Oriental

We're tied up to the town dock, free for 48 hours, here in Oriental, North Carolina. (see http://towndock.net/harborcam) We spent the first night at the marina next door -- the town dock was full -- which was great because I could take a hot shower and hook up my heater.

The trip down the Neuse River yesterday was short, only about four hours, but really wet and cold. A cold front came through, and the heavy rain cut visibility down so much that I couldn't see the next marker -- it also got really cold. I had my iPhone in a plastic bag, but my fingers got so cold the touch screen stopped working. I had to stop about half way, take her out of gear, turn on the anchor light, go below, put on warmer clothing, and get my bearings.

I dried the iPhone, put it in a fresh plastic bag, and put on my wool mittens. That made all the difference, and the second half of the trip was actually pretty good even though it was directly into the wind and rain.

However, as I approached the harbor entrance, the engine began to cut out again. I'd actually gone over two weeks without changing a filter, including a lot of rough weather in the Chesapeake and during my grounding. The rough seas yesterday weren't bad, but they did kick up some spray and bounce us around a bit.

When the engine started to cut out, I was already committed and had to enter the harbor, so I throttled down to idle so she wouldn't die, left her in gear, quickly put up a small jib, and sailed into the narrow harbor. Luckily, I'd already dropped the main, and the winds were only around 10 knots, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

I sailed the 1,000 yards to the dock, furled the jib, took her out of gear, and coasted into the slip. I had enough power left to put her in reverse and stop her as a guy on the dock grabbed my bow line and helped me tie up.

I only had one spare filter left, so I ordered another four, along with two sets of spare belts. One of the boats on the town dock left this morning, so I changed the filter this morning and moved over to the free dock.

Dinghy watch:

Zoe and I walked down to the consignment shop this morning and looked around. They had a used Dyer sailing dinghy that wasn't in bad shape. It didn't have any sails, but the spars looked good, and the only damage was the rotten teak gunnels. I checked their web site and found that new ones sell for almost 4k, so I decided to make an offer. I ended up buying it for 300, no tax.

It fits on the foredeck, so I think it will be okay. I'm not sure I want to use it before I fix the gunnels, but it came with oars, so I might try it out just for fun at my next stop. I still have my inflatable, but will probably get rid of it once I get to Texas. I'd really prefer a hard dinghy, especially a sailing one, to an inflatable.

Trip watch:

The trip down from Portsmouth was pretty good. We made good time and mostly had good weather. There was a bit if wind and waves on the rivers adjacent to Pamlico Sound, but it didn't bother us too much, nor did it slow us down much.

I guess the best part of the trip so far was Thanksgiving day at Tidewaters Marina. They put on a complimentary meal with all the trimmings, including an open bar. I ate a lot, but only had one beer -- I prefer ice tea with my Thanksgiving meal.

Radio watch:

I finally picked up my radio in Virginia Beach. Jason, another sailor I met on Cruiser's Forum, gave me a lift the day after Thanksgiving, and actually drove me over to a couple of marine supply stores to pick up some stuff I needed.

I picked up a new depth sounder to replace my dodgy one. After I explained the problem I was having, he said he'd had a similar experience and had solved it by drying out the head unit and cleaning the connections.

I'd had some moisture problems, but had already solved them by re-caulking it. I took his advice and cleaned the connections and saw an improvement immediately. I've only had a few failures since leaving Portsmouth, but it keeps getting better each time I clean it, which is great because I haven't had time to install the new one yet. However, I think I'll keep both just in case.