Rolling into Beaufort, NC

The high, slack tide at Masonboro Inlet on the morning of August 6 was at 04:23.  We were up and headed out the inlet at the slack tide.  The forecasted 15 to 20 knot southwest winds and five foot swell provided some early morning excitement as we worked to drop the main and set the genny once we had cleared the inlet and set our northeast course towards Beaufort Inlet.  Once the genny was set the winds promptly reduced to less than 10 knots while the swell remained.   We spent the remainder of our 10 hour 65NM crossing struggling to keep a full genny and rolling on a following sea.  Definitely not our favorite day of sailing.  We were lucky with the passing storms.  Two cells passed close, but we dodged the foul 

On August 5^th we moved from Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach.  This short, 20 NM hop was all inland… down the Cape Fear River, across Snow’s Cut, and northward up the ICW.  Other than bumping the bottom a couple times on the approach to Snow’s Cut (it seems the approach  from Wilmington is shoaling)  the day’s travel was uneventful.  Anchoring in Wrightsville Beach set us up for an early departure out Masonboro Inlet the following morning.

The high, slack tide at Masonboro Inlet on the morning of August 6 was at 04:23.  We were up and headed out the inlet at the slack tide.  The forecasted 15 to 20 knot southwest winds and five foot swell provided some early morning excitement as we worked to drop the main and set the genny once we had cleared the inlet and set our northeast course towards Beaufort Inlet.  Once the genny was set the winds promptly reduced to less than 10 knots while the swell remained.   We spent the remainder of our 10 hour 65NM crossing struggling to keep a full genny and rolling on a following sea.  Definitely not our favorite day of sailing.  We were lucky with the passing storms.  Two cells passed close, but we dodged the foul weather.  

We cleared Beaufort Inlet making 8 knots on a flooding tide with winds that finally decided to live up to the 15 to 20 knot forecast.

Unable to find an agreeable spot to anchor and running late for  the Chadwick cookout we succumb to the pull of the town docks.  

   

Sunshine Hits the Water

Ten months on the hard for a bottom job and morning of final waxing proceeded the afternoon launch of MV-Sunshine.  Congratulations to Bud for completing the monumental task of curing Sunshine’s extensive case of blisters.  Of course Carlie was on deck and in charge as Sunshine’s hull kissed the waters (see image).   Sunshine will remain at the Cape Fear Boat Works docks for a couple days for some system checks and last minute projects; it is a boat there is always another project. 

While Sunshine remains in Wilmington, Anne and I plan to resume our northward migration tomorrow.

Hopefully we will reunite with Sunshine and the Lovetts on the water in the weeks to come.

More help from Carlie

We are still in Wilmington working on both C’est la Vie & Sunshine Projects.  As you can see from the image included Carlie continues to prove she is more of man’s best friend the man’s best helper.  This was her station as bud worked on the final touches of bottom paint while I painted the running gear.  Hopefully, after over 9 months on the hard for blister repairs, Sunshine will be floating 24 hours from now.  

Back on C’est la Vie we have installed the repaired tiller head; replaced the lower sections of plumbing on our lower bilge pump; and cleaned all the bilge pump strainers.   As Anne mentioned in an earlier post, our lower bilge pump failed during a recent offshore storm due to all the goopy debris sucked out of the bilge.   I suspect the aggressive pitching of C’est la Vie combined with a healthy flow of water into the bilge served to flush a myriad of crud out from the vessel’s nether regions.  Fortunately we have a scrum box in the bilge and a pre pump strainer in-line, these filters did their job by protected the pump and preventing us from discharging some nasty stuff into the ocean.  

Boat Projects on two vessels

What I feared may be a arduous task proved  go smoothly.  We had the tiller/rudder junction dissected into component parts in under 30 minutes.   Does anyone out there know what to call the piece in Bud’s hand?  The issue plaguing us is that the holes in the “ears” at the aft end (right) if the piece have worn and are now larger that the bolt that passes through the holes.  This creates some play in the tiller and makes an alarming popping sound when we steer in large seas of strong winds.  Tomorrow we plan to take the assembly to a local shop for repairs.

Now on to MV-Sunshine to get her ready to launch.  Sunshine’s projects include painting the running gear; some plumbing projects on the engine exhaust; and general prelaunch checks.

Cat napping dog

The Lovetts and Carlie joined us on C’est la Vie this afternoon.  We have developed a bit of play in the tiller/rudder connection so Bud and I worked to remove the fitting.    In the half an hour it took us to disassemble the parts, Carlie caught a quick nap atop our tools.  Ahh the life of dogs…