Trip to Oriental for Haul Out

The original forecast for today was partly cloudy, not much wind and no rain. When we slipped the lines at 10a it was completely overcast, windy and a light rain was falling! Glad for my boat tennies on the slippery deck but nothing could keep us from slipping on the highly polished steps up to the bridge because they were wet.... once going down them if I had not been holding on I would have seriously injured my back... as it was my bad hand took most of my weight but it could have been so much worse.

I had spent Sunday afternoon charting our course out to the channel and then on toward Pamlico Sound. We left early intending to calibrate our autopilot but it became way to rough on the water to do this. Even though we have a large screen Garmin I was pleased that the Captain asked ME what our course should be. It is always a good idea to check the Garmin with the chart every hour. This way you are prepared should the Garmin quit suddenly.

I was very apprehensive about today's trip since it would involve us going into Whittaker Creek in Oriental where there is much shoaling and a very narrow shallow channel. We had looked up extra info on this channel and thought we might call TowboatUS for local knowledge when we got close. But we didn't have to as someone else did before us... we hear these calls and can also tune to same channels to listen in.... they recommended what we had thought.. “hug the red markers” going in.... but they didn't say anything about one red can being one to avoid as it was sitting on shoal. ???

We were opposite the creek in about 2.5 hours from Northwest Creek Marina in New Bern. During this time the water just got bumpier and bumpier... there is probably a nautical term for this... ha! I was surprised that I became woozy after going down to the salon a couple of times while we were bouncing around. Me? Sea sick???!!! Guess we will load Dramamine for sure.

As we neared our destination we saw a small sail boat. He didn't seem to be moving but then started up. Reading the boat's name through the binoculars, we tried to call him on the radio but he didn't answer.

During the trip Walter had left the Helm to tend to other things and I took over. No big deal as the autopilot was working just fine. I did have to keep my eye on two dials.. depth indicator (which will be connected to the Garmin this week) and making sure our little boat on the Garmin screen stayed where it was suppose to be and of course looking for other traffic. But then, just as we were gaining on the sail boat, the Captain left! Miss gg was NOT on autopilot!! What? Me take over?? EGAD! I could see that before he returned I would have to either start down the questionable channel or hit the sail boat OR go in circles! And the wheel was so easy to turn!.. yep... my choice was a big circle and I was executing my second spin when the Man returned, laughed and took over. Just about this time the sail boat called us: “Trawler behind me at entrance to Whittaker Creek.” We had been excited to see that he might be going into the Creek also and we knew that his sail boat would have a deeper draft than we did.. so we planned to just follow him in... but he had another idea: “I have a 6 ft draft so I will tiptoe in following you”! All of us laughed at that and we began our scary trip with our 4.5ft draft boat hugging those red markers.

So far so good as we crept along... creeping for us is still 4.5 kn which seems fast in this big boat. This Creek was a puzzle having three branches and we mistook the markers for our branch to be for another one and went on the wrong side of them... We stirred up the mud just as the the depth alarms went off!! Walter pulled the engines back and into reverse quickly and those two big diesels (main reason he bought this boat) backed us out! With my heart pounding I was instantly cured of any sea sickness!!

As I watched the piles across from the narrow slip to make sure we didn't hit them, the guys at the haul out dock talked us through a sharp right angle turn into the slip ....we never even bumped any part of it..... at last Miss gg was tied and awaiting her haul out.

We stayed and watched the haul out and Walter gave them some instructions for things he wanted done. He will be returning in the morning to do some of the work on it himself.

On the way home the Captain said to his Firstmate: “If I didn't tell you before, going in circles when I had to leave was a very good idea”! :-)

1st Solo Outing on Miss gg

 

Windy, cold but sunny here on the water in New Bern. The boat was doubled lined mid slip due to wind storms lately so dropping the lines took a while. The BEST purchase we ever ever made was our wonderful headsets!! They call them "Marriage Savers" and I believe it! No yelling just reasonable talking as Walter directed me (on fore deck) from the helm & I asked an occasional question about which line, etc. Now if I can just convince him that we should wear these around the house! :-0

I have been a bit nervous about coming and going to our slip at the Northwest Creek Marina as it is surrounded by shoaling and some places are only 1 to 3 feet deep. But Walter kept us right in the deeper channel as we departed. We ran the engines up to clear out the black smoke but later even at only 8kn I thought it too fast as our wake was still seemed wide and deep. But it is just a big boat! Almost too much for just two people to handle considering one is a bit crippled with a very bad sprained right hand...me!

There was one line that had to be hauled in very fast as we were leaving the dock... and I pulled the wrong end to start with but quickly found the right one and pulled like crazy...Walter could not go slow for me to do this as the boat would have been blown against the piles... whew.... we were off!!!

Walter had forgotten to turn on a few things and could now not let go of the wheel. So with the headsets on I could sit on the floor in front of the AC panel in the salon and get instructions as to what switch to move up or down. This again helped with switches on the helm just out of his reach. 

We played around a while checking the deviation on our boat's compass...point the bow in the North, South, East West directions to check it... almost right on for the north direction! Slightly off for others... these differences have to be written down and remember as we learned in our navigation class. The deviation must be figured in when charting your course along with the compass rose variation. Really not a big deal IF you do it! :-0

Then it was time to return to our boat slip. As we got close Walter told me to call the marina and ask for some help docking. I didn't even know where the radio was & when I found it I ever so clearly began talking my best “Ive-done-this-all-life” voice into the back of the mic!!!! But after I turned it around as Walter showed me then began the fun discourse.... 

GA: "Northwest Creek Marina this is Miss gg"

Marina: "Miss gg please change to channel 68" (I was suppose to acknowledge this but forgot! & just changed channels... the one we were on is the coast guard channel & it is okay to call on it but then you need to change the channel to which ever one is told you) GA "Miss gg requesting help for the newbies to dock" Marina: "Roger that Miss gg, will meet you there". 

The poor man had to wait a while as it took us 4 tries to get the boat out far enough to make the backward turn into the slip... the wind was blowing so hard and we have "sails" with the fly bridge and the sun deck now surrounded in plastic. It quickly moved us about. But I am so proud to tell you that we didn't hit the dock once... this is success to us! :-) High five time!

With my bad right hand I found I could not loosen the telescoping boat hook which I needed to grab the lines off the piles.. Walter had to leave the helm once or twice to help me and I wish this was not so but it will be several months before the hand is healed completely. Fortunately he was at this point in the slip and had idled the engines.

All in all I think I gain some much needed confidence today. A very good thing cause when Walter went below to the engine room after our outing he found that the stuffing boxes for the propeller shafts had a steady stream of water flowing into the boat! He already knew they and the rudder stuffing boxes near the master cabin needed re-stuffing. This is something along with several other things that will be done at the haul out. We left all the sump pumps on just in case and he immediately called the haul out place in Oriental. The boat will be hauled on Monday at 2p and in the mean time Walter will check the boat this weekend. It is so to speak a slow leak but not really a leak... okay that's what I was told but I am calling it a LEAK!!

So on Monday we will make our first real trip.... I get to chart it so Walter says... but when his grade on the final comes back in Aces then he can do all the charting! However, I am excited about doing this to see if I can actually get us to a certain place on the chart.. .around all those buoys and markers recognizing them as we go.