Raleigh and Durham Sail & Power Squadron Trip to Ocracoke,
July 21 - 23, 2000
Wayne Estabrooks, AP
When I got home from the recent trip, I found that George Hatfield had sent me an e-mail asking how my trip to Ocracoke was and the following is my answer to him.
Yes, George we had a great trip to Ocracoke but it was pretty wet on the way over on Friday. Ron Mosley agreed to go with me because Janet could not get the time off from work. Thursday afternoon at 1500, Ron met me at RTP and we drove directly to the boat in Washington, NC. We got to the boat by 1730. We loaded the gear and food aboard the boat, took care of some maintenance items and got underway at 1845. We anchored for the night just a short distance off the Pamlico River in Bath Creek and prepared a salad, grilled some steaks and washed them down with a cold beverage. We watched the weather forecast on TV and they were forecasting about a 30 percent chance of widely scattered showers for Friday. We went to bed feeling that the weather should be nice.
On Friday AM we got up before 0600 and quietly weighed anchor and we were under way by 0600. Made coffee and breakfast as we sailed. Had some wind and sailed for a while but the wind died after a couple of hours so we resorted to the iron genny. About 1000 we were in the Pamlico Sound there was a cell phone call from Harold O'Briant who was driving toward the Cedar Island ferry and he warned that rain was coming our way! As I hung up the phone it began to sprinkle. Shortly after that the rain began. We donned our foul weather gear and continued on. There was some serious downpour at times. I was able to escape it by going below to prepare lunch while able-bodied seaman Ron Moseley expertly guided Wind Drift across Pamlico Sound while occasionally dodging crab pots. We unfurled the jib for the last 10 miles or so to Ocracoke and arrived there about 1515. Ron expertly guided us down the channel and pulled to the side while the ferry passed by us in the Big Foot Channel. As the ferry passed our port side, Cdr Tilo Alt and Betty were waving to us from the ferry.
We tied up at the National Park Government docks and took a shower. We attended the wine & cheese party hosted by Raleigh Sail & Power Squadron at the Ocracoke Harbor Inn and met many nice folks. There were 13 members from DSPS that included Cdr and Betty Alt, Ron Mosley, Harold O'Briant, Sandy Williams, Coffield and Sally Knight, Ben and Lou McCutcheon that were guests aboard Twilight Time with Herb and Bobbie Hill. Frank Mann and myself were there also. There were several sail and powerboats that made it to Ocracoke. The Raleigh Commander Lloyd Moore has a very nice Ericsson 35 Sailboat (1985). We all went to dinner Friday evening at the Pelican Restaurant and I had grilled Salmon.
On Saturday we got up early and had coffee, washed the boat and then some light breakfast. Coffield and Sally Knight came by and invited us to ride with them to see the Hatteras Light House in its new location. We had a nice ride on the Hatteras Ferry and I took some photos. We drove to Avon and had lunch at Hodad's, which had a surfing motif. Coffield went to the rest room and it said "Baggies" on the door. He said he didn't know what "Baggies" were but the other door said "Bikinis" so he used the one that said "Baggies".
On the previous Friday evening, there was marine information broadcast on VHF from Coast Guard Group Hatteras reporting that the Hatteras light was extinguished and cautioned mariners in the area. So, when we visited the visitor center at the Hatteras Light house I wanted to find out more about this. I asked the Ranger on duty if she knew why the light was extinguished. She said others had asked her the same question and she did not know the answer so she called the Coast Guard to find out. The Coast Guard confirmed that the light was extinguished but gave no explanation for the cause.
When we got back to Ocracoke there was a big schooner with red sails sailing right out of the harbor, a very pretty sight. Later we found out that Cdr Tilo and Betty Alt were aboard. They let Betty Alt take the wheel or awhile. We heard later that Betty did a marvelous job piloting the big schooner around Pamlico Sound. We had dinner that evening at the Cafe Atlantic. A storm arrived about 2200 and it rained until midnight or so.
On Sunday morning we Left Ocracoke about 0630 and followed the ferry out. When we got out in the Pamlico Sound, the wind was out of the south. We put up the sails and winds were light but we averaged 5 knots under sail for the first couple of hours and then the wind died down so we motor sailed. The wind picked up from the north and we sailed again for a couple of hours sometimes hitting 6.8 knots. We talked to Herb Hill aboard Twilight Time on VHF shortly after the wind shifted to out of the north. Then the wind died again and shifted to the east. We were now going downwind in 5 -7 knots of wind at 6 knots motoring. The sun came out and it was hot with a blue sky! As we neared the other side of Pamlico Sound, the Coast Guard station Hobucken issued a marine weather bulletin that said there was some severe weather and a waterspout in the vicinity of Spencer Bay and Germantown, NC. We felt a little uneasy about this and doused the sails. We were just south of Spencer Bay by about 4 miles and saw heavy rain there but never saw the waterspout and it was not raining where we were. After we got into the Pamlico River the wind still from the ESE picked up to 15kts with waves to match. We unfurled the jib and motor sailed at 6.8 knots with a following sea back to Pamlico Plantation. Just as we arrived at the home marina, the rain started and the waves flattened. We successfully docked Wind Drift. The GPS indicated that the total distance we covered that day from Silver Lake, Ocracoke to Pamlico Plantation was 56 nautical miles. We secured the lines and tidied up the boat. The rain cleared up briefly while we loaded the van with our gear and headed for home. We had dinner at Snookies in Washington, NC and left there about 1930. When we got to Durham it was raining hard. Ron Mosley said he had a great time, he is an excellent crewmember and he made the trip very enjoyable for me.