Back in SC

We're back in SC, at Osprey Marina, resting a recuperating from the events of this week. We drove down yesterday as far as NC, caught a few hours sleep in a motel, then drove the rest of the way this morning.
We are planning a grocery trip this afternoon, another day of rest and reorganization tomorrow, then head out on Monday.
Our thanks go out to the nearly 100 people who attended the services on Thursday, and to all the folks who called or mailed their sympathy.
Bev is still a bit numb from the whole thing, but I think she will heal eventually.

Correction

Visitation will be 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Daniel, arrangements

Services for Daniel will be as follows:

Visitation will be this Thursday, October 29, 2009 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.at the Peter Kubaska & Son Funeral Home, 33 Harris Ave. Woonsocket RI 02895. (401) 762-0220

Visitation will be followed by a memorial service at Franklin Country Club, 672 East Central St. (Rte 140) Franklin, MA, 02038. (508) 528-6110

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the trust fund for Kehlenn and McKenzie. Make checks payable to Patricia Lawrence, 160 Main St, #1, Blackstone MA, 01504. Write "In trust for Kahlenn and McKenzie Fowers" in the memo line.

Daniel

Those of you who follow on the Yahoo list already know, but others may not have the word yet. Today, at about 3:00 PM we received a phone call that Daniel, Bev's youngest son, had passed away suddenly. He was only 24. We think it was a heart attack, possibly caused by his diabetes.
Daniel leaves behind, in addition to his grieving mother, a fiance, Faith, and two lovely daughters, Kahlenn and McKenzie, and two brothers, Matt and Ben.
You will not be hearing much from us for a week or so. We are leaving the boat in SC, renting a car and driving to MA tomorrow. Our trip south is on hold for a while.

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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Oriental

We made it to Oriental.
Last night we anchored at Campbell creek and it was COLD! We fired up the wood stove and managed to stay quite warm and toasty. Without it we would have frozen our "you-know-whats" off. It worked great and we were fine all evening.
Tonight we're at the Oriental Marina where we got nice HOT showers and thawed out our bones.
On the way here we sailed most of the way from our anchorage last night. The boat performed wonderfully. We had the wind at our backs most of the way and had none of the rounding problems we had before we added the skeg. We were able to balance the boat to near neutral helm and had a nice, if COLD, sail along the Neuse River.
Now, if we could just come up with a way to tow the dinghy comfortably...

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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Belhaven

Well, we're sitting in Belhaven waiting for some predicted high winds to pass by. So far, the prediction has been dead wrong as there is no wind at all right now, not the 20 to 25 knots predicted by NOAA. Once again, NOAA proves that their name means "I have NOAA idea what the weather will be."
It is raining a bit, and we have some chores ashore so we will wait a while and see what develops.
So far the trip has been interesting. The first day out we sailed from Port Haywood to Hospital Point in Portsmouth, VA. We had a great sail and the boat performed gloriously. We were able to do 5.5 to 6 knots on the mainsail alone. We had none of the rounding up problems that plagued us earlier. I guess the new skeg works.
The next day we motored up the Deep Creek channel to "Elizabeth's Dock" near the Deep Creek lock. We met some other boats there and all the crews had breakfast with the lock tender the next morning. See the picture of the other crews and us in the lock tender's house. The little boy's name is Morgan. Of course, we had to introduce the two Morgans to each other.
The following day we stopped at the NC visitor's center. We spent two nights on the dock there so we could finally explore the Dismal Swamp. We took a 6 mile bike ride, visited the museum and walked the boardwalk through the swamp. This is a popular stop on the ICW and at one point during our stay there were 10 boats rafted up on a dock that only holds 4.
Our next stop was Elizabeth City. The town dock was crowded when we arrived, but fortunately there is one slip that is too narrow for most other boats to use. Our 7'10" let us slide into the 9 foot slip easily. We stayed 3 nights to avoid the south winds on the Albermarle Sound. (Since we're heading south, a south wind would be right on the nose and we would have had to motor directly into the waves all day. Yuck!)
Once we headed out, we had a nice sail down the Pasquatank River. When we reached the sound the wind picked up and it got uncomfortable. By the time we reached the shoals at the mouth of the Aligator River, it had gotten to be too strong for our already reefed sail, so we took the sail down and motored through the shoals. As we rounded up to take the sail down, a big gust hit us and almost knocked us down. Bev was on deck and almost went for a swim! The boat has a high toe rail on the mid deck and it did its job and kept her dry. We made it through the shoals safely. Two other boats behind us were not so lucky and ran aground.
We had a pleasant night at anchor in South Lake, and another at Tuckahoe Point. Our next stop will be Oriental, as soon as we are sure of decent weather to make the crossing.
The cannon is from Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Ann's Revenge. It's in the Museum of the Albermarle in Elizabeth City. Bev's friends, the black bears, are in the Dismal Swamp Museum. The conch collection is kept by the lock tender at Deep Creek.
Note the picture of me explaining our new wood stove to Morgan.

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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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Raising the safety factor for millions who step into the outdoors each year, SPOT notifies friends and family or an international emergency rescue coordination center with status messages based on situation and need. Ask for Help (or SPOT Assist), Alert S.O.S., Check-In/OK and Track Progress-all with the simple push of a button.
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One more thing

I forgot to mention a big THANKS to all the folks at Horn Harbor Marina. We had a great time here and you were all so helpful in getting the boat ready.
Also a big thanks to Dennis and Marianne who let us use their truck to get around.
We will miss Thursday nights at the Southwind.
Horn Harbor Marina is one of the few places around here that you can get ethanol free gasoline. This is important because ethanol destroys marine engines and can void the warranty.

Today's the day

It looks like the weather is going to hold and that means we can finally get under way. As soon as coffee and breakfast are out of the way, we will slip our lines and head out on the Bay toward Norfolk.
We would have liked to cruise the Chesapeake a bit, but with this late of a start, there's no way we'd get to Marathon in time for Bev to start work. So we'll head for Norfolk today and the Dismal Swamp tomorrow.
Watch for SPOT updates.
Wish us luck!