November 7 Morehead City to Swansboro 20 4 miles

We headed off in the ICW through Bogue Sound and this is hard work because the sound is so wide and the deep channel so narrow. I ran us into the sand at one point but we dropped the sail and backed off. Yes, I tried to sail, using the small jib only, which gave us an extra knot or two, but the strong gusty wind blew us off the course auto pilot was trying to steer; and with trimming the sail came the inattention that led to the grounding.  So no more sailing today. 

We were underway from 9:30 to 1:30. Most of the way was a few degrees north or south of due west. Ilene called the Coast Guard who told us that the live shelling at Camp Lejeune would end at noon, hours before our arrival, so we could anchor at Mile Hammock Bay. But just a half mile after we passed Swansboro, “Pipe Dream,” which has overtaken us, was coming back the other way and told us that the live firing would continue until 5, too late for us to arrive there. So we too did a “U” turn and anchored in Swansboro.

The pencil is pointing to the white spot to the right of the town, where we are anchored. In the lower left, just below the line "X---X", is a magenta line labelled "St M 230" (Statute Mile 230 since Norfolk), running perpendicular to the double dash bordered magenta line indicating the route of the ICW, which shows how crooked it is. And below the knife blade in the lower right corner it says Bogue Inlet, through which, in the photo below, we saw out to the Atlantic for the first time since Cape May, NJ.

We also saw the dramatic effect of the swift running tide. It was ebbing  and as we came to the Inlet our speed picked up to 6.6 knots, only to drop to 4.2 knots as soon as we passed the inlet when the same outgoing tide was running against us.

Here in Swansboro we  are one of eight boats and are on 80 feet of chain in 17 feet of water. The big factor here is the tide which caused us to face the other way when it changed. We happened to anchor next to “Island Time” and used our dink for the first time on this cruise – I’ve been out a month today! The town is quant but we failed to find a postcard though we did find this Gekko,

made from the steel top of a 55 gallon drum, at a gallery.














This house was built in 1778.

   Here were ashore, our heads framing ILENE.

Tomorrow is a long day to Wrightsville Beach, almost 47 miles. So its early to bed.

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November 10 12 Three Lay Days in Charleston Zero miles

A municipal manhole cover. Carol is Greek (or Latin?) for Charles and Polis, as in Annapolis or Metropolis, is city or town, hence Charleston, founded in 1670.

There are only three requirements if you want to cruise like we do, the other things are subsidiary. One is time. You need to be retired or independently wealthy or on a sabbatical or unemployed.  Second is money. Not a lot, but you need to buy a boat and maintain and provision it. And third, but no less important than the other two, is good health. On arrival here I thought we had run out of good luck with the third requirement. Lene was bent over with excruciating pain in her left knee. Every few steps was an attack of acute pain. We cant go on like this I thought. She cant climb over life lines and take big steps down from deck level to dock level or transfer between boat and dink.

I told her that we could haul the boat in a yard here in Charleston for the winter, fly home, get the medical problem fixed and come back here next spring and sail ILENE back to New York. The end of the adventure. But then I thought, before such a drastic decision lets get some medical advice. We consulted with our friend Bill, in Oriental, who is a retired Orthopedist. We took a cab to Roper Hospital where x-rays were taken by the ER doctor who gave us a referral for an ASAP visit with an orthopedist on their staff. The ER physician also gave Lene a soft splint, held in place by foam rubber and velcro, which essentially immobilized the knee, causing a very wobbly gait but the absence of the pain, and a prescription for anti inflammatory/pain killers. And these really helped a lot and Lene was walking, slowly but without pain, up to 3/4 of a mile each way. The orthopedist told her to "sail on," resting the knee when possible and using the pills and splint as needed. Her condition has a fancy name and is exacerbated by cold weather. Surgery, replacement and even cortisone can wait. Here is our sick bay, notice the flowers, and the gekko, to the right, below the clock, with short bits of weatherstripping hidden behind it so as not to mar the cherry wood. He will be a reminder of both our Carribean adventure and this trip.

Fortunately,we had spent a week here in the Spring of 2012 and seen most of the major sights, and can stop here again on the way home, because we did no sightseeing on this trip. We did laundry (it is free for boaters in this municipal marina, The Charleston Maritime Center, purchased a new Ipad to replace the one I ruined with salt water in the Chesapeake, and grocery shopped in Harris Teeters, a pretty good supermarket. We took a walk among the historic homes here

(notice my shorts; a warm day at last!) to

 a memorable lunch at Jestines with great inexpensive southern cooking and named after a domestic servant who died in 1997 at age 112, the daughter of an ex slave and a Native American. Jestine worked for a southern family for many years and the restaurant is owned by a descendant of that family. The Reverend Brown of the nearby Methodist Church and the financial secretary of the church recommended the fried chicken which Lene enjoyed and I had, among other things, fried chicken livers, fried okra, corn bread with butter and honey and southern pecan pie.

And of course there is always boat work: ILENE had a bath, her water tanks filled, her fuel tanks poisoned to prevent the growth of microorganisms that clog the fuel lines, gluing back one of the buttons that hold plexiglass panels in place against the screens of the cafe doors with gorilla glue and the top of the percolator lid with JB Weld, a metal to metal glue that is remarkably strong.

But the two biggest problems required the help of Dr. Bill, who, I told him, enjoys fixing boats almost as much as fixing peoples bones. As to the auto pilot, the most expensive component is the motor with linear drive -- the thinner rod to the left goes in and out of the thicker rod to the right, and pulls the rudder to steer the boat. The squeaking and beeping is a $ign of old age and thiS drive will have to be replaced $oon. Its kind of amazing that a guy who is 6 3" could contort his body to reach this place to copy down the serial numbers. Replacing the unit will be harder, but once replaced this one will be rebuilt and used as a spare.

The other problem was the lack of charge into the starting battery. Its sole purpose is to power the starter motor which turns on  the engine. So it discharges only for less than a second each time, but it uses a huge amount of power when it does. And the problem was that it was not being charged by any of the solar panels, the engine or shore power. So the voltage had gradually reached the very low level of only 12 volts. Bill talked me through a series of tests, via phone, which showed that either ILENE does not have a needed "combiner" or that component is not working.  The short answer is that periodically, when we are (A) on shore power with the built in battery charger turned on, or (B) running the engine, we have to combine the starting battery with the "house bank" (which consists of 6 six volt golf cart batteries), so that the starting battery can get charged. This is easily done using a small red plastic key.  Last winter the old starting battery died because I did not know this and erroneously assumed that when I hooked the boat to shore power with the battery charger on, it was charging both batteries. So many lessons to be learned. Thanks again Bill.

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November 8 Swansboro to Wrightsville Beach 49 miles

Yes, a long day -- underway at 6:15 and put anchor down at 3:45 -- 9.5 hours of motoring in the ICW. Today and yesterday we traveled on sections of the ICW that Ive never traversed before, having been outside at these latitudes on past trips. And I noticed how almost exclusively, and less so than in the spring of 2012, the ICW is in fact a one way street - southbound only - and seems devoid of commercial traffic. It is a road dedicated to snowbirds migrating south.

Our depth sounder is perhaps our most valuable piece of navigation equipment in the ditch and we watch it like hawks. When it starts to go from lets say 14 feet of water to 13.9. 13.8, etc, it means one of two things: either we have moved to a section of the ICW with shallower water, or we have started coming closer to one of the sides. We assume it is the later, try to guess which side we are too close to and go gently toward the other side, watching to see it the water deepens under us.

We noticed two potential mechanical problems that have to be thought through. One, the autopilot seems less responsive and more likely to roam a few degrees to either side instead of staying on the straight and narrow,Perhaps it is only a perceptual problem in that we notice the situation more when we are in a narrow path as compared to when there is nothing but horizon in front of us. Two, the voltage on the starting battery is getting low. Both batteries are charged together in the normal course of events, by the solar panel and by running the engine. The third method is by turning on the battery charger when we are attached to shore power. My current theory on this problem is that the battery charger is somehow decreasing rather than increasing the voltage of the starting battery. It seems to have done this last winter when I replaced the battery, and now again in Deatons, where again we had shore power. Yesterday I replaced the broken off lifting stem of the galley sink trap with a bolt and nut from ILENEs collection of them and cleaned out the filter leading to the fresh water pump, thereby restoring a healthy flow of hot and cold water.

Well today: The first thing occurred as we were getting underway in less than full light. About 30 small fishing boats, each with two warmly clad people were milling about. Lene had to pick our way through them while I secure the anchor.Then a siren sounded and they all took off at breakneck speed overtaking

us on both sides, motors roaring and wakes a making.Wild! Some sort of race or fishing contest perhaps.

We saw dolphins again, the third day in a row; they seem to love to play in the inlets and finally Lene got a shot of one, albeit not the greatest.

Why did our passage take so much time? Blame part of it on the bridges. There were four low ones on todays route, for which one has to hurry to be there on time and then to wait with other boats for their appointed opening times. Waiting, keeping a boat stationary in close proximity to others, can be quite a challenging task if there is strong wind and or tidal current. But today there was no wind. Actually we did get a knot from the Genoa for about an hour but after that the wind Gods took a break. By dumb luck we made the first bridge on time. The second required us to push ILENEs Yanmar diesel harder than I have ever pushed her --3000 rpms. In addition, we made it because the kindly bridge tender asked the waiting motor boats whether they would mind a five minute delay in the opening so the three sailboats could catch up. They graciously agreed. But the third and fourth bridges could not be made by speeding up so we had to make the appointed times by slowing down.

Wrightsboro is a college town for nearby UNC Wilmington, which city is far by boat but near by car. The anchorage is easily reached by small boats who take a left turn almost immediately after passing under the last bridge. But this route is not recommended for boats with deeper drafts like ILENE. We had to continue down the ICW for another 1.5 miles, then take the left, leading to Masonboro Inlet with its protective seawalls extending arms out to sea (through which we plan to depart tomorrow for an overnight jaunt to Charleston SC),

and another left along the inside of the barrier island and another mile and a half

to the sheltered anchorage area.

We lowered (and later raised and secured) the dink for a ride in to town, checked out the beach

and brought a few groceries. It is not supposed to be as cold tonight, or tomorrow, as it was last night and today. No, it is not shorts and tee shirts weather yet. And have I mentioned how much I have enjoyed and depended on Lene; without her company and help this trip would be no fun and very difficult.

After anchoring we learned that our friends, Dean and Susan on "Autumn Borne" pulled in here after us, at the end of an ocean sail from Beaufort. They have been chasing us since they left Catskill New York, We had a headstart. But while we are going outside tomorrow for 162 miles, overnight to Charlestown SC, they are going inside and visiting friends for a few days. So for now, we are still just two boats whose wakes have crossed.

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October 27 November 14 ILENE Is Ready for the Winter

White, unpainted bottom.  Six work days took place during this period, (totaling 30.75 hours - so Im not working too hard) and two fun days as well.
Why not start with the fun. There was an emergency meeting at the Club because of a failure of a quorum at an earlier meeting. This one took only five minutes and we accomplished two ministerial tasks so they can be acted upon at the next meeting. And then a delicious Moroccan style buffet was served. So this not being a food blog, I will refrain from telling you about the menu -- except for the apple cake, which, based on the flavor and moistness and icing I would have called a carrot cake, except the moistness came from chopped apple instead of grated carrot. And I ended up sitting at the table with the Clubs book group, twelve women and three men, and enjoyed their discussion of "A Man Called Ove" even though I had not read the book.
The other fun event was the 20th Annual Gow Dinner, sponsored by Tex and Maria, who we dined with in Marathon Florida last winter. Tex pays for the whole meal so the full price of the tickets, $50/capita, goes to the Dow School to sponsor a scholarship in memory of their son, who was a student there, until he tragically died in a motorcycle accident. Tex and Maria flew up from where they had left their boat on their way south. I have contributed the cost of two tickets every year for the last twenty, including those when we were south and could not attend in person. Tex is a PC at the Harlem and also a member of the Huguenot, and this year the event took place at the Huguenot. Tex and Maria have a large circle of friends at both clubs and elsewhere, so attendance was good. Somehow, I had forgotten to send in the check so they had no reservation for us, but another PC, who did have reservations could not come at the last minute so we were seated at a table of Harlemites. Tex made a speech, and in his tradition, cried.

Basically the work involved winterization of the water systems and installation of the blue canvas cover with a few other chores started or completed. I had a big problem with the winterization, having sort of forgotten one important ingredient: It is a two man job, one to pour in the pink propelyne glycol and the other turning on and off swtches and faucets and waiting till the discharge appears pink. I got stuck and called upon Ed Spallina, who came in from Connecticut to help me. I used four of his very inexpensive hours and had the pleasure of taking him to lunch at the New Rochelle diner, sort of hidden in plain sight near the Home Depot. Ed is not "certified" as a technician, but he is magically able to figure out how things work. I had drained the raw water strainer, of its sea water through a screw at the

bottom, but had never been able to remove its stainless steel filter basket, because I did not know how to get it open. Well now I know that the top screws off and it is a good thing we looked inside because the basket was substantially corroded away. With this picture and a few measurements, I expect to be able to get a replacement basket that fits. Without its straining, particles are likely to be sucked through the engine causing major problems. Ed also bypassed the hot water heater after draining it, by detaching the two hoses that (1) feed cold water to the heater and (2) take hot water from it and connecting them to each other with a black plastic piece with hose barbs at both ends. I had the piece but had not figured out how to use it. Also, we detached the hose that takes fresh water from the tanks to the fresh water pump, and inserted a three foot long piece of hosing cut from the spare hose left over from the water maker installation job of 2010, and inserted a funnel at the top end. So now I do not need to pour so much of the pink stuff into the tanks, but can pour it directly into the pump. This year I used 14 gallons of the stuff. Next year, half that amount!
The cover comes in two pieces and installing it is a bear. On the day before, I scrubbed the topsides, and removed most of the stains in the fiberglass deck caused by the decay of fallen maple leaves -- they put ILENE under a big maple. Im on deck, about 14 feet above ground with the life lines removed and have a lot of lugging and heaving to do to do to get the cover into place and zip the two halves together. It took me four hours. And the problems involved the zippers. In the spring of 2014 when I took the cover off, I noticed that the aft most zipper on the port side was broken. I meant to take the big piece in to Doyle Sailmakers to get it fixed but I forgot. So at the end of the day, the cover was on, but with one inoperative zipper, about ten feet long. I was too tired to take it that half off, fold it up, put it in the car and take it to Doyle. Plan B was to sew across the gap and that took several hours the next day, with a tough job of pushing the needle into the fabric, using the palm to get it most of the way through and then pliers to pull the end through. Good exercise for the core muscles, doing this while balancing on the top of the step ladder. And at the end of the day I noticed another bad zipper, the one that closes the cover up above the swim platform, through which we enter, though it will hold this season.
I could not remove the sensor that measures speed through the water from the through hull where it had been painted in over the years. But Ed had a pliers with a large enough jaws to grab it and that is done. And I bought butt connectors and shrink wrap tubes and spiced the five wires from it to the five that lead from there to the power source and display. Final test: I asked a man working on a nearby boat to spin the wheel that protrudes from the bottom of the boat after I turned on the instruments and got to the cockpit where I could observe the display for boat speed. When he spun the wheel with his finger the instrument changed from zero to showing speed. Hooray! Then I took the tube with the wheel out and replaced it with the attached plug. The reason that the wheel kept breaking until now was the pressure of the heavy lifting strap against it. And the boat has a little plastic sign saying "Strap" telling the yard guys where to place the straps, so that the boat will be balanced in the two straps. Yep! -- right where the speed instrument is. So next spring, after the boat is back in the water, I will pull out the plug and then quickly insert the instrument into the hole through which the water will then be spurting.
The last part of the work involved the anchor and chain. The anchor was where the gap is in the cover at the bow.

I lowered anchor and chain to the ground using the windlass. Then I used (1) rust penetrating oil, (2) heat and (3) a hammer to break the seal and detached the anchor and its shackle and took them to the locker. The surprise was at the bitter end of the 300 feet of stainless chain, the end where it it attached to a "D" clamp it the locker. It was tied on with a square knot in 3/16 inch line, and not that strong Spectra stuff either! When I put it back, this attachment will be made fast with a stainless steel shackle. I have sawed off a large part of the horizontal 3/4 inch thick plywood platform on which the former Lectrasan was seated. This gives me better access to the chain locker and, I hope, will reduce the problem of the chain piling up and jamming the windlass while we raise the anchor. By sawing this off I got the vacuum cleaner hose and my arm into the locker to remove accumulated sand and rust particles and then scrub the rust stains of its interior walls. The half of the chain that goes into the water with each anchoring, is heavily rusted but otherwise still in good condition. The other 150 feet that have lain in the locker is white in this photo.

First I tied loops of it up behind the car and dragged it several blocks through the streets to grind off the exterior rust particles. The remaining work, in addition to installing the new brackets in the spring, is to scrape off 90 percent of the rust on the interior surfaces of each link.





Below is part of the boat, with its cover. At the top is the bottom of the blue canvas. below that, to the right is the aft portion of the bottom with its several coats of grey barrier coat, partially covered with what is left of the blue anti-barnacle paint. To the left, going forward, is the white gelcoat, after the paint was removed. After I touch up this surface it will put on several coats of barrier coat and then several coats of bottom paint. But that will take place in the spring.

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