Weather forecast for Saturday, May 21, 2011; clear sky, temperatures in the mid 80s, winds from NE 5-10 knots, changing to SE 5-10 in the afternoon.

It sounds like a nice day for sailing on the Neuse River. We started prepping Livin' On A Prayer around 08:30 AM EST. According to the weather forecast, it would be a nice day to hoist the sails. In the early spring, when the temperatures are in the 60s, I do not mind sailing with the biminis down. Now that it is starting to feel more like summer, we needed the extra protection from the hot sun and it's rays. So we decided to open the biminis.

As we were putting up the rear bimini, we discovered that the rear top fitting was missing a screw. Lucky there is a West Marine Express in Oriental. We were able to get a replacement part. It took time to find the part at West Marine, and to buy an alan wench at Oriental Village Hardware Store, and to chat with the crew at hardware store. We installed the new part. We replaced the screw on both side (port and starboard top fitting). We left the slip at 10 AM for points unknown. As always, I like my partner (best friend, first-mate, and lovely wife) to take the helm. Michele needs to get comfortable with handling of the boat. She also needs to get familiar with the aid to navigation in our channel.

Because the wind were light and coming out of the NE, we decided to sail toward South River and let the winds take us for nice and easy ride down river.
Half way to South River, the wind were blowing around 8 knots. We were making 3 knots underway on a port tack. Usually on Saturday, the area around Oriental harbor is busy with cruising traffic and today was no different. There was a sailboat race. And there were several barges transiting the river to ICW and eventually Morehead City. And there was the normal spring migration from Marsh Harbour to point north. There was a stalled low pressure system of the coast of New Jersey (Cape May) bring rain to the Northeast. Because of the stalled low pressure system, there more traffic going northbound on the ICW, then usual. But over all it was nice day for sail. We got a chance to practice our tacking and enjoy a nice day in the sun.


We past another Hunter 33 on the river.

It's the 2nd weekend in May and the first time we are taking our boat out for a sail. You couldn't have asked for a better day. Winds were out of the NorthWest at 10-15 knots, forecast to change to SouthWest 5-10 knots in the afternoon. The air temperature was in the mid 70's. Many nice weekends came and gone, but this was our first option to take our baby out without any other commitments.


We heard that sailboats were running aground again while leaving Whittaker Creek. We only draw 4.5 feet, so we should be okay with these ideal conditions. One thing that we did notice is that can #3A was removed from the channel. The U.S.C.G placed it last year when boats were running aground. The general rule is to hug the red on the way in and out.


The weather conditions were ideal. As we started out of the channel, we started our run to hoist the main and jib sails. Usually I would head into the irons, but because the winds were light and coming out of the Northwest we started our run across the river. After hoisting the sails, we tacked to starboard and completed one of the only two tacks we had to do all day. At a course of 80 degrees, we were heading toward South River on a beam reach. Half way to South River, the wind picked up 8 to 10 knots. We had a nice enjoyable ride to the entrance of the South River averaging 4 knots with an 8 knot wind. Repainting the bottom of the boat and adjusting the propeller really made a difference.



We had a nice and enjoyable ride to South River. We decided to have lunch while still heading toward the mouth of the Neuse River. After lunch, we decided to do our 2nd tack and head home. The wind was still coming out of the Northwest, so we were still on beam reach on the way home. About the time we made our way back to Whittaker Point, the wind changed as forecast to Southwest but we decided to drop our sails and turn into the channel. The wind was perfect for backing her in. I asked my wife and partner to moor her, but she wanted me to take the helm. What a nice way to start the sailing season.