Opps, did I say Cape Fear?
22 April 2009 | Cape Fear Inlet, Bald Head Island marina
Jan
As when all good intentions or best plans are made there always must be a plan B! We left Charleston right on time...5pm Tuesday...the winds were a little stronger than originally expected, not to mention out of the SE when our virtual buoyweather report said from W and SW. No problem, we adjusted! About midnight the winds really picked up (25-30knots) and just minutes ahead of a squall that developed on the radar in less than 10 minutes...I woke Rob up and got the staysail in the winds clocked around to our stern and were 30-37 knots in no time. When the squall hit there was a bit of rain but the seas got "confused" and choppy and the winds were now blowing 35+ and I even saw it gusting to 47 knots on the meter!!! Highest that I have ever seen... As the wind picked up, the wind clocked to the SSW (from the S) in a matter of minutes and with that came an accidental jibe!!! Oops... Of course the wind was too strong and even Rob couldn't get the main in all the way and between the swells of 8-10ft the high winds and now right on our stern another "accidental jibe" happened. It's pitch black and when Rob couldn't get the main in he knew something was not right. A 3rd jibe happened and when he got the spotlight on it the main boom block came loose from the traveler...NOT GOOD! We changed course and headed to the next closest port... "Cape Fear"... It was only 9 hours away! The rest of the night we saw winds from 25-35 knots and some pretty rough seas...at least they were all coming from our stern quarter which was good and not bashing into them. The winds continued high all morning and to complicate matters, once we got to the channel into the Cape Fear Inlet, we had to "share it" with a huge container ship coming out. Being a pretty narrow channel we had to travel outside the buoys. Anyway, bottom line is all is well and we made it into the inlet and into a marina with those 30 knot winds and choppy seas. Rob is confident this will not be too difficult of a fix, however, we will be traveling the ICW (intracoastal waterway) as a motor boat. Not a bad way to go, but our boom is cracked and will need to be replaced...NO SAILING without the Main sail! Neither of us got much sleep last night so it's early to bed tonight and we will be spending at least Thursday doing laundry (our blankets and fowl weather gear were totally drenched in salt water spray)and really assessing and ordering parts. We will have them shipped to Annapolis and Rob will make the repairs there. It seems like quite a job, but he's up to the task! For the next 24 hours we will enjoy the Cape Fear inlet at a nice little marina on "Bald Head Island", a Southern Carolina type "second vacation home" island. It's only 12,000 acres in size, 14 miles of white sandy beaches, nice homes and condos, a golf course and the only transportation on the island is by golf carts or bicycles. The island does have a bit of history with pirates and has a really cool old lighthouse affectionately known as "Old Baldy". It also has the best "She crab" soup I have had so far and some beautiful sunsets!!! Alas...rounding Cape Hatteras will have to wait until another trip!