Noseeums invaded in force and we decided to motor back. So it wasn’t a long morning on the water.
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Went out and anchored overnight behind bird Island 🙂 very nice. What an awesome morning. I sat in the cockpit with a mug of hot tea and for a very quiet and calm morning start. A little bit later Patty and Jeff showed up on Pirate Girl and I tied them off behind me and went over and had breakfast with them. After Breakfast they took off and headed home. They had had a rough night anchored offshore when the winds kicked up into the low 20knt range. I sailed off the anchor with just the main up. 🙂 I am really enjoying working on my engineless sailing skills. Each time I do this it gets easier and I get more confident in being able to cope with an engine out issue. Well we were supposed to race to Murrells Inlet on saturday but for one reason or another it didn’t happen. Everyone else bailed and decided to do a Sherman and back race instead of going to Murrels inlet except me on Sea Puppy and Patty & Jeff on Pirate Girl. We left around 8 in the morning and once out on the ocean there was no wind. So we decided forget the race we will just motor for a while till the wind comes up.. 2 hours later “no wind”. Patty decided she didn’t want to motor all the way to murrels inlet and I went along with it as at this point I was just happy hanging out with her and Jeff. We were about 10 miles down the coast line from Little River Inlet and 3 miles off shore. We just anchored there. It was about 36 ft of water and the water was very clear. I almost went swimming to give the bottom of the boat a scrubbing but I got lazy. We were going to raft up but even the very light swell was making them rock to much so we just tied me off of Pirate Girls stern about 20 ft behind her. It was a great afternoon of lazy 🙂 We ate and kicked back under tarps for shade and read and napped. Jeff rigged up a seat cushion on the end of a line to float watermelon over to me. A good time was had by all. We heard Orrin and Angela head back to the dock about 5am sunday morning. Angela had to be at work at 8 so they had to get going early. We rose a bit slower than that. more along the lines of 7:30 or so.. Underway at 8:30 and back to the dock to join Breck, Orrin, and Jerry for breakfast. I wish the inlet was closer to the dock. It took an hour and half to get back to the marina from the inlet. And again no pictures because of missing camera. This past weekend Miriam came down and we took Sea Puppy out saturday afternoon and went and rafted up with Orrin and Angela on La Bon Vie and Ben and Susan on Winds of Freedom. What an awesome evening. The company was great and everyone contributed some food to be cooked and the six of us had more food than we could eat. Tilapia, salmon and steak on the grill. Wokked vegitables, Asparagus, and more. After dinner everyone unrafted and we each anchored separately. As always I got a great nights sleep on the water. We we raced Saturday in the NC/SC Governors cup and placed 2nd in cruising class. What that means is that Al who I whupped up on a week before racing whupped up on me two races in a row 🙂 The other boat racing in cruising had to turn back before the start of the races as they lost all electrical power and couldn’t turn their engine off because they wouldn’t have been able to get it started again. I forgot my camera so there are no pictures to share until Mathew gets me some of the ones he took while we were out there. Mathew and Chapel graciously came aboard at the last minute to be crew for me so that I wouldn’t have to race alone 🙂 I thoroughly enjoyed their company for the day 🙂 Sunday morning I halfway had decided to head in but got a call from Patty and Jeff and ended up following them out. I was still weighing anchor when they got out on the ocean but after a long light wind chase caught up to them a few miles out. 🙂 its really cool when I can catch a Beneteau 323 🙂 Before leaving I took a few pictures of My Annie while some pelicans flew by
Saturday morning was beautiful also.. With the sun rising over Bird Island. By 9am I was out on the ocean sailing.. I went out a couple miles and then back to make the 11 am start for the race. In racing class were Tenor the new beneteau 10R and TeeSzu. In Cruising class were Runnaway, Sea Puppy and Achilles Heel. I had a really good day racing. I hit the start just right and sailed well against Runnaway and Achilles Heel. Unfortunately Runaway had to DNF and go back in before they finished the race. I think I would have beat them but at the point they turned around at they were only about a minute behind me. Unusually, I ran away from Achilles Heel on the upwind leg of the race, as normal I rapidly opened up the distance even more on the downwind leg. On a 4 mile course I owe them 4 minutes but since I came in about 9 minutes ahead of them I think I won that one 🙂 Normally once the handicap is taken into account Achilles Heel has historically run really close to me with us passing each other in the standings on a regular basis. I took sea puppy out Friday after getting the new 6 hp engine back on her. It still lacks power compared to the old 4hp 2stroke. It was nice a calm on the water friday afternoon and evening. There were only 5 or 6 boats anchored out behind Bird Island for the evening. The sunset was spectacular. 🙂 I took Sea Puppy out by myself today. It is the first time I have used the new engine to run to the inlet and back.. I will put up a updated review of it in a day or so so check back. Winds were running about 10 knots I think. I sailed beside Pirate Girl Patty’s Beneteau 323 most of the day and hung with them speed wise. I averaged 5.5 t 6 knots on the knotmeter. I think the fully battened mainsail is helping a lot. With the foot pocket eased she generates a fair amount of power in this wind range. I went out with Patty and Jeff today on Pirate Girl (beneteau 323). I really like how she handles.. you can set the sails and she will steer herself forever in flat seas. So far every Beneteau I have been on sails well. I’m sure there are some that are not a good as others and I will readily admit to only having sailed on 5 or so, but all those have been a pleasure to sail. She also has a nice size cocpit and if you sitting leaning back against the cabin sides facing aft the angle on the cabinsides makes for a very comfortable rest. I like the cabin also just for the headroom.. most of it is 6ft.. I don’t have to do the duck thing in the main cabin. |
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