Daily Archives: 1 6 November 14

Thursday, 6 November                                    41.2 SM

One of the great things about the ICW so far has been the fact that, with few exceptions, there’s not enough fetch for the wind to whip up a chop. The wind may blow but the water stays nearly flat.

A sign even a power-boater can read.

With few exceptions.  Albemarle Sound, for instance.   Or going up the Neuse River might be another. Or perhaps motoring southwest down Topsail Sound into a brisk so’westerly, as in 18 or 20 knots worth. That’s enough to make more than ripples on the Sound’s surface. And it just so happens, that’s what was on the Sound today. Progress was slow, even by the standards of a Com-Pac 27.

Snowbirds go single file past the Corps dredge.

On the other hand, there is entertainment along the way. There are the bridges—Surf City, Figure Eight Island and Wrightsville Beach, swing-type highway bridges a la Gwynn’s Island—which each require a brief conversation with a bridge tender to transit. Steadfast passes each without difficulty.

At New Topsail Inlet, the Army Corps of Engineers is at work dredging the shoal that encroaches on the narrow channel. Being respectful of your tax dollars, the Corps has found a cost-efficient way to direct boaters to the safe, deep-water side of the dredge on which to pass.

Then as the Sound narrows, the Waterway runs through a seemingly endless gantlet of big box-like beach homes. Every once in a while, though, there’s a property that just defies description. Just say, it’s entertaining. A life-sized giraffe statue is so distinct (and, it is assumed, entertaining) it has become a dead-reckoning landmark in the cruising guides.

This Disney-esque landscape has all the water features imaginable, a whimsical home like none other seen…so far.

Now there’s a yard ornament!

But the fun can’t last forever and, as the shadows lengthen, Steadfast turns to starboard into the dredged basin in Whiskey Creek that is home to Masonboro Yacht Club & Marina.

(Yes, we’re tied up again. And you’re right, there are perfectly good anchorages nearby, perfectly good for a night when temperatures won’t plunge into the 40s; aboard Steadfast, it’s a plug-in-for-the-electric-heater night. Again.)

It blows still. A steady 20-to-22, gusting into the thirties. Yeah, that’s right. It’s blowin’ stink. But up here in Whiskey Creek, s’all good. Red’s quiet. Steadfast lies still on the pier. And the heater whirrs.

Let it blow.

Steadfast out.