16 July

16 July
Since we had below average temperatures for the winter, I was hoping the trend would continue during the suumer, but apparently not. It has been a hot humid spring and summer so far. Since Memorial Day the temperature in North Carolina has been above average. It looks like we are on track to break last year's record of 96 days over 90. The previous record for 90-degree days was set in 2007, when RDU reported 83 days of hot temperatures. So it was nice having normal temperatures for a change and to have them for 4 days in a row. The weather forecast for Saturday (16 July) was high in the mid 80's with low humidity and winds from the East at 10 to 15 knots. In the evening, winds dropping to 5 to 10 knots and evening temperature in the upper 60's.

With the weather conditions being ideal, we (Michele and I) made plans to get underway. We departed our slip at 09:45 under partial sunny skies. Because the winds were coming out of the east and clouds were building in the west, I wasn't too worried about them or isolated thunderstorms.

As expected, the winds were strong in the middle of the river. They were actually blowing above 15 knots. We started our first tack toward South River with the wind on our starboard side at a beam reach. It took us no time to cruise to South River on a beam reach. We were clocking 5.5 knots. We decided because the winds were coming out the East, it might be a nice day to cruise toward New Bern instead. At Clubfoot Creek, the Neuse River turns eastward, so we should have a comfortable ride. I was expecting the winds to die down, but they did not. We were enjoying a nice 12-knot running toward New Bern. After we cleared Minnesott Beach. We decided it was good time to have lunch.

We continued our run to the Red # 2 for the Minnesott Beach ferry boat entrance, then the fun started again. In the afternoon, the winds were gusting around 22 knots in the River. We did several tacks back to Oriental. We were tacking close haul for awhile, then at Clubfoot Creek back to a beam reach. We had a beam reach all the way back home to the Green # 1 marker for Oriental Harbor. We weren't the only ones enjoying the weather that day. There were several boats in the river. We heard on the VHF a barge captain getting frustated with a sailing boat in Adams Creek. The barge wanted room to pass, but the vessel kept on asking port to port or starboard to starboard. Eventually they worked it out.

We moored around 1500. Before cleaning up, we decided to cool down first and drove to Stonewall for ice cream at the Quick Mart on Rt. 55 to celebrate our perfect day on the Neuse River.