Yesterday was a perfect example of why Sept-Nov is THE sailing season here on the coast of North Carolina. The day started at 8 am pulling off the dock lines and by 8:05 we're in the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). Not a breath of wind so we motored the 8.2nm and dropped anchor on Shackleford Island. The path took me through the Morehead City Turning Basin, the second largest port in NC across the Beaufort Inlet to Shackleford. Crossing the inlet was totally non eventful as there was still no wind and I hit it at just about the slack of low tide. A beach picnic was scheduled for the day. Another 5 boats (all power boats) were due to arive at 11. The reason I left at 8 was because I expected the trip to take something just short of that. But I got lucky and hit the last of the outgoing tide to the inlet which covered the first 6.5nm. Both the sound and the inlet were like a milk pond. At 9:30 we pulled straight into the beach. We averaged 5.4 kts! I had to check my GPS to make sure I had the distance correct. Yep, 8.2 thanks to a nice tidal current and a 6hp Tohatsu. I dropped the Guardian FX7 off the stern and let it pay out all the way to the beach and cleated it off. My mate took the Manson Supreme 15# to the bow and swung it off the front as far as possible. I hopped out and moved the bow anchor up onto the beach shoved it into the sand at the high water mark on the beach. Then I pulled in the slack from the stern anchor and recleated. With time to kill we had some more coffee as I listened to my mate, David, somewhere in his 70's. He grew up 'down eas', has owned several boats (mostly at the same time) and bleeds salt water. While he poured coffee and some kind compliments my way on the anchoring he offered some observations to make life simpler. He smiled and said I may have thrown out the stern anchor a little too early. This was evidenced by the nearly 160' of line I laid out. We were in water never deeper than 5'!! Then I started rethinking my anchoring strategy. I watch him easily hold onto the Manson and walk it up to the bow. The Manson has a big roll bar that makes it easy to carry. Before he went forward he picked up the anchor and layed the 12' of chain overboard from the cockpit and left the WalMart hand basket in the cockpit sole. Then he just walked up the bow and chucked it in and cleated it off on the bow cleat. He made it look so simple. And this was a lot simpler than my "drop from the stern; cleat at the stern; walk the line bag forward; cleat at the bow; walk back with the bag; and finally, uncleat the stern." David say's he's in his 70's but then slips up and talks about being a pilot in the Korean War!!! So... lessons learned and things I'll change. 1. Find a pair of knock off WalMart hand baskets and bring the one I have back to WalMart. Not like they really miss it or need the money, but I think it's bad mojo to keep it. 2. Save the mesh bag for backup line in case the anchor line isn't long enough. Putting the line back into the hand basket took no time compared to repacking the bag. Do I hear a bunch of 'I told you so, Joe'? 3. Take David sailing again real soon. We left around 3:00. The wind picked up to a respectable 8-10. We had a beam reach all the way back with a couple of close reaches. Seas picked up and there were a gazillion boats out. The tide was just starting against us but we still made it back in two hours. A respectable 4kts average Tip of the day. If your boat is covered with dew it will dry faster if you hose down your boat?? I learned that one from David too. Picture of the day. See attached. These are the famous Shackleford horses. They've been on this island for hundreds of years. That's hundreds, folks. Think about all the hurricanes. There are Vets that go out and give them shots and checkups and there's an organization that culls the herds. Interesting enough, they don't all hang around together like mustang herds. They have their own little mini herds. How cool is that? I wonder if they have their own little 'hoods'?? Enjoy. Redskins kick off in a few minutes. Later. Joe SeaFrog M17
