Surf City, Here We come! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

I truly expected to be awakened this morning by the sounds of roaring engines or gun fire or somebody yelling but the sun creeping in the port woke me. And it wasn't even all that cold. A bit chill, yes, but cold, no not really. The again, it might have been the two steaming cups of java that i put down before setting to the daily tasks. I was not the last one to leave Mile Hammock for the day, just the second to last, but then I only had a 23 mile jaunt down to Surf City.

Surf City is actually the name of a beach town in North Carolina. Somehow, the name just doesn't seem right for North Carolina. I sure the surf is fine, the beaches certainly are but it still just seems "inappropriate!"

Not much in the way way of wind this morning so it is another motor at least to start. As the morning progresses the wind builds and I unfurl the Genoa and motor sail. It helps keep the speed up without taxing the engine but it is still uncomfortable for me. If the the ICW channel is 50 yards wide in the turns and between paired marks, I will be very surprised. Sometimes it seems wider and a lot of times, there is plenty of water depth outside the channel, but it is those tight spots, ad there are plenty of them, when a moments inattention can lead to a grounding. But it is also far more enjoyable at least motor sailing. When you have to dump sail, you don't have the luxury of turning up into the wind as it will take you right out of the channel and most likely aground. You also can't do a lot of "wind hunting," again because you have to deal with the width of the channel. However, when the wind is right, it is a blast.

One of the fixed bridges (65ft vertical clearance . . . most of the time) along this root had been hit by a boat. In the center, between the stanchions/piers through which they want you to past for greatest clearance, there is always a green light on a pole hanging down so that you can find it at night. Somebody hit it and bent it all out of shape. Glad I don't travel at night. Some of the bridges have wicked currents running through them and you have to be very careful you do not get swept into the abutments. Currents are even worse near inlets if you happened to hit them at the turn of the tide. Did that today going through the New River. I move sideways about as fast as I was moving forward.

When I got to the waterway at "86", I though that the spot Chuck suggested was too exposed. I haven't dragged an anchor yet, and I don't intend to, but in such an exposed spot, it would be the wrong time to do it and end up in the channel as"barge bait!" And since it was early in the day, I pushed on toward Wightsville Beach, 20 miles further. The currents and tides in the ICW are sometimes wind driven, but if you are near enough to an inlet that hits the ocean, they can be tide driven too. I am not sure which was which but I made the 43 mile trip form Mile Hammock and Wrightsville Beach between 8:43 and 2:45! Now ABISHAG just doesn't go that fast on her own power and I was not pushing her that hard to begin with, but with the motorsailing and the tide/current we really moved along. The last bridge at Wrightsville is a bridges that raises both sides. It opens only on the hours, and it was a five mile sprint to get there from the previous bridge that opens every 30 minutes. I made it but the groups of boats waiting to pass through also contained a number which want to use the marinas just past the bridge on either side. It created abit of a traffic jam and which made the dash rather unnecessary. I wended my way passed marinas and condo and huge boats all the way to a waterway just behind the beach and drop the hook with about 14 other boats. Several more came in during the remainder of the afternoon and it became a very close community. Several boast from Mile Hammock. were present and more American Boats. The southward migration must have hit its stride. I've got friends in Wilmington and they are holding mail for me. I'll chill for a day and then head up there for a stay.

On by the way, temperature at anchor drop in Wrightsville Beach was 77 DEGREES! It is expected to be so for the next week!