January 1,2000         4 miles (estimated)
Ann and I came down to Oriental for New Years. We ran with the Dragon last night. While the boat should have been out of the water for a peel job, it was still there. With the temperature in the upper 60’s we went sailing for a while out in the Neuse in moderate winds.

February 21-22, 2000
I came down on the 21^st and stayed at Oriental Marina. Saturday I went and purchased a used dingy.

April 14, 2000
John and I were to sail to Ocracoke today – but the boat is still out of the water. With Ann in Colorado, I decided to come down and do some work on the boat. After eating supper at Scoot’s, I came back to the boat – at which time it started raining. I went to sleep early that evening with the sound of the rain on the cabin.

April 15, 2000
I woke up about 9 AM to the sound of it still raining. I rolled back over and slept until noon. It stopped raining about 2 PM. At that time I started working on the new companionway doors.

April 16, 2000
I scrubbed, polished and waxed the hull today.

April 17, 2000
It was too pleasant to leave last night, so I took the day off and worked on the doors some more.

April 29, 2000         2 miles (estimated)
Ann and I have come down for a few days at Cape Lookout. I moved the boat from Sail Craft, but it over heated about the time I got to the end of Whittaker’s Creek channel. First I discovered that the sea cock to the engine was closed – something we never close – thus I never checked! It was a slow sail to Sea Harbour in a very light wind. After making it into Sea Harbour at almost an idle to keep the engine from overheating. The new impeller that Sailcraft installed was larger than the old unit, so I changed back to a smaller unit. After running the engine at the dock for a while, all seemed well.

April 30, 2000         22.6 miles (estimated)
I changed the engine oil this morning and then Ann and I headed down the ICW to Cape Lookout. As we exited Sea Harbour’s channel, the engine again overheated. Not knowing what we were going to do, we sailed on toward Adam’s Creek (entrance to the ICW) anyway. I found that there was no water in the internal cooling system. Adding water brought the engine down to the normal operating temperature. So we headed on down the ICW. An hour or so into the ICW we dropped anchor and ate a very peaceful lunch. Halfway to Beaufort the engine overheated again. We dropped anchor and waited for the engine to cool, added more internal coolant, and continued on our way. It was about 5 PM as we approached the Morehead City bridge. In that we were tired and hungry and it would take 2 more hours to get to Cape Lookout, we decided to pull into Beaufort City Docks for the night. We ate a Lawson's’ (right at the dock) – it was good. Later that evening we discovered that running the engine so much had melted most of our ice – and all the stores were closed. Lawson’s gave us enough ice to make it through the night.

May 1, 2000         10.6 miles (estimated)
Ann and I sailed to Cape Lookout today – a smooth trip with Ann at the helm. I inflated the dingy and we motored over to the hook. Ann and I took a long peaceful walk on the shore. The wind really blew that night.

May 2, 2000         11.5 miles (estimated)
Ann and I decided that we should have someone look at the engine due to the overheating problem, so we sailed back to the Morehead City channel. Ann was at the helm as we made our way back in 8-10 foot seas. I was napping in the cockpit when a wave rudely awakened me by dumping all over me. I then put on my foul weather gear jacket (for the first time since receiving it for Christmas) and was kept quite dry from then on. The waves were rolling straight down the channel, making the boat hard to steer. Ann asked me to take the helm. Once inside the Beaufort area I called Town Creek Marina and they stated they would look at our problem. Once there, they suggested a couple of things for me to try to narrow the problem down. One of the first things was to check the heat exchanger. As I went to take the drain plug off the heat exchanger, the plug sheared off. I took the heat exchanger up and they ordered a new one, but it was too late for next day delivery. We ate at the Crab House in Beaufort that night. It was good – but way too expensive!

May 3, 2000
Ann worked on bills and her suntan today. I cleaned the inside of the deep cockpit locker, the engine compartment and the bilge. Then I scrubbed the deck to remove dirt and oxidation, and wiped down the inside of the cabin to remove any dirt and mildew. We had lunch there at Town Creek – quite pleasant.

May 4, 2000         4 miles (estimated)
The new heat exchanger arrived. I got it installed – replacing 3 of the 4 hoses going to it. The fourth hose had been replaced already. After another lunch at Town Creek, we motored down the ICW past Atlantic Beach before turning back. The engine ran with no problems. We decided that there was no hurry at this point, and stayed another night at Town Creek.

May 5, 2000         21 miles (estimated)
We motored back to Oriental with no problems, and then drove back home.

May 12, 2000         3 miles (estimated)
I came down to do some work on the boat – got there early enough to take an evening sail.

May 13, 2000
Today I hung the new companionway doors (replacing the 3 piece hatch). I had to sand down the frame of the companionway (outside). I then put two coats of varnish on the door parts, companionway frame and power box I built. I also insulated the ice box with R28 between the hull and ice box, R10 on side facing the bow, R20 on the side in the engine compartment. Ate supper ate Scoot’s. Saw Paul Wells (who sold us the boat). He suggested I take a look at Panacea as a possible fixer boat – it was a nice boat, but at $59000 out of our range.

May 14, 2000         6.4 miles (via GPS)
Mounted the power box and cleaned up all my mess. I did manage to go sailing for a couple of hours before heading home. I ate at King’s. The kids came down later in the evening to attend Oriental Sailing School for the week.

June 3, 2000         44.5 miles (via GPS)
Justin and I headed to Ocracoke at 8:30 AM. The weather forecast was for West winds changing to NE winds later. West winds never developed. As we motored in flat waters, the weather radio was calling for a small craft advisory! As we approached the green buoy for Royal Shoals, the wind started blowing out of the NE. Even though we would have to tack, we decided to sail some. So up with the sails, and off with the engine. After about half an hour, the wind had built to the point we had reefed twice and were getting no where. The wind was blowing 20-30 knots and seas were 4 feet at 3 second intervals. So we decided to dump the sails and motor on to Ocracoke. Only the engine would not turn over enough to start. After another 45 minutes the engine was tried again – this time it started. We made 2-3 knots the rest of the trip to Ocracoke. Justin donned his foul weather gear and took the helm sometime later. It took ~2-3 hours to finish the trip, with our little sailing trip adding about 7 miles to the overall distance we had covered. We docked at Anchorage Marina, had a hot shower and a meal at the Back Porch. After supper, I cleaned all the battery terminals and contacts. I also separated the main power feeds from numerous other wires that had been added to the batteries of the years. This seemed to correct the slow engine turn over we had suffered. Justin was in bed with lights off by 9 PM – I was not far behind. It rained a little that night.

June 4, 2000         37.8 miles (via GPS)
Justin and I got up about 8 AM, ate breakfast and left Anchorage Marina about 8:45 AM. The weather was pleasant, with an East wind. Once in the channel, we raised the sails and killed the engine. We met a ferry coming in, and tried to start the engine to make sure we could give him lots of room – only to find the engine would turn over, but not start. Once out of the channel, I discovered that the engine kill handle had not been put back down. We sailed back to the Neuse River entrance before the wind died down and we had to motor the rest of the way. We had a light rain as we entered the Neuse River. I got to wear my full foul weather gear for the first time. We arrived back at Sea Harbour about 4 PM – a 7 hour trip. We were on the road by 4:30 PM – stopped at King’s for supper.

June 16, 2000         91.2 miles (via GPS)
Ann, Laurin, Justin and I leave Oriental on a planned 9 day trip. After fueling, watering, packing, and emptying the holding tank, we left Sea Harbour at 7:15 PM. The wind was out of the SW at 15 – 20 knots. Seas were about 2 foot. Justin had the first watch – for two hours. During that time we saw a beautiful sunset, followed by the rising of a full moon. Laurin took the helm around 9:15 PM. She found that trying to stay on course was not the same as "just sail over that way" as they did in sailing school! But after a period time she got the hang of following a course and did well at it. At about 11:15 PM Ann took over the helm. We were on a broad reach that took toil on the area between her shoulder blades. After about 90 minutes she gave me the helm. Ann then went below and I sailed for 2-3 hours, after which Justin sailed for about 3 hours followed by Laurin and then Ann. Ann was not able to sleep below due to the motion of the boat. Sometime after her first watch we changed courses so we were running with the wind. This gave a very "wallowly" ride. We had been using the ICOM M-1V handheld VHF radio in the same holder as the GPS – to help stand the GPS up. During Laurin’s late watch we were hit hard by a rouge wave from the side. This wave threw the boat side ways with a hard heel. The ICOM was bounced out of the holder and went overboard. While Laurin felt bad – I felt like an idiot for having not secured it any better. I spent the night in the cockpit sleeping.
 
June 17, 2000
The Eastern horizon begin to glow about 5 AM. By the time the time the sun started to rise about 6 AM, we were all in the cockpit. It was the first time we had seen the sun rise out of the water – and it was spectacular! As the morning wore on, we entered the Croatoan Sound. I took the helm, Laurin got the chart and with the binoculars and helped me to navigate the Croatoan Sound around Roanoke Island’s north end into Manteo. The area before the bridge onto Roanoke Island from the mainland became confusing due to construction of a new bridge from the mainland to the South of the end of the island. The channel seems to have been moved, because it certainly did not match the charts or the GPS. While we had a few shallow moments, we eventually pasted under the bridge and back into waters that matched the chart. Coming into Manteo, we finally dropped the sails and fired up the engine. This was on the same battery that ran the lights and radio through the night. I guess the cleaning of the battery terminals paid off. Laurin started hailing Manteo Waterfront Marina without any success – until we were almost on the dock. I later discovered that I had disconnected the radio antenna when I grounded the mast. I was able to drill a new hole in the cabin roof and reconnect the VHF antenna. We finally docked into slip #15 and killed the engine. In 16 hours and 22 minutes we covered 91.2 miles for dock to dock for an average speed of 5.5. knots. After we got settled we all took hot showers and ate lunch at a sandwich shop. Afterwards Ann and the kids went shopping – I worked on the VHF antenna. Justin cooked hotdogs for supper.

June 18, 2000
Father’s Day – It was a very laid back day. I sanded the handle and wood plate it mounts to on the companionway cover. We had a good meal at Clara's here on the Manteo waterfront.

June 19, 2000
The day started off pleasant. I got two coats of varnish on the wood I had sanded. We rented a Blazer for 24 hours. We first went to the NC Aquarium – Laurin got the wit scared out of her by a caiman (small alligator) that tried to attack her through the glass. You could almost see the caiman laugh as he turned away. We then went to Big Al’s for lunch – this restaurant has more old Coke A Cola memorabilia than I have ever seen. From there we drove to Nags Head (Kitty Hawk) and visited the Wright Brother’s Memorial for the first powered flight. It was amazing to stand their and imagine that it was less than 100 years ago that man first conquered the skies. We of course, stopped and did some shopping on the way back. Developing thunder storms kept the kids from going swimming in the ocean. One stop we did make was to Marine Electronics were I had originally purchased my lost ICOM M1V radio. Ann "made" me purchase another one. Back at the boat, I cooked chicken and portabella mushrooms for supper. We had tickets to see the outdoor drama "The Lost Colony", but were rained out. They have re-scheduled us for tomorrow night.

June 20, 2000
Ann and I took the Blazer back this morning. She and the kids spent most of the day shopping – I do not know how they find so many places to shop in such a small town! As had become customary since our arrival in Manteo, we had ice cream in the afternoon. That evening we got a taxi ride to "The Lost Colony". We made arrangements for the same gentleman to pick us up afterwards. The drama was quite touching. It would be hard to imagine how life could have been as the first permanent settlement in the New World. You can not help but wonder what happened to those brave souls. The taxi driver presented us with fruit when he picked us up. We were touched by his generosity.

June 21, 2000         47.1 miles (via GPS)
Ann and I woke up at 5:30 AM, got dressed and cast off from Manteo on our way to the village of Hatteras. There was no wind, so we motored down the Roanoke Sound back into the Pamlico Sound. Once in the sound, the wind blew from the southeast at 20 knots – right in our faces. A shift in the wind allowed us to sail close hauled for about ½ hour. We used the autopilot some today. It did not seem to work well in the rough water. Justin took over the helm about 9:15 AM. I went below and slept for about 2 hours. Laurin took the helm sometime after that – sailing and motoring. I took the helm back with about 10 miles to the channel at Hatteras – with the autopilot I bought us in the channel, with Laurin again reading the charts. Once inside, Laurin called Hatteras Harbor Marina on channel 16 – with no luck. We ended up finding the marina and mooring to a pier while I went up to find the dock master. As it turned out, they only monitored channel 1, and had lost the reservation I had called in. In any case, they did have a slip available. The marinas at Hatteras are not set up with cruising sailboats in mind. They are there for the deep-sea charter fishing boats. The showers were nice but only available until 7 PM. There was only one restaurant within walking distance. We had schedule to stay there for two nights, but quickly decided that one was enough. A call to Anchorage Marina at Ocracoke confirmed that they could take us a day early – so tomorrow we move on. Today we covered 47.1 miles in 10 hours for an average speed of 4.7 knots – not bad considering the headwind and waves we had.

June 22, 2000         26.7 miles (via GPS)
A MISERABLE DAY! We left Hatteras this morning for the short trip to Ocracoke (26.7 miles). The wind was blowing 10-15 knots from the southwest. We had to head straight into the wind to go to Ocracoke. With the waves (3-4 feet), boat speed dropped to 1 knot at times. Justin and I decided that sailing on a tack we would make better time. I reefed the main and let out a small portion of the jib. Boat speed picked up and sustained 4 knots. Shortly thereafter, the main ripped just above the reef points. I tied down the out haul to relieve some tension. We wailed on for a couple of hours before deciding that because we were having to head more than 60 degrees from the wind, we were not going to gain any time over motoring. So we dropped the sails and headed into the wind under motor. The wind increased to a steady 20 knots and gusting above that. Boat speed was from 1 knot to 2.3 knots typically. Justin pulled the dingy up onto the fore deck and the max speed rose to 3 knots. Seas were 4 feet with a period of 2 seconds. Laurin had gone below to stay dry (since the cockpit was being drenched by the waves and wind), but started feeling sick. We got her up into the cockpit and gave her some Finnegan. This got rid of the nausea, but made her very sleepy. We finally reached the entrance to the Ocracoke channel and turned in. With the wind and wave starting to be blocked, boat speed picked up to 5 knots. When we entered Silver Lake, Justin dropped the dingy back into the water. Radio communications with Anchorage Marina indicated that we were to dock in a slip that was as far in as you could go. The wind was blowing from behind us so hard I was having to use reverse to stop us from picking up speed. In the end the wind blew the stern of the boat the wrong direction, so we snuggled into another open slip. All of this was in front of a large contingent of Neuse River Sailing Association members who were already here. They stated we looked like a bunch of drowned rats – which is what we felt like! The continual beating into the wind and waves, combined with the drenching spray (more like 5 gallon buckets that spray) made for a very tiring day. But we made it. Distance traveled was 26.7 miles in 8.5 hours making for an average speed of 3.1 knots. Oh did the showers every feel good tonight.

June 23, 2000
A rest day. We had a late breakfast of pancakes. We rented bicycles and rode to the beach. It was hot with no wind – the flies were terrible. We took a couple of pictures and headed back. The kids took off and came back to the pool. Ann and I stopped for ice cream. Ann then did some more shopping while I headed back to the boat. All the quilts, towels and sheets were dry from yesterday’s ride, by then (hanging or flying on any surface available), so I took them down. Ann came back and went to the pool. Later the 3 of them went shopping again. I stayed on the boat and varnished the outside table. We went to the Back Porch for supper. It was the first (and last) time I have had soft shell crabs – eating the body was a mental challenge for me.