10 Oct 13

Weather forecast is better today (cool, overcast, wind NW15 - 20, but no rain), so we got up and moved east to Southport. It was cold (2 T-shirts, one PolarTech and a foul weather jacket kind of cold) all day and the wind was actually east of north all day long and flukey, so we never were able to get the sail up the whole way. On the other hand, we did not run aground even once, so it was a good day.  

The run here was pretty, although pretty much developed all along the way on both sides, so not as pretty, so far, as most of South Carolina. We got to Southport about 15:30 and, of course, as soon as we got into the marina, it was nice and warm, relatively. We plan to stay here for 3 nights.

During the day, I talked to Raymarine about the Auto-Helm remote control. They said they charged it for 3 hours and it was fine; no problem, so they mailed it back to .... Houston; bugger^2. It was completely dead when it left here, so that was a waste of $65; glad I did not buy a replacement. Plus, we have had 2 weeks with a lot of hand-steering.

One more thing: yesterday at West Marine I picked up a bottle of Head Lube. This morning, I poured 4 oz in each toilet and the result was immediate and astounding; the toilets practically pump themselves. Obviously, I should have done that a long time ago.

11 Oct 13

Today is the 33rd anniversary of our marriage. Hard to believe 33 years can sprint by so fast. We rode our bikes around historic Southport and visited the town visitor center and museum. We even made a run up to Walmart to do a bit of grocery shopping. Later, we had our anniversary dinner at Fishy Fishy and listened to live music from “Rev & Guy”, local musicians.  

12 Oct 13

We spent the morning doing boat chores: laundry and route planning for the next week. In the afternoon, we rode around town for a bit and then came back for dinner on board. I finished reading “The Last Grain Race”, by Eric Newby; a non-fiction account of his 1938/39 trip round the world before the mast on one of the last of the wind jammers. There were 13 of them making the trip from Europe to Australia (mainly for wheat) and back just before the start of WWII; that was the absolute end of any commercial sail trading ships. “Moshulu”, the ship on which the author sailed, had 45,000 ft^2 of sail with a crew of 28 to handle it. Great story, excellent read. I’m reading a James Patterson novel, “Roses are Red” next. Terri is reading Pat Conroy’s “Beach Music”.