10.26- Harbor full

Boats anchored in Oriental Harbor after sunset

(click on picture or here for full size)

There were a total of 17 boats at anchor in Oriental harbor tonight as the sun set. Mostly sailboats, but a few trawlers.

Town Dock and many transient slips at the marinas were also full.

Many of these boats are "snow-birds" heading south on their winter cruises. A few are probably boats that have been parked up north during hurricane season for insurance purposes... Hurricane season ends on November 1, and boats will then begin moving en masse back south of South Carolina, where policies often do not cover risks during the season.

Here is another view of the harbor, looking back towards the Oriental Harbor Marina and the Point Pride Seafood docks:

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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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10.4- Slow Solos

A number of sailboats in today's annual Neuse Solo Race were "wing-and-wing" in what passed for the "down-wind" leg of the race between the Garbacon Shoal marker and the Adam's Creek marker on the Neuse River.

(Click on picture or here for full size)

Solo sailors in today's Neuse Solo Race might've wished they had someone else on board to complain to about the lack of wind during most of the race.

I overheard a number of gripes from the fleet over the VHF while I too was attempting to sail on the Neuse.

One complainant broadcast that he was cruising at all of 0.3 knots... another captain responded he wished he had that kind of speed.

A number of captains repeatedly complained about the wakes from one chase boat interfering with what little momentum their sailboats achieved.

As the race time ran down with no boats nearing the finish, an increasing stream of captains well back in the pack called in to report they were abandoning the race... no doubt interested in getting back to the Tiki-Bar for post-race festivities.

The Committee Boat let it be known that the race would be called at 5:00 pm and finishing order would be based on the boats' positions at that time. No word yet on the winners.

The boats in today's photo are headed roughly towards the camera position, and appear "hull-down"... their hulls are not visible. The boats are about 3 to 4 miles away, the camera is only about one foot above the surface of the river, and the hulls of the boats probably stick up about four or five feet above the water... so the earth's curvature can account for some of the invisibility

... The BIG factor, however, is the REFRACTION OF LIGHT, creating an INFERIOR MIRAGE (the same thing that creates apparent "water" or "oil slick" near the horizon on highways or deserts).

The refraction caused as the light travels from cooler air to warmer air near the surface causes the light to curve away from the earth. Result is that you can't see what is actually in front of you, but you can see two of what is above you... the top "right-side-up" image of the tops of the sails is light traveling directly from the sails into the camera (or eye) while the bottom "upside-down" images are caused by light from the same objects traveling in a concave curve, first down toward the earth then back up and again into the camera (or eye). The light from the lower masts, trees and sails never reaches the camera, since it is also curving down towards the earth and then away from the earth and above the camera.

Click on the full size photo and you can really see the effect of refraction on the boats on the right side of the picture... You can see where the upright sails and trees of the shoreline meet what appears to be their reflection extending upside down from the bottom. This is a common optical illusion on the water: it makes distant shorelines, boats and other objects on the surface appear closer than they actually are (contrary to side-view mirrors on cars) because the refracted image makes it appear about twice as large.

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9.27- Appeasing Poseidon

Captain Tim Rogers waves down the approving "aargh"s from the crowd as he implores the graciousness of Poseidon during the naming ceremony for "Coriolanus"
(click on picture or here for full size)

Capt. Robbie today held a re-naming ceremony and party for his Catalina 25 at "Paradise Cove Marina" on Broad Creek.

In today's picture we see Captain Tim Rogers (a certified Captain with Oriental's "World Wide Marine Training, Inc.) as he pays homage to the ruler of the seas and asks that he guard the newly named "Coriolanus" with his mighty arm and trident and that he ensure her of safe and rapid passage throughout her journeys within his realm.

For my non-boater readers: It is notoriously bad luck to rename a boat... See, the mighty Poseidon/Neptune keeps a register of all vessels sailing in his realm, and if you rename it you might be seen as trying to operate without his knowledge, which will of course only invoke his wrath.

Bad things happen to boats when they are renamed (this has been widely confirmed), unless the proper homage is payed and notification given to the ruler of the seas... and of course liberal offerings of libations into the water.

Re-naming ceremonies are also a great excuse to party with friends, and Capt. Robbie, his wife Sandy along with scores of family, friends and neighbors took full advantage by celebrating the event at Paradise Cove Marina to celebrate.

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9.17- Dive Master Ralph

Dive Master Ralph Evey cruises Raccoon Creek in his Carolina Skiff

While I was helping Capt. Dave tie up Hirondelle at the Oriental Yacht Club, Dive Master Ralph cruised alongside in his Carolina Skiff (full of diving equipment) to say hello and chat... from the looks of the cup-holder in his chair, he was coming from The Bean coffee shop next to Town Dock.

Ralph runs the "Oriental Dive Company," a commercial diving enterprise here in Oriental. ODC can clean your bottom (your boat's bottom, that is) while it is still in the water, retrieve your heirloom necklace or new stainless steel bow pulpit that fell in the drink, and perform any kind of diving service you may need.

He is also just about the friendliest guy in town, and in Oriental that is pretty darned friendly.

Ralph can often be seen cruising area marinas, harbors and creeks in a boat bearing diving flags, or driving around town in the "Big Unit," a former radio station promo-mobile (and probably an ambulance before that) which he has converted to carry his diving equipment. I will have to get a picture of that thing in a future post, for sure... it is a riot.

Here, by the way, is a picture of the Hirondelle at her new berth, right on Raccoon Creek at the prestigious Oriental Yacht Club:

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9.12- Skywatch Friday - Look, up in the sky... It's Captain Ben!

Yours truly, up in the sky!

The picture above is less about watching spectacular skies than about the spectacular feeling of going into the sky...

Earlier this week I took a ride into the sky... well, 55 feet (17 meters) into the sky, anyway. Why I was there is explained below, in my posting of "9.08- Climbing the Mast" (scroll down to prior posting, or click here for the "post" page of that entry) so I won't repeat myself here.

I've been much higher in the sky before, of course, but never in a cloth chair hanging by a rope from a pole gently rocking back and forth with the boat below.

The sensation of being in the sky in that boatswain's chair was much stronger than I have had flying in an airplane, though not nearly so strong as I had jumping out of a flying airplane.

I have also never been this high up in Oriental... even the bridge from which I took last week's Skywatch photo is a few feet short of where you see me in this picture.

I think the dangling feet adds a lot to the experience... having solid matter (like a bridge) beneath one's feet takes away from the sensation.

Okay, enough about that... how about a picture of the sky itself? Here is what the sky looked like yesterday from the Oriental Yacht Club... I took this while standing on the narrow finger-pier that extends from the covered deck on Raccoon Creek:

See more views of the heavens from around the globe at:

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9.08- Climbing the Mast

Self portrait while sitting astride the spreader bars of the Hirondelle during a pause in my descent from retrieving a slipped haliard.

During tropical storm Hanna, the jib-halliard on Captain Dave's Pearson 39 (the Hirondelle) became detached from the deck, and the loose end rode all the way up the mast until it wedged in its fairlead up there (translation for lubbers & stink-potters: the rope used to raise the front sail came loose and slipped up the mast and got stuck there).

This being Oriental, other captains quickly offered assistance and tools to retrieve the halliard.

This morning, Capt. Tory came to help, bringing his "boatswains chair" (used to haul folks up masts for rigging jobs) and the heavy-duty drill with a winch-fitting bit... Capt. Tory uses the drill to raise sails on his own boat.

We rigged the boatswain's chair to the main haliard and to an extra haliard (for safety) and I got the job of riding the chair up to the top of the 55 foot (17 meter) mast to retrieve the slipped haliard.

Capt. Tory slipped the drill into the main haliard winch, and I got a motorized lift to the top. I had to stop at the spreader bars to untie the safety line, slip it around the spreaders and re-tie it to the boatswain's chair before continuing up. Same on the way back down.

Capt. Dave also gave me a couple of "while-you're-up-there" tasks... running a new signal haliard (for flags) and another line for a future project.

While I was up the mast, Capt. Roy and Capt. Ken came by to watch... Capt. Ken and Capt. Tory were having a nice conversation about Capt. Tory's drill while I was hanging at the top of the mast.

I hung my little Kodak camera from my side, in video mode, for the trip, and stitched together a video of my journey (accompanied by Manu Dibango) below. In the picture above, and the video below, you will see the Bauer 10 dinghy tied up in Hirondelle's slip.

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9.04- Preparing for "Hannah"... and "Ike"... and "Josephine

Capt. Dave removes the canvas from the "Hirondelle" in preparation for approaching tropical storm Hannah.

A beautiful, calm clear day here in Oriental... perhaps the proverbial and literal "calm before the storm." Many local sailors and stink-potters are making preparations for some potentially nasty weather.

As Hannah approaches the East Coast, many local sailors are, like Capt. Dave, removing the canvas from their boats and adding extra lines in preparation for high winds.

The Wildlife Boat Ramp is also busy as owners of trailer-able sailboats and power boats haul them out to stay on dry land for a while as a string of hurricanes and tropical storms wander in our direction. Local boat yards are also putting many boats on the hard today. No doubt all will be doing the same all day tomorrow.

Capt. Dave will be watching NOAA, WeatherUnderground and other sources of hurricane/tropical storm info as the three storms approach, and is beginning to think about finding a good "hurricane hole" in which to anchor Hirondelle if things look particularly nasty for either of the next two.

According to NOAA, we can expect a good steady 40 knot easterly winds with 50 + knot gusts by 8:00 pm tomorrow night, with hours more of the same to follow.

That wind will no doubt bring rising wind-tides, which Local Knowledge says will exceed 4 feet, enough to cover Hodges St. at Town Dock, in front of The Bean, but not much more.

All day Saturday the continuing 40 + knot winds will swing across to southerly and end westerly, dieing off precipitously the more westerly they become. By 5:00 pm Saturday, winds will have fallen to below 20 knots westerly. According to NOAA...We shall see.

My brother, "Cabin Boy" Fred has successfully made it back to New Orleans from his brief (3 day) and agonizing exodus to Memphis (where he sat in on a gig playing his newly-acquired Mexican made fender copy guitar} after the Gustav scare.

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