We had not been to the coast since our trip to Oriental in early December. Judy was busy helping plan and give a party for my new grandson who will arrive in mid February. I planned to go to the party but had no preparation duties so I asked my brother Jack if he would like to make a quick trip to check on the boat and help with a couple of chores.
There are no pictures for this log entry because of a technical issue that has been corrected.

Saturday January 6, 2007
Jack and I left at 6am on Saturday morning and made the trip in record time, due to light traffic. We arrived at about 10:30am to unbelievably beautiful weather for early January. We had not even considered the possibility of taking the boat out because of the date and the forecast of small craft advisories for Saturday morning. I had two chores I wanted to get done. They were not critical but there is always a list as long as your arm. The first was to tighten the stuffing box. This is a tricky adjustment and I was glad Jack was there to put the engine in gear, throttle up, throttle down, shift into reverse and back into forward. This is required to adjust the stuffing box so that it leaks slightly when the prop shaft is turning but stops immediately when the shaft stops. I'm not sure if I got it tight enough but I will watch it for a while. The other chore was to remove the "kill switch" cable and take it home for cleaning and lubrication. The problem with the cable is a direct result of the "too leaky" stuffing box slinging water around the engine enclosure and on to the cable. I was removing the cable from the deep locker in the cockpit when our friends Bill and Susan came by on the way to their boat. They said they were going out and asked us to join them. You would have thought the wrench I was holding suddenly became hot to the touch. My response was "When do we leave?" Bill and Susan's boat is an extremely well preserved Pierson 35. Bill and I tried to rig a reef in the mainsail before we left but it didn't work out. They have owned the boat only a couple of months and it does not really have any jiffy (or other) kind of reefing equipment. As it turned out, the reef was not required because the wind had "laid down" nicely after noon. The wind was about 15 knots out of the southwest. Bill wanted to see what she would do sailing to windward, and he was pleased by her performance. She has a very easy motion and handles like a dream. We were all constantly commenting on the weather. It seemed more like late April or early May than early January. Oh well, enjoy it while you can because it can't last long. By the time we started back my flannel shirt was feeling kind of thin. It was a most enjoyable afternoon of sailing and visiting. When we returned to the dock, Bill and Susan had to return home to care for their dogs. Jack and I were hungry after a day on the water so we went into the big city (Oriental) for dinner. When we returned we visited with several dock mates in the cockpit. We wanted to be ready to leave early on Sunday so I could make it to the party, so we packed almost everything before we turned in.

Sunday January 7, 2007
We left Ensign Harbor a few minutes after 6am for the trip home. We stopped at Wilber's Barbeque in Goldsboro for breakfast. We arrived home before noon.