Keene Sailing

Monday, Nov. 26 – Charleston to Jacksonville

We did 2 outside the ditch runs: we sailed from Georgetown to Charleston, we got a late start getting fuel then got into Charleston at night anchored on front of the Battery – beautiful spot, views of the bridges and downtown area. But it was pretty rollie all night, we left early and boy was it cold in the low 30s! Got to get to Florida. So we sailed about 25 miles offshore 28 hours later we made it to Jacksonville/St Johns River, we continued on our way to St Augustine to spend the night and probably the next day.

Friday, Nov. 23 – Calabash Creek to Georgetown, SC

We left on a falling tide, but it turned out it was in our face till almost noon. I thought, for sure, we would have to find an alternative anchorage to Georgetown because of the 1-1.5 knot loss to the tides. But at 4:30 we got a slip at The Boat Shed, not the best Georgetown Marina, but the only one that answered my call for a slip. Immediately after docking we hustled to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, turns out the walk to and from was well over a mile each way and it was dark on the return. The town has lots of old Victorian houses that are mostly restored but there were other areas that had been neglected. The Riverwalk was where all the waterfront restaurants were; we liked that area, but ate on the boat.

Not sure what we will do tomorrow, we can’t make Charlestown going down the ICW, but we could if we went “outside” in the ocean. Tomorrow the winds outside are still around 20 with 4-6 foot seas, the boat can easily handle that but can the crew…

Thursday, Nov. 22 – Thanksgiving

7:15 Start, big winds from the North, 25 plus, motor sailing with reefed headsail making 7 knots at 1800 rpm. No draw/swing bridges to deal with made good time to Cape Fear, no traffic on the river at all. Make Southport at 11:30 no issues, beautiful anchorage at Calabash Creek. We were about to have happy hour when a cruiser single-handing a smaller older boat ran aground. I watched for a while, gave him a call on VHF then jumped in the dinghy and went to help him get off the shoal. Success, now I can talk that shower, have happy hour get some sleep after a long day.

Wednesday, Nov. 21 – Swansboro to Wrightsville

Got an early start, motor sailed most of the day. No much to report, several places along the ICW we had Dolphins playing alongside, which was pretty cool. 3 bridges were a pain trying to time them, in all cases we failed and had to wait, not easy when you have 2-3 knots of current pushing the boat into the bridge, slow down too much and you have no steerage. After the 3^rd bridge we anchored in the town of Wrightsville, NC actually not far from Wilmington.

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.

Sunday Nov 18, 2012

We are at Oriental Harbor Marina  in Oriental NC getting ready to leave maybe Monday. The winds here are 15-20 but in Beaufort it was showing 40 knot gusts so we’ll wait here for a weather window. We were here about 10 years ago; we do like this little sailing town called the Sailing Capitol of North Carolina.

Saturday Nov 17

Oriental exploring the town

Friday Nov 16, 2012

Campbell Creek to Oriental

We anchored as close to the north shore of Campbell Creek that we could, that would offer protection from the north winds. It offered no protection from the east winds. All through the night the wind shifted back and forth from north to east. When blowing 20-25 from the north the row of pine trees blocked that wind, but as it shifted to east, the anchor chain would tighten up and the boat would swing hard into the wind.

This had to be the darkest place I can remember, there was a house about a mile away up the creek, with its lights a small dot to the west, other than that it was pitch dark. The little bit of a crescent moon was totally blocked by the overcast sky caused by this Nor’easter.

The run to Oriental would be fairly short, but we got underway around 8 a.m. sailing out of Goose Creek. There was plenty of wind, 20 plus out of the north. We cut through Goose Island canal and over to Bay River, where we put up sails and shut off the diesel. On a broad reach we were hitting hull speed. It was a fast but chilly sail. This was an absolutely beautiful day, clear crisp air, blue skies, big winds, first day for sunglasses since Monday. Once we hit the Neuse River we had the wind at our back, 1-3 foot following seas, with each wave the boat would accelerate past the hull speed, yahoo. Once we came into Oriental, our friends Dan and Melissa called (first cell reception since Elizabeth City), and said they had a slip available for us. So after getting fuel (17 gallons) we headed to the slip. We were greeted by the dockmaster who informed us that the slip we were trying to get into was too shallow for our keel.  He told us that the very first slip on the dock was available for a few days, and we could use that free of charge! This is the best marina in Oriental, private, not for transients like us. Of course we took it, headed for the showers, walked the town, met some nice people, had dinner at M&M’s restaurant, and had a very peaceful sleep.

Thursday Nov 15, 2012

Alligator River Pungo River canal to Campbell Creek

When we got up the water level was down about a foot. I was under the impression there was no tide back here, but there was definitely current down the canal as we motored the Alligator River Pungo River canal. The whole trip was pretty much uneventful. Once we hit the Pungo River those north winds were a blowing. We had to gibe several times to keep the sails full, as we were on a run most of the way. I set up 2 preventer lines attached to the boom that ran to the stanchion base next to the mast. When we gibed Virginia would center the main, turn on the auto-pilot, and hold the lazy preventer, then give the AP 20 degrees into the wind and over the boom and sail would go. In 10 knots of breeze a gibe is no big deal, in 20-25 it can bring down the mast if not done properly. We crossed the Pamlico River looking for Campbell Creek on our starboard side.  Once again the land had been clear cut; there were no trees on low lying spits of land unless you were far up the creek (what’s that about without a paddle).  We went west until the creek started turning north and went in as close to shore as we dared, the depth gauge showing 5 feet, the chart showing 4! We need 4 and a half. It turned out to be a real nice anchorage.  We had a great dinner and went to bed early.

Wednesday Nov 14, 2012

Elizabeth City to Alligator River canal

Finally having access to WiFi in Elizabeth City, I was able to get on Active Captain boating site to get some possible spots to anchor tomorrow. I did an estimate using 5, 6, or 7 knots, and figured we would be at the Alligator Marina around 2 p.m. under normal sailing.  I was looking for additional anchorages. I had read about some places at the bottom of the River, before the canal, that had glowing reviews.  I wrote down all that information. Bright and early we set out. It was blowing 15 out of the north, so I decided to reef the main sail and Genoa. It’s a good thing, because we would not see light wind for the rest of the day. We had gusts over 25; we were at or above hull speed (7 knots) all the way. We pasted the Alligator River Marina at 12:30, and at 2:30 we were past the spots I had researched on Active Captain. We saw no place to anchor that would give us protection from the wind.  Finally we were in the canal, and we knew we could not reach the end of it by night fall.   I picked up my cell phone and saw no service, Virginia’s phone same thing!   We dropped the sails. There were trees on both sides which would block the howling north wind, but along both banks were also tree stumps, and nasty looking logs and other things to snag an anchor or prop. Anchoring was out of the question here, so we just proceeded. Suddenly, and to our relief, on the starboard side we saw what appeared to be a concrete pier. The stumps and snags looked like they were cleared out.  We cautiously and slowly moved, watching the depth go from 12ft. to 5ft., this left us with 6 inches under the keel. We put all our bumpers out to protect us from the concrete, tied the boat securely fore and aft. For the first time I fired up the Honda generator, and we ran the electric heater to warm up the boat. It did a great job and when it ran out of fuel, we went to bed, secure from the wind, and safe from passing boats (there were only 3).

We have this pretty neat device called the Bullet, it amplifies WiFi so you can receive up to 8 miles away. Now I’m an x IT Geek so getting this thing set up should be a piece of cake, wrong! So starting in Deltaville, VA on Saturday it won’t work (screwed around for hours), then Sunday in Norfolk same problem – so one last try here on the Dismal swamp canal no Internet so I’m typing this on me iPhone. I have pictures if I can publish them on here. So much for trying to write this post with a smartphone, I need to get that Bullet replaced and a cheap way to access the Internet when WiFi is not available, any ideas?

So to bring the blog up to date after a cold night in Solomons we made great time to Deltaville we took a slip at Doziers Regatta Point and it was such a nice place. We needed fuel so that delayed our getting underway and we had winds out of the south and we’re heading south, we could have sailed but we would have tacked all the way and most likely would not get there till after dark. We got into Norfolk anchored at Hospital point, we enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the busy commercial port.

Monday Nov. 12 2012

We leave Hospital Point at 8:15 to make all the bridges, each one has different rules for requesting them to open, some open every hour others on demand, others you need to call on the phone or channel 13 on VHF radio. So we had to hurry up and wait at the final bridge before we got on the Dismal Swamp canal. The Dismal Swamp canal is the oldest continually operating man-made waterway in America, it opened in 1802. There are 2 locks on the canal, we locked through the Deep Creek at the north end with 2 other boats, they lined us along the wall with fenders protecting the boat and a bow and stern line to control the position of the boat.

Robert, the lockmaster closed the gate and then the water drained in and up we went. This guy is a legend in the boating community, so after the boats are up to the level to the canal, our lockmaster turned tour guide gave a 15 minute talk about the dismal swamp and life in general, what a character. So we go down the canal and stop at the Welcome center, which is also the visitors center for car traffic as the US Rt 17 parallels the canal. I’m sure for someone seeing the mast of sailboats right next to the hiway on a body of water maybe 60 feet wide might be a little startling. We had 5 boats that stayed the night by the visitors center, and once again my Bullet failed me.

Tuesday Nov 13, 2012

Rafted next to us was Ted on a 47 foot boat, single-handing his way to Mexico, he was a pretty fascinating person with many sea-stories to tell. We followed each other to Elizabeth city where he continued on to Albemarle Sound and beyond.  A major cold front moved in this morning bringing much colder temperatures and big winds from the north so we decided to hunker down for today and check out this old town. We got a free slip at the Mariners Marina, which is in the heart of the city, there are no services though. We hiked it 5 blocks for a 5 dollar shower, it felt wonderful, but the place was a bit run down as was most of the city. Maybe if it wasn’t such a crappy day the old art deco buildings and Victorian houses would dazzle us but they didn’t. We walked to the laundry-mate in the slummiest part of town and came back to the boat. The wind is howling and its about 48 outside mayhaps 60 in the cabin. I do have a little Honda generator but we decided to not use it today, we might change our minds tonite

Nov 8, 2012

After many false starts over the past 7 days tomorrow morning (unless hell freezes over) we will get underway to Solomon’s island and start our journey. The big winds from the Nor’Easter are gone now and the forecast calls for milder temperatures over the next few days at least till we can get to North Carolina. Since the last post, I have been busy mostly working on the cooling system for the diesel. All of that has been repaired and the 8hp outboard for the dinghy that our mechanic, Chuck, made like new again is hanging on the stern rail. I would have pictures of the new davits and dodger but a trip to get new tires for Virginia’s car took most of the day and when we got back it was dark (got to love daylight’s saving time).

Nov 9, 2012
Good North wind early in the morning, but as the day progressed we needed a little help from the engine to make it to Solomon’s Island. We got here around 4:00 picked up a mooring at Zahniser’s and walked around, everything closed at 4:30 so we did not get to see the store and other attractions but we did have a wonderful dinner.This is really a charming place I can see why so many sailors like to come here. By the way the new dinghy, repaired outboard and davits all worked perfectly.

Tomorrow we’ll try to make it to the Rappahanock River or Deltaville.

Slow Dancing leaving Holiday Hills

Nov 4. 2012

Still at the dock at Holiday Hills, we are at the mercy of Chuck, from Casio Rio Marine, who is repairing our 8hp dinghy outboard engine and is having problems getting parts. The other service provider we were waiting on, Chris Ford, came thru 2 days ago with a new Dodger. The dodger is a canvas cover that protects us from the cold and weather, it is in the front of the cockpit and has clear vinyl panels to see thru. Good job Chris. Yesterday I finally got the chartplotter/GPS hooked up and working. Now this may seem like a small project, and I thought so myself, but there are a total of 5 cables that need to be run, no big deal right, however they all have to run inside a 1 inch pipe that is the pedestal for the display. It took all day but is working flawlessly. The other big project was installing davits for the dinghy, which also took most of today, but that one is behind me now, sweet. Last projects that we have to finish before leaving is selling my car and finish getting everything stowed away. There is a Nor’easter a brewing that might be a problem Thursday, we will continue monitoring the situation.

Thursday Nov.1, 2012

After a wonderful retirement party my employer and customer threw for me last night, we spent the night off the boat at a friends house. Halloween, don’t you know! We did not dress up just watched the trick-or-treaters, then had a nice meal with our friends and went to bed early. We brought the last of the boat stuff we had stored down to the boat and today I’m looking for a places to put all this stuff we just had to have.

Monday, Oct. 29 2012

I woke up feeling a little guilty, this being the last 3 days of work before retirement; my iPhone is reporting a server needing attention, no reason not to get in the car and drive to Bethesda. But I know things are going to get far worse before the storm is over so I get up and checked dock lines again for the upteempth time. Around 9 the rain is now coming down very hard, this will continue all day and night, I don’t know the official rainfall for Sandy but I  would guess 4-6 inches. The wind started piping up to 20-30 knots most of the day, then starting around 7 PM we got huge gusts around 50 plus  hitting us on the beam. These gusts would heel the boat over (in the slip) 15 degrees, the doubled up lines kept us from smashing into the boat to our lee side. Dan and Melissa’s boat had a sail partially come unfurled and was flapping big time. I went down to help and by the time I got there 4 other dockmates were there to get that sail down. The wind shifted from directly on the bow, to the port beam, to dead astern as the hurricane came ashore around 8 PM and moved north. Around 11 PM the big wind gusts were finished, I was able to sleep.

Tuesday Oct, 30 2012

Well for the most part Sandy is history, we are seeing a bit of a tidal surge, the water level is 3 inches from being over the top of the dock at low tide! High tide at 6PM, we might be stuck here.

Friday, Oct. 26, 2012

Lots of activity today at the marina. Anyone with a motor boat or small sailboat are here to take their boat out of the water and store it on land before the arrival of Sandy. The weather is beautiful with no hint of the monster storm moving our way. Those of us who live on a boat are starting to take down the bimini and/or dodger (anything canvas), and doubling down on the dock lines.

I spent the day at the Department of Natural Resources getting the title and registration for our new dingy. The first attempt failed because Bob forgot to sign the form, and we did not get a rubbing of the registration number off the metal plate on the back of the boat. Yes, you read that sentence right, a rubbing with pencil and paper. So now I’m in front of the lady with my rubbing and I swear I’m not making this up, she took out a magnifying glass to look at it. She couldn’t make out one letter. For a few tense minutes I thought we would fail again but then she relented. Whew!

Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012

Another pretty day. All those boat owners who had to work Friday are here at the marina today to secure their vessels. We have run into everyone we haven’t seen all season. The happy result was 10 of us going out for drinks and dinner. A fun and relaxing evening with friends who we will miss sooo much. A big shout out to Jody who made us covers for our fenders. Thank you Jody and to all of you for treating Bob and I to dinner.

Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012

Today is cloudy with periodic gusts of wind. It looks stormy. No rain yet, that is suppose to start tonight. We had a leisurely breakfast. Bob is installing of new faucet in the head. Does anyone hear swear words? I’m reading and now updating this site. We are keeping a clear eye on the storms progress. Right now we’re warm and dry.

In less than 2 weeks from today I will retire after 40 years as a computer geek. Virginia retired over 2 weeks ago and is loving every minute of not commuting to DC on Metro. Now we are working like slaves getting our boat ready for the day we cast off lines from Holiday Hills and head south. With cold weather just around the corner and no heat aboard getting south to Florida via the ICW is priority number one. But we do want to enjoy our journey, there are many places we want to see, stay tuned and we will tell you about those places.

After selling our home of 28 years and all our stuff of 40 plus years, we moved aboard our 37 foot sailboat Shadowfax. Don’t get me wrong we love the boat but going from 2300 square feet to maybe 300 is a huge change. We still have 4 or 5 large boxes of stuff we thought we could not live without at a neighbor’s house but we are totally out of room to put another thing in a locker or under the V-berth or the quarterberth. Virginia purchased some space saving things, in the hanging closets she has hanging organizers to supplement the 4 tiny clothing drawers for t-shirts, socks, shorts. As it is now we have to have both winter and summer clothes, but once we got to the Bahamas we will dump the winter stuff.

More to come.