Forty-eight miles by 1:00pm
Tuesday April 27, 2021
At 5:40 this morning, I nearly turned over and went back to sleep. Even knowing that we needed to take advantage of the early morning high tide didn’t seem to be motivating me. The bunk was warm but the boat was cold. I dragged myself upright and started to pull on layers of clothing. We had coffee and then set off. The sun peeped over the horizon shortly after we got underway. Twelve miles from the spot where we had anchored lay the first of the challenging sections. Shallotte Inlet is notorious for shoals created by the strong currents. We were hoping to arrive about an hour before high, using the extra depth to make a safe passage through this tricky area. Ten miles further on, Lockwood’s Folly presents the same kind of challenge. As these two inlets have high tide at very different times, the best we could hope for was to get through Lockwood’s with about half tide. It worked out pretty smoothly (except for the early start). By about 11:00am we were near Southport, NC. I should say that the section from Calabash Creek to Southport, despite some tricky parts, is quite scenic and much more enjoyable than yesterdays run through Myrtle Beach.
Despite the current in the Cape Fear River having turned to the ebb, we decided to carry on upstream to Snow’s Cut and onward to Carolina Beach. Having travelled along the river before, we were aware of just how strongly the current could flow. Fortunately, the current didn’t build up excessively before we reached Snow’s Cut. The cut itself had some surprises for us! We saw depths of 8.6 feet in a couple of spots. According to our tide table we should have had 3 feet above mean low water. It seems that dead low might not be a good time to transit Snow’s Cut.
We turned right after the cut and entered Carolina Beach. We had reserved a mooring, initially for two days. Having seen the forecast, we extended that to four days. Although we have stayed here before on our way south we had some really bad storms and so never explored ashore, hence we are excited to be here. We will wait out the next cold front (Friday) here and then move up to Wrightsville Beach. When the weather permits we will make the offshore passage to Beaufort.
Gloria
34 02.754 N, 77 53.382 W
If you’ve been reading the blog you know that I have tried at least three times to repair the leak in the starboard tube of our dinghy. Every time we try to fix the problem it seems to move to another spot. It’s like playing “whak-a-mole”. Yesterday we identified yet another location for the leak and started to suspect there is a more significant leak under the rub rail and the the released air then dissipates wherever it can find a gap between the rub-rail and the tube. We decided that we needed to get to the route of the problem and take off the rub rail and find the primary leak (I should have done this in the first place). Having cut the rail and peeled it back it was obvious that the real leak was some 3 feet away from where the air was seeping out. I managed to patch this area and reattach the rub rail (with difficulty). Initially it seems that the tube is now leaking worse than ever. I replaced the valve washer and made sure the rub rail wasn't pulling the repair patch off the tube. For the first time in weeks the tube feels hard after leaving it overnight ... but I'm not confident this repair will last!
Mike
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