Part 4: Days 7 thru 9
Day 7
After a successful stop in Georgetown, SC for provisions and fuel, we had a look at the forecast and saw another window for another overnight sail with the next port of entry in Morehead City, NC. The forecast was showing wind out of the northeast diminishing throughout the day and the sea state would be settling down along with it- a good forecast.
Unfortunately, as we headed back out Winyah Bay and Bottle Channel, the reality was much different. We were met by a messy and rough sea state. We were bashing straight into it as we exited the channel, waves crashing directly on the nose, not what we were expecting at all. Kelley began feeling green instantly and retreated to her cabin to try and relieve herself of her symptoms. About this time David and I were chatting about some sailing strategies to try and settle the boat down in the rough sea state.
Our options were: 1) Turn back and head up the InterCoastal Waterway (ICW), 2) Carry on and deal with the rough seas, or 3) Turn west and take a course that allows for a gentler sea state and then alter course back on track when the sea state settles down as forecasted. Taking the ICW would add more days to the trip because you cannot (safely) do an overnight on the narrow and often unpredictable shallows of the ICW. Carrying on may fatigue the crew more than necessary and become a detriment at the beginning of a 36+-hour passage. After some thoughtful deliberation, David and I decided to deal with the sea state until we passed the inlet and breakwaters and then turn west back to the coast to try and tame the boat’s motion down.
After making the turn, the boat almost instantly settled down and would continue to calm down throughout the day as we continued north towards Morehead City, NC.
The remainder of the afternoon was pretty uneventful and the weather did improve like the forecast had called for and we had a delightful afternoon motor sailing north. As we prepped for the sun to set. David started to brief us on our route. The original plan was to take the Frying Pan shoals to our port which meant heading out to sea roughly 10 miles, adding to the overall distance and time it would take to get to Morehead City. However, David had another idea that involved cutting inside the boundary of the shoals and following a track one of his other captain colleagues had tracked earlier in the year through roughly a 10 to 12 foot contour line on the charts within three miles offshore.
The Frying Pan shoals are a long shifting area of shoals off Cape Fear in North Carolina. The average depth of the entire shoals runs between 5 and 15 feet. This area has been notorious for its hazardous waters since the early days of European exploration. More recently, between 1994 and 2008, there were over 130 shipwrecks discovered in the area.
So needless to say, knowing the existing hazards in this area, we were pretty nervous about David’s decision. Not that we did not trust him, but just the thought of going through this known area of danger and only giving ourselves a few feet of water under the keels, gave us a bit of an uneasy feeling. Furthermore, at the pace we were on, we would be passing the shoals just after midnight. Fortunately, we would be hitting it at high tide and the weather and sea state was calm. This would otherwise not be advisable if there was poor weather or a rough sea state.
We experienced a beautiful sunset and, once again, we had a mostly full moon to help guide us over the shoals and keep us company throughout the 3-hour on, 3-hours off, night shifts.
Midnight rolled around and sure enough, we were approaching the Frying Pan Shoals. David was just finishing up his first-night watch but was generous enough to stay up with Kelley and me until we passed the shoals. As we approached the shoals we were glued to the depth finder and charts. 40 feet, 30 feet then all of a sudden the sounder shoots up from 30 feet to 12 feet… we were just above the shoals. For the next 20 minutes, we were holding our breath just watching the charts and depth sounder, calling out any change of depth we saw. Fortunately, the depth sounder held in the 10 to 12-foot range until the north side of the shoals where we saw 7.5 feet before it rapidly started to drop again. Finally, we were off the shoals and feeling a bit easier on board with that behind us.
The rest of the evening was easy and before we knew it, the sun was coming up again and we were getting closer and closer to Beaufort inlet and Morehead City, NC. Once again we were greeted by another beautiful sunrise and almost dead, flat sea state- Kelley was extremely happy about this! Entering the inlet, we saw fishing vessel after fishing vessel heading out into the open water.
Easy trip through the Beaufort inlet and we were back on the ICW heading north up Harlowe Creek. After a long night of motoring we decided we needed to grab some more fuel as we had another couple hundred miles to go motoring up the ICW to get to our final destination in Hampton, VA. David knew of a good marina to pick up some cheap fuel right off the ICW called Jarrett Bay Marina. As we were pulling into the Marina, we seemed to struggle to keep the boat on course as we neared the dock. Was it the wind or maybe some strong current? There was a bit of wind, but nothing that would impact the boat this severely. After a slight struggle, we finally got tied up and began fueling. We tried to make some small talk with the dock hand, but he wasn’t feeling it. He was just giving short answers to all our questions and really didn’t give us the time of day. And here I thought people in the south were supposed to be friendly.
Fueled up we pulled off the dock and it was not 30 seconds later David looked up the mast and realized that we had left our main sail up the entire time we were trying to dock and fuel up. It’s no wonder the dock hand looked at us like we had four eyes! And it’s no wonder we struggled to dock- it wasn’t the current or wind, it was our damn Main sail that we forgot to bring down! “Bloody Punters” David said (a term for unskilled or beginners he coined from one of his British sailing buddies). We started cracking up at the very rookie sailing mistake. It certainly lifted the exhausted spirits on the boat and kept us laughing for quite some time throughout the day.
We kept pushing throughout the remainder of the day and made a ton of miles up north the ICW. It was a beautiful motor sail through the wetlands of North Carolina and we ended up in a gorgeous anchorage just outside of Belhaven, NC on the Pungo River. We anchored with enough daylight to have a nice happy hour and recap all the great memories we had on this trip so far! Lots of laughs and a beautiful sunset! We are officially on the home stretch.
Day 8
Up before light, we were underway up the Pungo river motoring towards the Alligator River and the Alligator-Pungo River Canal. The canal is a narrow stretch of the ICW that connects the Pungo River to the Alligator River to the northeast.
We found out how narrow the canal really is about a mile into the 21 mile stretch of the canal. Kelley was at the helm with David and they were both talking and drinking their morning coffee. We were being approached by a large barge heading southbound and we were giving them a large berth when all of a sudden… WHAM! Our boat went from over 6 knots to a dead stop, lurched and spun 90 degrees, with coffee flying forward and anything else in the boat that wasn’t latched down properly… We went aground! The engines revved and the boat was not moving. David, quick to his feet, threw the boat into neutral. The barge passed without any call over the radio to see if we were OK, presuming he did see us just run aground, but he forutunatley threw a big enough wake that as quickly as we threw the boat in neutral David quickly threw the boat back in gear and revved the engines as the wake hit our hulls. Sure enough that was all it took and we were free and moving again. Still shocked, I ran down to the hull that ran aground and checked the bilges to see if there was any water coming in, fortunately, they were dry. I was convinced that we had permanently damaged the bottom of our boat and David spent the next two days convincing me that it would be just fine and told us about how he hit a reef in the south pacific and it hardly did anything to their boat. He was right, nothing but a little bottom pain was sacrificed.
After a heart-racing morning, we carried on motor sailing up the Alligator river through the Alligator Swing bridge, across the Abermeral Sound, and into the North River. We made really good time throughout the day and David suggested that we stay at the infamous Coinjock Marina in Coinjock, NC. We were plenty good with this after the multiple long days we had, so cutting the day short sounded great. Turned out Coinjock was quite the place for transiting boaters and the owners said that if the pandemic wasn’t going on there would be boats tied up three wide along their almost quarter-mile long dock. This day there were only about a half dozen. We grabbed a few things from the store, had a few beers, and hit the sack early.
Day 9
60 miles to go to our final destination. Once again we were up and moving before daylight as we needed to make it to Hampton, VA before David’s flight the following day. This was going to be tricky as we had multiple bridge openings and a lock we had to time just right to make it to Hampton in time.
The first bridge we would have to navigate would be the Centerville Turnpike swing bridge. This bridge only opens on the hour and half hour so we needed to time that just right, while at the same time, get past it so that we would also time the Battlefield Blvd Bridge, which only opened at the top of the hour. If we missed his opening we would have to wait another hour as the bridge only opens at the top of the hour. Fortunately, we were able to make both bridges without much delay. Next was the Great Bridge Lock which coordinates with the opening of the Battlefield Blvd Bridge so once we cleared that we were able to set up and go through the lock successfully. All was going well so far, our only other bridge would be the Gilmerton Bridge which opens on request outside of defined commuter hours so we were all clear there as well.
With the bridges cleared we were able to just sit back and enjoy a beautiful motor through Norfolk and the Navy shipbuilding yard. It truly was amazing to see all of these massive ships lined up one after another. Once we entered the Chesapeake Bay proper, the wind filled in and we were able to have a beautiful downwind sail all the way to the channel entrance to Salt Ponds Marina.
David insisted that I take the helm and dock the boat for our final destination and, although very nervous, I was able to hit the dock without totaling our boat or any others. And then the relief and sadness set in. Relieved that our first trip was over and that our boat was in the safety of her new home in the Chesapeake Bay. But sad that it was time to say goodbye to David, our fearless leader for the last 9 days.
The time and experience that David gave us will forever be valued by Kelley and I. His willingness to help in any given situation no matter how challenging, his ability to take all the challenges and turn them into teaching lessons, while still having a smile on his face. He continued to bring value to us throughout our entire time on the boat and truly made the learning curve and our experience aboard Offbeat much easier and more enjoyable. We will forever be indebted to this South African legend!
See below for David’s contact information if you’re ever in need of a reliable and attentive Delivery Capitan or need a cruising coach to help you learn more about your boat or just the cruising lifestyle.
David Hibbard
dthibbard @gmail.com
727-342-9191
www.assetanchormarine.com
