Back in the Saddle

Back in the Saddle   …   Monday 17th June 2013

Low tide in Wilmington, NC was at 10.45 this morning and to ensure that we had adequate depth to get out of the marina and back to the channel in the Cape Fear river we opted to delay our departure until early afternoon. It was a blistering hot morning but we spent the time finishing up some boat jobs, cooking an apple pie and making some Bolognese sauce. At 12:30 we fired up the engine and headed out. We saw 7.3 ft on the depth sounder but once in the river proper the depths were really good. We motored south directly into a pretty stiff breeze and also the incoming tide, which took 2 knots off our speed over the ground. The good news is that the cleaning and fresh anti-fouling paint has given us an extra knot or more of speed through the water - the boat feels good! After about 8 miles or so we turned to the east and took Snow's cut through to the Intracoastal waterway and turned northwards for Wrightsville Beach. At this point we had some current with us so the remaining 10 or 12 miles went quickly and we were anchored behind the town by 4:45 pm. It looked like a large thunderstorm was brewing to the west so we were happy to get the hook down, but apart from a few sprinkles the storm seems to have dissipated. It felt good to be on the move again, but it seems like we have lost our sea-legs and are very conscious of every movement of the boat. Similarly it's probably blowing 15 knots of wind outside and we've become unaccustomed to the noise and find it a bit unnerving. Anyway we are well positioned to make the passage to Beaufort tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to sail rather than motor - it just depends on how much the wind settles overnight. Downwind is not our fastest point of sail and we do need a decent breeze. It's a 65 nM passage so we want to be able to make reasonably good progress. We'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Mike