning so we set off up the ICW and i got pissed off all over again.

"Look at me" house on the ICW

There has been a lot of progress over the last 10 years replacing opening bridges with high bridges, but not so much in NC. Between Wrightsville Beach and Beaufort there are still 4 opening bridges. To make matters worse, the powers to be in North Carolina have decided that car traffic has priority over water traffic (at least the ones that need the bridges to be opened) and so the bridge openings are restricted to essentially once per hour. Plus the bridge in the camp LeJeune is closed when the marines are playing with live ammo. We never made it thru the LeJeune bridge because the marines are on exercise and the bridge was "closed".

Osprey landing "just over there"

So we "gave up" and have anchored in dredged basin near the marine base - it was dredged in WW2 to be used to practice amphibious operations.We are told that one can typically hear the noise of the war games - in fact an "Osprey" just flew over the boat and landed in the bush 1/4 mile away. Interesting. Maybe we won't have to watch TV tonight!

I just called the Marine HQ about bridge opening tomorrow and they did not seem to be quite sure. And here I thought that after "sequestration" they could not afford any bullets.

Here is a video for those who can open it.

Wrightsville Beach, NC

Monday June 3, 2013
34 12.467 N
77 47.957 W

Easy day today. We were tired after 11 hours "at sea" yesterday so enjoyed a solid night's sleep last night with the AC  blasting. We were under way by 10.00 AM and anchored here by 1:45 PM. Only about 20 miles, all on the cape Fear River and the ICW. We are "staging" ourselves here because there is a reliable opening to the Atlantic where we can start our trip to Beaufort NC tomorrow, weather permitting.

The weather today is breezy with a lot of thunder storms around. It started to rain just as we were dropping the anchor. Its a great anchorage, well protected and close to downtown. We have a friend driving over to meet us for dinner. He is a fun guy and owns a boat like Tide Hiker and has installed a solar power system that I would like to emulate before we head out into the Caribbean.

Just after we settled in a beautiful Selene 54' pulled in and anchored behind us. We were meeting a friend here for dinner so we launched the dinghy and went ashore. Dinner was good! We have decided we like this anchorage and will return one day for a longer stay.

Snow's Cut

Nice Selene 54 behind us

I have also added a short video for those who can view them.

South Port on the Cape Fear River

Sunday June 2nd, 2013
33 55.831 N
77 59.800 W

Big day today, 81 miles. We were up at 5:30  AM and underway by 6:05 AM. The forecast had deteriorated a bit overnight but is still seemed OK - winds 10/15 with gusts up to 20, waves 3' to 4' - so we headed out the entrance. We had a strong tide current and hit 9 knots on the way out.

Our evening at anchor had been fine. The anchor took hold first try and never moved..The anchorage was protected from the wind, but the interesting issue was the current that could run up to 2 1/2 knots, and reversed every 6 hours or so. Shortly after anchoring I could hear the props spinning in the current. Apparently, spinning like that is not good for the transmission so I spent 5 minutes in the ER and was able to jam both shafts with a couple of screwdrivers. (I left a lot of notes for the morning to take them out!). We were joined by a yacht later in the evening.

This was our first night on anchor for some time and it was really pleasant and we slept like logs. In Charleston I had "installed" 4 cheap solar lights on the boat deck. They only cost a few bucks each but are perfect for lighting the boat at anchor. They soak up the sun's rays all day and glow all night, all for about $5 each at Walmart. (We do have an anchor light but you can never have too many lights at night!)

The yacht pulled out about 30 minutes ahead of us. After we cleared the last light I called them on the radio and we had a chat. About this time Deidre got sick. The sea was not that rough but it was on our stern quarter and definitely "awkward". I felt so bad for her. She could not get comfortable.

We arrived at the Cape Fear light right on time at 4;00 PM and we were tied up in the marina by 5 PM. We were 'expected" to weave in and out and then back Tide Hiker into the slip in pretty tight quarters.

Nice parking job

On the move again!

Wynyah Bay (Near Georgetown, SC)
33 15.504 N
79 14.988 W

Leaving IOP

Low tide was at 9:00 AM and the low was below mean low tide, so we decided to delay our departure until 10:00 AM. We did not have a long run planned so the decision created no stress. Ky and Ryan visited at about 9:45 AM to see us off and shed a few tears. We pulled out right at 10:00 AM and enjoyed some nice farewells from other boats at the marina. We were pleased to be on our way, but obviously quite sad to leave Ky and Ryan and little Mason!

We are now anchored in Wynyah Bay, about 5 miles from the Atlantic. The weather is great with 10 MPH wind from the south. If the wind comes up during the night we are sheltered by Cat Island. The current in and out of here is pretty strong (up to 2.6 kts) so that is more to think about than the wind. We plan to catch the tide in the AM and make a straight line to the Cape Fear River entrance, about 80 miles away. We will be up early.

Nordhavn 46

The trip was pretty uneventful. We enjoyed tidal current for 75% of the time so our speed was pretty good. We caught up with a Nordhavn 46' and had a bit of a chat but they did not want to go outside with us. There are a lot of horse flies in this area so after a while we retreated into the pilot house.

Last Week at IOP

I am starting a new page because the technology of the last page is acting up and has become too frustrating.

Saturday May 25, 2013

Today we took Ryan's Mum and Dad, Kylie, Ryan and mason on a day cruise. We went about 10 miles North up the ICW and then down a creek towards the Atlantic, where we anchored and had lunch. It was a nice day but a bit cool and a bit breezy. Everyone seemed to have a good time, especially Mason who slept, pooped and was fed. I think he will make a good sailor.

Gene at the wheel

Mason taking a break in the clothes basket

The girls taking a break on the boat deck

Sunday May 26, 2013

This morning I took the dinghy for a run just to clear its throat before storing it back on deck. After 10 minutes or so the motor started a hell of a racket that really sounded bad. I throttled back and into neutral but the noise persisted. I was a couple of miles from the boat so too far to row and thus I just had to run daudle back at idle speed.

That afternoon we were invited to a Memorial day party at the taylors so I twisted Ryan's arm and we recovered the dinghy and took it with us to the Taylors. Its great to have a mechanic in the family.

The party was fun - reminds me of Blackman Sunday diners in the old days,with lots of family and the kids running around, minus the water pistols. The party was at Uncle Bill's - this guy has more toys than any one.

Monday May 27, 2013

Gene called me with the good news that the outboard was fine,  the noise was caused by the zinc getting loose and hitting the prop. It was a new zinc, I had installed it finger tight, and forgotten to put a wrench on it before running. Oh well.

Another coat of varnish

Dinner Tuesday night at mark and Donna's. Always a good feed.

Tuesday May 28, 2013

Spent most of the day in the lazarette looking for a spare macerater for the head. Another coat of varnish. Now up to eight. Relaunched the dinghy.

Tuesday evening drinks and dinner on Bellaire. We decided to throw a casual "bon voyage" party on Friday evening for the people on the dock and friends.

Wednesday May 29, 2013

Kylie and Mason came over for pancake breakfast.
I borrowed her car and did some shopping.
The boys completed waxing and polishing Tide Hiker, and she looks great.
Lazeratte is done.
I have lots of EP work to do this afternoon

Dinner at Chris and Allison's tonight.

Thursday May 30, 2013

The crew waxing and polishing