Richard Todd

Trip down the NJ ICW for 25 miles out through Barnaget Inlet with a destination to Atlantic City. After a great 2 hours in the ocean, we had an engine issue in which lost most of engine oil. Put up sails and sailed for 6 hours. Great day of sailing but crappy reason. 15 to 20 knots out of the WNW. Partly cloudy temperatures in mid 60s.

Lots of wind. 15 to 20 Knots with gust to mid 30s Temperatures were 75 with mostly clear sky’s Great club race on James Newsome boat.

Beautiful day of sailing for our last day. Left at our normal time of 6:15 and arrived at 12:45. Temperatures in the mid 80 with a nice breeze out of the SW.

We had a short 40 mile uneventful day from Cockrell Creek to Solomon’s. Wind was 5 to 10 from S SE. beautiful day with some cloud cover to make it cooler. We head out today for the last leg of our delivery. Should be a great day and we will Get to explore a new town.

65 nautical mile day up the Bay. Predictions were for 5 to 10 out of the East. For four hours we had 22 to 25 Knots winds out of the NE. About 4 hours in winds moved to the East and went down to under 12 knots. Last 5 hours was a great sail. Temps were in the mid 80 with cloudy skies. A few sprinkles that were short lived. Plan to anchor in Deltaville but ended up going to Cockrell Creek for a good night. Saw some old sailing friends Bonnie And Bruce Hampton. Good day. Down to last 2 days of a great trip. Tomorrow a short day to the Solomon’s then another short day to Cambridge.

We left Coinjock at 6:15 to time the first bridge opening to go through on the half hour. By doing this at 10:30 and 11:30 we were able to make the lock opening in Chesapeake City at 12 to get to Portsmouth around 2. We are docked in downtown free docks for the night. We had a very successful day and have cleared the last hurdle other than weather to complete our delivery this weekend. Our arrival should be mid day Sept 1st!! Today was a pretty hot day as we motored through the Virginia Cut. We will leave early tomorrow morning and motor sail to Deltaville,Virginia and anchor out. Should be a great day with East winds forecasted to be 10 to 15 Might even get to put the sails up if the forecast holds.

After a long day yesterday, we got up early and headed out for a short 54 mile day. Even though it was hot, we had a nice breeze as we crossed the Albemarle Sound into Coinjock. We will have another 50 miles tomorrow into Portsmouth then 3 more days up the Chesapeake to Cambridge. Weather looks great now for the 3 days headed up the Bay.

After Monday’s issues with the belts we watched a couple of YouTube videos and we learned how to fix our problem. I woke up at 6 and we decided to try and follow the Frenchman’s video. We were able to get her going and we left around 9:46 on Tuesday. We ended up doing a very long and warm day but finished our last 70 mile day. We decided to go all the way through the Pongo canal Pat fixed our dinner using her Omnia oven and we were ready to drop the hook as the sun was setting. Great day with light winds out of the SE for most of our trip. We were able to average around 7.5 mph. Left this morning at 6:30 heading to Coinjock and then through the Virginia Cut into Norfolk. After that our last 3 days will be sailing up the Chesapeake to Cambridge. Plan to arrive on Monday September 1st.

We left Beaufort with a 75 mile day in front of us. The 1st third of the trip was great. We had a beautiful sunrise with Dolphins playing in our wake, shrimp boat with tons of birds, and cool temperatures. When we entered the Neuse River, the winds picked up and we had a bumpy ride but not too bad. As we were about to make the turn back into the ICW, the belt on the water pump broke. We put up a sail and sailed into shallower water to anchor and attempt to put a belt we had bought in Beaufort on the engine. We worked for about 2 hours with a very hot engine and cramped quarters but could not get it installed. Pat is learning how to be a boat mechanic ! We ended up calling Boat US and we were towed back to Oriental. We have contacted a mechanic and hopefully he will get to us on Wednesday. We need to figure out and address some issues for the last part of the trip. Tomorrow we will buy another Yanmar belt for both the alternator and the water pump. Disappointing day but if you get out on the water enough, things happen. All in all, I would not trade it for another job!

Short day from Camp Lejeune to Beaufort NC. Beaufort is a famous and very beautiful stop on the ICW. Blackbeard had a house here and his ship Queen Ann’s Revenge was sunk right off the Beaufort inlet. He lived in here during the period when he tried to change his ways after receiving a pardon for his crimes. Did not last very long. Many off shore sailors come inside here instead of going around Cape Hatteras. We will be here at least 2 days due to strong NE winds and getting a few things done on S/V Impulse. Today was a great day of sailing with 15 to 20 knot winds out of the NE and wonderful temperatures in low 80s all day. The same front that brings the fall like temperatures, also brings the North East winds. So we will stay put until the conditions improve. All in all a great day.