Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Our Boys In Blue
The USCG boarded us again... As usual, they turned out to be quite courteous and helpful. One young fellow pointed out that my engine room Fireboy fire extinguisher system needed charging... he was right.
The other Coastie kept Radar company while they went about their inspection.
Very nice young men.
These guys are really underfunded and an incredibly valuable asset to our country's defense. It's a shame we don't provide the support this branch of our Dept of Homeland Security requires to do it's job as well as it could be done.
Just in Morehead City alone on a sunny Saturday, these guys were in multiple emergencies at one time.
Then they left, we never slowed so the boarding didn't cost us any time.
Cheers,
Istaboa
The other Coastie kept Radar company while they went about their inspection.
Very nice young men.
These guys are really underfunded and an incredibly valuable asset to our country's defense. It's a shame we don't provide the support this branch of our Dept of Homeland Security requires to do it's job as well as it could be done.
Just in Morehead City alone on a sunny Saturday, these guys were in multiple emergencies at one time.
Cheers,
Istaboa
Monday, July 22, 2013
WInd Horse
When we pulled into Morehead City Yacht Basin, the first thing that caught my eye was this boat.
I've seen 'Wind Horse' in many magazines and read Mr. Dashew's blog on occasion. Knowing it was at the same marina, just walking distance away, was exciting.
This is not your father's long range cruiser. http://www.dashewoffshore.com/
We had to walk over to take a closer look and, of course, take a few photographs.
Not sure what to say about this boat, other than it's like no other we've ever seen. It's specs on the Windhorse site are incredibly interesting if you're into boats, no matter what kind of boater you are, you'll find this boat fascinating.
Rumor is, she's been sold and Mr. Dashew is building an 83' version of the same design.
Tonight we're in Belhaven, NC at Dowery Creek Marina. There's a beautiful full moon that just lit up the creek.
Today's run was a wet and rainy one. Uneventful, though we were boarded by the USCG.
Nice Kids.
Cheers,
Istaboa
I've seen 'Wind Horse' in many magazines and read Mr. Dashew's blog on occasion. Knowing it was at the same marina, just walking distance away, was exciting.
This is not your father's long range cruiser. http://www.dashewoffshore.com/
We had to walk over to take a closer look and, of course, take a few photographs.
Rumor is, she's been sold and Mr. Dashew is building an 83' version of the same design.
Tonight we're in Belhaven, NC at Dowery Creek Marina. There's a beautiful full moon that just lit up the creek.
Today's run was a wet and rainy one. Uneventful, though we were boarded by the USCG.
Nice Kids.
Cheers,
Istaboa
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Da Boyz
Little Mud has adapted well to the boat life.
Radar, as always, loves the docks,the folks, and life on the boat; but crank up and hit the thrusters, ... he's in the bed.
and down the dock was another nice fellow.
Today's Pic
With high winds and more of the above, we may get to know Morehead City better than we'd previously planned.
Dinner at Floyd's last night was as good as described by the folks at the marina.
Saturday night had the place jammed so we sat at the bar and enjoyed the company of locals. The bartender was a pro and the food was good. Very friendly folks here at Morehead City.
Thanks for checkin' in on us.
Cheers,
Istaboa
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Today's Pic
A short day with a lot of bridges... that only open at specific times... created a long day... that was capped off with a cluster f*#k.
A crazy night that ended with TowBoat US pulling us out of Casper's Marina at 0600 this AM. Aground at a marina and not the easy way. Swansboro, NC was not fun.
Our first time to use TowBoat and Captain Andrew was not only a good guy, he was very resourceful.
Thankfully we put our heads together and devised a plan or we'd still be at Casper's and fused to the dock by now. The winds that kept us in the mud and up against that walkway of a dock have only gotten worse.
While we were running the boat in the comfort of the pilothouse, the weather changed. Unbeknownst to us, the wind switched direction and was blowing quite hard.
Istaboa's so stable we never noticed anything except the chop became small rollers.
Today's run to Morehead City was much less eventful. Looks like a neat little town and Morehead Yacht Basin appears to be equally as interesting.
Thanks for checkin' in.
Cheers,
Istaboa
Friday, July 19, 2013
Today's Pics
Not much in the way of pics when trying to describe our night run up the Carolina coast.
The sunset was a non-event, a half moon doesn't spread much light -though any light is a gift when operating a boat in the dark- and the stars that flashed across the sky couldn't be photographed due to lack of light and the instability of a moving boat.
The trip was pretty much uneventful, excluding an encounter with a cargo ship coming out of Charleston and that wasn't much either... except at night we hate to deviate from our course... even for a cargo ship. But in the end, size matters and we did a zig-zag maneuver. The cargo ship received the right of way and we safely passed each other. The night's drama was over.
AIS is a wonderful thing.
The moon left us in the dark around 1 AM.
Running a boat in total darkness, without even the horizon to use as a point of reference, is a trip.
You feel like your falling or being hurled through the darkness, but we only do 9 or 10 knots. (yes, we were doing 10.5 for half the 20hrs)
You can't see anything.
This initially makes us feel powerless and out of control, but after a while we get past it and blind faith takes over... if it's not on radar or AIS, it's simply not there is the justification we use to cast off our anxiety and good judgement.
When the moon dropped below the horizon, the stars lit up.
The Milky Way was painted across the sky in all it's glory on this pitch black morning. I walked out to the bridge and just sat and stared for an hour. At around 4 AM, I woke Mel and convinced her to join me. Of course, she resisted, but once she looked up, she stopped talking, and together we sat... silently staring at this massive galaxy till our necks hurt. Even the boys joined us.
The whole crew under the stars.
A short time later, the sun finally started it's way up.
Finally enough light to take a few photos.
After snapping off an ample amount of photographs, I went back into the pilothouse.
There I saw the silhouette of old Don Quixote riding Rocinante. They're always at the helm, seemingly tilting at windmills somewhere out the pilothouse window.
(My old wooden Don Quixote statuette is another story completely.)
This is our favorite shot from the morning.
I love days like this.
So, all in all, it was a good run that ended better. This offshore leg of trip took 25 hrs and we traveled more than 250 miles from Savannah to Cape Fear, NC. The seas were very kind and the heavens put on quite a show for us.
We tied up at Southport, NC to get some rest and we did.
Now it's time to move north.
Cheers,
Istaboa
The sunset was a non-event, a half moon doesn't spread much light -though any light is a gift when operating a boat in the dark- and the stars that flashed across the sky couldn't be photographed due to lack of light and the instability of a moving boat.
The trip was pretty much uneventful, excluding an encounter with a cargo ship coming out of Charleston and that wasn't much either... except at night we hate to deviate from our course... even for a cargo ship. But in the end, size matters and we did a zig-zag maneuver. The cargo ship received the right of way and we safely passed each other. The night's drama was over.
AIS is a wonderful thing.
The moon left us in the dark around 1 AM.
Running a boat in total darkness, without even the horizon to use as a point of reference, is a trip.
You feel like your falling or being hurled through the darkness, but we only do 9 or 10 knots. (yes, we were doing 10.5 for half the 20hrs)
You can't see anything.
This initially makes us feel powerless and out of control, but after a while we get past it and blind faith takes over... if it's not on radar or AIS, it's simply not there is the justification we use to cast off our anxiety and good judgement.
When the moon dropped below the horizon, the stars lit up.
The Milky Way was painted across the sky in all it's glory on this pitch black morning. I walked out to the bridge and just sat and stared for an hour. At around 4 AM, I woke Mel and convinced her to join me. Of course, she resisted, but once she looked up, she stopped talking, and together we sat... silently staring at this massive galaxy till our necks hurt. Even the boys joined us.
The whole crew under the stars.
A short time later, the sun finally started it's way up.
It was a welcomed sight and a beautiful one.
Finally enough light to take a few photos.
After snapping off an ample amount of photographs, I went back into the pilothouse.
There I saw the silhouette of old Don Quixote riding Rocinante. They're always at the helm, seemingly tilting at windmills somewhere out the pilothouse window.
(My old wooden Don Quixote statuette is another story completely.)
This is our favorite shot from the morning.
I love days like this.
So, all in all, it was a good run that ended better. This offshore leg of trip took 25 hrs and we traveled more than 250 miles from Savannah to Cape Fear, NC. The seas were very kind and the heavens put on quite a show for us.
We tied up at Southport, NC to get some rest and we did.
Now it's time to move north.
Cheers,
Istaboa
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