Boring is good when your underway!

Hi All,



The tittle says it all. Cruising down the ICW can be boring at times. Smoothe water, a little bit of current against you here and there, miles of wetlands and of course miles of houses! The one thing that is good about boredom is the fact that everything on board is working properly! No alarms going off, no mechanical or crew issues, etc. Since leaving Norfolk the weather has been nothing less than stellar. A few hours of thunderstorms near Carolina Beach,NC but no winds of any concern.
We have not been meeting many boats along the way because everyone seems to be heading south with a vengence, including us. Now that we are sure to make our flight from Myrtle Beach to NJ on Fri eve, we have slowed down some. The last two nights were spent in Calabash,NC. Walked about 1 1/2 mi. to the Calabash Presbyterian Church. Wonderful people and a great pastor, Rev Jack. Why is it that at home the churches don't seem as friendly? They had coffee and cake going on and invited us into their Sunday School, which happened to be all adults! A little later on that afternoon we were joined by our friends, Bill, Margie, and the "boys"(Casey & Oscar their dogs) on S/V Tortuga. We cruised with them in the Bahamas last winter for awhile and they visited us in NJ for a few days in July on their way to New England. It was great catching up and comparing our plans for the upcoming winter.
This morning we left for our marina, Wacca Wache, where we will be keeping the boat at for the next 3+ weeks. Will be back on the boat Nov 10th after our daughter's wedding, Nov 6th.

Looking forward to seeing "Country Bobbie" and his wife Claudia who live about 15mins. away and Scott and Terry( our future son-in-law's aunt and uncle) who live in the area also!

All for now,

I guess I needed the "Admiral" aboard!

Hi All,



Well since leaving Norfolk and having "Admiral" Robin on board, things have settled down( guess you can't easily replace the wench!!) Tonight we are anchored in Mile Hammock Bay, part of Camp Lejune, NC. The ICW has been pretty benign. Don't get us wrong that is a good thing!!

Actually today was quite interesting. We left Spooners Creek, just west of Morehead City, NC, this morning and had an easy day on the ICW until we passed the the Onslow Beach Bridge,mm240. Helicopters were flying at mast height As we are ready to turn into Mile Hammock the Coast Guard decides to board us. This is a first for us! Very polite "kids" and their "boss". Apparently they were training. Well the Cookie Monster passed w/flying colors and they thanked us. A small price to pay, especially since we were able to anchor first!! They declined on the offer of cookies & milk!

All for now

Corbett & Robin

Made our 2nd Big Right Turn!

Cookie Monster left the dock at Cedar Creek on Barnegat Bay at 12:15 Tues. Oct. 5th. The crew consisted of myself, Steve, Gary, and a first timer on our boat Dave. We headed out Barnegat Inlet for Norfolk, Va., about a 36hr sail. Well mechanical issues and weather did their best to stop us! After getting out the inlet we sailed along Long Beach Island in generally lousy conditions, ie. heavy drizzle, winds gusting to 25mph, 4-5ft seas and spray coming over the rails. Off Beach Haven we lost our steering. Thank God for Autopilot. Next stop Atlantic City. A good inlet and parts should be available. I assembled the emergency tiller so we could navigate the inlet and dock the boat. Hey c'mon the autopilot isn't that good!! Forgot to mention that after the steering went we tried to bring in the jib and the furling line, which rolls the sail back up like a window shade, broke. The crew handled it in stride and after donning harnesses, we took down the jib and secured it.
Boat Tow US followed(assisted) us to the dock at Trump Marina in AC. The next day, Wed., we rented a car and found the part for the steering chain. By 5pm we shoved off for Norfolk once again. The winds were "on the nose" and we motored. Around 12:45am,Thurs., just off Cape May the engine overheat alarm goes off. I check everything and the temp is high. We immediately turn for the inlet and slow down. The temp goes back to normal in about 25 min. Not taking any chances we anchor inside off the Coast Guard station. It turns out that the fan belt was loose so I tightened it and it was good. Now we leave to cross the mouth of the Delaware Bay around 8am. Once again the winds are..."on the nose". SW winds around 20kts and short, choppy 3-4ft seas. 3hrs later we are in the protection of Cape Henlopen, Delaware. The ocean is flat and we are sailing along at 7.5-8.0 kts!! 20hrs later we arrived in Little Creek Inlet, Norfolk. I was lucky to have the crew I had becaused they never complained and performed like "another day in the park"! Thanks guys!!!!!
Robin drove down to Norfolk with the rest of our supplies and Steve, Gary & Dave drove home.
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All for now!

Corbett & Robin