It’s a new experience traveling the ICW at peak season. I’m an early riser and used to sliding out of the harbor past still dark boats. Hoisting anchor with other craft already silhouetted against a sky about to break into light is a new experience for me. Everyone is racing to be early at the crowded anchorages and docks at the next stopping point.
Dreameagle arrives today here in New Bern where I am moored to the Bridge Point Marina, a convenient spot 1.5 miles from the airport. That’s going to make those early departures much, much harder. I’ll be grateful for Strider’s relatively shallow draft that make finding an anchor berth easier.
The run from Belhaven to Oriental included two great sails. I did beat a larger Island Packet out of the harbor by about half a mile. They slowly gained on me close reaching and then close hauled but I was still first into the Goose Creek, even with having to slow down twice to reef the main, something the packet didn’t need to do with its larger and more powerful hull. Strider is no slouch.
I stopped at R. F. Mayo for fuel, ice, and shrimp. A boat was being unloaded and the processing area was in full production. This is the first time I have seen this window into past and it made this stop, one of my favorite places on the ICW, memorable.
The sails went up again in the Neuse River although the run into Oriental ended under power as the wind died. I anchored there with two inches of water under the keel when I let the chain out. My autopilot had broken while entering Goose Creek. This was strange because, the last time it failed, I was entering the creek from the other direction bound for Hobucken. Last time, I needed to find a machinist but this failure was simply the breakage of a shackle in the steering line from the screw pin backing out. I guess I forgot to put a safety wire on it. It’s easy to forget things in those working conditions as you can see from this video:
http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/videos/Lazarette.wmv
A walk up to the marine consignment shop an hour jury rigging head down and working at fingertip length restored the self steering function without having to disassemble enough to actually climb in again.
I enjoyed some social time two nights in a row, the benefit of traveling with the crowd and then ran up here to New Bern under power. This is a very nice little town and I can’t say enough good about the marina. It is well worth the easy walk across the bridge to town. The docks are new and well designed. Ice is free and the staff as helpful and friendly as I have found anywhere.
Got to go start restoring the boat from my bachelor ways and go shop for food.
Dreameagle arrives today here in New Bern where I am moored to the Bridge Point Marina, a convenient spot 1.5 miles from the airport. That’s going to make those early departures much, much harder. I’ll be grateful for Strider’s relatively shallow draft that make finding an anchor berth easier.
The run from Belhaven to Oriental included two great sails. I did beat a larger Island Packet out of the harbor by about half a mile. They slowly gained on me close reaching and then close hauled but I was still first into the Goose Creek, even with having to slow down twice to reef the main, something the packet didn’t need to do with its larger and more powerful hull. Strider is no slouch.
I stopped at R. F. Mayo for fuel, ice, and shrimp. A boat was being unloaded and the processing area was in full production. This is the first time I have seen this window into past and it made this stop, one of my favorite places on the ICW, memorable.
The sails went up again in the Neuse River although the run into Oriental ended under power as the wind died. I anchored there with two inches of water under the keel when I let the chain out. My autopilot had broken while entering Goose Creek. This was strange because, the last time it failed, I was entering the creek from the other direction bound for Hobucken. Last time, I needed to find a machinist but this failure was simply the breakage of a shackle in the steering line from the screw pin backing out. I guess I forgot to put a safety wire on it. It’s easy to forget things in those working conditions as you can see from this video:
http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/videos/Lazarette.wmv
A walk up to the marine consignment shop an hour jury rigging head down and working at fingertip length restored the self steering function without having to disassemble enough to actually climb in again.
I enjoyed some social time two nights in a row, the benefit of traveling with the crowd and then ran up here to New Bern under power. This is a very nice little town and I can’t say enough good about the marina. It is well worth the easy walk across the bridge to town. The docks are new and well designed. Ice is free and the staff as helpful and friendly as I have found anywhere.
Got to go start restoring the boat from my bachelor ways and go shop for food.
