There is a fine line between a tragety and a really good story. Here we pose with our Type 1 PFDs and have a story to tell!! A really good story.

24 hours since we left Hampton... Wish you were there... and we weren't! Or something like that:

Although leaving the Chesapeake was nice and peaceful... and everyone went to bed allowing the 3 hour watch schedule to start with Bill and Pete taking turns.

As the night went on, the north east swell started crossing the wind chop which came from the NW. The wind built to 25-30 knots. the main was reefed then eliminated completely. The genoa was finally furled to about 30%.

As we approached the outer banks we made the call to end our agony and head in. We picked the notorious Oregon Inlet...

Pete was at the helm and bill was looking for marks. The channel was well marked... and while we were in the middle of it, all of a sudden we started to see breaking waves ahead of us. Before we could react, the boat thudded on the bottom. We looked behind us and waves were cresting, ahead the water was dirty with sand. There didn't seem to be any clear water. The keel crashed on the bottom again. And again, and again... We gave it full throttle and let out the genoa... All of a sudden we saw some clear (no breaking waves) to the north. While Pete struggled to keep us from ending up broadside to the wave, Bill called the Coast Guard on the radio. The girls put on PFDs and continued the discussion with the Coast Guard. Pete drove the boat between crashes toward the clear water... And we were off in deep water...

It felt like eternity but was probably less than 5 minutes... Emotions ran hi as we raced toward the bridge under full genoa and full power the coast guard cutter arrived on the scene. We were happy to see them. As we followed the cutter toward Wanchese harbor, we checked for damage, finding only a small leak at the stern. We will have the the boat hauled out in the morning to inspect the outside for damage.

"the incident"

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