Happy July 4th!
Pulling up Anchor in Silver Lake, ‘I’m sure that piece of tape is really what made it hold well’
The night before the race we anchored at Indian Island, many of you probably have passed it going down the ICW, what a gorgous spot. Only about 1 hour from Port Vandemere.
Hiking a nature trail led to this nice little scenic spot near the inlet.
The classic view of Ocracoke Lighthouse
A typical Maritime Forest
Life imitates art, colorful bicycles for rent in Ocracoke.
Thursday July 3rd, 2008
It’s been a nonstop few weeks. This time of year the vacations decend on town and with them come festivals, regattas, music and backyard cookouts. A jog through town a few nights ago was sheer torture, someone was grilling something that smelled soooo good! But then there is the traffic, I actually had to wait for 5 cars to pass before pulling out onto hwy 55. I know, some of you will laugh.
Before I do a recap of the last two weeks. Let me tell up what’s up this weekend. Tonight we have music at Scoots, by Dave Caroll, who sailed into Oriental on his boat some months ago and is a fabulous guitar player and composer. Tomorrow Paradise Shore is hosting some big name artists, lyracist Donna Hughes will be singing and paying guitar and will be preceeded by some of our own local talent. Tomorrow also starts the Croaker Festival, which is highlighted by the parade on Sat. morning and fireworks at dusk and a lot of fun inbetween.
Last weekend the Oriental Cup Regatta was first blessed by a fresh 20knt breeze and then cursed with a nasty squall and lightening storm. I need to say this is now the 3rd nastly squall I’ve been in in the last couple of weeks, showing over 40knts of wind. We had a wonderful sail but when I saw the little black nasty headed down the river we cranked the diesel and took down the sails. The Neuse was packed with boats not only from the OCR but we were also hosting the Laser Masters championships and had plenty of spectator boats. The squall came through just as they do, howling wind for about 10 minutes and then torrential rain. But after the rain stopped we were hit by more lightening that I’ve ever seen at one time. Acutally 2 boats were hit. One boat 3 times! The boat hit by 3 strikes was a Moore 24 race boat without through hull fitings or electronic and although a few crew got zapped pretty good, all were fine. The other boat, hit once, wasn’t so lucky and lots all of its electronics.
That wasn’t the end of the drama, a friend of ours had a little Catalina 22 and was just heading out the harbor when the squall hit. Subsequently the little boat was pinned down by the wind and sank! Luckily all crew were ok, albeit a little shook up.
I hope next year’s Oriental Cup is a little less exciting! Hopefully some of you can participate too, we need to add a few more boats to Team Port Vandemere!
The weekend before that we decided to sail to Port Vandemere and check out Mark’s new dock by boat. And you guessed it… more squalls! A little storm cought us on the way there and we sat it out at Mark’s dock. It’s really amazing how calm Vandemere Creek is when its blowing like stink just around the corner. I did a close pass by where A, B, C, D, and E dock are going to be located, checking depths and taking photos. We picked up our fearless leader and headed to a place called Indian Island for the Ocracoke Regatta to be held the next morning. It was a gorgeous anchorage and great place to start the race at 8am the next morning. That started off easy, with 5 to 10knt winds but by 11am…. I sound like a broken record. More squalls! The coast guard came clamoring on the radio with storm warnings, three of which hit us during the 38 miles of the race. During squall #2 I kicked on the diesel to keep from being blown on a shoal and disqualified myself. Oah, well. A cautious sailor am I.
Arriving at Ocracoke was well worth the effort, as you will no doubt find out. But the crossing to Ocracoke is always something memoribe and we had a memorible experiance both ways. Finally sailing home Monday morning, more rain and steady 25knt winds on the nose. Its all about what you are used to I guess. The final 10 mile streach to Oriental with 20 knts on a beam reach with the sun shining was absolutely glorious and worth all the torture, wet, soggy, stormy, tedious hours to get there.
Oah, least I forget, the crews are still working hard to finish the water lines. I’m happy to say the water is ON! at the property as was demonstraited to me with a nice soaking from the fire hydrant.
Enjoy the photos!
