29 Mar 14

After a very restful night swinging to the anchor, we bestirred ourselves eventually and got underway to New Bern, NC. Forecast was S 10 - 15, so we were anticipating a good sail: broad reach all the way up the Neuse River. After we got out of the creek and into the river, the wind was steady at SSW 20 - 25, with frequent gusts over 30 and at least half a dozen over 40; we actually saw 48 knots of true wind on two occasions. The revised genoa (110%, down from 140%) performed well with triple reefed main; we were never too seriously overpowered, even in the big gusts. We had light intermittent showers all the way up the river, but were warm and dry in shirts sleeves inside our cockpit enclosure. We got into the marina about 15:30, by which time the wind was still blowing SSW 25 -30 with a driving rain. Fortunately, a good dock hand (retired USCG Chief Bosuns Mate) was there to catch our lines as we came roaring in to Galley Stores and Marina. Afterward, I made a quick run to West Marine to see about a replacement rope brake, but they did not have one in stock; but there is one in Morehead City, which we just left. Dinner aboard and later an episode of Discovery channel: How the Universe was Formed.

30 Mar 14

Sunday dawned cold and blustery, again; starting to sound like a broken record here. Where the hell is spring this year? We puttered around the boat in the morning, working on the manual bilge pump, which also seems not to be working. In the afternoon, we borrowed the courtesy car and drove to Morehead City West Marine to pick up the replacement rope clutch, which we got re-installed after our return to the boat. We went for a walk in town later and had a nice dinner at MJ’s Raw Bar & Grill. Back home before dark and cold.

31 Mar 14

Monday dawned clear and sunny, but still blustery and cool. We ventured into town to see some of the historic sites, including: Tryon Palace and a couple of 200 year old homes, one of which hosted George Washington (i.e., “George Washington slept here”) for a couple of nights back in 1791. Afterward, we had a most excellent Indian meal at the Bay Leaf restaurant.