Voyage 2011-2012: Chapter 5

1 May 2012, Beginning of the 6 Week Cruise, 34 37.158 N/ 076 32.868 W

Time for Jule III to head to the Chesapeake for some minor maintenance and a fresh coat of bottom paint. Bob decided to extend an 8 or 9 day trip to 6 weeks. Ann said it couldn't be done. You will have to read on to find out who was right. Anyways, we left yesterday for Wrightsville to anchor off of Banks Channel and wait for first light to head for Cape Lookout. As we approached the anchorage, the Coast Guard decided we needed a safety check. They asked us to anchor and then they would do their thing. The Coasties were professional, friendly, and efficient in the execution of their duties. After they left, we had a bit of dinner and headed for the berths. We were tired.

Today,we left at daybreak for Cape Lookout Bight which is about 78 nm from the anchorage. The weather was forecast at SW@15-20 with seas 2-4 feet. They lied by 5 kts (20-25) and 3 feet(5'-7'). We used our 130 genoa and were making a bit over 7 knots. Seas were a bit lumpy but not much of a problem. About midway we decided to use the motor to get us closer to 8 kts so that we could anchor before dark. We had to divert from our route to miss a warship that was hovering near the Beaufort Channel sea buoy. Not sure what he was up to but we didn't ask.

Once we were in the Bight, the seas calmed down a bit but not as much as depicted in the picture. We anchored in 27' favoring the western shore of the bight. We saw Ralph at anchor and tried to call him on the VHF but no luck. We were tired so we just had some cheese and crackers with pepper sausage and then hit the rack for the night.

1 May 2012, We can't get off the boat!, 34 37.158 N/ 076 32.868 W

The wind has not abated much during our 4 day stay. One morning, We managed to say hello to Ralph and then dinghy ashore. The wind is fickle! As we mindlessly collected shells, the wind picked up and took a decidedly onshore direction. When we came back to the dinghy, we were amazed with the wind strength and direction. Ann dragged the dinghy to deeper water as Bob tried to row until the water was deep enough to use the engine. All this in 20 kt winds. But we finally got deep enough where we could use the engine. Sadly, we had a 2 nm drive back to the boat with beam seas. We were waterlogged by the time we arrived back to the big boat.

What to do? Bob was in deep thought on what we should do He finally decided that we should take naps. We are not a napping crew but that seemed like a fun thing to do. Sammy Jane was certainly up for it. So we napped, read, ate, and so the saga continued. It is really neat here but we were disappointed that we could not check out the lighthouse.

We did have a lot of power. The D400 wind generator was putting out about 15 amps which kept the batteries charged. We saw the regulator/diverter in action. Bob did a little reconfiguring of the charging system to optimize its performance. Not bad We took advantage of all of this power by watching a little TV. Yes, we could get several local stations out here in the bight. There is always a silver lining to foul weather.