April in Beaufort, NC

Large motor yachts were heading north, stopping at the Beaufort Town Docks on the way.












Spring brings a lushness to the trees and plants along the roads.













Spring flowers...













The Beaufort dinghy dock where we tied our dinghy up to go to shore, and a little beach where small boats are beached and launched.












Looking out from the boat over the anchorage at sunset.














For those who are interested: Our trusty little engine on its bracket. You can see where the bracket that allows the engine move up and down is attached to the deck behind the cockpit; the tube coming forward from the bracket helps to keep the engine in place when it is running.

Belle Isle SC to Beaufort NC

We left Belle Isle when the tide was high and the current low, following the marked channel from the marina into Winyah Bay. The outboard, on its unusual bracket, functioned well enough to get us the nine miles down Winyah Bay to the outlet, though we did have to take evasive action to make sure that it did not submerge, drown, and stop when the occasional large power boats failed to slow down, leaving us to deal with the high wake it left behind. We put our sails up, just in case our little motor was affected, but all went well if slowly.

Finally we sailed out through the inlet, unfurling the jib and pulling the engine up to the rail as the swells grew larger and set our course for Beaufort, North Carolina. Dolphins came to visit us on our second day out, hunting with concentration around the boat, powerful and graceful. A bird cried, loon-like, intermittently through our second night out. The first night was full of stars, the moon only a late rising sliver; the second night most of our light was the ambient light from the shore, reflecting off the clouds.

The weather window looked as if would last a couple of days, and it almost did. We were either on a broad reach or sailing with the wind behind us all the way - a beautiful couple of days of sailing, until we got close to the Beaufort inlet. Then, just to remind us that sailing has its challenges as well as its rewards, we were hit by a squall as we waited outside the inlet for the right conditions to enter. We were hove to waiting for the tide to change when a big blast of wind and heavy shower of rain hit. They passed and shortly after, anticipating the comforts of shelter, we got ready to enter the channel.

The tide and wind were still opposing each other as we started to sail in, and in the outer part of the channel lumpy, sometimes breaking seas rose behind us. To one side the water grew rapidly shallower, and the water on that side rose in breaking waves as it approached the coast. We stayed as close to the other side of the channel as we could, taking advantage of the smoother water there even as the sound of surf echoed in our ears, and sailed on into the flat water between the outlying islands. Then we could drop the engine again, douse our sails, and motor slowly in to the anchorage at Beaufort.

The wind we were coming in to let pass came in with us, so we dropped one anchor, then drifted back with the tide and dropped another. With lessons learned from the last time we anchored here, we used our Danforth with rope rode for the second anchor because it was easy to check for twisting and easy to undo and untwist if necessary. Then we settled in to get a little sleep after tidying ourselves and the boat. Except for checking in with the Southbound II net, the rest of the day was a lazy day - time to rest and relax before we started our round of in-the-anchorage jobs.

After our time off the boat and the installation of the engine and its bracket this part of the journey was like a shakedown cruise. A look at the way the trip had gone suggested a few improvements that needed to be made. A bumper for the outboard bracket that would keep it well aligned and at the same time protect the hull was highest on the list. Richard fashioned that one using rope (always a lot of that around) and tape. Then there were the bow lights to be fixed - we had checked them before leaving, but found under way that they were only functioning intermittently. Then there were the few things that had moved and needed to be better stowed.

On shore, we returned to Taylor’s Big Mug in search of coffee (fair-trade, and very good) and wi-fi. Right across from the Beaufort Town Docks, this is a great place to spend some time, especially on a rainy day. In season they sell tasty lunchtime sandwiches freshly made to order, and there are games, books, magazines and papers to entertain yourself with on a rainy day. Brochures, notices, newsletters and cards are a good source of local information, and you can pick up “This Week” if you are interested in local events. With a little persuasion they might even start a book swap that cruisers could take advantage of. Then we did laundry in the laundromat behind the General Store - if you can have a favourite laundromat, this is one of ours. And of course walked up to the Piggly Wiggly for groceries.

Beaufort at this time of year seemed a little quieter than the last time we passed through. We saw school groups touring the harbour, visiting the North Carolina Maritime Museum and exploring the waterfront - historic sites are never very far away here. Some cruising boats came and went, most passing through on their way up the ICW, many of them headed home after a winter in warmer climes. They were able to keep travelling, but since our little engine was not meant to push us for hours along rivers and canals we stayed put and waited for our next weather window. While they traveled we enjoyed Beaufort, revisiting Taylor’s Big Mug and walking along Front Street past the stores and restaurants and grand old houses. Fewer customers in the cafe and for sale signs suggested that the recession has affected life here too, but the sunshine and warmer temperatures were bringing people out to enjoy the waterfront, some of the local tour boats were active, and a quick check of the free weekly events listings showed that there was lots going on. And local boaters and sailors were active, including one friend who blazed past us in his Laser dinghy on a windy day.

Birds were active as well, feeding and calling. We passed seabirds feeding in the tumbling surf on our way in, and saw pelicans floating where the water grew quieter. Our first morning we woke to a chorus of bird voices from a group of small birds which had congregated on the lifelines of our boat. Dolphins came in to the anchorage to prospect for food, and Richard saw a turtle following the anchor chain up when he went to check the anchor. Wild horses could be seen feeding on seaside grasses on the islands that shelter the anchorage. In town the trees were in leaf and flowers bloomed.

But we had to keep moving on, and as soon as a window of good weather offered we pulled our anchors up and set out again. Our little engine soldiered on through wakes from sport fishing boats racing out the inlet, propelling us out till we could lift it from the water and start sailing again. Next stop - Chesapeake Bay.

November 2008, Part 2: Beaufort, NC to Belle Isle

Between Cape May and Beaufort lie the Hatteras and Frying Pan Shoals. All shoals must be treated with respect, and we are always glad when we thread our way between one more shoal and the Gulf Stream. So when we found ourselves off Chesapeake with light winds from the south turning to stronger winds from the north west - not the best winds to enter Chesapeake Bay as we had planned - we decided to use the opportunity to work our way past these two.

Except for a brief brush with the steep waves on the edge of the Gulf Stream as we skirted Hatteras we had good sailing to the Beaufort channel. We had looked at the chart, and decided that with the wind from the direction we had there would only be one tricky part to navigate and we should be able to sail in handily at slack. Our timing was good, and we sailed into the inlet and along the channel - watched as we tacked quickly back and forth through the one tricky area by an interested group standing on some docks outside what looked like a waterside condominium.

We sailed into the anchorage, and found much of the anchoring area off the channel filled with moorings. Fortunately for us one boat that had been anchored was leaving. The sailor aboard called to us that his was a good spot, so we sailed further up the channel while we waited for him to raise his anchor and take his leave. We should have been warned when we saw that his chain was well wrapped around his anchor, and that it took several good shakes to work the chain free.

We dropped our anchor close to where his had been. Then, knowing that another blow was on the way, we put out our second anchor down current. When all seemed well we assembled and offloaded the dinghy and rowed to the dinghy dock before the afternoon grew too late. We needed to buy bread and find the laundry, showers and wi-fi we had been told were nearby. As we walked back to the dinghy dock along the town docks we saw a boat we knew, Maggy Fields and found our friend Gord aboard. For those who might not know, Gord was the previous owner of our boat, and buying our beautiful boat from him came with the added bonus of finding a good friend.

Those first days in Beaufort were busy. We sat happily on the hook, going ashore to try and find parts for the engine, do shopping, shower, do laundry, visit the Taylor’s Big Mug coffee shop and enjoy their coffee and wi-fi access. We had a very nice lunch there with Gord. Then we met other cruisers in the nice, clean laundry behind the General Store who had also run aground in Cape May, the weekend before we did. We exchanged tales and experiences, as everyone talked we came to the conclusion that the area we had anchored in should not be considered a good anchorage for bad weather conditions - anchors seem to hold well close to the channel, but not closer to the jetties and shore.

As in Cape May, so in Beaufort. We noticed that there were places where anchors held well, and others where they did not. In one blow we noticed a boat next to us going in circles - it looked as if the anchor was dragging and catching, dragging and catching. We put out a third anchor to hold ourselves out of that boat’s way until the sailor aboard decided to let the rest of the blow pass in the shelter of the town marina. As it turned out, that was probably a very good thing.

When the next weather window - a very short one - appeared we decided to move on, and try reach the Masonboro Inlet. Gord was planning to leave the same day, and we hoped to meet him again at Wrightsville Beach. Before slack that afternoon we began to get ourselves ready to go. We took up the third anchor we had put out, then took our dinghy apart and stowed it on board. Then we did what we normally do - started to take up our second anchor before we put the mainsail up to sail off. Problem was, as we discovered after, we were actually pulling up both anchors at the same time.

We thought the boat newly anchored not far from us was dragging. They saw quickly that we were the one dragging, and they also saw why. Our anchor chains were well-wrapped around each other where they could see them but we could not. They had probably become tangled around each other when the tide, wind and current were low and the boat circled around the slack chains. We are very grateful to the sailors on Sojourn for helping us through what happened next . They took our lines and helped us raft alongside; then they helped us untangle the anchor chains and get the anchors up and stowed before walking us around their boat to a position where we could sail off. We had no main up, and were too close to raise it safely, so it was a matter of letting go the jib and pulling in the sheets at the right time. With Richard at the helm and me handling the jib and sheets and doing a little fending off, we were underway.

But more was to come. Looking back, it seems we just weren’t meant to leave that day. We still had to get the main up, which meant turning into the wind with the jib flapping. Then, main up, we tried to pull off the wind so we could sail down the channel and the jib sheet fouled on our whisker pole, stored along the lifelines. We got that free, got a little speed up, and tried to tack away from the shore - and the jib sheet fouled again, this time in the mooring chock. Then the jib wrapped wrong way around the front stay and became immovable. There just was not enough space or time to free the jib by furling it, free up the sheet and get sailing again - we went gently aground between two private docks.

Now what? There was a man working aboard a large power boat at one of the docks - someone else whose help we really appreciated - and he took time to help us get a line first to the boat he was on and then to the dock that boat was attached to. With his help we were able to winch the boat back into deeper water and then to the head of the dock. Slack was now well past, so we sat there while we considered our situation and our next move. And radioed Gord to wish him a safe voyage and let him know that we would not be leaving that day.

After some talk and consultation with the man who had helped us Richard hopped off the boat and went to see the owner of the dock. He found a former sailor and cruiser who was happy to let us stay there while we made yet another stab at fixing the engine as well as some of the damage our anchor rollers had sustained when we were towed off the rocks in Cape May. Once again we worked away and waited through heavy weather and light days for the next weather window.

The next several days were spent talking to other sailors and various businesses as we tried to track down parts - we found the folk at Coastal Diesel Service very helpful. And becoming better acquainted with the very helpful staff at the town dock. Beaufort is one of those towns that is good to cruisers, where many people are both welcoming and helpful. A wonderful place to visit - but with the weather becoming colder not a place to linger. So we kept the boat stocked, Richard worked on the engine and even got it to run for a while, and we kept an eye on the weather...

It was close to the end of November by the time the next weather window came along. The engine was not functioning reliably, so we opted for a tow out of the inlet when the tide was slack. We called a little ahead of time and the towboat arrived before we were quite ready, in spite of being asked to wait - which left us scrambling to finish our last minute jobs and increased the time we had to pay for. Then we were towed out, past the shoals we had not had time to look at on the way in and a small fishing boat that refused to clear the channel and forced us toward shallow water. Finally we were out of the inlet, free of our tow, putting up sails, and coaxing the boat away from the coast in light north winds, finally under way again.

The winds did not stay out of the north for very long. What should have been a short sail to Winyah Bay stretched out for an extra day and a half as we sailed into light winds on the nose. On our last night the rain descended as Richard sat in the cockpit, coaxing the boat to keep moving forward. As day dawned and we approached the inlet - having missed another slack time we could enter on - he was wet, tired and very cold. We hove-to and took a little time to consider our options.

Entering with too little wind to counteract the current was not one of them. This was the calm before the storm, and another system was on its way - so continuing down the coast to the next inlet we could enter did not look like a good option either. Finally we decided to request a tow in and spend a few days at a marina while we considered what to do next.

We chose Belle Isle marina out of one of the guides we had with us, mostly because it sounded like a good place for a smaller boat. As it turned out, it was also the closest to the inlet entrance, even though it was more than an hours tow away. Best of all, it turned out to be a beautiful, hospitable spot, with a marsh full of wildlife and birds and a gently rolling, treed landscape, and a dock master who was both efficient and kind. We had found a good place to pause and reflect.

It was now the end of November, and we had hoped to be in Miami already. But weather windows for travelling down the coast had been short and not always suitable for a boat which was travelling down the outside and having to choose very carefully which inlets to use. The month had been an expensive one, what with tows, paying salvage for being towed off the rocks and searching for engine parts. As we warmed and dried out the boat we talked about where to go from here.

For family reasons we still needed to get to Florida, and do it before Christmas. For financial reasons we needed to earn some more money. After phone calls and consultations we booked seats on the Greyhound to Fort Lauderdale, and arranged for the boat to stay safely tucked in at Belle Isle. The plan: A month or so in Florida, and then back to Nova Scotia to work, with a month off in April to return to South Carolina, mount a bracket and outboard to use as temporary auxiliary power, and bring the boat back to be hauled and refitted in Nova Scotia.