On A New Tack

Friday, April 11, 2020 This weekend was supposed to be the Easter Cruise to the Beaufort, NC docks BUT, that got canceled because that town doesn’t want us. So instead of that, we’re doing some maintenance that’s been on my list for a while, namely replacing the coolant pump on the engine. Everyone that’s ever worked on a boat will tell you that everything takes twice as long as normal. Well, when the town your boat is located in is on a Covid-19 lockdown that prohibits non-residents from basically going into town, that makes things even more challenging. Fortunately, everyone in the boating community in Oriental is awesome and willing to help as they can. So we can still call businesses, place an order, give a CC number and they will deliver to your slip! Shout out to Pat, Lori and Teresa at IWPC, and Jim at Bow to Stern Boating!! The front of the engine had some surface corrosion and missing paint, seemingly from leaking coolant at some point in her past. While the pump...

It's been a month and we haven't been on a sailboat, what do we do? Ever since our Learn to Sail vacation, we have been thinkin about another opportunity to sail.  We still had the potential to sail on S/V Counting Stars in April, and a possible trip with Lisa and Jesse to the BVIs, but that wasn't for a while, so we had to start looking at other options. A Google Search of "bareboat charter NC" returned a few results, one of which was Bow to Stern Sailing , located in Oriental, NC. They were exactly what we were looking for and they were an easy 2.5 hour drive from our home in Cary, NC.  Oriental is a small town on the Neuse River, a brackish tributary to the Pamlico Sound.  The Neuse River, which starts as a small freshwater river in Raleigh becomes a 2+ mile wide body of water by the time it reaches Oriental and the area sees great wind for sailing. We called and spoke with them and I wasn't sure if the ASA certifications would be enough, but after a...