It was a quiet weekend on the dock. Our PT Cruiser and Stefan's VW Westfalia were the only vehicles in the Ensign Harbor parking lot on Friday night. And a cold Friday night it was. In fact, upon our arrival, Sheryl boarded the stern and moved quickly forward to loosen the bow lines a bit. Despite her cat-like reflexes, she slipped on the foredeck. When I boarded, I could not believe that she had made it that far before slipping. Ashiya was covered with a thin layer of ice. Fortunately, we had come prepared with a small electric-oil radiator style heater. It warmed the small salon and kept us warm throughout the night.

Sheryl and I planned several smaller boat chores, and one primary boat project which was to replace a bent headstay jaw and turnbuckle and "tune" the standing rigging. After reading last week's blog, Lane was kind enough to send me a very simple article which describes this process. After a couple of trips to Oriental, first to get the turnbuckle and then go back to get a left-handed jaw instead of a right-handed jaw (because there are right-handed threads on our stay) we had the first part of the project complete. We even managed to make an improvement to the bow plate by adding some larger backing washers. This is important because we have a second forestay which holds our genoa and is mounted on this plate. Thanks to Stefan for the suggestion and the washers.

It took a bit of time, patience, and penetrating oil to get all the turnbuckles on the shrouds adjusted, but I was victorious before the sun set on our Saturday night. Meanwhile, Sheryl had replaced all the cotter pins with nice circular pins which should pose no threats to the sails.

We had hoped to check out the rigging adjustments under sail on Sunday, but the winds were much too calm. Nick did, however, have a Loo's guage so that Sheryl and I could measure the relative tensions on all the standing rigging. After a few adjustments, and a re-check to be certain that the mast was centered, we pronounced Ashiya ready to sail.

Another bit of activity down the dock was Bob, yanking the engine out of Wind Dance. Talk about a project. They did the job quick and had that engine out of the boat and loaded into the truck in no time.

Sheryl and I spent the rest of our Sunday at the dock listening to the weather (both on the VHF and the "pitter-patter" of raindrops on the deck) and studying charts. We will be back on Tuesday night and hope to depart for a Thanksgiving vacation trip at first light on Wednesday morning.

Plan A - Sail to Ocracoke and stay at Anchorage marina

Plan B - Sail to Beaufort and stay at TownCreek marina or Beaufort Municipal docks


Availability at these marinas and wind direction and speed will guide our eventual decision.