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Monday, November 30, 2015

Charleston - A Southern Beauty

posted by Ardys

Jax eager to go to shore

We changed our plan for the journey midstream—literally.  We left Cow House Creek planning to continue on the ICW, but by the time we approached our intended anchorage that afternoon, we had decided that we would take advantage of the fabulous weather and go offshore to Charleston.  In preparation, we continued down the Waccamaw River past the next *ICW Cut and dropped our hook for a few hours at the Georgetown Light, the last possible anchorage before the ocean.  We took Jax to the beach so he could run and attend to some urgent business matters before the long night on the ocean.  It was the first time in many days that he’d been allowed to run free and he obviously loved it!  So did we.  And then we had a few hours to rest.

Beach in front of Georgetown Lighthouse

I woke up Carl at 10:30 PM and we shoved off.  The overnight to Charleston was uneventful and fairly warm.  We could have thrown up a sail, but the minimal wind wasn’t coming from the most useful direction so we motored.  We brought our lovely weather with us into the Charleston harbor, and what a beautiful harbor it is! Fort Sumter was on our port side, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired; the historic city of Charleston was straight ahead and the two wide rivers that flank the city on the peninsula.  At one time, 
Blocks and blocks of enormous, gracious old homes
Charleston was an incredibly wealthy city, back when cotton and rice were extremely plentiful and in great demand.  A tour guide told us that some of the (white) people were “so wealthy that they couldn’t spend their money fast enough, so they built huge houses.”  Some of those historic  beauties line the water and could be seen from our sailboat as we came in.
Tours by bus, horse and carriage, boat and on foot.

As always, when we come into a marina, there are some necessaries to attend to:  topping off the diesel and the water tanks, having the waste tank pumped out and off loading our garbage and recyclables. These are not the glamorous tasks of sailboat living, but figured I’d include them for accuracy sake at least this once. The other things to consider while at a marina are grocery shopping, laundry and last but not least—a nice, long, hot shower.  We have a perfectly fine shower on the boat but we’re always being judicious with our water usage, so marina showers feel like a luxury.
Sea wall is wide enough for two ladies wearing hoop skirts to walk side by side.


NORTHERN STAR sandwiched between two large yachts
Our sailboat was small compared to many that shared the Charleston City Marina MegaDock with us.  The entire marina is a series of huge floating docks!   Floating docks makes it easier to tie off and be certain that the lines will remain appropriate, no matter how much the tides rise and fall or the current rushes past.  At high tide, the marina is in an attractive wetland.  At low tide, it’s way out on the mud flats
Late afternoon mud flats leading to City Marina
—somewhat less appealing and more odiferous.  We shared a shuttle downtown with a young woman who is a paid crew on one of the large yachts near our boat.  She and the ships’ Captain (also paid crew) live on the boat full-time and take care of it.  We had noticed it, of course.  It’s a 
A classic wooden sailboat with paid crew of two.
classic wooden sailboat with long, graceful lines, and we privately lamented the work involved to keep it looking pristine, as it certainly did now.  She said “the boss comes to visit his boat a few times a year, whether in Maine, or Charleston or the Bahamas.  We looked around us on the dock and figured that there might be a few who were bemoaning our paltry little sailboat.  Maybe they were thinking, “how do people live on such a small boat?”  

The Citadel was on the bus tour.  First year students are required to walk in the gutters.
 We had a private bus tour since no one else was on our bus.  Our tour guide told us a little “joke” about Charleston, “The Civil War started here, and someday it will end here.”  As a Northerner, I’d never heard a Southerner’s perspective about that 
This soldier died 42 years after the Civil War and yet his rank was the most important fact for his gravestone.
horrific war until visiting my husband’s hometown in the Mississippi Delta several years ago.  That was the first time I heard what I call the “Civil War” referred to as “The War of Northern Aggression.”  The statues of the Southern generals are all oriented to the north, facing the Northern aggressors, even after death.  In spite of Charleston being ravaged by floods, hurricanes (the last in 1989) fires (an 1861 fire burned 1/3 of the city) and being shelled during the War of Northern Aggression, it remains 
Charleston is full of beautiful hand-carved ironwork.  
 remarkable for its’ architecture. I wish more cities would follow Charleston’s example of requiring new construction to “blend in” with the historic buildings that remain.  Charleston was entirely gracious, friendly and I would love to go back to visit again and probably will, when we travel north up the coast next spring.  Tourism is a major industry and they do it very well.
French Quarter of Charleston


*ICW Cut — Intracoastal Waterway manmade canals that have been cut and dredged in order to connect the naturally existing waterways.  Cuts make a continuous north/south inland route possible.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Cow House Creek ICW Day #19

posted by Ardys
ICW at ~STM 350, Barefoot Landing Marina

We stayed an extra day at Barefoot Landing Marina for two reasons:  One — it was Thanksgiving and I required pumpkin pie; and two — we needed time to plan for the next day.  A healthy amount of anxiety was already in play about the next leg of our journey.  Perhaps a big Thanksgiving dinner would help with the planning?  Or not.

Barefoot Landing carnival etc.
 Barefoot Landing Marina (BLM) is connected to a very popular outlet mall, much more like a theme park, really, than an outlet mall.  There were umpteen restaurants within walking distance; entertainment venues; children’s carnival; an Alligator Adventure park (I don’t really WANT an adventure with alligators); and beautiful ocean beaches just a few blocks away. BLM is a brilliant developer’s idea to help tourists spend as much of their vacation dollars as possible without having to work too hard at it.   What should I have expected?  It was North Myrtle Beach.  Gettin’ pretty close to where all those golf gurus gather to play before their “hushed” entourages on golf courses with gondolas. Gosh.

Bridges 1 and 2 for today at nautical twilight
The next morning, we were up at 0530 and off the dock by 0600 heading downstream, nearly a full hour before sunrise.  This time of day is known as nautical twilight by sailors—that hour when the sky is beginning to lighten but the stars are still out so they could be used for navigation. We were not going to be using the stars to navigate that day or any day, hopefully.  Because we had a full moon, we were experiencing what’s called Spring Tides which means that there is the greatest variation in tidal ranges of any time of the month.  We needed the low tide to get under the bridges ahead.  
Gondolas take golfers across ICW for next tee

The two Socastee Bridges, a swing bridge and a fixed bridge were the primary cause for our concern and the reason for our early departure.  They would be Bridges 8 and 9 for the day.  The swing bridge was not going to be a problem in and of itself, because the operator would open it on request, but the fixed bridge came immediately following the swing bridge.  If we couldn’t fit under the fixed bridge, we would effectively be trapped between the two bridges for a while.  Carl lost some sleep worrying about this possibility.  
Houses line the ICW for miles, many of them enormous.

Bridges 1, 2, 3 and 4 weren’t of particular concern to us, but I listened for the sound of pings when we went under them anyhow, and there were none.   A “ping” would indicate that our antennae was bumping against the iron support beams above us.  Anything louder than that would indicate something much worse, aka more expensive. We knew Bridges 5 and 6 were going to be close, but we weren’t worried about them.  We were a little surprised therefore when I herd 4 distinct pings going under the fifth and one ping under the 6th bridge.  The seventh was clear sailing.  After touching two bridges already, we were especially concerned about the Socastee Bridges. 
My boys, pondering different things no doubt

We reviewed the special preparations we had made the night before—just in case we would need to “reduce” the height of the mast to get under the Socastee fixed bridge.  Of course one cannot actually reduce the mast height, but if the mast could be made to lean to one side, that would, in essence reduce the height.  Carl developed a plan and we set up some of the required rigging in advance to the extent possible.  


The Socastee swing bridge and then the dreaded fixed bridge
The Plan:  If necessary, we would push the boom way out to the side so that it hung over the water and secure it in place with a preventer.*  The dinghy and its’ heavy outboard would be brought alongside the boat under the boom.  The halyard would then be run through the furthest attachment point on the end of the boom and then be connected to a line suspended between the attachments for the dinghy davits.  We would then winch the halyard up tight, thereby using the weight of the dinghy and motor to help pull the mast to one side a little.  We put ourselves through the paces of how this system would work before going to bed. 

Very high spring tides.  We waded across the roadway beyond to walk Jax. 

When we approached the Socastee Bridges, we reviewed the plan again.  We would have to request the bridge operator to reopen the swing bridge as soon as possible if we were stuck between them, but there was no assurance that would be possible.  With NORTHERN STAR’S engine just idling, we crept toward what we had now decided was an evil fixed bridge.  The bridge operator was kind enough to point out that the bridge was slightly higher on the left and sloped toward the right so we aimed for the far left side.  We slid under without touching at all!  And no extraordinary mast shortening tactics needed.  
Beautiful swamps.  No alligator sightings, yet

We were so elated about making it under the Socastee Bridge that we were a few miles past our intended anchorage for the evening before we noticed it.  So, we went on to a lovely anchorage called Cow House Creek and were glad we did.  It’s a beautiful, quiet anchorage in a wilderness area.  We kept an eye out for alligators and brought Jax to a dinghy dock on the other side of a small island off the ICW where Jax met a turtle.  They apparently didn’t have much in common because the turtle kept on moving, very... very... slowly. 
Jax's first encounter with a turtle.  

*A preventer is a line attached to the boom and tied off to one side.  Typically it's used to prevent an accidental jibe when sailing downwind. 

Friday, November 27, 2015

9 Bridges and a Rock Pile ICW Day #17

posted by Ardys

Sunrise at marina wall along ICW
Very busy day on the ICW yesterday.  I decided to share an example of what is written in NORTHERN STAR's Ships’ Log as we travel.  The following will be verbatim from our Log for Nov 25th, 2015, with the exception of anything in (italics and parentheses) which is information I added for the reader's clarification.  You can see that we are concerned about getting under the fixed bridges. Our mast is 63 1/2' tall.  The water level varies throughout the day with the tides.  So, at low tide, we may have an easier time getting under some of the bridges, but have greater risk of running aground in other places. 
Houses facing Atlantic Beaches just after sunrise

11/25/15    ICW> So. Carolina-> Barefoot Landing    Day # 17

STM 311.1 46 F at 0630.

Up early to catch right tide under several bridges. 

Listening for the "ping" sound of antennae hitting struts
Sunny!                  Departed South Harbour Marina at 0715 with Kintala in lead.    (Kintala is a boat that we met in Annapolis.  We caught up to them a few days ago).
Houses, houses, houses.......mostly big houses, a few more modest.
           0735 Bridge #1   64 F Oak Island Bridge - OK (Fixed 65’ clearance)
Could this be a potential retirement home on land for Carl and Ardys?

               0820 Bridge #2 Middleton Ave. Bridge (Fixed 64 1/2’)
               Favor Red side after G33 — no issues  (“Favor” - stay closer to the side with the Red Mark.  Shoaling to mid-channel).
One of seven fixed bridges that day
                  Hug Red markers after G39
White “hulking” birds?    (I drew a quick sketch of bird so I could look it up later.  I think it was a Cattle Egret).
Bridge won't open with sustained winds of 25 mph.

Lockwoods Folly Inlet (named after Mr. Lockwood who built a deep draft boat at his home in that inlet but could not launch it because the inlet was too shallow,)

STM 320    Favor Red side at R46 Lockwood Folly Inlet - WHEW  (There are several shallow crossing bars where small rivers come through. We were very relieved after making it through here).

STM 323    0920    Bridge #3 Holden Beach Bridge - Fine! (65’)
Yet another abandoned shrimping boat.  Been there long time.
                   Sunken shrimp boats following

STM333     1115    Bridge #4 Ocean Isle Bridge (I stopped writing comments about the bridges if we had no trouble getting under it).
                
Sunset Beach

Miles and miles of houses with very long docks.  Low tide here.
STM              1154    Bridge #5   Mannon C. Gore Bridge (Fixed - 65’)

STM 347      Bridge #6   Little River Hwy Bridge (Fixed - 65’)
                     
        Bridge #7   Little River Swing Bridge (called on Channel 9 to request bridge operator to open bridge)

Can anyone tell me what this is?
STM 349      1342
STM 349.3   Bridge #8   Rob’t Edy Pkway Bridge

Worst —> 349 - 352   ROCK PILE  (notorious narrow 10 mi section of ICW with rock ledges extending into the channel from both sides.  We went through at low tide and could see most of the rocks).
Best to radio ahead to alert other boats before entering "The Rock Pile."  
                     Bridge #9   Barefoot Landing Bridge Swing
Bridge operator's house on swing bridge.

STM 353.7   1510    Barefoot Landing Marina - portside

                    
No facilities but has WiFi.  BFLmarina2015  password 84307223**

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Cape Fear River and ICW Day #16

posted by Ardys

My dad milking cows
There are no good weather windows for another comfortable ocean passage in the next few days and we want to keep moving south.  It’s become cold the past few nights.  Not cold by Minnesota standards, but still… cold  We have been running our wall-mounted propane heater while we’re awake in the evenings but shut it down before we go to sleep.  I could see my breath the last two mornings.  Kinda makes a person reluctant to plant one’s bare feet on the floor.   Carl has been the first awake, and he gets the heater going so it can run a bit before waking me up.  I told him that these mornings have taken me back to my adolescence on the dairy farm.  My mother’s thankless task was to pry me out of my warm bed on dark winter mornings and steer me toward the barn to help my father milk cows.  So, this morning, he whispered, “Ardys, those cows are waiting to get milked.”  “NOOOooo, not the cows again!”
Festive fishing boat
 The channel where we were anchored connects with the ICW of course.  We pulled up anchor just after sunrise and returned to our southward trek. Two things will stand out in my memory about resuming the ICW in Wilmington.  First, that we were boarded by the Coast Guard at a most inopportune time, and second, the Cape Fear River moves REALLY fast!  Wow!

Two of the three officers who boarded our boat.
Being boarded by the Coast Guard is really not a big deal in and of itself.  We have been boarded a few times over the years.  We’ve had safety checks, and there was the time we were rescued from the shipping channel our first time away from the dock many years ago.  (The reader is referred to The Case of the Bucking Tiller for that story).   The USCG comes alongside and asks if the boat has had a safety check recently.  “No, we haven’t.”  Then they will ask permission to come aboard to perform said safety check.  “Of course.”  The only problem was in where we were at the time they boarded us.  
Jax 
Here’s where we were.  First let me say, it’s taken us (me actually) a little while to sort out what my role is when Carl is at the helm in the ICW.  There are the Red and Green markers, of course, but the channel sometimes snakes around unpredictably within the water “road” and the charts provide additional cautions about shoaling and trouble spots that have put boats aground.  Also there are power boats coming from behind and passing and other boats are meeting us within in the narrow channel and sometimes putting up a (forbidden) wake.  So rather than being a “looky-lou” and taking photos of birds and things, I really need to help pay attention to all of these variables while Carl is at the helm.  It’s a two person job.

Pelicans are a common subject of "looky-louing" 
 We were boarded right where two small rivers were converging, the red and green markers were intermingling, the channel shifting around and several cautions appearing on charts regarding recent shoaling.  Our depth meter was bouncing from 22’ to 16’ to 8’ (NORTHERN STAR, you may recall, draws 6’6”) so an 8’ depth makes our eyes open a little wider than usual.  Meanwhile, the officers wanted to see our documents which meant that one of us had to leave the cockpit and go below to find the paperwork.  That would be me.  Plus, Jax has a love/hate thing for uniformed people.  More hate than love.  So Jax was hyper-vigilant with three unknown men climbing aboard, with or without uniforms.  The officers instructed us, “Just keep going; we’ll do the safety check while you’re underway.”  So, I was sent below, clutching Jax, schlepping our paperwork out to them, answering their questions and all the while being very cordial so that Jax knows these are “good guys.”  Meanwhile, Carl is alone at the helm, answering questions and trying to not run aground.  
Their conversation, "Have you ever been photographed during a safety check before?"

By the time the officers returned to their boat, we had passed through the most complex part of the channel and could breathe once again.  Really….almost anywhere else on the ICW would have been a better place to entertain the Coast Guard than where we were, except maybe for the Cape Fear River.  
Fast current pushes over buoys

We entered the river within a few minutes of the Coast Guard departure.  The current grabbed the boat and pushed us downriver a few miles toward the mouth of the River.  Behind each of the buoys marking the channel could be seen a leeward wake, because the water was rushing past so quickly.  I ended up letting the engine idle and we were still making 7 1/2 knots.  Following the curves of the intended channel was “interesting” at times.  I had to steer the bow well away from the buoy and the boat would then “crab” sideways through the water and narrowly avoid broadsiding the buoy.   Carl resumed his spot at the helm and when he later, missed turning at the right time to slip off onto the quieter ICW channel, he was required to gun the engine to fight back up the current and move off the river.  
Home port, Cape Fear
We pulled off at a marina alongside the ICW for a good night's rest.  No dreams about cows for me.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Sorta Nice Day in Wilmington

posted by Ardys
As one might expect, Wrightsville Beach without the heavy wind and rain is an attractive beach community.  Most of the houses which line the ocean side and the channel side are on high stilts as well as all their docks of course.  It’s no wonder.  The area has been hit by several hurricanes over the years.  Still there are a few very modest older homes, from back in the days when people rented cabins at the beach, before it became chic to be nautical.  Now, whenever an old home is sold, the land is bought up by people with much grander visions of what a beach home should look like. 
southern end of Wrightsville Beach, looking onto the Atlantic at sunrise.
I learned the above about Wrightsville Beach from a local woman who for years, worked for a real estate management company on Wrightsville Beach.  Many of the houses are rented out by the week or month, and many others are the summer homes of wealthy.  And here and there, a little one story house without stilts is tucked in among them, built before the building codes required the stilts and some other sturdier building practices.  How those few survived those hurricanes must have been the luck of the draw.
Wrightsville Beach, miles of beach homes and docks

One of our good friends in Duluth has a brother living in Wilmington contiguous to Wrightsville Beach.  We were invited by him and his wife to tour historic Wilmington and have a bite of lunch.  Carl and I had met the brother this summer in Annapolis.  He came with our friend, another of their sisters and a family friend for a sail on the Chesapeake Bay with us.  We enjoyed that visit from them very much, so we knew beforehand that we had a pleasant day ahead of us. He and his wife picked us up from the dinghy dock alongside the little bridge that crosses the channel and we were treated to a drive through parts of modern Wilmington enroute to the old historic riverfront.  
Historic Wilmington Cape Fear River waterfront

Somehow, the city of Wilmington had never registered in my mind as a place to visit on our journey south.  I have only my Northern roots to blame for this oversight.  The coastal cities that I always knew I would want to visit were Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah.  I have heard many people talk about Charleston and Savannah over the past year, but to be truthful, not a soul has mentioned Wilmington, North Carolina.  Wilmington lacks the promotional advertising of the other two cities named, I think, and our hosts said the Wilmingtonians (?) would like to keep it that way.  I understand that sentiment very well.   As a former resident of Duluth, Minnesota which is perched on hills overlooking Lake Superior, I have been privy to many a conversation that goes something like this, “We just love visiting the North Shore in the summer.  But I couldn’t take a winter there—too COLD!” But that's okay.  If all those folks moved to Duluth, it wouldn't be Duluth anymore.
Trough for horses whose heads were snugged up smartly in fashionable harnesses (?) 
I will do Wilmington the favor of not expanding upon its’ virtues overly much.  The historic district is enjoyable. It stretches along the Cape Fear River on the eastern shore and is lined with buildings that were once factories and dockage for boats and their cargo. Those pre-Civil War era buildings are now connected to the riverfront by wide boardwalks high on stilts and are home to many restaurants, art shops and other fun-looking places—er, mildly fun-looking places.  There’s a “Museum of the Bizarre” and a huge “Deadly Snakes” house and ghost tours 
Sign reads:  "Barbary Coast.  Wilmington's Oldest Bar.  We've upped our standards.  Up Yours!"
offered for evening adventurers.  There is evidence of a lively night scene with bars and music venues along the river.  There are brick streets, but the really old streets are made of very large cobblestones which I was told were carried across the ocean as ballast in ships.  Interesting!  I mean to say, mildly interesting.  There are horse and carriage tours of the historic district.  I found a very old tall (~5’) iron fountain-looking thing with four iron pots mounted inside of it which I was sure were originally used to feed and water the horses along the river.  I got no takers on my theory, however.  Oh, and our hosts bought us a very nice lunch in one of those restaurants.  Thank you to our new friends in Wilmington.  It was a lovely day!  Well, you know—sorta lovely.  
Carolina bisque, crab melt and sweet tea for lunch.
  

Sunday, November 22, 2015

First Overnight Ocean Passage

posted by Ardys

Approaching departure time
Talk about the perfect weather window!  We motored out of Morehead City at 1700 last night and onto the Atlantic by 1745.  The night was beautiful—a bright three quarter moon, stars and very gentle breeze.  You guessed it—motoring again.  There wasn’t enough air moving to fill a sail with only 3 - 5 knots.   Instead, we soldiered on through the shrimping boats at work in the darkness, their decks all brightly lit as they hauled huge nets up out of the water.   Binoculars are great for viewing this activity at night.  

In spite of not being able to sail, I enjoyed the early part of our evening on the Atlantic very much.  Warmer than anticipated; we were comfortable with fleece and  windbreakers for several
do
Dolphins coming alongside for a send-off

 hours.  The boat rocked to and fro on the ocean swells rolling against our beam (the side of the boat).  It made me think of the boat as a giant cradle swaying and dipping, off kilter just a little unpredictably, at times.  Ahead of time, Carl had made us some grilled pork sandwiches from our left overs.   We would not need to use the stove while underway.  So, we had our dinner, a fresh pot of coffee, munchies and a warm dog to snuggle with—what more could a sailor want?  Two of us were taking turns at the helm, more or less just to verify that we were satisfied with the route we had given our new auto pilot, Data. Yes, we have named our autopilot after the most logical and intelligent character of the Starship Enterprise.  Data would never be unpredictable or quirky.

I know that we have some friends on land that are wondering ‘why in the world are Carl and Ardys going out on the ocean at night?’ If you are one of them, I shall explain the rationale based upon these two important variables, distance and desired arrival time at anchorage. 
New chart plotter works great

Distance and time to travel:  The journey by water between the inlet of Morehead City/Beautort and the inlet at Wrightsville Beach is about 71 nautical miles.  (Since we’re talking about the ocean, measurements are again calculated in nautical miles, not statute miles.)  NORTHERN STAR has a sailing speed or a motoring speed of up to 7 or 8 knots.  However, realistically, we could count on 5.5 to 6 kts/hour, or 6 to 7 mph.  So, that comes out to be approximately a 11.8 hour sailing (or motoring) trip.   

Waiting for sunrise to enter inlet
Arrival time at anchorage:  Sunrise — 6:50 AM.  Sunset — 4:50 PM.  10 hours of daylight.   When we sail in familiar waters, we may be willing to arrive in the dark.  Since we have never been to the Wrightsville Beach anchorage, nor to the inlet leading from the ocean to it, there is no way in h*** we were willing to arrive there in the dark.  It’s not like there aren’t navigation aids at night, the same ones we use in daylight hours.  In fact, at night the red and green navaids are lit up and flashing at different intervals that make them identifiable from one another in the dark. All of that is depicted on the paper and electronic navigation charts in front of 
us.  This is very good.  In addition, there are ‘caution’ navaids flashing yellow at night.  That’s good too.   Some other navaids are white, flashing or not.  Again, good.  However, a lot of other things are lit up at night too.   Some of them are stationery objects not meant to be navigation aids.  It is at least feasible that a boater could potentially be temporarily disoriented even with the lights.  It goes without saying that we don’t want to be in the way when that boater’s orientation goes awry.  Clearly, leaving at night and arriving during daylight was the way to go.  

One of four sailboats heading toward land
The weather changed a bit while we were on the ocean, as weather is wont to do.  We were not surprised by this.  It was anticipated by forecast.  By midnight the rocking of the boat was more like a crazed tilt-a-whirl.  Carl tried to nap from 2400 to 0200. Our clear skies and practically nonexistent breeze from the east changed to cloud cover, and a definite cold wind from the north along about 0200.  While I was trying to get a couple hours of sleep below, Carl put up the connector between the dodger and bimini in anticipation of rain.  That was about 0400.  We both stayed up from then on.  The rain held off until we were outside the inlet leading into the waterway behind Wrightsville Beach.  Three other sailboats materialized while we waited for sunrise to proceed through the inlet; obviously followers of the same rationale we were using.  We followed each other in to shore between the long breakwaters like a string of ducklings heading for home.

Ardys and Carl.  Jax is by my feet.
We anchored in hard wind and cold rain surrounded by beautiful beach houses on stilts.  Carl took Jax to shore and then we all slept.