Cold Water

Zoe went for a short swim yesterday, but the water was too cold for me. I'd planned to wait for slack low tide a couple hours after noon, but by that time it was overcast, so I decided cleaning the bottom could wait, and let her swim by herself.

The water temperature here is about 60 -- too cold to swim -- but it's close to 70 at Cape Canaveral, and even warmer farther south.

Here's a link: http://www.tropicalweather.net/Florida_water_temps.htm

I'm hoping to go outside again at Cape Canaveral, so I'll do the bottom there. It should only take me a couple days to get there.

As for what happens after that, I'm not sure. I started looking into the gulf part of the trip, in particular the locations of offshore oil rigs, and was surprised at both the number, thousands, and their condition, many older ones aren't even lighted.

Since I'm singlehanding with no radar, that pretty much means I'll have to stay in the ICW for much of that part of the trip, especially as I near Texas. The Florida coast is fine, I'm not sure about Alabama and Mississippi, however, I think I'll have to go inside at Mobile anyway.

Here's a link to map from 2006: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06mexico/background/oil/media/platform_600.html

Pretty tough to avoid that many.

Bill, KI4MMZ, and Roger, W2ZDB, came by yesterday and took me to Home Depot to pickup a couple of 9' 1x2 red oak strips to fix the gunwales on my dinghy. It was great to finally meet them. They are both vets, and Bill is a fellow net controller for the Maritime net. Roger is a fellow cruise who checks in often and has singlehanded up and down the east coast and Central America.

Bill invited me to come stay at his home through Christmas, but I wasn't comfortable leaving the boat unattended that long, so I'll probably just visit them on Christmas day. I don't think there would have been a problem, but without an automatic bilge pump, and even with one, I worry about taking on water. I've only noticed her leaking when the engine's running, but you never know.

I spoke to Roger about it, and boats in general, and he gave me some good advice. The best of which was that it's easy for others to be cavalier about the boat, but for he and I, our boats represent our total net worth, and we can't afford to be cavalier. So, I came back to the boat. I actually prefer being on the boat, but Zoe likes going ashore and meeting people, so I need to balance things.

I had to inflate the dinghy to go aside, so we'll use it to go for a swim today. I'd planned to check the bottom when I got here, but the water was a bit cold, so I put it off and spent most of the time reading instead. Zoe needs a bath anyway -- guess it wouldn't hurt me either.

Dinghy watch:

I forgot to pickup additional fasteners for the gunwales when I was at HD -- didn't want to make them wait for me too long, so I rushed in and out. I think I might have enough on board, but will need to organize everything first. In any case, it'll take a while to bend the new pieces, so I couldn't put it together yet anyway.

Also, the plugs I picked up weren't the right size, so I still have to keep using the wooden plug. I actually picked up both the 3/8" and 1/2" just in case, but the 3/8 was too small and the 1/2 was too big.

I'm going to remove the forward seat today and fix it while I start bending the new gunwales. The mast is stepped through the forward seat, so it's pretty important to get it solid. Unfortunately, the dinghy maker didn't have the sail in stock, so once I get the step and gunwales fixed, I may try to bend on one of my smaller jibs for the time being. I'm anxious to see how she sails.

Heatwave

We're anchored in the Matanzas River a few hundred yards off Fort Matanzas. It's a nice quite area, and we're having a mini heatwave, so we're going to stay here a few days -- it might reach the low 80's this week. I want to inspect and clean the bottom and do some work on the Dyer dinghy.

I was a little concerned about alligators, but Paul, KM4MA, told me not to worry about them, especially during the daytime. I don't think I've ever actually seen one, but with the water in the river being a bit cloudy, I wouldn't see them anyway, so it's good to know they're not a problem.

I'm also going to run a net for Bob, K5HUT, this afternoon. I ran an open slot a few days ago, but since it was a last minute deal, I wasn't really prepared. I'll make sure I'm ready this time -- I couldn't find my copy of the preamble last time.

Dinghy watch:

It looks like I'm going to order a new sail from the dinghy maker. They aren't cheap, but the quality is high and I doubt I could find one any cheaper anyway. I'm also considering getting a few other things, including new oak gunwales and a drain plug. I might need a few other things, but will wait till I get the fenders off and inspect her. I'm really excited about sailing her, so the new sail will be my Christmas present to myself. If I'm lucky, I might even have it before Christmas.

I also need to rethink stowing her on deck. I currently have her stowed before the mast, but she interferes with some of the running rigging, in particular the preventers, but to a lesser extent the jib sheets. She'd also partially obstruct the dorade vents, which I'm ready to re-mount. The other option is abaft the mast, between the mast an the sliding hatch.

I'd originally rejected this location because it interferes with the control lines run to the cockpit as well as the boom vang. However, I've pretty much decided to mount my extra winch on the mast and not to run all the lines to the cockpit. Other boats might be different, but on mine, raising, lowering, and reefing are much easier if all lines are at the mast.

I was also unhappy with the current boom vang, and will probably add addition attachment points on both sides of the coach roof and attach it there instead of the base of the mast. However, I haven't really needed it yet anyway, so I just removed it yesterday. The boat originally had boom roller furling, so she has an odd ring the slips over the boom that's used to attach the boom vang. Since I use slab reefing now, I plan to add fixed bales instead.

With all of this out of the way, I hope the dinghy will fit -- I may try it later today. Of course, it'll block the solar panel, but I need to move it anyway -- it gets shaded by the boom most of the time. In retrospect, I should have gotten several smaller ones instead of one big one. Perhaps I can mount it to either side of the dinghy once she's stowed. That would definitely improve it's efficiency.

Zoe watch:

There's a beach nearby, so if I can get the dinghy work done this morning, I may take her over in it this afternoon.

St Augustine

Although I'd planned to go outside down to St Augustine today, I decided to stay inside after looking at the latest weather reports and the current state of the inlet. The inlet is badly shoaled and several of the cruising sites recommend avoiding it, especially in bad weather.

The weather really isn't that bad today, but there is a warning for small craft to exercise caution, with winds up to 20 knots from the north. That isn't that bad in and of itself, but it does make the bad side of the inlet a lee shore, i.e., the wind will blow you into it.

So, I decided to play it safe and stay inside. On top of that, I was in a small crowded anchorage last night and didn't get much sleep, so I figured I'd make it a short day today.

I stopped early because I didn't feel like making it another long day. It's a little bumpy right now since the current has me beam to the wind. I may try a riding sail to see if that helps. I thought of moving, but the winds should die down soon, so we'll wait it out.

Finally Made it to Florida

We finally made it to Florida yesterday, but even though it's much warmer here, we still haven't seen any bikinis yet. I guess we better keep moving south.

We made it to Fernandina Beach yesterday afternoon and picked up a mooring for the night -- I needed a shower, and Zoe needed to get off the boat. The trip only took about 30 hours, but without much wind, I had to motor and hand steer almost the entire way.

It wasn't very cold, but I did have to put on my jacket early in the morning. However, cold wasn't the problem, fatigue was the problem -- I tried to take a nap in the evening when we had some wind, but it didn't last long and I couldn't sleep anyway. However the wind vane worked great when there was wind.

I sure was glad when the sun came up. I was also very happy with my engine, she worked flawlessly. I poured in one of the 5 gallon jugs I keep on deck just in case, but after filling up this morning, I found that I'd only used around 24 gallons since leaving Charleston. That's after motoring for over 34 hours. It's not quite as good as I'd expected, but most of it was at cruising speeds, close to 3,000 rpms, so it's not too bad. Normally, I like to keep it around 2,700, but I needed to make sure I made it in before dark.

Blog watch:

I just heard from Kieran who reminded me that yesterday was the one year anniversary of my GTT post. Well, I guess I have made it pretty far, but Texas is still a long ways away. I think we've traveled a little over a thousand miles, but I'm not sure exactly. I'll sit down an calculate it all out when I get a chance.

Trip watch:

We motored about 25 miles south of Fernandina Beach today so we can go out the St John's River and sail down to St Augustine tomorrow. It should be easy to make it during daylight from here, but would have been close from Fernandina. I'd thought about leaving late and sailing overnight, but it's going to get down to the low 40's for the next couple of nights, so I figured this was a better idea.

Once we get to St Augustine, we'll stay inside and visit Bill, KI4MMZ, in Flagler Beach. He's a fellow net controller on the Maritime Net, and the first one who suggested I become one. After that, we'll probably continue down to Titusville and visit Paul, KM4MA, another net controller, then go back outside at Cape Canaveral.

However, since I'm unfamiliar with the area, I'll need to take a look at the charts first. At this point, I just want to continue going south, avoiding the ICW as much as possible -- you can't sail in it, and fuel is getting expensive.

Radio watch:

The new wire I ran next to the backstay seems to be working pretty well. She'll tune and work well on both 20 and 40 meters, so I no longer have to switch back and forth and raise and lower the dipole. In fact, I took it down completely so it wouldn't clutter the deck.

Dinghy watch:

Since we were on a mooring, we had to use the dinghy to get in to the dock. I didn't want to go to all the trouble of digging out and blowing up my inflatable, so I used a wooden plug to stop up the drain hole in the hard dinghy and used it instead.

It worked pretty well, but I haven't quite got the hang of rowing yet. The oars kept coming out of the locks. I'm going to see if I can get a sail for her too. That should be a lot of fun. I can order one from the manufacturer, but want to check a few local sail makers first. I also need to find a good place to hang out for a while and wait for it -- perhaps Titusville.

Zoe watch:

Zoe loved Fernandina. I took her ashore with me when I checked in, and after a quick shower, we took a walk around town. It's a nice little place, but very touristy. It's also very dog friendly -- Zoe was welcome everywhere.

I was looking for an inexpensive place to eat outside with Zoe, but inexpensive and touristy don't seem to go together well. We heard live music coming from a bar with a porch, so I went to the door to see if I could take Zoe onto the porch.

I stood at the door for a minute and several people at the bar waved me in and said dogs were welcome inside. We didn't stay long, but it was nice to relax after the long overnight trip -- she made a lot of friends.. We made it back to the boat before cruiser's midnight, about 2100.

Going Outside

I got everything I needed to get done in order to go outside, including the wind vane, so I plan to start out bright and early tomorrow and go directly to Fernandina Beach. I'll stay close in so I can tuck in if I run into any problems, but the boat and weather both look great, so I don't foresee any.

I'm going to try to sail only, but the winds might be a little light. That means I may have to use some power, alter my destination, or go an extra night. With a multi day weather window and such a short trip, about as far as Sandy Hook to Cape May, it should be fun and relaxing.

I've still got a lot of work to, but I did get up the mast and take care of the topping lift and antenna. Did I mention I don't like heights? This was probably the best climb so far, but I can't say I liked it. I got my work done and came down. Then I had a scotch, which made it much better.

Working on the Boat

We anchored in Tom Point Creek at sundown last night, and it's such a nice place, I've decided to stay here a day or so and get the boat ready for the next trip outside. Other than a little current, and not much wind protection, it's a very well protected spot, perfect for going up the mast, one of the jobs I need to do.

I'd planned to do some of this in Charleston, but with marginal weather and a poorly protected marina, I didn't get much done. So, my goal was to continue down to Beaufort and do it all there. However, I doubt I could find a better anchorage, so I'm just going to stay here and get as much done as possible.

I need to go up the mast, remove the old topping lift line -- didn't have a marlin spike with me and couldn't get the knot untied when I switched to a block and halyard a while back -- and tie off my long wire antenna. I'd tried to use the uninsulated backstay, but it never worked very well, so I hoisted up the wire I setup inside a rope a few years ago.

It works great, but interferes with the topping lift, so I need to move the attachment point higher to clear it. For now, I plan to just tie it off above the backstay connector. I'll come up with something more permanent later. The other end is tied to the stern pulpit.

Other jobs include reinstalling stern chocks, moving and hooking up the shore power plug, and fixing the wind vane. The wind vane is the most important, and really the only thing needed to go outside. It bent about 15 degrees at the weld connecting the rod to the all-thread adjustment at the top.

I'm going to wait till it warms up, then heat it with a torch before trying to straighten it. I hope it doesn't break. If it does, I'll head over to Beaufort to get it welded. I think my mistake was not removing the steering blade when I tacked in high winds.

I'll straighten up the cabin and re-stow some gear too, but the rush to get south is over now. I'm tired of rushing and can't wait to get out of the ICW. I had several close calls again yesterday where we got into shallow water and had trouble finding the channel -- I don't need the stress.

Zoe watch:

She really enjoyed Charleston. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to visit again when the weather's better. She's sleeping on the solar panel right now -- guess it's warmer.

The sun's up, but it's still a little cool, so I plan to read a while and do some work below this morning, then go up the mast in the afternoon. I haven't checked with her, but I think Zoe's plan is to sleep on deck all day.

Winter and Holiday Plans

While Judah was down, we talked about the trip, and I've pretty much decided to go a bit further south and wait till spring before continuing on to Texas. I guess my choices are the Keys or the Bahamas. The Bahamas will cost $150 for a three month cruising permit, but other than that, it shouldn't be too bad.

The Keys would be free, but in either case, I'll still need to buy provisions from time to time, so the Keys, or southern Florida, might be a better option. I may also try to work on the boat a bit and do some sailing. I'm not sure which one would be better, perhaps both, but I'll look into it and decide once I get a little further south and into the warmer weather.

I've spent a lot of holidays traveling, so that's no big deal. In fact, I might have spent a majority of them either traveling or at least by myself. I like to move around a lot, but tend to prefer moving to a new place for a while as opposed to vacation traveling -- don't take many conventional vacations.

I just got back from shopping, so we're about ready to go -- just need to get water and fuel. We'll stay in the ICW till we reach Beaufort, SC, then go outside down to Fernandina, either Thursday or Friday, so we have plenty of time to get there.

Charleston

We made it to Charleston a little after noon on Friday and tied up at the Charleston Maritime Center. It got up the 70 in the afternoon, so I walked down to the local grocery store, picked up some beer, and hung out in the cockpit in just a pair of shorts most of the afternoon relaxing, catching up on my log, and straightening up the boat.

Judah drove over from Warner Robbins to visit and arrived just before dark. We took Zoe and went out to dinner -- Charleston is a pretty dog friendly place -- but made it an early night since both of us were pretty tired, me from sailing and him from driving.

He had to go back the next afternoon, so we got an early start and took Zoe and explored the city in the morning. It's really a very beautiful city. We walked around most of the morning, then had lunch and drove over to see the Citadel and a few other sites. He dropped me off at the marina at 1600 and headed back -- he had to supervise some work on the base today and couldn't stick around too long. Judah and I were in TOW Company, 2nd Tank Battalion at Camp Lejeune back in the early 80's.

This marina isn't well protected, so we're bouncing around a bit, but with gusts forecast to 30 knots today and tonight, I think we'll stay here one more day before heading out. At least that's the plan. I'll reevaluate after lunch.

There were a lot of horse drawn carriages in the old city, so Zoe had a great time yesterday. I'm still not sure what it is about horses, but she just can't seem to resist them. She pulls and whines and makes all sorts of noise as though she's in pain. We took a long walk again this morning, so she's pretty well worn out and sleeping next to me.

Lots of Wind

We stopped a little early today, just after noon due to high winds. We're going mostly south on the Waccamaw River, which is sorta wide, with the wind right on the nose. Although we could have kept going, we're only a few miles from Georgetown where it opens to a good size bay, so I decided stopping early was a good idea.

Boat watch:

I got most of the engine work done yesterday, but didn't re-align the engine. I was hoping we could get away without doing it, but didn't like the sound it made coming down this morning, so I'll probably do it this afternoon. Another good reason to stop early. Other than that, everything looks good, i.e., the various leaks seem to have stopped.

Zoe watch:

When I checked into the MMSN this afternoon, Dave, W7GOX, mentioned he hadn't seen many Zoe updates lately, so I figured I'd better post one before I start working on the engine.

We stayed at Osprey's Marina off the ICW near Myrtle Beach for a couple of days, and on our walks, we found a pasture full of goats right next to the marina. Zoe got real excited, and the goats seemed pretty curious as well. They wouldn't come right up to the fence, but several did come within a few feet.

Then, we took a walk last evening after dark and went all the way to the road, about a quarter mile or so. As we walked, Zoe got more and more excited. I thought it was the goats again, but she started pulling hard in the other direction and going nuts. It turns out there's a horse farm across the road. For some reason, she goes crazy for horses.

The first time it happened was just after we moved to Manhattan and walked down to Central Park. Once we got within a few blocks she started going crazy and pulling hard. As soon as we got to the park I saw the horse drawn carriages and figured it out. I'm not sure why she likes them so much, but she's practically uncontrollable when they're around.

Later, after we'd moved down near the village, we would see mounted police all the time. She still got excited, but not as much since we'd see them so often. One morning, we saw one crossing the street, so I stopped so Zoe could watch. The police officer asked if she liked horses, and I answered I didn't know, I'd never let her get close to one.

He said his horse was good with dogs, so he rode over and they went nose to nose. It was pretty cool, but all the sudden she got scared, pulled back and started barking. I pulled her back, but it didn't phase the horse a bit, he just moved on and continued his walk down to the park.

I think last night was the first time she'd seen any horses since we'd left Manhattan.

Another Night in Myrtle Beach

I had some problems with the engine this morning, so I decided to stay another day and work on it. She started and ran okay if I gave her enough throttle, but would run rough and die if I cut it back all the way, which meant there was probably air in the lines.

I had trouble bleeding them, but another sailor came by and gave me a hand, running the starter while I bled each injectors. That helped, but I ended up bleeding them multiple times before she started running smoothly again.

I also had to re-tighten and wire the adjustment nuts on forward port side engine mount that had come loose again, fix a small fuel leak from bleeding the lines the day before after I changed the fuel filter -- most likely the cause of my engine failure this morning, -- and finally fixed the transmission fluid leak.

It looks like the hard to get to drain plug was leaking. I tightened it, and will keep an eye on it for the next few days to see if that fixed it. I'd thought it was leaking around the seal, but the seal was dry, so I think the drain plug must have just vibrated loose.

The weather outside isn't expected to improve anytime soon, so I plan to continue down the ICW for a few more days. It's already significantly warmer here than it was up north, so there's no longer any pressure to get south quickly. I'll probably find a good place to hang out for a while and wait for the next window, perhaps Beaufort or Savannah.

Slowing down

I'm near Myrtle Beach and sorta worn out from all the excitement of the last few days, so I'm getting a slow start this morning. I'm only going to try to make Georgetown today before dark. That's only 30 miles, so I should easily make it if I leave before 1100.

The weather outside is still too lumpy, so I'll stay inside for a few more days. I'll be in Beaufort in about three days, and would like to go outside from there and cut the corner down to Fernandina Beach on an overnighter. Hopefully the weather will improve by then.

Other than being really tired, all's going well. I think I'm even learning something -- at least I hope I am. I can't wait to get back outside to try a few things. The ICW down here is too narrow and protected to do any sailing at all. I might be able to do some in Charleston, but haven't checked yet. I'm also anxious to try out my new sailing dinghy, but need to get a sail first. Maybe I can find one in Charleston.

Dolphins

I forgot to mention all the dolphins we've seen since we passed through Beaufort. We were in the narrow channel in a large shallow bay approaching Beaufort when all of a sudden there's a big splash on the port side right next to me in the cockpit -- I almost jumped out of my skin. Turned out to be a dolphin, and he did it a few more times, close enough to touch if I hadn't been steering. Then I saw several more off the starboard bow. They seemed to be circling me and looked like they were having fun. That's the first time I'd ever seen a dolphin in the wild,at least up close -- pretty cool.

I had another visit after we got off shore before dark, then two more the next day. They seemed to like jumping out of a wave and getting a bit of air, and they had plenty of opportunity, I can assure you.

My only regret was that Zoe didn't get to see them, she was safely down below. With the nice weather today, I kept her on deck, and we had a few more visits, so she finally got to see one.

However, she didn't get nearly as excited as the time she saw a seal rise near the boat in Buzzard's Bay -- she went nuts that time and would have jumped in if it weren't for the tether. I guess the dolphins disappeared a little too quickly to be of much interest. The seal stayed there a while, breathing deeply, before diving down again. Rob, from West Marine in Marion, said she must have thought it was just a big dog in the water.

Trip watch:

We're anchored in the Shallotte River about 20 miles south of Cape Fear. It looks like we'll have to stay in the ICW until at least Georgetown, South Carolina -- none of the inlets between here and there appear to be deep enough to get out.

I'd like to visit Charleston, just south of Georgetown, so I might stay in the ICW until then, but we'll see what the weather looks like when we get there. It was great today. It even got warm enough to take off my shirt for a couple hours. There wasn't a lot if wind either, at least not inside, but as we passed a couple of inlets, I could see the ocean still covered with white caps. It's still a bit too bumpy for me.

Gear watch:

The wind vane stopped working early in the morning, forcing me to hand steer for close to 9 hours in moderately heavy seas. That's after hand steering the day before for about 15 hours (we were motoring with little wind, so we couldn't use it) and little or no sleep. I had a really hard time adjusting it and figured the shaft was bent, but even after I got it adjusted, it wouldn't hold a course.

I'm not sure when or how it happened, but this morning I noticed the actuator arm was bent near the top just below the threads. I hope I can bend it back without breaking it. The tow boat ran into it when when we got a tow the day before Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure if it happened then or yesterday during the heavy winds. Well, they weren't that heavy, so I'm leaning toward the collision. I'll try to call them tomorrow.

Also, once we got anchored tonight and I turned on the anchor light, I noticed another problem -- my batteries were down to 50%, and that's after a day of motoring. They should have been fully charged.

I started checking all the wires and found the power cable for my voltage regulator had broken off at the connector to the alternator. It might have happened the last time I adjusted the belt, or it could have been due to the rough conditions -- I'll add another item to my morning PM list.

Zoe watch:

She loved Wrightsville Beach and liked staying on deck today. I really feel bad about bouncing her around in bad weather, but she seems fine as long as she has a secure place to hide and wait it out.

Wrightsville Beach

We made it into Wrightsville Beach by early afternoon yesterday. The winds were supposed to pick up in this area in the afternoon, but I'd hoped to be around Cape Fear and into more protected waters by then. Unfortunately, it actually started picking up about 0300, and was blowing around 20 by dawn.

After a while, wind will cause waves to build, and by 0800, we were plowing through some as high as 7-8'. These were mostly off our port quarter, so we got thrown around a bit -- we had to go a little more west, out to sea, to clear the shoals off Cape Fear.

At that point, I checked the chart and found we were 26nm from the shoals. Since the winds and waves were expected to pickup and there was a SCA for the afternoon, I decided it was time to make for the closest safe harbor. However, the rough conditions made it very difficult to search the charts on the iPhone, and there was no way I could leave the helm to go below.

We were pretty far out, essentially on a rhumb between Beaufort Inlet and Fryingpan Shoals (off Cape Fear), so it took several hours to close with the shore. I steered as far north as I could under double reefed main and a small jib, but it was tough with the wind now on my starboard quarter. Luckily we we averaging hull speed, 6.7kts, for most of the time, and surfing down waves that continued to build at close to 8. I figured the wind and waves would be better closer in, so I wanted to get within 5 miles before heading north to look for an inlet.

We finally got close to shore and headed north, but the conditions were no better, and probably worse. There were several waves that were well above my head coming off my starboard side (10'?). We had no choice but to surf down the bigger ones. Occasionally, we get caught beam to and end up with the port toerail under water. I could hear stuff getting thrown around below -- luckily Zoe stays in her protected cocoon under the forward v-berth -- but couldn't leave the helm to see what was going on.

When we turned north, I had to drop the jib and sheet the main in tight in order to point that high. We slowed to under 2knts, so I turned on the engine and started motor-sailing. At that point, I just wanted to make it in and hoped the fuel filter wouldn't clog up before we got there. I'd put a new filter before we left, so I wasn't too worried, but with conditions that rough and a history of clogging, the thought never left my mind.

I learned that Wrightsville Beach was the closest inlet, and a little over 12nm directly north of me. I still couldn't use my charts, but confirmed this on the radio with the Coast Guard -- I must have a loose connection because my VHF doesn't work well at all. It took about three hours to get there, which was good, because that's about how long it takes to get an answer out of the Coast Guard.

They eventually sent out a boat to escort me in -- I made it clear I was fine and was only asking for information, but I guess it was a slow day for them. They also told me to let them know where I was staying so they could send an inspection boat out to make sure I had all the required safety gear -- which I do. I think their slow response, and in some cases no response at all, along with the safety inspection is designed to discourage people from calling them. I tried to call them as requested, but got no response.

The waves are still pretty big outside, but otherwise the weather is excellent, so we're going to stay inside and make it a short day today. I'm still exhausted from yesterday. It was sorta fun, but a lot of work when you're by yourself. Plus I'm constantly worried about Zoe down below. While we were motor-sailing into it going north, we had a few waves break just over the bow and a lot of spray -- I was soaking wet by the time we got in -- glad it was relatively warm, though I did start to get cold toward the end.

Hal Roth

Hal Roth was a pretty famous American sailor and prolific writer. Most if his writings were about his sailing experiences. I've read a couple of his books and am currently reading about his first singlehanded BOC round the world race. I really enjoy his writing and wish I could have met him. Unfortunately he died on 2008.

I've mentioned before that I'm not interested in racing, but I do appreciate the challenge. I highly recommend his books, and can't wait to finish this one. He's racing, but as a singlehander, he's really competing against himself -- testing his limits. I think I'd enjoy that sort of race. I'm pretty much testing my limits every day, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Trip watch:

I plan to shove off early tomorrow morning, take the ICW to Morehead City, then out into the Atlantic. The forecast calls for good weather and mostly northerly winds through Tuesday, so I plan to do a multi-night trip and see how far I get.

I'm tentatively planning on going all the way to Jacksonville, Florida, but would be happy to make Charleston. The mild conditions should give me a chance to try a few things and get used to the boat. One of the things I want to play around with is a preventer, which keeps the boom from swinging across the cockpit during an uncontrolled gybe, and a better way to reef.

I also want to continue my experiments with my wind vane. I tried to use it the other day, but I was motor sailing in a narrow channel and wasn't able to adjust it properly. It's not designed for that, so I'm not surprised, but I still think I need to make a few more adjustments.

Zoe watch:

Oriental is a very dog friendly town, so Zoe has enjoyed herself immensely -- I think she'd like to stay here. I have to admit, I sorta like it too.

Another ham, Tom, K8TF, heard me check in to the Waterway net this morning, and came over to say hi. He ended up taking me to the grocery store to pickup provisions. What a nice surprise...