Sailing Wild Horses
  • Home
  • Crew
  • Blog
  • Our Boat
  • Projects
  • Contact

Sharing our journey

Waiting Out Nicole in Beaufort, NC

11/11/2022

 
​Mike, Ocean and I love to be at anchor so there are very few things that will force us onto a dock.  Hurricanes are one of those things.  And we have had two experiences of this so far on our journey.  First, there was Hurricane Ian while we were moving along the Jersey coast.  Now it is Nicole.  She was briefly categorized as a Hurricane on Wednesday but mostly has been a Tropical Storm.  Whatever you call her, she packs a pretty good storm surge.  Thanks to Nicole, we have had very strong winds over the last several days, along with higher-than-normal tides, minor flooding, and some rain.  All of this was easy to manage while at dock.
Picture
Wild Horses, safe at dock in Beaufort NC
Picture
The wind speed was up there, not quite Hurricane Ian levels of 50 knots but still strong!
Picture
Boats high and dry at low tide
Picture
The same boats at high tide
We first saw that the weather was ramping up for a good storm this week while anchored in Oriental, NC.  We religiously watch the National Hurricane Centre advisories along with various weather reports and all of them pointed to a pretty severe Nicole-fueled storm starting on Tuesday and extending through most of the week. All three boats in our pod (Wild Horses, Sensai and Brise) decided to secure docks in Beaufort, NC for the Monday, in advance of the forecasted strong winds.   This is one of the best parts about having sailing buddies.  Even when our boats are geographically separated (Wild Horses was in Belhaven and Brise and Sensai were further along on the ICW), we check in with each other, discussing anchorages, weather, tides, and routes.  We also have other boats that each of us check in with regularly, crew that we have met along the way or know from back home.  It is our own little crowd sourcing exercise to keep us all safe.
​
We had arrived in Oriental last Thursday and decided to stay put until we had to move to our dock in Beauport on the following Monday.  It was a great break from the daily grind of planning, navigating, early mornings and food on the go.  Settled in one place, we could sleep in, eat a hot, slow breakfast and go for good long walks with Ocean.  The anchorage was only a 30 second dinghy ride to town where we could stroll along the waterfront and through charming neighbourhoods with warm (27 degree Celsius) sunny days.  It was an incredible four days of enjoying the town.  
Picture
Strolling through Oriental NC
Picture
A view of our small anchorage in Oriental
Picture
Oriental is very dog-friendly. Even the public water fountains have dog access!
Picture
One of the many dragons to be found in Oriental
Picture
A beautiful sunrise and...
Picture
A beautiful sunset over our anchorage
​But we also got some necessary work done on Wild Horses.  We have continued to deal with water intrusion in the bilge area under our bed but had a new idea for the cause, and a potential fix.  Sensai had suggested that the water could be coming in through the anchor locker seams.  The caulking in there was old so the theory made sense.  Once in the anchor locker, we did a thorough investigation.  The seams were fine but some of the hoses and electrical tubing needed to be shored up.  So far, this has made a difference.  Fingers crossed that the water stays on the outside of the boat from now on 😉.
Picture
Our forward cabin torn apart to clean up the water intrusion...again. The little grey box at the front of the pic? Well, that is our bow thruster.
Picture
A view of how the boat looks while we are working on the water intrusion in our forward cabin
​After several days in Oriental, we lifted our anchor on Monday and started the journey south to Beaufort.  We had a calm day with a lovely sunny sky and very little boat traffic.  Too easy for you Wild Horses?  Should we up the level of difficulty?  Let’s see, you are headed to a tight dock space in a crowded harbour, wouldn’t it be a great add-on to your day if your bow thruster wasn’t working?  Yeesh.  But, yup, our bow thruster was definitely not working.  Truly our bow thruster (a motor that gives us control of our bow) has been rarely used on our journey.  We only really need it for tight spaces when the wind is up and since we spend most of our time in wide open anchorages, the bow thruster has sat idle.  Now it was beyond idle, it was 100% non-functional.

Of course, our expert captain wasn’t concerned.  Under his care, Wild Horses was guided into her dock space with ease.  Yes!  Next was to disembark and enjoy the town!
Picture
Cute homesteads make up the neighbourhoods in Beaufort NC
Picture
For those asking if we worry about pirates...well, these days apparently pirates have store fronts to fulfil all of our swashbuckling needs!
Picture
Ocean checking out the beach beside our marina
Picture
A free marina courtesy car means lots of provisioning (notice the four bags of dog food!)
We have now been at Homer Smith Marina for 5 days.  In that time, the bow thruster has been, well, sort of fixed.  Unable to find the issue ourselves, we brought in a mechanic.  He checked this and that and one other thing, with  no big cause getting highlighted.  Finally, he asked us to try the bow thruster and, voila, it finally worked.  The issue?  Age and lack of exercise.  Really?  Yup.  The contacts that turn the on/off switch had gotten sluggish with non-use.  Apparently, the bow thruster, just like us, needs to move to stay in tip top shape.  No worries, that is an easy step to add into our boat days.
​
On Sunday we will leave Beaufort and head towards Georgetown.  It will take us about four days along a stretch of the ICW that is narrow with lots of shoaling and very few anchorages.  By many accounts, this is a “get-through” section of the ICW.  For us, it is another experience that we are happy to have aboard Wild Horses 😊.  
Picture
A reminder from Ocean to chill out and relax every once in awhile
Picture
A magical sunset view of Beaufort

Comments are closed.
    Where are we now?

    Author

    Victoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire.  Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from davidweedallphotography
  • Home
  • Crew
  • Blog
  • Our Boat
  • Projects
  • Contact