The small town of Oriental NC bills itself as the *Sailing Capital of North Carolina*. It does have a large number of big boat marinas but also has good facilities for small boat sailors. It provides a 1st class public ramp with 2 floating piers, a kayak launch, and a free downtown dock for overnight visitors (limited space esp. in the summer). You can find gunk-holes to explore and well-sheltered anchorages every 3 to 6 miles on the Neuse River between New Bern and Pamlico Sound. I made 2 trips from Oriental this week. On the first trip I reefed at the ramp. Although the creek where the ramp is located is sheltered you can easily experience twice the wind just a ½ mile offshore on the 3 mile wide Neuse River. After sailing under the high-rise bridge I was treated to low winds, about 8-9 knots, so out went the reef. An hour later I looked over my shoulder and saw a line of white up river. The reef quickly went back in and over the next hour the wind rose to 15 to 16 knots. Sailing at 5 knots and occasionally surfing at 6 knots I ducked into South River instead of my intended beach-combing destination. After an hour or two exploring anchorages in South River the wind died to a comfortable 9-10 knots for a good close-haul trip back to Oriental. The following Friday, I returned to do some beach-combing on a ¾ mile long beach near the mouth of the Neuse. Winds were lighter so I felt comfortable anchoring off the beach. It is a difficult place to anchor since in many areas a thin layer of sand overlays a hard pan of compressed peat. Your anchor appears to set in the sand but once it’s stressed it slides thru the sand across the top of the peat layer. On an earlier trip I had thought that I solved that problem by physically setting the point of my Delta plow anchor into the peat layer. Upon my return I was surprised to see that the plow point broke out with a 8”x 8”chunk of peat impaled by it. To anchor here you have to find the mud bottoms and to take a second anchor close ashore where the sand is thicker.