What a Ride..

Thursday we left Ocracoke around 9am.. Wanted to wait for a favorable current up Big Foot Slough. We got it but also 20 kts on the nose so we plugged along at about 5.1 knots. Would have been very bad if the current was against us.

The ride was not bad until we hit the last 2 marks on Big Foot Slough. Suddenly the waves grew from about 1 - 2 foot to 6 foot or maybe a little better. My speed dropped to about 3 kts... The other 2 sailboats did not slow down -- don't know why. On top of this the Cedar Island Ferry was just arriving to come down the channel!!

I have to give credit to the Ferry Operator. He saw how we were struggling in these waves in the entrance and he waited until we cleared. I hailed him on channel 13 and thanked him. That was a very polite and seaman like maneuver on his part.

Once we cleared the mouth of the channel the waves dropped to 2 -3 foot with a quartering sea so it was rolly. Karen did not like it and we immediately recognized that we had not prepared properly for a rough ride as things started to fall down and around down below.. Caught again!!

Once we poked the Jib out a bit the boat steadied but still rolled a bit. It was uncomfortable until past Royal Shoals. Better approaching Brandt Isle Shoals then smooth the rest of the way to South River.

We made South River by 3pm and had the hook down and stowed by 3:30pm. Then we met Julie and Bob Norman on Quest. They are members of the WRCC. Julie is a weather reporter and Bob is a Fleet Captain. KE4OIM and KE4OIL. We had a nice visit with them and Craig and Dovie.. Ohhh Dovie was feeling better since she had a bit of seasickness on that passage.

Later we had a light supper of canned soup and called it an early night. Ohh but not before the fresh water system went down.

The pump came on but pumped nothing. The tank still had 50 gallons of water but I switched over to the full 80 gallon tank and still no output from the pump. I troubleshot and found that the pickup valve was clogged with that crusty while debris from inside the tanks -- I think it is aluminum Carbonate from chlorinated water in aluminum tanks. Must have broken up during the rough passage. I blew through the line and freed it and then sucked on the line and got a mouth full of the stuff. Tasteless but not pleasant. I reconnected but it still was not right. The pump ran fast and long and would shut off but obviously not working the way it should.

I saved further investigation for tomorrow.

First night of this trip where no one wanted to play games!! All that boat motion wears a body down..