Category: Sailing

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy turkey day from Swansboro, NC. We set sail at twilight this morning and had a good day – we made it South about fifty five miles down the ICW from Oriental to a nice anchorage here in Swansboro.

There were a few crazy people on the water today one that no matter how much we tried to stay away from him he seemed to try to crash into us constantly. The crazy person finally took a different route. All in all it was a fine day, sunny and warm for the most part.

The anchorage we are in is a river mouth that leads to and from the ICW and the current here is super strong and when anchoring one must use two anchors… One is dropped from the bow and an over abundant amount of chain and line is set, then one must drop an anchor off the stern of the boat but still coming through at the bow and then pull the boat forward using the first anchor to set the second. This creates a one hundred eight degree split between the two anchors – so when the tide that moves at six knots, or better, switches if one anchor cuts loose when the current switches and is moving the opposite direction the other is still holding strong. This is called anchoring Bohemian style. There are three boats behind us that would not listen to the advice and I am setting an alarm so when the tide switches I can see where they go when their anchor slips and does not reset… Hopefully not into me but I have my super loud fog horn ready!

Well Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy this funny video… lol

Wolfbernz

Atlantic ICW Sailing

So We Are In Oriental NC.

Post author By Wolfbernz
Post date November 23, 2011
No Comments on So We Are In Oriental NC.

We never made it out of this area…We were going to leave at first light and just keep going but a slip on the free dock was available so we stayed.

I am glad we did this is a wonderful town, very boater friendly. Some much needed repair was done along with an oil change for the engine, it was a simple chore we had it done in a half hour.

The repair was to the front bow rail, it was broken at the base and there was no way to refasten it. Not being at home at the shop where I could just fabricate the pieces I needed it was off to the local store to find a piece of stainless and hope I could do something with it.

Trina was at a local hardware and it just so happened the lady’s husband was a fabricator, what luck right! So I made a cardboard template and not only had the rail fixed but now the anchor has a great place to tie into also. Should have taken a couple photos but maybe at the next stop – we leave at first light in the morning.

It has been a nice couple days this is a must stop if you are in the area.
Want to see the area check out the town dock webcam we are the boat on the right side if you look at today’s photos.

Have a great Thanksgiving,
Wolfbernz

Tags ICW, Sailing

New post Sailing Top Sites Tuesday

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

We left the anchorage at Bear Creek at dawn and headed south it was a nice morning we even saw a deer crossing the river. I never thought they could swim so fast!

We did not get far we were in need of some fuel and there was a marina very close to the ICW, easy access so we pulled in it was only about eleven o’clock in the morning. I asked how much to get a slip for the rest of the day and we would leave tomorrow… Come to find out it was a great deal if you get a slip you get a discount on fuel and the pump station was free. They had a loaner car to take to town, hot showers, a swimming pool, laundry and happy hour from five to… all for thirty six bucks plus fuel. Well that was a no brainier – we stayed the day and left Monday morning early after a good shower and coffee of course.

It was a beautiful morning! We were able to sail a good portion of the day and at one point a dolphin jumped so close to me at the helm I could have pet him, it scared the be-Jesus out of me…lol
so we made our way down the coast to a little town called Oriental in North Carolina. It’s a cute town from what I have seen just before dark.

This brings me to my first thought, there is a marine consignment shop here and we need butt cushions. I am not sure I want a used one just the thought kinda make me -well, you get the idea. So I am going to the West Marine store and purchase a couple new ones I think this is best.

My second thought is where is this recession? There have been so many super expensive yachts that have one thousand gallon fuel tanks and have full time captains that are paid well. They fly down the inter coastal waterway like there is no tomorrow burning two hundred gallons or more of fuel each day. It’s just incredible to think of the cost just so their boat can be in warm water in case they want to entertain… Really? I guess we will stick to sailing our boat down the coast, the wind is free and I use an electric motor on the dinghy that I charge with a solar panel all day long or until I need to use it.

We leave for Morehead City in the morning early so I will let you all know how that goes, we are trying to beat the cold front that is coming in.

Have a great Tuesday!
Wolfbernz

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Tags Sailing, Top Sites Tuesday Meme

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

It has been tough at times on the water, we got beat up pretty good the other day – there were thirty five knot winds and we were going to weather… Cold and wet.

This brings me to my first thought today. I woke up to a warm and cozy, quiet marina anchorage… Looked out the window at the nice waterfront of downtown Norfolk and the oldest naval hospital in the US in town of Portsmouth Virginia. I didn’t want to even get up after yesterday’s dodging ships and naval vessels trying to get where we are now. But to no avail, it was time to get up and make the decision of the day, do we stay or go… Next stop is about forty or fifty miles from here depending if we go through the Dismal Swamp or the Virginia Cut, the fast route that is more developed.

My second though is Trina and I have had some fun doing the history that is abundant in the Chesapeake and the ICW. We have had the fun of visiting the river that leads all the way to Washington DC and walked the roads of old Virginia that had homes circa the seventeen hundreds. We crossed the area that the big water battle between the Monitor and Merrimac was fought in the civil war. I am enjoying the fun of seeing these areas. I did not understand some of the history of this area until I came out to the water and started this trip – for some reason it all just started making sense.

I have missed a few days in posting but that’s the way it goes sometimes, all has been pretty good out here. We have been lucky and made some good decisions that have made some of the last crossings very nice… Except when coming into Hampton Roads at night that was a bit difficult to navigate with all the ship channels, flashing buoys and Trina telling me to “head more to the flashing red buoy” from down below when I could see fifteen of them… Yikes – That’s not what I really said, LOL it was more like “Which damn red buoy and what are it’s signals?” Each buoy has it’s own signal – flash one time every three seconds or flash three times every five seconds and so on.

I know it sounds like we aren’t working but sometimes I could use a good day at work to get some rest, LOL

So We are headed South as I publish this post and if you want to make my day just push the make me number one button below.

Wolfbernz

Tags ICW, Sailing, Traveling

Atlantic ICW Chesapeake Bay New post Sailing Vacation

Crisfield Maryland to Deltaville Virgina

Post author By Wolfbernz
Post date November 11, 2011
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So it is day four and so far all is well. We gassed up last night as we pulled in and the guy at the marina gas dock was so cool he took our trash and let us leave the sailboat and run to the store for some bread and a few things we needed. Trina got to make her *must-stop* at the liquor store for some red wine and some whiskey in case it gets too cold it does take the edge off…LOL

We had anchored overnight and then we left at first light.

This was right before dark

I had checked the weather and it said windy and rain. Wind gusts later in the afternoon to thirty knots, I was cool with that, it’s a sailboat nothing better than to turn that motor off and watch her go.

We were really happy with the way she handled the weather when it got super windy. We hit a few sevens and a few eight knots at times – I had no idea she could sail as fast and flat as she did.

It was an overcast day but it seems as though most perfect wind days here are. About half the way here it started to rain so I asked Trina to go down below and just watch the charts for obstructions and let me know if I get off course – no sense in us both getting wet. I had my foul weather gear on and when it finally stopped raining the wind switched for about five minutes and caused me to jibe the boat the wrong direction with a small knock down at the same time. So I was pulling ropes and trying to maintain as Trina came up to lend a hand. We got her back under control but by this time the wind and swells were beginning to crash over the boat. We rolled up the foresail and just used the main…

Trina asked if I had had enough for the day and we could head due west and hide in a small cove. I agreed I had enough. This was a great decision as the wind increased to thirty knots and the swells were breaking over the boat. One covered the whole boat as it went by. We had about two hours to go and we would be in safe harbor.

The hardest part was visibility, it was about a half mile so finding markers was difficult. As we made one of our last turns to starboard we dropped sails and started the motor.

The approach to this harbor was one I was glad to get into as the sun was setting because it looks as though you would beach the boat but you make a hard to port turn at last minute and then carefully follow the markers into the creek and then the marina, very shallow I might add, don’t miss it’s one foot deep on both sides and shoaling.

So we made it in and dropped anchor, we were not the only cruisers that came in so one was giving hand signals as to the best spot. I do love the camaraderie between sail-boaters. So we dropped anchor, I watched to make sure we were good as Trina started hot coffee and dinner. The water makes me Starvingly hungry!

It all looked great so we started to settle in but with the wind so strong we do what is called
“anchor watch”. I usually take late watch… Trina came and got me and said I think we drug anchor but she grabbed so we are ok don’t panic. I agreed we had slipped and we needed to pull the anchor and re drop it… Fun to do in thirty knots with gusts to whatever.

So we pulled up and went back and dropped the anchor and did it over again low and behold the damn thing just bounced across the bottom and didn’t grab and we were blown down back into the channel. So we pulled the anchor and pulled up into the wind in the right spot one more time, we were both frozen by now – we were in our jammies – I yelled “drop it and let it all go out as fast as you can and do twice the line we should have out.” Trina was a champ did exactly as I needed and the anchor just laid in place as we drifted away and then I said “cleat it off there is enough wind she is going to yank and pull us around so hold on”, sure enough it worked she didn’t drag a bit grabbed and pulled us around.

Usually one lays a six to one but I wasn’t doing this again so I did twelve to one on the line and I am so glad it blew so hard last night the boat was almost on it’s side at times when she swung around. Trina marked our spot on the GPS chart and used it to make sure we didn’t move and I took visuals of what was around us to make sure too. I got up a few times in the night and she had not moved a bit so we were both very happy campers – the heater going, full bellies, and knowing we were going to sleep in due to high winds the next day.

So at the time of this post we will be hanging out here today 11/11/11 and doing a few repairs from wind damage and will head out tomorrow at first light for the ICW. This is a nice place to be in a bad northwest it is out of the swell and with the sun shining it isn’t very cold unless you go out into the wind.

Wolfbernz
On the boat with no name!
Any Ideas what to name it? leave it in the comments.