Carolina Cruising

[PBzeer]

Yes, I was tied up at the Town Dock. Spent the day people watching during the town wide flea market, and then Joel stopped by. It was great to be able to congratulate him in person on getting married, and to hear about the trip to Portugal. I can attest he seems no worse the wear after a prolonged exposure to Giu.

While waiting for him at the Tiki Bar last night. I met a local couple who will be cruising, June through October, and in the course of conversation, I may have a slip and work here in Oriental after the trip to Annapolis. Nothing definite yet, but a fortunate possibility. So, all in all, life is still good

[mjrogers]

I've cruised the area on trailer sailers and found Oriental to be one of the friendliest places I've ever been. Bath and Little Washington on the Pamlico river were really nice, too; but when I was in that area the people were battening down for hurricane Isabele so I didn't have a chance to meet anyone.

Fair winds, Michael

[Joel73]

Originally Posted by PBzeer

Yes, I was tied up at the Town Dock. Spent the day people watching during the town wide flea market, and then Joel stopped by. It was great to be able to congratulate him in person on getting married, and to hear about the trip to Portugal. I can attest he seems no worse the wear after a prolonged exposure to Giu.

Mornin John! Actually i am much worse off now after sailing with Alex because i have developed a severe case of "Sailitus" which drives me to get to the water and on a boat at all possible moments. The problem is that i now have nightmares about hoisting the main halyard on Giulietta... i can never seem to do it fast enough!!! And once i do finally get it hoisted i have chest pains and feel like i'm about to die of a heart attack. Sailitus is a serious illness and i blame Alex for my infection!!!!!!!!!!

People watching is always fun at the tiki bar. It's a good thing i didn't have another drink last night... besides, i'm not sure i could've handled anymore of that dance music.

I'm not sure what the plan for today is yet... but if the rain keeps up then finding the chain for the mooring wont matter. If it keeps up then i will probably work on the bilge instead. For now i'm still going to try and find 1/2" chain but being a Sunday morning i expect to be off to a slow start because the Provision Co. isn't open yet. Wait... is that the sun i see???????? Maybe there is hope for a nice day yet...

[PBzeer]

Joel - I'm on my way over to South River right now. Forecast didn't look good for trying to plant the hook in the harbor, and there's still a lot of skinny water there. If the weather clears up though, I'll probably come back over.

[Joel73]

Originally Posted by PBzeer

Joel - I'm on my way over to South River right now. Forecast didn't look good for trying to plant the hook in the harbor, and there's still a lot of skinny water there. If the weather clears up though, I'll probably come back over.

I'll be around town looking for some chain this afternoon and i'll be in town till Mon evening. Let me know if you come back accross!

[Giulietta]

HOIST THE MAIN JOEL...FASTER YOU WIMP...FASTER....HERE...I'LL DO IT DAMN IT.....EHEHEHEHEHE

John, the poor boy was lying down without air, needing a rest after hoisting this tiny little main sail...what a wimp....

[PBzeer]

Well, after a peaceful Sunday on the South River, dawn brought heavy thunderstorms through. It was a rockin' and a rollin'! Finally headed out for New Bern a bit after 10, and sailed on the jib for about an hour. Hit 6.8 on the GPS. As is usual though, the wind soon died down, as it seems to do when it's in my favor. Still some Tstorm activity predicted, so maybe it will pick back up.

[PBzeer]

OKAY!! Sails are up, and we're racing up the Nuese at a blistering 2.6 knots. Life is good.

[PBzeer]

Made it to New Bern under sail, though I never did top 6.5 knots, the wind did pick up a bit. Especially when it was time to pull into the City Dock. Got a ride to the pipe store, but then, it was around a 5 mi walk back to the boat. You can tell New Bern is a small city instead of a big town, because no one stopped to ask if I wanted a ride. They always do in the smaller towns.

Can't remember if the used bookstore is open on Tuesdays or not. Hoping it is, as I'm out of reading material. And I certainly don't want to hike back out to Walmart or Target to find something. It was nice though, stopping in a few places and being remembered from last summer. Hopefully, for positive reasons

[PBzeer]

Well, the 5 hour tacking marathon is over. Rain coming in from the west, the sky turning dark on all other points, and 15 mi to go. Could be sitting at anchor now, if I'd motored, but I'm trying not to. On the plus side, the batteries needed charging anyway.

They got the wind wrong, the temp wrong, but they were right about the 20% chance of T-storms and showers it seems. Such is life, which, none-the-less, is still good