Keene Sailing

Tuesday Nov 20, 2012

We stayed much longer in Oriental than planned. A high pressure system and a cold front stayed offshore and created a Nor’easter that would not go away. While in a protected marina we had 30 plus wind gusts, we didn’t want to take a chance on getting caught up some creek without a paddle! We got underway in the morning around 8:45; it was very foggy. We put up sails in 15 knots of north breeze pushing Shadowfax to her hull speed, we made it to Morehead City before lunch time and decided to go as far as we could. Not much in the way of marinas or anchoring on Bogie Sound past Morehead City, we picked a town called Swansboro. We arrived around 4 and were about to anchor but decided to take a slip at the local marina, Caspers. Nice town lots of small shops, they had already started decorating for Christmas. Since we splurged on the slip Virginia made a great meal on the boat. Tomorrow we will be getting close to Wilmington, maybe Wrightsville Beach. There are lots of obstacles to screw up the schedule: Camp Lejune firing range (sometime they close the ICW), 2 bridges that open on the hour and won’t wait, and lots of shoaling might have to wait for high tide in some places.