A large Hunter pulled into Mayo’s just before sunset. I took their lines and they told me they were going to try and do 80 miles the next day to Coinjock as he had to go back to work. I was woken by the prop sound of a boat going by at 4:30 and looked out to see a Hunter. When I looked down the dock at dawn, the first Hunter was still there but left as I was having breakfast. There are now two boats ahead of me that I know of.
Now that I’ve lost my chance to get the “First Boat North” tee shirt, I figured I’d do a little cruising. This decision was made easier by the thought of being tied up the free docks in Washington for the very potent looking thunderstorms on the radar and in the forecasts.
I spent the time running down the Goose Creek getting my autopilot readjusted. It’s a hybrid in which a tiller pilot tweaks the wind vane linkage and it takes quite a bit of tweaking of the lines on initial assembly (or re-assembly in this case) to get it so it doesn’t hunt and has equal turning ability in both directions. That done, I hoisted sail, set the wind vane, and headed off on a reach up the Pamlico.
The fetch was sufficient to create enough of a sea that standing at the mast coiling down with the boat moving under me brought back memories of the sea that seem as distant now as If I’d spent the past three months in Arizona. Heading towards a new place after weeks of retracing the waterway made it a wonderful moment even under overcast skies.
It was just a tease though. Not half an hour after I got the sails up, the wind died. It was still a long and pleasant power run up to the Washington, NC. I passed the potash mine and processing plants at Aurora, the largest combined mine and processing facility in the world. The scale of the facility is amazing to see and Google Earth reveals it to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
I anchored briefly in Washington to get organized for docking and then tied up for dinner. No well stocked stores in walking distance but I was able to buy coffee at a gourmet shop so I’m good. I’ve had dinner and breakfast ashore and am waiting out the huge line of thunderstorms that seem to be fizzling.
I’m going to check out the NC Estuarium museum Shoaldrafter mentioned and then assess. Steady rain is predicted for tomorrow but with wind in the right direction. I may put on the foul weather gear and see how far I can get. It’s going to get much colder the next day and the wind will be turning against me. I want to get positioned for the long run up to Coinjock.
Now that I’ve lost my chance to get the “First Boat North” tee shirt, I figured I’d do a little cruising. This decision was made easier by the thought of being tied up the free docks in Washington for the very potent looking thunderstorms on the radar and in the forecasts.
I spent the time running down the Goose Creek getting my autopilot readjusted. It’s a hybrid in which a tiller pilot tweaks the wind vane linkage and it takes quite a bit of tweaking of the lines on initial assembly (or re-assembly in this case) to get it so it doesn’t hunt and has equal turning ability in both directions. That done, I hoisted sail, set the wind vane, and headed off on a reach up the Pamlico.
The fetch was sufficient to create enough of a sea that standing at the mast coiling down with the boat moving under me brought back memories of the sea that seem as distant now as If I’d spent the past three months in Arizona. Heading towards a new place after weeks of retracing the waterway made it a wonderful moment even under overcast skies.
It was just a tease though. Not half an hour after I got the sails up, the wind died. It was still a long and pleasant power run up to the Washington, NC. I passed the potash mine and processing plants at Aurora, the largest combined mine and processing facility in the world. The scale of the facility is amazing to see and Google Earth reveals it to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
I anchored briefly in Washington to get organized for docking and then tied up for dinner. No well stocked stores in walking distance but I was able to buy coffee at a gourmet shop so I’m good. I’ve had dinner and breakfast ashore and am waiting out the huge line of thunderstorms that seem to be fizzling.
I’m going to check out the NC Estuarium museum Shoaldrafter mentioned and then assess. Steady rain is predicted for tomorrow but with wind in the right direction. I may put on the foul weather gear and see how far I can get. It’s going to get much colder the next day and the wind will be turning against me. I want to get positioned for the long run up to Coinjock.
