Step 4 - Sailing on our Own!

It's been a month and we haven't been on a sailboat, what do we do?

Ever since our Learn to Sail vacation, we have been thinkin about another opportunity to sail.  We still had the potential to sail on S/V Counting Stars in April, and a possible trip with Lisa and Jesse to the BVIs, but that wasn't for a while, so we had to start looking at other options.

A Google Search of "bareboat charter NC" returned a few results, one of which was Bow to Stern Sailing, located in Oriental, NC. They were exactly what we were looking for and they were an easy 2.5 hour drive from our home in Cary, NC.  Oriental is a small town on the Neuse River, a brackish tributary to the Pamlico Sound.  The Neuse River, which starts as a small freshwater river in Raleigh becomes a 2+ mile wide body of water by the time it reaches Oriental and the area sees great wind for sailing.

We called and spoke with them and I wasn't sure if the ASA certifications would be enough, but after a few minutes of us talking they were comfortable that I knew what I was doing and had no hesitations to charter one of their boats to us. They have quite a few to choose from, ranging from a very modest C&C 25 and Cal 25, all the way up to a 42' Leopard catamaran and 45' Jeanneau Sun Oddysey.

Our friends Ray and Lisa were planning to leave their slip in New Bern, just up the Neuse River, and start their 10 month trip on the Great Loop at the time, so we also saw an opportunity to spend some time with them before not being able to for quite a long time.  Plus, another couple that Ray and I both worked with at Device Solutions, Reynold and Cathy also have a sailboat they keep in Oriental.

We figured out what they had available that weekend (March 23, 24th) and settled on an older 32' Endeavor; a pretty basic one cabin, one head boat that was plenty large for the two of us for the 24 hours we'd be on it.

Her interior smelled of diesel fuel, she was rough around the edges and the mainsheet traveler had recently come off its track, and when it did, some of the nylon guides in the assembly went missing.  Other than that, she was plenty seaworthy for our inland needs over the course of one night.

Bow to Stern did a great job of getting us checked in, providing us with PFDs and taking us on a tour of the boat's systems.  We moved our things onto the boat and after getting things situated, Jim and Mark helped us throw off lines so we could head out into the creek that fed into the Neuse.

Heading out to the Neuse we had to go under the bridge for NC 55.  Upon leaving the dock, we were told, as long as you see air under the horizontal concrete portion of the bridge, just above the water level, the boat will fit.  We motored for about 5 minutes before getting to the bridge.  It looked close, actually really close, but sure enough there was "air" and we fit.

We continued out the marked channel for a bit to get to deeper water and then raised the mainsail and unfurled the genoa. Seemingly at the same moment, we got the first of what would be many gusts that day.  This was the first time we'd been on a monohull.  It heeled a lot and very quickly.  Sue was pretty sure we were going to capsize and had a look of panic in our eyes.  For a moment, I was afraid she was going to be demanding a return to the dock.  Luckily she didn't, and after we got things right, we spoke of how it would be very difficult to actually capsize this boat in anything but pretty severe wind.  But, given that gust, we decided to reef both sails.

We headed on a Northeast bearing, on a port tack beam reach and we both eventually became very comfortable with the heeling, but, admittedly, it did take some time for both of us!

We only had about 5 hours to sail before having to head back so that we could meet up with Ray and Lisa, whom were motoring our direction from New Bern.  South River was our target; we were told by Bow to Stern that it wuld be a great place to visit and we'll have to make a return to there in the future, but honestly, we just wanted to get out and sail.  And sail we did, for about 2 hours, then we hove to and made and ate lunch.

After lunch we continued south a little more, even getting on a wing-on-wing run for a bit and then decided that given the change in direction of the wind we should head back since we would be beating back to windward on a zig-zag path containing quite a few tacks, including a few thrown in there to avoid some shallows.  It was honestly great fun and a great re-fresher of all the great things we learned in our class!

We got our friends Ray and Lisa on the VHF radio and they told us that one of the two, deep free docks in Oriental was available.  They had reserved a transient slip a few down from there and our other friends Reynold and Cathy were at that same marina for an event for their sailing club.  It seemed perfect!

We motored up to the dock and were coming up on it okay, and then a gust came from our stern and what seemed like a well lined up approach quickly turned into one that would overshoot the dock.  We some verbal guidance from Ray on the dock, I ended up pulled further into the dock area, which was actually a double dock, with a fuel dock on the left and the free dock on the right.  In this 40 foot wide by 50 foot long area, I ended up performing a 180° turn, pulling up on the port side instead of the orignally planned starboard.  Ray, Lisa and Sue helped us tie off and then joined us on our boat, along with Reynold and Cathy for a quick "success" beer before walking over to their sailing club party.

After hanging out with them for a while, visiting both of there boats, we headed to dinner right down the street from the marina.  The food was good, or it could have been that anything would have been good after the excruciating wait.  At any rate, we all returned to our respective boats with a plan to meet up the next morning for coffee and the local coffee shop.

The forecast was for overnight lows in the upper 30s.  Luckily, I had planned for this and we brought our zip together sleeping bags.  We decided to sleep in the convertible salon instead on in the forward V-berth.  Not sure why, but it wasn't that great of a decision, because it wasn't that comfortable.  The diesel fumes became quite noticeable with the boat all buttoned up, but the sleeping bags kept us super comfortable temperature wise, even when we opened a hatch for some fresh air.

After the morning coffee and hanging out with Ray and Lisa, we untied and made the short motor back up to Bow to Stern to return the boat.  This time I was at the helm as we passed under the bridge.  There was still air between the water and the concrete, so we proceeded.  There must have been less air though, as the tip of the VHF antenna clinked off of each rib of the concrete underside of the bridge!

After finding the right slip, we found Jim and Mark ready to help bring us back in.  They gave us some guidance, as the boat exhibited very strong prop walk to port when in reverse.  I was able to bring the boat in cleanly and they helped us secure the boat.

We tidied everything up, trying to put things back exactly as we had found them, and then carried our things back to the car for the trip back home.

Then I asked one more impactful question of Jim, "So are these all owned by Bow to Stern, or are they owned by private owners".  He replied that it is a mix of both.  Hmmm.  Given that our one day of sailing cost us $500, I was interested to learn more about a possible way to sail more without it becoming a very expensive expense.  Turns out they were looking for a another boat in the 38 foot range to add to their offering.  They had such a boat in their fleet last year and it did very well.

Interesting...a little too interesting...

-Mike