After almost a week in Portsmouth/Norfolk we slipped our mooring at the marina and started our cruise down the ICW on Wednesday, 24 December at around 11am. Wimpie almost remained behind since Strider left the dock more rapidly than he had anticipated and he had some trouble scrambling on at the last minute! He was dragged aboard with feet dangling in the water. His brief was to push the boat away from the dock, because the wind was pushing Strider onto the dock and then, after fending off, leap aboard. Well, it's always easier in theory. Once the boat starts its backward motion, there's no stopping, hence Wimpie's rather ungainly landing on deck.

Going down the ICW is so much more peaceful than being out on the open sea, although it brings its own challenges for a deep-draughted sailing vessel, as you'll see later! Ferdi was behind the wheel for most of the way while I navigated. One has to stick to the dredged channel quite closely, since the encroaching shoaling on the outside has resulted in depths of 5 ft or less, and Strider draws around 6'3''. We meandered down the southern branch of the Elizabeth River and later the first section of what is known as the Virginia Cut, passing by pine woodlands and small settlements and twice spotting bald eagles perched by the river. A welcome change from imposing grey naval vessels!

We had some hairy moments passing under one or two of the fixed bridges. They are supposed to have a 65 ft clearance and we had worked out that our mast and VHF antenna together measure around 61 ft above water level, but approaching at least one of them we were too afraid to look up, especially after reading that one or two yachts had been dismasted in this way in past years....we made it through without problems, however.

Since it's not a good idea to travel at night on the ICW (difficult to see the markers etc) we tied up to some piles next to the canal just south of the Great Bridge Lock at the end of the day, in front of two other yachts already there and respectively belonging to English and Swiss couples. The weather the next day (Christmas Day) was not conducive to continuing (it was raining and a southerly wind would have hampered our progress) so we hung about the village of Great Bridge and in the evening had a fabulous Christmas meal on New Life, the boat of our neigbours, Thierry and Patricia, as did the owners of the third yacht, Shiver, Redmond and Liz. T&P's son Marvin (6) and R&L's son Freddie (5) had given each other dinosaur gifts for Christmas and were eagerly ripping them open while the adults all shared boating stories around New Life's ample saloon table. It was great to hear everyone's experiences, especially for a wide-eyed novice like me!

The next day (Friday) the three yachts set off together for the next leg down the ICW to Coinjock, a village just the other side of the Currituck Sound. It was coldish in the early morning (Strider's captain was wearing shoes, always an indication of low temperature) but heated up slightly as the sun came out later. At Mile 43 (statute miles along the ICW, not nautical miles), we entered North Carolina. All went well until we got into the sound, where we got stuck twice! According to our ICW guidebook, one is supposed to stick to the centre of the dredged channel across the sound (the outer limits of which are indicated by day beacons) but this is not always so easy to determine! The first time we got stuck Ferdi managed to free us quite easily, but the second time we could not budge. After an attempt by Thierry and Patricia to free us, a passing-by small fishing vessel with a strong outboard managed after first attempting to pull our mast over (with Wimpie and I hanging over the side for extra weight) and then finally pulling us forward with all three of Strider's crew adding side weight.

The three yachts docked at around 4pm on Friday at the quiet hamlet of Coinjock at the Midway Marina, one of two in the village. We are now 50 statute miles from our ICW starting point at Portsmouth/Norfolk two days ago. Since today is fairly misty and it looks like we won't be able to continue till Monday, we have been spending the day chatting to our fellow boaters, doing laundry, catching up on emails etc, and Wimpie is still trying hard to catch his first fish.

(See some pics in the Photo Gallery.)