Cape Lookout
This is a log of sailing to Cape Lookout, NC in the fall of 2002.
(scroll down for more story and pictures - click the photos for large version!)
Cape Lookout
November 8-10, 2002
(click on any of the pictures below for a bigger one!)
After several consecutive weekends of cold and rain, this weekend started out with bright sun and 75 degrees. What luck!
My friend Jim, his wife Cindy, and Max, their Jack Russell joined me (solo) in their Windrider, Soylent Green, driving all the way from Charlotte for the trip.
We left from, and returned to, a very nice wildlife ramp in Morehead city. It is just off of Hwy 70 as it enters Morehead. It is right at the Morehead City Visitors Center. Very crowded with day-fishermen, but ample parking with overflow is provided along with plenty of room for rigging, etc.
There are three ramps, two with floating docks and one fixed and a nice sandy beach on each side (one of which gets covered at high tide).
All-in-all, a good site for Windrider launching.
Friday
Weather: Wind SSW at 5-10. Sunny, 75 degrees (this is November!)
Route Miles Covered: 13We were off to a pretty late start as I had forgotten my engine (paddle). Jim graciously stopped on his way in to buy one for me as I was already at the ramp and had rigged most of my Windrider before discovering that I left it at home!
We managed to shove off at around 3:30pm. It was going to be difficult to cover 13 miles to Cape Lookout Bight before dark (around 5:30) with only 5-10knots of wind to work with.
We made between 5-6 knots over ground (with the help of a knot or so of current) along Bougue sound and the Morehead City waterfront.
Along the way we came around a turn and were staring at the bow of this guy!
We had to make only 3-4 tacks to clear Beaufort inlet and we were then outside, pointing Southeast to the bight with a light beam wind. Very nice (but the sun was going down.....).
I took this while pointing West on one of the tacks going out the inlet.
We continued to make 5-6 knots east, staying about 1/2 to 3/4 miles off Shackleford Banks as the sun got lower and lower.........and it got darker and darker.
Finally, it was pitch black. The sliver of moon that was out didn't help much at all.
It turns out that the rhumb line to the entrance of the bight just happened to line up with the lighthouse itself! For the first time I was using a lighthouse beacon for direct navigation. Cool! One of those small lighted dots in the picture is the lighthouse, I think.
There was also a RED 6s light at the entrance that was visible as I got closer. It is a good thing that conditions were calm, or I would have been a little bit more worried.
There were several small fishing boats zooming around without navigation lights. It was very nerve-racking.
The process was always the same -- I had to keep listening for the sound of their engines to get close and then shine my flashlight up on the main sail. When I lit up the sail, a HUGE spotlight would come on at their boat (all of them did this - they must all buy their spotlights at the same place), scan the water and come to rest on my boat. I was then pretty much blinded, and it took another 10 minutes to be able to see anything again in the dark. If necessary a course change was made, the spotlight went off, and they buzzed off out of earshot.
Things calmed down (the fishing boats as well as ANY wind) as I entered the bight. I had remembered from my last time here 3 years previous that there was a "beachy" area all the way at the eastern side, just south of the lighthouse.
About 2/3 of the way across the bight, I hit ground (sand). I could see a lot of water in front of me with no "beachy" area in sight at all. I got out and spun the boat around and headed a little more southerly as the chart showed a shoal sticking out from nearby the lighthouse.
I went aground about 6 more times trying to make my way to the beach. This was painstakingly slow with no wind (it was now quite cold). Finally, on the 6th or so grounding, I saw some beach sand about 50 feet ahead. I stepped out, pulled the boat hard into the shallow(er) water, walked my anchor up onto the beach, and called it a night.
Something wasn't right, though. I remembered a nice sandy beach. This one had rocks or something all over, and the bottom of the hull bounced and ground on them all night as the tide came in and went out. I was too tired, though, and wasn't about to go sailing off in search of a better spot. I did, however, get up twice as the tide came in and pulled the boat up higher onto the "beach".
The night was really nice once I was in my warm sleeping bag - about 55 degrees, no bugs, and a gentle breeze out of the South. I didn't even put my screen tent or canopy up.
When I woke up, I could finally see where I was. Smack in the middle of a huge oyster bed! If you click on the picture, you can see the beach I remembered way over by the lighthouse - nice smooth sand, no oysters!
The very low slope of the oyster bed made the tidal water cover about 150ft of beach and then leave it high and dry. That's why I hit bottom with 50 feet of water still in front of me last night!
Saturday
Weather: Wind generally none. Sunny.
Route Miles Covered: puttering around the bight and Shackleford banks at 1-2 knots.
I had big plans of sailing and exploring Core sound all day today, but it just wasn't to be.
Not much sailing at all to be done today - light to nonexistent wind.
Just drifted around the bight all day feeling lazy and dipping into the cooler.....
The inside of Shackleford Banks.
There was enough wind to at least go where you wanted, albeit slowly.
Visited the lighthouse and small museum.
Ghosted along close to the beach along Shackleford banks and saw some of the wild horses that live there. It was nice to be able to get in real close to the beach while the other boats had to stand off due to their draft.
Started dinner real early for lack of something else to do (forgot the fishing poles).
Thanks to Cindy who brought a delicious meal (it sure beat the can of Ravioli I had planned!).
We were treated to a "semi"-sunset on the beach facing west (looking back towards Morehead).
Clouds began moving in late due to an offshore system. We had several BIG squalls move through during the night accompanied by rain. The winds blew all night at 15-20 with the squalls a good bit higher than that. It was good to be pulled up on the beach on solid ground..
Sunday
Weather: Wind out of the SW at 15-20 and gusty. Rain and clouds early, then partly cloudy/Sunny.
Route Miles Covered: 13The morning was cold, windy and raining - nearly constant. Pretty miserable. The surf was pretty big over on the western side of the spit. Somehow we convinced ourselves that the surf was only big there, and that the seas along Shackleford Banks (our return route) "didn't look too bad".
The other option was to go around the backside of Shackleford Banks, past Harker's Island, and then along the Beaufort waterfront. In hindsight, this would have been the prudent move, but I had never been that route before. Also, the channels were narrow and zigzagged through and around the islands meaning we'd have to short tack through most of them.
We left out as early as possible because the forecast called for the winds to continue to build to gale force. We had about 6 miles to cover to get to the inlet - "How bad could it be?" Note to self: STOP SAYING THAT!
The ride back was scary at best. Once outside the lee of the bight it was obvious that we had "misjudged" the size of the surf along the northern side of Shackleford banks. We headed out offshore to try to get some sea-room hoping the waves would be smaller.
We turned parallel to the beach when we were about 3/4 of a mile out and I was amazed at the size of the waves that far off the beach. The offshore system had really piled them up here. The trough-to-top height was easily 9 feet or more (I eyeballed them over 2/3 of the way up the mast) and they were only 5 to 8 seconds apart! Every 10 to 15th wave was breaking white foam at the top. I was definitely way outside of my experience level....
I had to point very nearly into the wind in order to get up and over each wave without letting them roll me on the beam. The problem was that, down in the troughs, the oncoming wave was so big that it blocked ALL of the wind and I had no drive from my reefed main. I found my self calling out, "speed, speed, speed" during these lulls (this helped, I'm sure) to get enough "oomph" to ride up the face of the next wave. I gradually learned to turn a bit downwind and surf down the backside of the waves to keep the speed up.
Several times I just barely made it over the tip of the wave. Many times a gracious gust of wind would hit just as my sail peeked over the top and give me enough push to climb over. Still other times those gusts were really massive and I would shoot over the top, fearing that the wind would catch under my tramps and push me over backwards. I was also having to pick which waves to go over as I did not want to end up on top of one of the breakers. Jim said he saw fully half of my Windrider's length sticking up in the air going over waves. I am absolutely sure that me sailing solo and sitting all the way in the back (and I'm a lightweight to boot) made these conditions all the more difficult.
Here are some pictures I managed to take from my camera in a plastic bag during one of the few "lower-stress" moments. There was another set of "big ones" on the way:
Pointing at the sky, going up to go over Backside of the wave rolling off to starboard Nearing the Beaufort inlet, one of the big breaking waves did catch me fully broadside. I expected this was it - I'm going swimming.
As it hit, I dumped the mainsheet (but on a beam reach, there is not much to dump with the shrouds in the way) and held on. I think I was engulfed in the white foam for about 5-10 seconds waiting for the force of the wave to flip the boat. But, instead, the Windrider just skidded sideways (forcefully, though, as I have a big bruise on my waist!). I guess Windrider does not have enough keel to make it dig in and "trip" the whole boat. Possibly if the leeward ama was really buried at the time (it was not) things might have been different.
I had at least 10-15 gallons of water in the boat after that (didn't put the sprayskirt on before I left and I wasn't about to do it out there!). I didn't have time to pump it out with all that was going on. I rationalized that the additional weight of the water might actually help keep the boat more stable.
Once inside the inlet, it got fun again. Now that the barrier island was blocking the seas, we went screaming down Bogue Sound along the waterfront at 13+ knots. And me with an extra 10-15 gallons of water aboard!
We were loaded and packed up by 3:00pm on Sunday. I think I stopped shaking somewhere around Goldsboro........
