Sweetpea #2Wednesday - 8 Oct: Up at 5 AM to catch a flight from Ft. Meyers to Baltimore. Ed picked me up and we headed for the northern Neck of Va. where repairs were being done on Sweetpea. Arrived to find Zimmerman's Boatyard had done an excellent job repairing the rudder log and fabricating a new rudder post. The rudder log is basically a piece of wood with a hole in it that holds the rudder shaft in place when it comes through the bottom of the hull. I found out why this had always leaked before. It seems a previous repair (by the previous owner) had been done with block of wood with a hole that was a 1/4" too big around the shaft and the block was not really fiberglassed to the hull; instead, it was just caulked into place. Zimmerman's made a new block of wood (still accepted as the best material for this purpose), cut the hole exactly the right size, fiberglassed around the block and fiberglassed the block into place in the hole. Further, they gelcoated the whole thing even though it was down in the bottom of the boat and would not be seen by normal eyes. More important, they found extensive corrosion on the portion of the stainless steel rudder shaft that set in the old block of wood that had rotted out and had another made for me by the local medal fabricator. This corrosion made the rudder shaft prone to failure and loss of rudder and was not something I wanted to be surprised by out in the ocean. Thursday - 9 Oct: Repairs completed, everything installed and the boat launched, we depart Zimmerman's about 4 PM. We headed down the East river and into Mobjack Bay toward the Chesapeake Bay motoring about 3 knots -- much faster since Ed had cleaned the barnacles off the prop. Unfortunately, when we hit the Bay, the wind was directly off our nose so sailing was not practical so we continued motoring toward Norfolk (about 30 miles away) making about 3 knots. It was a clear night with a 3/4 moon and a nice cruise that could have been made nicer only by the ability to raise sail. Arrived in Norfolk about midnight, picked our way through the harbor by following lighted markers. The general rule is "red right return" meaning keep red markers on your right when returning up river. Green markers should therefore stay to your left. This procedure keeps you from straying away from the deep part of the channel, which is not in the center and keeps you away from known hazards like submerged pilings and other obstacles. The it all sounds easy and it is at times. however, imagine trying to spot red or green lights flashing every four seconds in a dark harbor, but against a back drop of city lights and well lighted shipyards and moored ships who are also sporting the same color lights. The harbor was quiet, large ships moored on either side -- navy and commercial, freighters and tankers, -- only a few boats out and moving. Things seem simpler at night. Something about not having all the details that makes it so. At 1:30 AM, Ed pointed out 'Harborside' the downtown, inner harbor area or Norfolk. He said "that's where we should stay .... unless we want to continue on" We both thought continuing on was a better option because getting through the next few bridges would be easier at night than in the daytime when traffic demands opening only on schedule. Shortly after deciding to continue, we passed the first mile marker for the inter-coastal waterway. That was all I needed to get excited about going on. I knew we only had 1237 miles left, so no time like the present to get started! The first bridge came up quickly. We hailed the bridge tender on the radio and with our horn (since he was asleep) and asked him to raise the bridge so we could pass. The center section of the bridge stayed parallel to the ground, but rose 65' in the air to allow us to pass under it. We passed through several bridges in succession. Some were hinged on each bank and opened like draw bridges. Others would swing on pivots. This will be the procedure for the rest of the inter-coastal. The inter-coastal is a series of interconnected bodies of water which allow passage from Norfolk to Miami without having to use the ocean. Some of the waterways are sounds (very wide), others are rivers (also very wide -- 3 miles or so), some are narrow canals dug to connect what was already there. Where roadways cross these waterways, there is a bridge which has to be hailed and opened. We established a goal of reaching a place called 'Great Bridge' before we stopped. That was the end of frequent bridges and a good place to rest. About 4AM, we went through a lock (which we think keeps salt water separate from the fresh water - a problem when you connect waterways that aren't connected naturally) and tied up at Great Bridge about 4:40AM. Sleeping was easy, but short that night. Friday - 10 Oct: At 9:30AM we were awakened by a frantic knock on the boat. It was the bridge tended who said the Navy boats that were going to be tied up where we were had arrived 8 hours early and we had to untie and make room for them. We, half awake, untied Sweetpea, started the engine and moved to the center of the canal only to wait 30 minutes for the bridge to open at 10 AM and let us pass. So instead of coffee at the local 7-Eleven I had a lesson on handling the boat at slow speed. Soon after Great bridge (I'm still not sure why it was named that), we departed Virginia and entered North Carolina motoring about 5 knots passed flat, marshy countryside. We were headed toward 'Coinjock', a popular fueling spot along the inter-coastal. We still had plenty of fuel since we had filled up 4 6-gal plastic jugs from a gas station near Zimmerman's. We figured our fuel consumption to be about 1/2 gal per hour. About 3:30 PM we arrived at 'Coinjocks', fueled up, purchased some food, talked to some cruisers that Ed knew , and made a phone call to the company that sold our instruments and autopilot. At 4PM, we departed 'Coinjock' and headed for Albemarle Sound -- another late-nighter it looked like. Just before midnight, we crossed Albemarle Sound and cruised to the Alligator River (3-4 miles wide) and pulled off the inter-coastal to anchor in the middle of the river. It was very pleasant. A moonlit night, with a cool breeze, fairly calm water, it looked like a place for some good sleeping. About midnight, we dropped anchor -- the first time it had ever hooked a bottom. I was pleased with how easy it was to use the system we had designed, but until now not ever really used. Sleeping on a gently rocking boat with the sound of water lapping the hull is extremely pleasant. I slept well until about 7 AM when I could hear the wind come up and the tugs on the anchor were stronger and more frequent. I dressed, woke Ed. He checked the alternator belt which he thought might be loose and causing our batteries not to be charged. The night before was the first time we noticed the charging system was not working. Belt tension did not appear to be the cause, so we weighed the anchor and headed back to the inter-coastal waterway. We followed the Alligator River into a cut between the Alligator and the Pungo River. The connecting canal was 25 miles long, very narrow and surrounded by low land marshes, but very quiet and scenic. Once into the Pungo river, we sailed a little -- passed Bellhaven, across the Pamlico Sound -- and then motored through a canal to the Bay River. We tried to anchor at the top of the Bay River, but the anchor didn't hold in the fine mud so we decided to pull it up and move on toward another anchorage. Ed had been at the helm through most of the last sound and the long canal, so I took the helm so he could get some rest and then cook dinner (he is a much better cook than I). It was very dark by now and the wind was coming up. I sailed with full jib (the forward head sail) and the motor. It got exciting quickly. The waves were also getting bigger as we reached the intersection of two rivers (as we entered the Neuse River). In the cockpit I was drenched several times by waves breaking over the cabin top. The flashlights we used to spot markers at night all slid into the cockpit foot well (where I was standing in the cockpit) and my glassed were crusted in salt. I reduced the head sail (rolled it in using winches in the cockpit) and even reduced, It was all I could do to handle the boat. As we approached the marker, I turned into the Neuse River and the wind was behind us which made it easier to control the sail, but the waves behind us were pushing the stern of the boat into a turn constantly, which required constant attention to the helm. Since my glasses were wiped out, I couldn't read the chart and after I set the course toward what I guessed was the next marker, I flashed the spot light into the cabin to wake Ed and get his help figuring out where we were and whether we were on course. Turned out, he wasn't with all the noise of sails flogging, heavy equipment sliding into the cockpit footwell and the rough movements of the boat in the rough seas. He quickly took a GPS fix and located our position. My concern was that I might be heading us into the black shore or shallow water. It turned out we were where we should be and Ed took frequent fixes to confirm our position along the way because the strong wind and currents were causing us to drift sideways toward the shore. Dinner was PB&J sandwiches and coffee and all we could handle with the boat. As we sailed down the Neuse River and moved away from the intersection with the Bay River, things smoothed became more controllable, so we turned our attention to the declining voltage in our battery banks. As we talked, the problem became more serious because the engine overheat light came on and we had to shut down the engine -- our only way to charge the system. We decided to head for Oriental N.C. and to stay in a slip where we could use shore power (plug into an outlet) to charge everything up before moving on. Unfortunately, it was late on Saturday night and marinas closed and the slips were all likely to be taken. Ed remembered seeing a motel with a marina on a previous visit so we used the cell phone to call with the hope someone would be manning the desk at this late hour and could reserve us a slip. Unfortunately, the dockmaster did not answer and the motel office was just a recording. Since other dockage was not likely, we talked about moving on to another river further alone the inter-coastal to anchor. During the conversation, Ed mentioned that the marina and motel also had a restaurant, so I suggested he call them to get some help. Luckily, someone was at the restaurant who could check for room at the marina and called us back on the radio confirming there was room to tie up next to a fishing boat in one of their slips. He also confirmed shore power was available. We were set!. We started the engine and motor sailed toward Oriental for an over night stay. Ed was at the helm because he knew the harbor. He noticed it was a hand full to keep the boat on course, but told me once we get into the harbor, it would be calm because the harbor was protected by a jetty of rocks. We found the slip with the fishing boat, tied up, cleaned up and headed for the nearest bar which was still open at 12:30 AM. Basically, we had just made over 200 miles in the last two days. SO we were tired. The experience has been invaluable. Lots of night sailing and I am getting a feel for Sweetpea in different kinds of conditions and learning about navigating the Inter-coastal Waterway. We have passed inside Cape Hatteras and will continue from here either inside along the Inter-coastal Waterway or will head outside near Moorehead City into the Atlantic Ocean returning to Charleston or some other port along the way. It all depends on conditions and whether we get problems with our equipment fixed. More later ........................................
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