A Wild Ride
30 October 2022
Allan Gray
The plan had been for anchors up at 7 a.m. Thursday morning before the wind got up on Abermerle sound however, Mother Nature beat us to the punch. During the night the wind shifted to the north and by morning was already blowing 15 knots, this isn't much however, the 16 mile wide Abermerle sound is notoriously nasty in any breeze above fifteen knots. It's very shallow and stretches east west for at least 40 miles, so short steep waves can build in no time to create nasty conditions. After a morning phone conference with the crew of Sandbox we decided that if we didn't leave we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere for 3 days. The north wind was right on our tail so we set full main and 80% of the Genoa in 12 -15 knots knowing that once we hit the open sound we could easily furl the genny. During the six mile run to the sound we had breakfast, finished our second coffee and prepared the boat for a fast crossing. What a crossing it was, when we hit the sound we were in a group of 8 boats but before long long we were a group of one. Dagny's boom is 18 feet long and with the main right out and the genny furled in we pulled away from everyone as our top speed hit 9 knots in the 25 knot gusts. Once across the sound we had to deal with the Alligator River swing bridge, but fortunately the operator is used to handling lots of traffic this time of the year. We had to spin around and drop the main to wait for 2 boats but luckily we were delayed less then 10 minutes.
Once we were through the bridge the wind and waves subsided so we elected to set a full Genoa only and still averaged close to 7 knots for the 2 hour sail down the river. It was a fairly relaxing sail except for the fact we were part of an air show. This area is a military practice airspace and the Navy F18s were out in full force, we never saw the first one that went just overhead at 400 + knots. We could see at least six fighters that kept buzzing the boats behind us, after all big white sails make for great target practice. The channel at the bottom turns 90 degrees right for a mile or so before turning back south down the Pungo channel. As always happens the wind comes up at the wrong time, as we navigated the narrow channel on a beam reach the wind increased to 25 knots. There were a couple of boats anchored just outside the channel as we steamed through at 8 knots. The water just outside the channel is only 3 feet deep and I said to Bev if we run on a sand bar at this speed they'll need one of MacAlitair's tugs to pull us off. Finally as we turned down the canal the wind dropped right off and we motored the last couple of hours to a beautiful calm anchorage on the Pungo River.
We decided that it was time to reward ourselves with some down time after a few very productive days. Everyone slept in Friday morning and relaxed over coffee before heading off for a short 5 mile sail to Belhaven. Once again the winds were perfect for us and we took advantage of the time to do some rig tuning that had been put off. Bev and I had stopped in Belhaven on our first trip in 2016 and we're looking forward to a return visit to this very welcoming little town. We found a great anchoring spot just off the town dock and after hot showers it was time to head ashore and explore.
Today's picture is of "Dagny" in 15-20 knots enroute to Belhaven.