DATE
28 November 2021
Departure point
Mile Hammock Bay, NC, USA
arrival point
Carolina Beach, NC, USA
distance (NM)
45 NM
Cumulative Mileage (NM)
923 NM
Crew on Board
CALLY
Skipper, first mate, chef, entertainment and more; I guess that is solo sailing for you!
GENERAL WEATHER OBSERVATIONS
WIND
Always on the nose no matter which way you turn, less than 10 knots.
CLOUD COVER
Not a cloud in sight!
TEMPERATURE
Double digits at mid day!
PRECIPITATION
Dry, thank goodness!
Log
I had been anticipating this day after many days of cold and blowing as the forecast called for double digits. Not just double digits but high double digits. What does that even feel like? It felt like it had been so long I had forgotten!
Though let’s remember it is still fall, so my expectations were adjusted accordingly. And thank goodness because the glorious t-shirt weather from the photo above only last an hour! But Vitamin D is Vitamin D, however short lived, so who am I too complain. Better than nothing!
Learning the Value of Shared Wisdom
Now, I have always been one to share knowledge (and receive it gracefully, even if the topic was something I already thought myself an expert on), but in cruising – especially solo – I embrace all knowledge being imparted on me.
There is one caveat ,of course, one that I find equally predominant in the business world as the cruising world. A lot of people talk to talk, not because they are experts on things. So I tend to apply a bit of a logic filter or put more weight into the opinions of people whose knowledge I trust.
The Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) has a reputation for people running their boats aground occasionally. As the saying goes, ‘there are two types of sailors: those who have run aground and those who lied about it.’ And I fall in the former, as on board One-O-Six we ran aground twice in the ICW and one of those times was on this stretch immediately after departing Mile Hammock Bay anchorage.
So you can imagine when an experienced cruiser told me about Bob423 Long Tracks, I was paying attention.
Essentially, you can overlay on your chartplotter a route that has been known to successfully navigate the ICW including trouble areas. Then if you follow that route as you go, you are significantly less likely to run aground etc.
Pictured here is a couple of screenshots of the normal chartplotter screen (feel free to click on them to enlarge) where I would follow the white line as the ‘deeper water’ if I was reading it like a normal, accurate chart but you can see the pink line which is the Bob423 route sometimes deviates from the norm.
So far, I have followed Bob’s pink line and had no issues. Lets hope that continues!
This came in particularly handy as I arrived to Carolina Beach after sundown. And this time of the year, it seems to go from sundown to pitch black so fast!
Luckily, I had Bob423 tracks to follow and a friend ahead of me following those tracks as well who said in the daylight there were no crab pots to worry about catching my propeller on along the route to the anchorage. It only ended up being about 2nm or maybe 3nm in the dark but it sure is nerve wracking (about 1/2 an hour of squinting and reflecting city lights and worrying).
Tala made is safe and sound and dropped the hook next to friends. Though it was short lived as we were leaving early the next morning for a day of buddy boating with my pals, Katy and Parker, aboard SV Sea Wind.
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”
– Karen Blixen