The rest of the trip.
Here is the rest of the trip south to deliver Ariel Spirit. I posted this on SAILFAR.NET (thanks for hosting the pictures Kurt).
Well, we ticked off mile 180 of our trip from Deale, MD to the New River, NC
'Ariel Spirit' Hull #3 has performed wonderfully!
I am typing this from the courtesy dock at Elizabeth City, after Rose and I stepped for on land for the first time in the last 4 days (had a wonderful dinner at Groupers, and made the Rose brothers 'party' at the town dock).
Day one, out of Deale was one of the best days sailing I have ever had. Had 25-30 knots on a broad Stbd reach for the entire day..... Started late, but still made Solomans Is. in time to watch the last of the sun set.
Day 2 we got caught out in a gale....[ pretty nasty, I heard reports of 2 capsized boats (well, powerboats anyway)
and listened to one conversation involving a rescue of some folks from a 27' Bayliner (?) that started taking on water and sank(?!?!).
We are doing well, and I will catch up more later. Just wanted to give a quick update to let everyone know we were alive and well.
The boat is safely tucked in it's slip on the New River in NC. It was a fantastic trip, we only had bad weather that one day I posted about before.
Rose caught a nice striped bass, but decided to let it go to get a little bit bigger.... ;D
We anchored at Solomon's Island,
then on the Rappahannock river. Day 3 we
crossed through Hampton Roadsand spent the night at the Deep Creek lock,
awaiting entry to the Dismal Swamp Canal.
We were even able to motor sail
most of the way down the ditch, it is beautiful and a really enjoyable trip!
After the Dismal Swamp, we spent a night at the Elizabeth City courtesy dock. This was a big deal for us, as a couple years ago we had been unable to make up to these docks and had a bad experience trying. This time we had
nearly the same (bad) cross winds but managed to get tied up. They hold a party on the dock in Elizabeth City, where the 'Rosebud Brother's greet the visiting boaters and they have wine and cheese 'meet and greet' for
everyone. Elizabeth City is a great stop, the city is very cruiser friendly with free wireless internet at the docks, good stores and a courtesy car that will pick you up and take you to the local Farm Fresh for groceries.
The night we spent in Elizabeth City, the wonderful NW winds clocked around to the West. Then as we w left the Albemarle sound, and entered the Alligator River the wind clocked further and came at us from the SW...... we
spent the rest of the day close hauled with the motor ticking over and spent the night at the south end of the Alligator.
The next stop was Belhaven, NC. We stopped in for Ice and decided to spend the night. When we brought 'Faith' down we had stopped there and wanted to
take some time to explore. We spent the night at River Forest Manor Marina, and used the courtesy golf cart to explore the town. It is a neat little place, just being discovered by the developers and real estate vultures. I
recommend lunch at 'Wine and Words' in Belhaven.
We pressed on across the Pamlico sound, and then on across the Neuse River and spent the night in Adam's creek. The next morning we shared the channel
with dozens of dolphins who seemed to appreciate that we were sailing and rewarded us by coming in close to the boat.
Sailing / motoring through Beaufort / Morehead was the most stressful part of the trip (worse then the storm on the Chesapeake). I have always had an 'exciting' time transiting this popular stretch of water.... Our choice to
make our way through on a Saturday morning did little to improve my opinion of power boaters. >
Saturday night saw us enjoying a dinner with friends at Mile Hammock. We turned up the river and sailed into the marina with Ariel Spirit's new captain at the tiller.It was the perfect end to a great trip in a great boat.
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Originally Posted by commanderpete
