10.22- Garbacon Shoal Marker

Neuse River Marker No. 7, a.k.a. Garbacon Shoal Marker,
as seen from the Bauer 10 dinghy.

Today I sailed the Bauer 10 out to Oriental Marker No. 1 to try to get some pictures of the weekly Wednesday night sailboat race. Only three sailboats showed up, so I didn't get any impressive shots (I was hoping for more boats).

As the boats sailed off for the first mark on the informal race course, I decided to follow along for a while. I saw the boats rounding the first mark (Garbacon Shoal) and decided to go at least that far.

This is the farthest I have sailed the dinghy out on the river, so as I rounded the marker I snapped this picture for proof/commemoration.

In the foreground you see the boom, the tack of the mainsail and the mainsheet. The whispy threads you see flowing from the mainsail act as my anemometer and tell-tails.

As I reached Garbacon Marker, the three racers were approaching the Adams Creek Marker a few miles downwind. The sun was nearing the horizon, so I decided one leg of the race was enough for me.

As I sailed back, the sun set and the wind died... I mounted my navigational lights and slowly sailed back as the temperature began falling considerably. Fortunately I brought some layers to put on.

The whole round trip - slip to Garbacon and back to slip - was just under 6 statute miles, and I covered it in about one hour and forty minutes... not bad considering the wind died off so much on the way back.

My route today (8.9 stat. miles) is shown by the red line on the map below...

the yellow line is the approximate route of the Wednesday evening races (about 8.25 stat. miles):

View Larger Map

10.19- Jib testing

Yours truly buzzing Lou-Mac Park while sailing on the Neuse River(Oriental Marker #1 in the background)

Today I went out to test the new jib foresail Capt. Dave and I rigged for the Bauer 10 Classic dinghy. I sailed out of the harbor to Oriental #1, then tacked up into the North wind to reach Lou-Mac Park. After buzzing the park I sailed out to Whittaker Creek markers #1 and #2, then back to the harbor.

Winds were in the 10-15 knot range, out of the North, so both the rig and myself got a good work-out. The jib has a number of issues to be solved... the most annoying is that when tacking, the sail tends to foul on the boom (which protrudes up to one foot forward of the mast) and the jib sheets keep getting tangled on the forest of cleats that now inhabit the lower mast.

Early indications are that the jib improves the dinghy's windward ability, but more testing is required to confirm. Still can't quite sail close-hauled, though.

I am confident that the Bauer is sailing faster on all points of sail with the added jib, the most noticeable difference being on beam reach and close reach.

The best thing so far about having a jib is that I can go "wing-and-wing" while running downwind... While running wing-and-wing today I hit a steady 4.0 + knots, maxing out at 4.5 knots! I have hit 4.7 knots before, with only the mainsail, but in heavier winds.

The mast is developing a pretty serious crack, and I don't know how much longer it'll last in winds like today's. Probably time to build a new mast, and re-think the running rigging.

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10.18- Green's Creek Challenge

An Optimist dinghy heads down-wind towards the finish line in today's Green's Creek Challenge race, while Laser and Sunfish boats round Dewey Point towards the Smith's Creek race marker.

A cool rainy day for today's Green's Creek Challenge, an annual sailboat race for boats under 20 feet sponsored by the Oriental Dinghy Club.

The race route began in Oriental Harbor, passed under the bridge, up Green's Creek, back down to Dewey Point, up Smith's Creek and back to the start.

The ODC had not posted results as of this writing.

Here are some more shots from the race:

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10.16- "Skywatch Friday" - Sunrise & Moonrise

Sunrise over the Neuse River

Yesterday I was out boating before dawn... then again out boating after sunset. Two different trips.

The sunrise series above was taken from Captain Keith Bruno's Carolina Skiff as we headed down river to pull Capt. Bruno's gill-nets for fish.

You can meet Capt. Bruno, a really interesting guy, in Part One of my feature essay on Bruno, posted October 14 (scroll down to posting, or click here)... more of the essay is coming soon in Part Two...and maybe even Three.



Later on yesterday, I rowed across the glassy windless waters of river, in the Bauer 10, out to Oriental Marker No. 1, where the "Coriolanus" was drifting around for a Hunter's Moon watching party (see right). There was so little wind that even without an anchor, Coriolanus stayed within 50 yards of the same spot for about two hours.



Before I rowed out, I got the below picture of the moon rising over the river from the end of the Lou-Mac Fishing Pier.

Another dinghy-rower appears in the lower left, going into Whittaker Creek (you can tell it's Capt. Jesse by the bent oars!!)... the familiar Whittaker Point on the left... and a lone sailor trying to find wind on the right side of the picture:

(Click on picture or here for full size)

While I was happy with the picture I got of the Oct. 14th Hunter's Moon, I was disapointed to have missed it coming up over the horizon... Then I learned from University of Texas' "Earth and Sky" that the Hunter's Moon was on the 14th AND the 15th, so I went out yesterday before moonrise and got the following series of the second night of the Hunter's Moon rising:



HAPPY SWF EVERYONE!
I look forward to seeing the other Skywatch pictures from around the world on the other SWF sites listed at:
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9.03- Sailing with the Dolphins

Dolphins (probably bottlenose) surface while hunting in Camp Creek.

While out sailing in the Bauer dinghy, I found these guys swimming in circles around the mouth of Camp Creek, where it merges with Smith Creek before flowing out into the Neuse River. I am guessing they were hunting... the creeks are full of shrimp and minnows of all sorts.

The dolphins were swimming in a wide circle around the entire mouth of Camp Creek, and I had little luck keeping up with them in some fickle and weak winds. I also had little luck with the camera, as it is a tad difficult to get decent shots while trying to hold the tiller and the mainsheet at the same time.

After doing my best with the camera for a while I set it aside and relaxed into the boat, sailing around and listening for the dolphins blowing as they surfaced...

"poof... poof... poof" would alert me to their surfacing, and I could turn my head in time to see them arching back down into the waters, and others coming to the surface behind them... just like in this short video I was also able to capture:


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