CRUISES AND PHOTOS OF
THE ROCKY MOUNT POWER SQUADRON

CRUISING STORIES OF
THE ROCKY MOUNT POWER SQUADRON

YOUR COMMANDER'S VACATION CRUISE

(Written in 2001 when P/C Nelson Gainey, P, was squadron commander. Ed.)

Cdr Nelson Gainey, P

Your Treasurer, Scott Turner, his first mate, Janice, your Commander, and his first mate, Ondra, have just completed their annual vacation cruise.  We logged about 225 nautical miles on our C & C 30 sailboat Turn-A-Gain.

On Saturday afternoon, 2 June, we departed our slip in Jordan Creek on the Pungo River to begin our vacation.  We sailed up the Pungo River and anchored for the night at the entrance to the ICW.
On day two, we motored up the ICW into the Alligator River.  We continued to motor sail up the Alligator River, into the lower area of the Albemarle Sound, and around to Manteo.  We docked at the town docks across from the Elizabeth II.

Our day three consisted of sightseeing around Manteo and a self guided tour of the Elizabeth II.

Early morning of day four, we departed Manteo and motor sailed to the fishing village of Hatteras.  It was a little lonely being the only sailboat in Hatteras, although Odens Marina was very friendly and helpful to us.  That night, we were suddenly awakened by a thunderstorm with winds around 50
knots.  The strong winds unfurled part of our headsail; Scott and I had our hands full in trying to secure the jib before it reverted to threads.

Early morning on day five, we were preparing to depart for Ocracoke and were surprised to learn that our engine wouldn't start.  It wouldn't even turn over.  We initially thought we may have battery problems and we quickly eliminated that. Scott then reverted to an old trick of many years ago.  Yes,
you are right, hit the starter with a hammer.  Well, it worked! The engine started and we were off for Ocracoke.  We had 15-knot winds on our nose so we had to motor sail.  We were trolling as we sailed and Janice landed the largest Spanish mackerel that I have ever seen.  A thunderstorm approached
while we were in the Ocracoke channel and we got a little (lot) wet.    We were able to get the last slip at the Anchorage Marina.  Marco and his helpers did an excellent job in getting us in our slip under such adverse conditions.

On day six we relaxed and visited around Ocracoke.

Early morning on day seven, we were off for Oriental.  While still in the Ocracoke channel, our engine's over-heating alarm sounded so we had to shut the engine down and anchor.  I jumped over with a mask to check for debris in the thru-hull for the engine cooling water, but there wasn't any.  Scott started pulling off the water hose to check for debris.  He found grass at a right angle in the water line.  After clearing this out, the engine started and ran much better and quieter (no alarm).  Once again we were off for Oriental.  The 15-knot wind was on our nose for the trip so we motor-sailed across the
Pamlico Sound, up the Neuse, and into Oriental.  There were no slips in Oriental so we had to anchor behind the sea wall (very shallow water).

The morning of day eight was spent going to the grocery store for provisions needed for the Rocky Mount Power Squadron Rendezvous at Bowie Gray's cottage on Goose Creek.  We then pulled the anchor and headed down the Neuse for Goose
Creek, once again with the wind on our nose. 

Captain Bowie Martin and crew on Melba D VI passed us by (very quickly) while on the Neuse with the same destination intent.  We were a couple of miles behind Tere and Jim Dugan on Allegria and had several VHF conversations with them on this leg of our trip. 

We arrived at Bowie's cottage around 1700, anchored, and received a warm greeting from many members of the Rocky Mount Power Squadron.  We then enjoyed the fellowship and a great dinner.  Bowie and Adele Gray were fantastic hosts, thanks.  After the Rendezvous dinner, we returned to the Turn-A-Gain to conclude the Canasta card tournament.  Probably due to a mix-up in the score keeping, Janice and your Commander remained victorious.  A large barge came up the ICW at about 2230 and the rolls we took moved most of the shelved articles to the deck.

The morning of day nine, we departed Goose Creek for our homeport (Jordan Creek).

We had a great vacation and I encourage each of you to experience such enjoyment.

ONE CRUISE, TWO RENDEZVOUS?

Tere Otero-Dugan (P)

The RMPS 2001 Goose Creek Rendezvous was scheduled to start the same weekend as our sailing club’s yearly week-long cruise. I wanted to go to both. Decisions, decisions! But only for a split second, because Engelhard was the first stop in our club’s schedule. I’ve already been to Engelhard by boat. I remember it as if it was yesterday, but that is another story. I will tell you that it was 11 years ago. I will only mention in passing that it would take more than a million people swearing under oath that “it now is an incredible, wonderful place where they hand out bags of real gold” for me to ever even consider going there again. (Claiborne Young once asked me to “cut out the sound effects” when he mentioned cruising to Engelhard. But I digress.) We decided to start out with the Power Squadron and then join the sailing club’s week-long cruise “in progress” at Edenton. Great planning, huh?!...

Saturday morning we left Oriental for the RMPS Goose Creek Rendezvous.  Along the way we heard Turn-a-gain (Scott and Janice Turner, Ondra and Commander Gainey) on the radio.  They were toward the end of their week-long cruise and had spent the previous night in Oriental.  About a third of the way, we heard Nauti-gal (Ron Flory and Debra) on the radio. They had already arrived at Goose Creek!  A bit later Real McCoy (Adele and Bowie Gray) was on the radio trying to find the location of Allegria (yours truly and Past Commander Jim Dugan) and Turn-a-gain.  We would then get a call from Real McCoy every 30 minutes or so asking for another location report.  As we neared Goose Creek we were greeted by Melba D VI  (Melba and Past Commander Bowie Martin) who had come out to give Judy and Past Commander Ken Hedeen a ride, and to check on the progress of Allegria and Turn-a-gain.  Such attention had started to worry me.  Were we holding up progress?...  But we finally arrived, dropped anchor, and rushed ashore.  Everybody let out a sigh of relief. What was going on?  It turns out that late in the morning (the time of Real McCoy’s first call) Mille Glaser asked: “So, where’s Tere?  Where’s Ondra?  I thought you said they were coming?”  Questions she repeated along with “So, what’s taking them so long?” (I have a feeling that Bob Glaser’s next boat will definitely not be a sailboat, or at least, not one with a 10 horsepower engine!!!)  As we were getting ready to start the grill we waved to Starchaser (from our sailing club) as it went past Bowie Gray’s dock on its way to meet up with the rest of the sailing group.  We partied, we cooked, we ate, a good time was had by all, and we retired to our anchored boats.

Early the next morning Allegria pulled up anchor.  As we started up the Pungo River, we happened to meet up with Starchaser who had spent the night in Slade Creek. That night both boats anchored in a cove in Alligator River.

We started Monday morning very, very early only to be passed by Starchaser who had left lots, lots later!  We sailed and we motored (read: the wind picked up, the wind died) to Columbia.  We had been introduced to Columbia on a sailing club’s week-long cruise many moons ago.  The town itself has not changed.  They added on to the boardwalk and built a nature trail. The new highway rest-stop (very clean, air conditioned toilets, no showers) and visitor information center are easily accessed from the boardwalk.  An adjacent exhibition building will open next month.  The ducks are still around ‘thou now outnumbered by geese.  We sadly report the bottom part of the waterfront fountain has been filled in and turned into a planter (that was where we had previously cooled watermelons for the evening).

Tuesday morning we had an easy sail over to Edenton.  (This is where we would join our sailing club.)  We got to Edenton Marina... nobody around... went in the building, nobody around...called them on the radio, no answer... We asked around about how could we get fuel and a slip, the answer was always the same, but such consensus bothered us.  (Oh!  The answer was: “talk to the dock master... if you can find him”, and was always preceded by uncontrollable laughter!) Being the shy souls we are, we picked a slip, and made ourselves at home.  Pretty soon we heard Starchaser (who had once again left hours later only to arrive 20 minutes behind us) calling Edenton Marina... to make a long story short: they picked a slip and tied up.  (For the “whole story” version: re- read the beginning of this paragraph.)  The marina was hot! - Very, very hot.  We got in the dinghy for a ride downtown where we had seen docks, a breakwater, and a huge boat as we came in. Come to find out, those were brand new town docks with water, electricity, showers, no charge for two nights, and right downtown.  But I digress again.  By late evening we still had not heard any of the sailing club boats on the radio, and wisely concluded the plan had changed and they were spending an extra night in Manteo (their previous stop).

Wednesday we still had not heard any sailing club boats on the radio.  Starchaser had found out from the Manteo Town Docks that the flotilla had departed that morning but they did not know the destination.  Crafty as we are, we hailed Dowry Creek Marina with the intention of asking for an “any sailing club boat” inquiry message relay since they have great radio transmitting range.  But before we got to that, they quickly informed us the group was expected at their docks the next day... we were in Edenton... it was now noon... it was Wednesday... and we were in Edenton...

Well... we fully enjoyed the town of Edenton.  The library has computers with internet access (one block from the docks), the hardware store has their TVs set on the weather channel (2 blocks away), the movie theater has two feature films (3 blocks), the gas station has diesel (4 blocks), the restaurants have very good food, and the drugstore serves real lemonades, orangeades and milkshakes.  The Barker House welcomes you with freshly baked cookies.  And there is enough history in the town to fill 4 or 5 days.  The huge boat turned out to be East Carolina University’s Research Vessel Perkins.  (Remember the marine archeologist who spoke to the squadron last year?  This is the same group.)  Marine archeology students are documenting what is probably the state third’s oldest shipwreck, right in Edenton Harbor.  The new breakwater is wide enough to also serve as a boardwalk and boats can tie along its harbor face (no utilities there).  The town’s Mayor walks the docks each afternoon, as do a lot of the people in town, welcoming newcomers.  Members of the waterfront development committee also greeted us, and the chamber of commerce delivered welcome bags to the boats.  Did I mention that Allegria and Starchaser were tied to those downtown docks within 20 minutes of the initial discovery?  Or that the town people are wondering about that weird man carrying a two-gallon diesel can up and down the street!  (After four trips, Jim now really appreciates the convenience of a dockside fuel hose.)

Friday we started the journey home very early in the day, but ended up in Columbia after a few hours of making only 3.5 knots due to “bucking the waves” as Captain John put it. Starchaser’s professional crew (John and Juliana Poole, both Coast Guard licensed captains, taught sailing for many years) has a lot more sense than we do and stayed put for couple of days longer.  Also at the town dock in Columbia were Journey (another Oriental boat, on the way back from the Chesapeake) and the Meka II (the “pirate ship” from Beaufort).

Saturday we took off at dawn (again!), in the rain, sailing along at 8.1 knots (Allegria’s hull speed is 6.2K).  Very loud noise.  Suddenly we slammed to a stop.  Behind us there was nothing but the dinghy painter pointing straight down.  Ay, caramba!! What now?!?  We hove to.  An eternity of pulling and tugging later, we had only managed to make the dinghy surface and to somewhat shorten its line.  A second later, a wave flipped it right side up!  No longer do we wonder about that boat we once saw towing his dinghy with its nose climbing on the boat’s stern.  We converged at the Alligator River Bridge with Valkyrie and Shenandoah (members of our sailing club) on their way back from a two-week Chesapeake cruise!  At the bottom of the canal we were greeted by one of Valkyrie’s very young crew in his flying white dinghy.  (Even though he is only 12 years old he can make that inflatable do anything he desires.  He’s the only person that can head towards me at 35 knots and not worry me in the least!) Valkyrie and Shenandoah had dropped anchor for the day.

Instead of staying at Dowry Creek Marina where we re-fueled, we used that last hour of sunshine to chase some breeze and anchor out.  And chase the breeze we did!  We dropped anchor at sunset in Pungo Creek in a very slight breeze, which died as soon as the anchor hit the water.  Half an hour later, we had a “delightful” 30 to 40 knot breeze and lightning on the horizon. (You want breeze, I give you breeze!) Fortunately, the lightning stayed horizon distance away, and we only had to contend with riding the waves at anchor in the rain.  Did you know it is possible to eat, drink and count beads at the same time?

Sunday, we headed down the Pungo River at dawn (yet again!) and motor sailed down to Oriental in record time under double reefed main and 80% jib in order to beat the storm that never arrived.

The end.

Note: Edenton’s Town Docks are free the first two nights, 7 day max. stay and have the youngest dock master we’ve ever encountered. They also have pump out station, and the dock master takes your recycling.

Thought: after the initial scare, an upside down surfacing inflatable resembles a double manatee.

The real end.

Please send comments to P/C Phillip A. Benson, JN, Webmaster, at:  philbenson.phil@gmail.com

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Page updated 29 March 2009