Cape Fear River -- How I Loathe Thee

The Cape Fear area has smitten me again..

I've made I think 5 trips along the Cape Fear River thus 10 legs. Of those 10 legs only 2 can be called enjoyable.

We had a great run on Wednesday from Osprey MArina to Pipeline Canal near Southport, NC. We had the current with us most of the day. A great feeling after that SLOW passage from Georgetown to OSprey the day before. We left Osprey early and had the hook down in Pipeline just 6 hours later. It was nice there in spite of the small boat traffic to the public launch ramp. The evening was fine and settled and we got off before 6:30am the following day to run the Cape FEar. Forecast was for wind 10 - 15NE and 2 hours of a favorable current. NOT! As we approached the Cape FEar near Southport we felt the wind gusts. We entered the Cape FEar and had 20-25 kts of wind on the nose and the current had already changed. We were doing about 4.2kts and taking spray over the bow. I put up with that for about 10 minutes then turned around and went back to Pipeline Canal to wait for the current to change and the wind to lie down. Low tide was about 11:15am so we waited to nearly 1pm to leave on the rising tide with about 2 feet of tide up. The Canal looked fine with 8 - 10 feet of water. I expected no problem leaving the shallow mouth when suddenly we hit hard on I suspect the submerged dam which should have had 2 feet of water over it. Man we were stuck. We tried to power forward and back to no avail. Seatow went by with grins on their face -- I suspect they were awaiting an assistance call. I put out some sail but could not move the rudder. Why was it stuck!! I horsed it and then set the autopilot and we both went to the bow of the boat to take pressured off the rudder. We had some passing boat wake and then after 10 m minutes we got off. However -- the autopilot would no longer lock down.. Damn.. Something must have stripped in it.

I checked the bilge and it was dry. I checked the bilge cycle counter than rechecked several times and it had not run. Fortunately we were not taking on water. We finally entered the Cape Fear River with the wind blowing 15 - 20kts and some robust waves but our speed over ground was 6.8 kts with the current. We sailed on and arrived tired and broken in Wrightsville around 5:30pm. Man it was packed but we found a nice anchor spot.

Friday we just stayed put and relaxed some. I checked over the steering gear and the Autopilot. The linear drive was definitely free wheeling now. It will have to be disassembled to determine the extend of the damage. Damn...

We enjoyed Wrightsville and walked the beach. It was crowded for a Friday afternoon with mostly 20 something students. A far cry for all the old folks we have been rubbing elbows with these last 7 months.

I bought some fresh shrimp from Motts Sea Food and had a great snack.

This morning we left early like 6:20am to make the Wrightsville BEach Bascule bridge and catch the current to Figure Eight Island Bridge. Boy that worked nicely. The Wrightsville open on demand and we hit the Figure Eight with only 10 minutes to kill. We then had the current with us all day probably averaging 7kts over ground. We hit the Surf City bridge with 25 minutes to kill but a barge came along and they opened early. Then on to mile Hammock Bay but we were going to cross the NEw River Inlet near Low Tide -- not good. Especially since we were having a spring tide due to New Moon and the tide was going to be nearly a foot under the Mean Lower Low Water. We arrived about 1 hour before low tide. Two trawlers had gone through about 20 minutes before us and I called them to see what they had seen. They saw the shallowest was 7 feet. I thought about stopping at the Swan Point Marin but it looked really run down. We ran the Inlet. And to my surprise by staying about 60 - 80 feet to the green side of the red can buoys I saw nothing less that 8.9 feet.

We entered Mile Hammock Bay early like 12 noon but that was due to the favorable current and hitting the bridges just right.

We are the first boat in the anchorage today and will enjoy this. Tomorrow we leave about high tide and will run the troublesome Browns Inlet with nearly high tide water -- hope it is enough.

As a note -- I wanted to dive on the keel of the boat at Wrightsville but the water was too opaque to make it worth while. Since we are not taking on water it will hold to we haul the boat in a couple of weeks.

Tomorrow we hope to make Cedar Creek Anchorage and Northwest Creek Marina -- home port -- Monday morning.

Wish us luck.

Torture and Jubilation

Yesterday was a "Tortuous" travel day. We left Georgetown about one and half hours before low tide thinking the incoming high tide would catch up to us. It didn't. I wanted to leave early because of the prospect of thunderstorms in the afternoon. The timing was our undoing.

We had current against us ALL DAY. Strong current too. Our speed ranged between 4.8 and 5.2 kts with no respite. It took us from about 9am to 2:30pm to travel about 30 miles through the Waccamaw River. A beautiful place but couldn't really be enjoyed at such a SLOW pace.

We stopped at the Osprey MArina for fuel and water and tied up for the night. It was HOT with a high of 94 degrees. Boy the AC felt great.

This morning we left early about 6:45am to catch a few hours of the rising tide. It was Great.. We had a favorable -- very favorable current all the way to about 4 miles before Little River Inlet or about 30 miles. Once across the inlet the current was against us till we crossed Shalotte Inlet then we had it with us, again against us just before Lockwood Folly Inlet then with us to about Southport then against us again. Overall it was very favorable and we did 64 miles -- our longest run this trip in the ICW in about 8 and half hours .. had the anchor down in Pipeline Canal by 3:30pm.

Tomorrow a short 28 mile up to Wrightsville beach but can't leave until after 10:30am to catch a favorable current up the Cape Fear River. You do not want to fight that current.

Today the high was low 80s and tonight it is supposed to be in the mid 50s -- great sleeping weather.

Was there a Tropical Storm Ana?

We made it to Charleston City Marina last Wednesday. Fortunately they had a slip for us so we didn't have to suffer "storm" conditions on the MegaDock. We had planned to stay 3 days which then turned into nearly 5 because of the forecast for Tropical Storm Ana.

In retrospect there was no tropical storm. We didn't have much of anything. A little rain Friday night then some on Saturday. No winds above 20kts, in spite of the forecast for gusts to 40 -- didn't happen.

Charleston is a nice city and we enjoy it. Didn't do much other than shopping in the markets and a dismal supper at the marina restaurant. I took long hot showers everyday to get some of my money's worth out of the slip rental -- 100 bucks a day!!

The forecast on Sunday was for likely storms and wind gusts to 40 kts. It sure didn't look that way Sunday morning so we left. We had a nice crossing of Charleston Harbour in winds less than 10kts and once in the ICW we had the current with us all the way. We hit all the trouble spots within 2 hours of high tide -- on the following side -- but no real issues -- just had to stay in the channel. We were helped by the fact that high tide in McClenanville was 1 hour later than Charleston so we cruised on through.

South Santee River is a very nice anchorage however the bugs are terrible. This morning when I looked into the cockpit there were so many mosquitos flying around I though I was in that commercial where the guy plunges his bare arm into a clear plastic bag full of mosquitos. I dressed in long pants and long shirt and sprayed OFF on all exposed skin. I told Karen to stay below behind the screens until we hit Winyah Bay. That worked but it was so annoying having all those bugs flying around me.

We had a nice short run in to Georgetown, SC where we anchored on the waterfront. Launched the dinghy and did a lightning trip to a Piggly Wiggly for fresh lettuce and Karen stayed and shopped. We had lunch at the Riverfront restaurant then back in the boat to watch some thunderstorms come through. Fortunately none too bad because the holding here is not good.

Tomorrow we will do a late departure to catch the tide through the Waccamaw River to Osprey Marina. We will top the fuel off and plug in. It is just too buggy to be anchoring in the Waccamaw right now.