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Trip Report #14: To Broad Creek35 05.20N 076 38.45WFiled from Oriental, N.C.September 13, 2006
Photo: Morning on Broad Creek The weather along the entire east coast of the United States was not typical for late April/early May and it was not good. One front after another was passing over the coastal waters before heading out to sea and a major storm was threatening. We left Starboard Home at the Scorpion Newport Marina and drove home to Oriental. On the day after we got back, friends joined us for a party at our home to celebrate our return and the completion of our Mediterranean voyage. But it was with mixed feelings that we were celebrating. It was good to be home again and great to have completed a project that we had worked hard to make happen, but there were (and still are) times when we would like to be back - in Italy, in Turkey and Greece, in the Ukraine - in a hundred places that we enjoyed so much and didn't see enough of. The day after the party, Peg flew to Albuquerque to care for Anastasia and to see to the details of remodeling a kitchen in our home out there. Tom turned his attention to getting Starboard Home from Cape Canaveral up the coast to Oriental. Our friend, Keith, had volunteered to help him make the trip.
Photo: Keith, on his boat, Breese They left Cape Canaveral on the fifth of May bound for Fernandina or Charleston or as far as the weather would allow them to go. Under cloudy skies, with some flashes of lightning visible in the distance at night, they made their way into the Gulf Stream and by the next morning, they were sailing along in 20 knots from the west-south-west with a favorable 4 knot current carrying them north at a very fast pace. At 3 am on May 7, they lost the Gulf Stream and carried on toward Cape Fear. In very light winds from the northeast, they motored most of the day and crossed Frying Pan Shoals that evening. At 6 am on May 8 the wind had shifted to northwest and increased to 20 knots. They were 22 miles from the Beaufort Inlet when a widespread thunderstorm with winds of 40 knots bore down on them. They hove to, using a small amount of mainsail and no headsail, from 11 am to 1 pm, allowing the storm to pass over them. As soon as the wind abated they continued sailing, into Beaufort Inlet, through Core Creek, into the Neuse River to Broad Creek, and they were at our home dock by 6pm.
Photo: Approaching the dock at home
Photo: Steve helps with the landing; Keith's boat is already there, on the left Friends, Sally and Steve, were on hand to welcome them and to help them tie up. Sally provided us with pictures of the homecoming.
Photo: Keith and Tom on Starboard Home in Oriental Soon after they arrived home, friends Tom & Serena, on Shadowfax X, also a Valiant 40, arrived at our dock. They had just completed a circumnavigation and were putting their boat up for sale before heading back to build a home in British Columbia, their home port. They were good company for Tom and a big help with some boat projects on Starboard Home.
Photo: Serena, Tom & Tom
Photo: Tom & Tom relax on the porch Serena and Tom sold their boat while they were here in Oriental and are now back in Vancouver. Starboard Home and Breese, Keith's boat, are on the hard at the Hurricane Boat Yard, for the hurricane season and to complete boat projects. Peg and Tom are working through the "what-do-we-do-now crisis" that comes with completed projects, and we are feeling at loose ends, even though we have plenty to keep us busy here and in Albuquerque, Massachusetts, Huntsville and Rochester, where all of our children and grandchildren live. We are especially hoping to be of some support to daughter and son-in-law, Kelsey & Craig, whose newly adopted baby girl, Isabelle, from China, has been diagnosed with a rare illness requiring chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, scheduled for the end of September. Isabelle's ordeal will occupy our hearts and minds and energies until she is well and safely out of harm's way. We do plan other trips and think about the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland and also the Inland Passage in Alaska. Until then, we'll be land bound for a short while. We will continue to update our home page and keep you informed of our plans until we are solidly underway again. 73s, 88s, love & hugs Peg & Tom Maynard
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Grand Daughters' web pages: Anna's Home Page, Anastasia's Home Page Isabelle's Home Page
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