What's next?
After a late wake up and coffee with blueberry muffins, Len had arranged for a rental car for a few days from the New Bern airport. This is about 30 miles away, and on Mike's way back to his home in Greenville, NC. Since Mike was so willing to oblige us, we wanted to treat him to lunch. He suggested Stingray Cafe in New Bern. Where it was once famous for its fresh seafood, it was made infamous for the fundamentally Christian restaurant owner penning a letter to a lesbian couple who were his customers. It made the national news. If you are interested in more, click here. Stingray-Cafe-proprietor-serves-lesbian-couple-poison-pen-letter-for-dessert-in-North-Carolina I had a scallop burger, Mike had the black drum, and Len had trout. Being NC, we had all the sweet tea you could hold. After paying the bill, were were told to have a blessed day as we left their establishment :)
After checking the weather on several sights including weather.com and http://passageweather.com/, it has become evident that thunderstorms are predicted for the next five days, from Oriental, NC to Charleston, SC, which was to be our next stop. The Atlantic is heating up with tropical storms as well, so we likely will continue to deal with moving fronts and unstable weather as we head further south.
When we returned to Oriental, we went to http://www.sailcraftservice.com/. This boatyard was recommended to me by Rick from the Boat Exchange. He is the mover that trucked Marquesa from Lake Hartwell, GA, to our pole barn in Middletown, IN. The following winter, he then trucked it again to Charleston, SC where we launched it to take the ICW down to the Keys many years ago. Rick up has picked up and made deliveries at Sailcraft Service before, so I felt confident in his recommendation.
I was very impressed when I met with Al in the office at Sailcraft Service. They have quite the operation there with a carpentry shop, riggers, mechanics and such. The boats in the yard are well tended to, and we have the option of doing as much of the work ourselves to prepare the boat for shipping if we want to save money. He said his staff would be available to show us what to do, and then turn us loose to do the work ourselves. We have to remove the sails, the bimini and dodger, eventually the boom, and disconnect the wiring in the mast. We'll be coiling all of the lines and cables and marking them. We'll then loosen the stays when the crane operator is on hand to remove the mast. Latly we'll Saran wrap the mast, and Rick will load it along side his trailer. After seeing their facilities and the quality of their work on some other boats here at Sailcraft, I may commission them to do some additional work for me later (if I have to replace the chain plates, or need to replace some teak).
With a work order estimate in hand, and a plan for the next several days, I contacted Rick and he said he could arrive Friday morning to pick up Kantiya. He presently is making a boat delivery in New Jersey. It seems as if the plan is coming together, which will get me home in time for New Faculty Orientation at Florida Southwestern College on August 14th.
Storms had been moving through Oriental off and on all day, but by early afternoon there appeared to be a break in the rain. I decided we should high tail it back to Oriental Marina, check out, and make the 30 minute jaunt around the Neuse River into Whittaker Creek. It was after 2pm and the next storm was due to hit at 3:00pm. I no sooner left the harbor and the wind kicked up. We could see the front moving in with lightning strikes behind us. With no time to throw out the jib for such a short trip, I just had to beat in to it like a bucking bronco. Less than 15 minutes later, I made the turn for the Whittaker Creek Channel markers and the waves were behind me in a sloppy following sea.
WHERE WAS THE WATER???
I was following a hand drawn map that Al made for me because he said the water was shallow coming in. I draw 4'6" but I was seeing 3'6" and even 3'1" on my depth sounder. Between getting sloshed around and surfing the waves in a following seas, I was screaming in- at times over 6 knots- as I was having to steer the s**t out of the helm looking for deeper water. We never did touch bottom, and I never lost speed as if we were plowing through silt or mud. Soon I rounded the corner to the safety of the harbor, and I immediately lost the wind and waves. I threw it in to neutral to coast in to the marina, but I was still at 2 knots. I had to back down (give it a thrust in reverse) to try and stall the forward momentum further, as I hugged in to a starboard tie up along the wall. There was some confusion with the dock hands on where Al had told me to tie up, but I was already committed to where he told me to put the boat. I had to cut directly behind a big beautiful sailboat, into a 'slot' with a piling midship on my port side, and the wall to my starboard side. Our two dinghies collided as I attempted the slot. I continued to fend off at the dinghies, as Len and the dock hands worked Kantiya in with the lines. Seriously, it was a ridiculously tight fight. I was parallel parking a 40' boat in all of about 44' of space- not even kidding!
We got her tied down, then Al took us back to Oriental Marina to pick up our car. We made a quick stop at the grocery to pick up some dinner, and then headed back to the boatyard. 380 miles sailed, no injuries, no mishaps, no running aground, no damage to my boat or any other. I consider it a good run for my first time as a solo Captain. Certainly my docking skills need improvement...but in my defense, I was always at the helm for anchoring, and my ex took the helm for docking. It's all very new to me. As long I didn't damage my boat, or any other boat, in any way- I'll take it! The only issue we have is a floppy windex on the top of my mast! In the last blow across the Pamlico Sound, a nut went flying in the water. I thought for sure I would lose the windex in all the wind and wave action of the last two days, but she held on- looking like a drunken sailor atop the mast! Once the mast is un-stepped, I can safely remove it for the truck ride home. No point in me going aloft again to fix it when the mast is getting un-stepped in a few days.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, 8/9. Before we get busy preparing the boat for shipping, we need to make a run to Baltimore to pick up Len's truck at Old Bay Marina. It's 6.5 hours one way. It looks to be a long day of driving tomorrow- we'd better hit the sack.
After checking the weather on several sights including weather.com and http://passageweather.com/, it has become evident that thunderstorms are predicted for the next five days, from Oriental, NC to Charleston, SC, which was to be our next stop. The Atlantic is heating up with tropical storms as well, so we likely will continue to deal with moving fronts and unstable weather as we head further south.
When we returned to Oriental, we went to http://www.sailcraftservice.com/. This boatyard was recommended to me by Rick from the Boat Exchange. He is the mover that trucked Marquesa from Lake Hartwell, GA, to our pole barn in Middletown, IN. The following winter, he then trucked it again to Charleston, SC where we launched it to take the ICW down to the Keys many years ago. Rick up has picked up and made deliveries at Sailcraft Service before, so I felt confident in his recommendation.
I was very impressed when I met with Al in the office at Sailcraft Service. They have quite the operation there with a carpentry shop, riggers, mechanics and such. The boats in the yard are well tended to, and we have the option of doing as much of the work ourselves to prepare the boat for shipping if we want to save money. He said his staff would be available to show us what to do, and then turn us loose to do the work ourselves. We have to remove the sails, the bimini and dodger, eventually the boom, and disconnect the wiring in the mast. We'll be coiling all of the lines and cables and marking them. We'll then loosen the stays when the crane operator is on hand to remove the mast. Latly we'll Saran wrap the mast, and Rick will load it along side his trailer. After seeing their facilities and the quality of their work on some other boats here at Sailcraft, I may commission them to do some additional work for me later (if I have to replace the chain plates, or need to replace some teak).
With a work order estimate in hand, and a plan for the next several days, I contacted Rick and he said he could arrive Friday morning to pick up Kantiya. He presently is making a boat delivery in New Jersey. It seems as if the plan is coming together, which will get me home in time for New Faculty Orientation at Florida Southwestern College on August 14th.
Storms had been moving through Oriental off and on all day, but by early afternoon there appeared to be a break in the rain. I decided we should high tail it back to Oriental Marina, check out, and make the 30 minute jaunt around the Neuse River into Whittaker Creek. It was after 2pm and the next storm was due to hit at 3:00pm. I no sooner left the harbor and the wind kicked up. We could see the front moving in with lightning strikes behind us. With no time to throw out the jib for such a short trip, I just had to beat in to it like a bucking bronco. Less than 15 minutes later, I made the turn for the Whittaker Creek Channel markers and the waves were behind me in a sloppy following sea.
WHERE WAS THE WATER???
I was following a hand drawn map that Al made for me because he said the water was shallow coming in. I draw 4'6" but I was seeing 3'6" and even 3'1" on my depth sounder. Between getting sloshed around and surfing the waves in a following seas, I was screaming in- at times over 6 knots- as I was having to steer the s**t out of the helm looking for deeper water. We never did touch bottom, and I never lost speed as if we were plowing through silt or mud. Soon I rounded the corner to the safety of the harbor, and I immediately lost the wind and waves. I threw it in to neutral to coast in to the marina, but I was still at 2 knots. I had to back down (give it a thrust in reverse) to try and stall the forward momentum further, as I hugged in to a starboard tie up along the wall. There was some confusion with the dock hands on where Al had told me to tie up, but I was already committed to where he told me to put the boat. I had to cut directly behind a big beautiful sailboat, into a 'slot' with a piling midship on my port side, and the wall to my starboard side. Our two dinghies collided as I attempted the slot. I continued to fend off at the dinghies, as Len and the dock hands worked Kantiya in with the lines. Seriously, it was a ridiculously tight fight. I was parallel parking a 40' boat in all of about 44' of space- not even kidding!
We got her tied down, then Al took us back to Oriental Marina to pick up our car. We made a quick stop at the grocery to pick up some dinner, and then headed back to the boatyard. 380 miles sailed, no injuries, no mishaps, no running aground, no damage to my boat or any other. I consider it a good run for my first time as a solo Captain. Certainly my docking skills need improvement...but in my defense, I was always at the helm for anchoring, and my ex took the helm for docking. It's all very new to me. As long I didn't damage my boat, or any other boat, in any way- I'll take it! The only issue we have is a floppy windex on the top of my mast! In the last blow across the Pamlico Sound, a nut went flying in the water. I thought for sure I would lose the windex in all the wind and wave action of the last two days, but she held on- looking like a drunken sailor atop the mast! Once the mast is un-stepped, I can safely remove it for the truck ride home. No point in me going aloft again to fix it when the mast is getting un-stepped in a few days.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, 8/9. Before we get busy preparing the boat for shipping, we need to make a run to Baltimore to pick up Len's truck at Old Bay Marina. It's 6.5 hours one way. It looks to be a long day of driving tomorrow- we'd better hit the sack.
G'nite, y'all!
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