Well, those of you who saw my Facebook entry from Tuesday know that, based on information from the National Weather Service, I had decided to take Norma and flee to a marina in Oriental. As of Tuesday morning, they were predicting a landfall for Irene that would put the brunt of the wind and tidal surge right here in the Wrightsville / Wilmington area.

For you inland folk, let me point out a little hurricane anatomy. As you're looking at the overhead view of the storm, it rotates counter clockwise. So, if you're above the eye wall and to the right (if its travelling north) that's the worst part for wind and surge; especially close to the eye wall. If the Hurricane had come ashore between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach (as they were predicting on Tuesday) this would have been about the worst place to be.

Therefore, I hastily made basic preparations and got under way. As I proceeded north, I noticed that Norma was greatly under-performing regarding her normal speed under power. She was about 2 knots slower than she should have been. Then about twenty minutes into the trip, I got a high water temperature alarm on the engine.

I backed off the rpms on the engine which silenced the alarm after a few minutes but this slowed me even more. I decided that I would get as far as I could before stopping to trouble shoot these issues. About 5:00 PM, I limped into Sneads Ferry and obtained dockage at a very basic marina.

That evening, I changed the raw water impeller and cleaned out the intake filter which should alleviate the overheating problem. The engine and transmission had been operating smoothely therefore I figured the speed problem was either a fouled prop or I was dragging something.

Wednesday morning, I reluctantly donned my snorkel gear and dove on the hull. I say reluctantly because the visibility here was about eight inches although at least the water was warm. I discovered (mostly by feel) that my hull and keel were clean. I then checked the prop and discovered that both sides were thickly encrusted with barnacles. This definitely would have adversely affected the aqua-dynamics of the prop and could certainly be the reason for the slow speed. (There's a reason why they don't design props with little bumps all over them professor!)

Since I had no air tanks with me, I had to "breath-hold" to dive on and scrape the prop clean. It took a long time but I managed to get the job done. By this time, I learned that the National Weather Service had moved the projected path of Irene significantly to the east.

Now let me give you a little primer on the Coast of (North) Carolina. As you proceed "north" along the coast from Wrightsville Beach toward the Outter Banks area, you're actually going more east than north. So, to continue to my inended destination would actually be taking me right into the projected path of the hurricane. Furthermore, the new projected path now placed Wrightsville Beach in the "survivable" quadrant of the storm.

Ergo, I hotfooted it back to my old slip at Sea Path Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach. During the trip, the engine did NOT overheat and Norma was back up to her usual speed under power. YAY! At least my little sojurn to Sneads Ferry helped to diagnose and prevent some future issues with Norma as I leave for Key West next month.

Anyway, I will await Irene here and hope that she passes to the east as predicted. In anticipation of this, I intend to remove the sails and cockpit covering to reduce wind resistance; double up the docklines and hang on! When its over, I'll let you know how we fared. Wilson looks a little apprehensive but I'll try to keep him reassured.