From Tehani - out cruising

[maxiSwede]

I do like his sense of humor.  ;D  CaptnK I E

[CharlieJ]

After leaving Georgetown, Tehani made it to Southport, then caught the tide wrong for a VERY slow ride up the Cape Fear river and a trip through Snows Cut against a full bore tide!! Talk about ripping!!! Can you say 2.5?? That's the best we could do.

But today we had a great offwind ride up Bogue Sound, with just about all the wind we wanted in our Genny.

Currently at anchor, Beaufort, Nc for a few days.

[w00dy]

Heh. I ran aground just outside of Snow's cut last year after trying to take the shortcut across the Cape Fear river. We docked in Wilmington for two months, and man, does that current flow!

[geneWj]

Hi You TWO!

Are you still baking bread aboard?  What have you been doing for shore-side transportation?  Has solar panel been adequate for electrical needs?
Curious ole salt wants to know?
geneWj

[CharlieJ]

Are we still baking bread aboard? No- it's too hot to bake inside.

What are we doing for shoreside transportation? Walking mostly, or riding buses when handy. Just got back from the grocery a while ago- about a mile and 3/4 each way. Roughly the same as Marathon was. Not TOO bad.

Is the solar panel doing it for us? - yep. One 32 watt panel does the trick. In a year we've had to plug in once to charge batts. But we use very little electricity.

[luckettg]

Are we still baking bread aboard? No- it's too hot to bake inside.

What are we doing for shoreside transportation? Walking mostly, or riding buses when handy. Just got back from the grocery a while ago- about a mile and 3/4 each way. Roughly the same as Marathon was. Not TOO bad.

Is the solar panel doing it for us? - yep. One 32 watt panel does the trick. In a year we've had to plug in once to charge batts. But we use very little electricity.

Charlie,
Maybe you could use a simple solar oven above deck for baking bread?
Don't the nav lights use up the batteries somewhat during the night? I never ran mine for more than a couple of hours and that did not make a dent in my battery charges. I have wondered how it would have been overnight or when sounding fog horns.
Greg.

[geneWj]

Well, I do not know if yesterdays message went through to you. So I'll say it again!
I'm really happy for you two, being able to be "FREE"; it does have a price!  However, the price is what you want to make it be!  Hopefully Mary and I will be "FREE" again next year.  Then it will be off with the Bus/Rv and First Born.  I want to see the Canadian Maritime east coast.  The Lake areas are of special interest to me.
Take Care Have Fun, enjoy each other and your time together!
gene & mary

[atomvoyager]

Hi guys

It was great to meet you and see your boat when you passed through Brunswick. Tehani is a very nicely fitted out minimalist cruiser. Enjoy the trip and we'll look forward to hearing about it when you come south again.

James B

[Mario G]

Hey Charlie  You could almost bake bread by just leaving it in the cabin while you walk to the store I'm sure. Welcome to NC. 

I have found it easy to rollerblade around the port towns, even into the West Marine store in Oriantal this last time.  Everyone just smiles at an old guy on skates and they don't take up much room on the boat.

[geneWj]

Well, the dinghy issue has come back to haunt me!  Gave Bad Bob my 14' nester dinghy with the purchase of TPIII.  Tried C.B's approach of a kayak, not my cup of tea.
  Want a boat I could bring aboard First Born if the need arises.
Have finally settled on the 8' Origami, it does mean a construction job, but I have the room and the skills to complete the project.  It will tow easily, row, and I have a nice 3.5 hp outboard I can use on it.  The 3.5 can also be a back up if the 7.5 on First Born dies on me.
geneWj

[CharlieJ]

Sitting here at anchor in Oriental, NC. Having my morning coffee as the sun turns the eastern sky pink. There's a Chrysler 26 at anchor in front of us- came in last night just after dark. Seems to belong to a MarioG- grin. Hoping Smollet shows up a bit later.

Today is big doin's in Oriental. Dragon boat races. 40 foot boats with 20 paddlers in each. We were aboard a friends power boat last night watching them practice. Man, those things can MOVE!! even when the paddlers get out of sync.

More later.

[Captain Smollett]

Had a nice morning/early afternoon with Charlie, Laura, Mario, Sherry, Graham and Carla down in Oriental.

The dragon boats were fun to watch - especially the launch, which was quite an operation.  Here's Charlie and Graham taking a break from discussing the merits of the hull design ( ;D ):

[Captain Smollett]

And lunch at M and M's.  Left to Right: Charlie, Graham, Carla, Laura, Sherry (sorry, barely visible), Mario and JP.  Not pictured are Becky, Hunter and I.

[Captain Smollett]

Later, we dinghied out to Tehani and enjoyed a visit aboard.  It was great to get caught up on the lies stories CapnK is telling these days in Georgetown.   ;D

Finally, it sure was interesting to get the nickel tour of such a beautiful boat.  It was especially fun to see the creative ways CJ and L have solved the 'small boat problems' and made her work for them and their style of cruising.  I don't think I'll ever tire of this aspect of boat-visiting: the creativity and personal ways folks make their boat, well, theirs.

[CharlieJ]

Well, Tehani is now tied securely to a dock up the Bay River, on Chapel Creek, in North Carolina. The dock belongs to Graham and Carla Byrnes, of B and B Yacht Designs. She's been stripped  down and buttoned up for a prolonged stay.

Laura and I, after a 1500 mile drive, are back in south Texas, most likely forhe winter. No touristy stuff, but we did drive through the Smoky Mountain Natl park, and up to Cllingman's Dome. Was 51 degrees and blowing around 12 that morning. CHILLY after being in 90 degrees the day before. But we are home.

The cruise will continue, probably in the spring. For now, it's gonna be busy, working on family projects, mostly other than our own. But both of us, walking around here yesterday, and after a year on a quite small boat, found ourselves wondering- What do we NEED all this STUFF  for????. I foresee a serious weeding out of belongings in our future.

[Frank]

"You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." - Antoine de
Saint-Exupery



I'm sure you already have that one figured out   ;)

[Gypsy Soul]

Welcome home you guys.   Hope to be able to pick your mind as to where and not to go.  plan leaving here very shortly via the ICW to St. Augustine.   Really would love to know the route you took and the places you stayed and anchored.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.   

Well See you soon..If your in Rockport give me a call.

Richard
s/v Gypsy Soul
flgypsysoul@gmail.com

[CapnK]

Looks like Charlie and Laura have taken the idea of "feeding the cruising kitty" to new heights!

;D ;D ;D

[CharlieJ]

Just an update so this thread doesn't go completely stale.

We've been working on the house refurbishing and are almost done- another few weeks will see it finished and turned over to the realtors.

We've also had a few birthday bashes to attend. My mother and Laura's grandmother  both turned 90- 4 days apart. UNFORTUNATELY they live 7 1/2 hours apart by road!!! My Mom up in the eastern coastal corner of Texas and L's G'mother down close to the Mexican border. So we did some driving.

We've also been dealing with friends in hospitals, and other sorta emergency stuff.

We are supposed to crew on a delivery trip to Belize aboard a Tartan 41, and I have a 34 foot tri to work on beginning in Jan, then we should be done and free to return to the cruising lifestyle. Laura is READY!!!!

So am I ;)

[CapnK]

Later that night, Laura got caught defacing a local pub...

:o