The Rocket's White Glare

 After some days down at Cape Lookout and nervous about upcoming severed thunderstorms in the forecast, I headed back toward New Bern on what was supposed to be a favorable wind, although questionable tidal current. Turned out that the wind was ok in the ocean, but died down entering Beaufort to the point that the strong tide left me standing still, making under a knot for an hour! THEN the direction was such that I had to motor rather than be on a reach, then it died down.... all told, I motored about half-way, something I really dislike. And the Island Packet 38 is designed so the refrigerator (originally an ice box) shares a wall with the engine room. NOT a good design! I did not reach my planned anchorage at the north end of Adams Creek until about 6pm rather than the 3pm I had hoped. On the bright side, the weather is cooler than it has been and the rain held off, so I got a decent sleep starting well before sunset. 

I awoke at 2:15, feeling rested after a good solid six hours of rest, and thought "Why not take a nice night sail in the cool and dark and wide-open Neuse River? Maybe even beat the forecast 7am storm? By 3am, hot pot of coffee beside me, I glided through the final tight pinch and into the open water, set the auto pilot, and cooked some cranberry pancakes, checking every five minutes when my alarm reminded me. Breakfast done & dishes washed, I noticed the sun lightening the sky off my starboard stern quarter and thought it would make a nice pic, if I could get enough light on this unsteady platform.

5:06am

A bit later, some color coming into the sky, I decided to take another shot.... and exclaimed in excitement: there was one of SpaceX's rockets, it's exhaust absolutely gleaming in the full sunshine up there! 

5:18am

And a bit later, I got the most colorful one: 

5:55am

Very cool sunrise!

Stranded at Cape Lookout

A few nights ago, safely anchored in a favorite spot here, I looked across the spit of land and saw a sailboat that sure looked WAY too close to the shoals. Moments later it came to a stop and I hoped they were reversing out of the maze.... but soon they were moving again, further into certain stranding. I sighed, checked tides (just past a very high full moon tide) and decided to visit them in the morning, after their initial upset had died down.

The next AM I had a good chat with the guys aboard. Apparently, the Southern Cross 39 had been purchased in Wells, ME, and they were sailing south of Charleston... I didn't really listen. I DID pick up that they had rounded Hatteras and come in here exhausted, that they were very new to the whole adventure, and that they had (foolishly) trusted the chart of this area.

I discussed options for getting off the sand and took a look at their supplies, then went back to look at mine. Then, at low tide (2pm) I took this photo:

Here is what I found at low tide: lots of shoals, waist-deep water before a very shallow sandbar offshore. Their keel had essentially no paint remaining on the bottom, but otherwise OK, although mostly buried.

They (and I) thought the boat needed to be pulled over on it's side to free the keel and move it into deeper water. With high tide forecast to coincide with sunset, 8:30pm, we hoped to free it earlier (7:30 would still be within 6" of highest water). They had little spare rope, but I was able to rustle up about 600' out of various lines. I anchored out in the open ocean at 5pm, where calm conditions had made my beloved bodysurfing worthless, but made anchoring and rowing rather safe. 

I secured the lines to the very questionable halyard to their masthead, then winched in as much as I could, checking frequently to make sure I was not dragging anchor (THERE'S another story!). At about 7:30, right on time, their boat shifted when we tried backing my boat up and they were free! A local then led them out of the shoals and over to a good anchoring spot. 

They were SO lucky that waves were negligible, that there is nothing more abrasive than sand and shells here, and that people are helpful! And I am so lucky to get to do these fun little projects!