A Bumblebee of Glue

A Bumblebee of Glue

Tuesday 4th May 2021

Given my current level of ability you may be surprised to read that as a teenager I was a very keen fisherman. We had several family vacations up in Scotland where there is fine trout fishing. One of my happiest childhood memories is of an evening in our holiday cottage when my brother, my dad and I were all tying flies ready for the fly-fishing the following day. My Dad got really into it, applying so many layers of mole fur, feathers and silver wire onto the hook that the result was more akin to a bumblebee than a fly. This caused immense amusement in the Block family and we all laughed our socks off. In my memory, the bumblebee was too much for the fishing line and snapped the leader on the first cast, but that may be just my imagination. For years after, whenever anyone in our family completed a repair job that ended up looking a bit of a mess, we would invoke the memory of my Dad’s bumblebee. I was reminded of this when I looked over the “final” repair of our dinghy – It looks like someone used a plastering trowel to apply 3M 4200 adhesive to the tube. It may be functional (time will tell) but it certainly is no thing of beauty!

As of this morning we had about 180 miles to travel to Norfolk, VA, our next major destination. This involves crossing a number of large bodies of water including the Neuse River, Pamlico River, Alligator River and Albermarle Sound, as well as sections of creek and canal. The route is generally in a northerly direction and at the minute the winds are from the south west and quite strong, but later in the week they shift to the north, just around the time we were planning to head up the Alligator River and across Albermarle sound, neither of which would be pleasant in northerly winds. So we decided on an alternate plan that would include two shorter days up to Belhaven and then holding there until the northerly winds pass. So today with only 20 miles to cover in open water and decent winds we decided to sail rather than motor … and it was lovely! We put a reef in the main at the outset because it was gusting to 20 knots, but later as we made our way down the Neuse River the winds eased and we took out the reef. Tonight we are anchored in Bonner Bay, an offshoot of the Bay River. It’s wild here – a lot of space with low lying marshy, wooded land all around and no other boats or houses to be seen. The strange thing is that the wind, which is back to blowing 15-20 knots, is hot. It feels more like a dessert wind than a marine breeze. We are hoping that no T-storms come through this evening.

p.s. I assume you all know by now that you can copy and paste the following coordinates into Google maps and see exactly where we are

Mike

35 09.081 N, 76 35.432 W

Bonner Bay - a squall passes to the north

Bonner Bay - wild and beautiful

Clouds and sun

Sailing down the Neuse River on a broad reach - the wind was a little up and down but otherwise perfect conditions. In 2013 this section was a brutal slog directly into easterly winds and short steep waves!