Friday, October 2. 2020
North River, NC Anchorage - Manteo Waterfront Marina
40 miles

In my early morning dreams I hear “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon”. You know how the wind howls on that radio show. And, I have a vertigo feeling too. It’s dark and I get up to find the wind is blowing 15-20 with gusts to 30. The howling wind blowing Liquid Therapy makes those Sergeant Preston of the Yukon sounds. The boat surges back on the anchor snubber line and chain in the strong wind gusts and then surges forward when the gusts are over until the bow gets blown sideways and falls back on slack anchor line until it stretches tightly again. And, when the boat moves around like that and your are stirring in your sleep it messes with your internal compass.

The wind is out of the North and we are headed South today. Liquid Therapy does quite well with following seas. Manteo should be a pretty good destination except for the 30 knot gusts. I take a wind reading and I’m reading no more that 19 knots of wind. But some gusts hit the boat when I have put the wind gauge away that are definite in the mid 20 knots. Good news the wind is supposed to subside to 10-15 in the afternoon. We are going to be in shallow enough water the entire trip that now huge waves cannot develop. But still we stay at anchor until the wind subsides somewhat.

Getting the anchor up can be a challenge in windy conditions. The wind blows the bow off one way or the other as Susan is at the helm and also operates the windless. Trying to keep the chain coming up without putting too much strain on the windless is a delicate dance. My job is to be on the bow pointing which way the anchor chain is as Susan cannot see that from the Fly Bridge. My other job is to be washing the chain as it comes up with lots of mud.

We have17 miles of the Albemarle Sound to cross. If we don’t like the ride we will just turn around and go to Coinjock. Well, when we get to the Albemarle Sound it’s not a bad ride. Small whitecaps are breaking at the stern but Liquid Therapy doesn’t seem to mind them too much. We are never going to be in more than 17’ of water and we will be sheltered somewhat by land. It gets rougher but still ok and we have been in much worse. The wind is giving us a push and also the tidal current is running with us giving us over 7 knots speed. But still every once in a while two waves collide and we roll hard. Nothing broken. But by the time we pull into Manteo Waterfront Marina we are pretty tired rom the bumpy ride. But hey we are in Manteo for a few days. It’s a pretty cool town. Time to mask up and go for a walk.

And as Sergeant Preston would official say at the end of the show, “Well, King, this case is closed.”
Todays picture is well, I didn’t take any as it was just rough. Here is last nights sunset as the swarm of mosquitos arrived. I think there is one on the lens.