Contents
Duck Creek to New Bern Grand Marina
Ten Days on the Water With Ben
Introduction
We start off 2009 in Duck Creek Boatyard. We have made many improvements while at the boatyard. We hauled out Questeria to have the bow sprit replaced by Jim and Mickey, but have taken advantage of being out of the water to make other changes. We saved some money by pre-paying for three months, but as spring weather approaches we are ready to leave the hard and start cruising again.
Cruises
We hope to make many of the Raleigh Sail and Power Squadron cruises in 2009. Ron is the cruise leader for the kick-off cruise to South River in April. In May we will take a week long Slow Boat cruise to Ocracoke, Englehard, Manteo, Edenton, Alligator River and Dowry Creek. In June we intend to go to Cape Lookout and Wrightsville Beach. In July we may attempt an off-shore trip to the D5/D27 rendezvous in Cape Charles, VA. And in November we will go to South River for the annual Pirate Cruise.
Questeria in the Sling
16-April-2009 - Questeria is hanging in the slings at Duck Creek boat yard. It has been over three months in the boat yard and we are really anxious to get Questeria back in the water. She has a brand new bow sprit made of stainless steel and starboard. She also looks better than ever with polished dinghy davits, new bottom paint, newly painted blue stripe, a rubbed-out and waxed hull and a new life-line on the port side (the life-line for the starboard side was on back order). We have also replaced a number of seacocks, through-hulls and hoses. We have added a raw water strainer for the engine and replaced the old prop shaft stuffing box with a new dripless stuffing box. Our prop was removed and refurbished at Bull’s prop shop in Beaufort. We have removed the old Onan generator and cleaned up the area where it used to be. We have also replaced the forward bilge pump with a new, bigger bilge pump and have installed a manual bilge pump. The galley pump faucet has been connected to water tank as well. There are several projects that we haven’t gotten to, like the new alternator still in its box and adding additional sound proofing to the engine room. The refrigerator is still in the middle of the salon floor to make access to these items easier.
Today we will apply bottom paint to the center board and other areas that we couldn’t reach before. We had originally planned this for Monday, the 13th , but the weather was supposed to be bad on Monday and Tuesday. Today is a little chilly and tomorrow is supposed to start off rather chilly, but otherwise it looks like a great day for our launch.
Here are some pictures of the projects underway.
Duck Creek to New Bern Grand Marina
17-April-2009 - We are scheduled for an 8:00am launch, but it is cold and we want to delay until it warms up a little. We get to Duck Creek at about 8:20am and find that there is a boat scheduled to be pulled at 9:00am. Questeria is put in the water at 8:45 and we are on our way.
After our visit to New Bern Grand marina in December, we have decided to make this our new home port. This decision was made with mixed feelings because we are leaving Northwest Creek Marina, and we always have liked it there. But with Ben and Dolores at New Bern Grand marina, plus the convenience of being downtown, we have decided to move.
On our way out of Duck Creek we pass the boat scheduled for 9:00. Thankfully they are late, rather than early. We get to NBG marina at 1000 and go to our new slip. Oops, it’s a little small for us. It’s only 35 feet and we are 37 feet plus the bow sprit and dinghy. So we get another slip. Our new slip is forty feet, much better!
We spend the rest of the weekend socializing with people at the marina and getting the boat ready for the RSPS kick-off cruise next weekend. We make some repairs to our pressurized water system which didn’t like the freezing temperatures of the boat yard and replace the accumulator tank, which had cracked. We install the new alternator, using a slightly bigger V-belt. We also cleaned the air intake with degreaser and replaced the secondary fuel filter since the refrigerator was out and had better access to them. Two things to remember for next time; 1) put a zip-loc bag around fuel filter before removal and, 2) you can start the engine with WD-40.
We still need to put on the jib, put back the refrigerator and do a few other things before next Saturday morning.
Kick-Off Cruise
25-Apr-2009 – Pulled away from dock at 0755. We circled in river so Molly Marie could catch up to us. Ben called and told us to go ahead. We leave at 0840. At 1020 we put up the sails and turn off the engine. We make good time under sail only. We see Opportunity at 0200 going to South River. They are waiting there when we arrive.
After we turn toward the South River marker we decide to take down the sails. The jib is very hard to roll in. We need to reassess the fairlead placement.
After getting into South River we still have 25kts of wind. As a group, we decide to anchor off the West bank. We start to anchor, but we are too close to a crab pot so On the Wings on the Wind anchors in another position and we put our anchor on a 45° angle and then raft together. We finished anchoring at 1530 and other boats come and raft up next to us as listed:
My Pleasure
Reel Crazy
Battle King’s Revenge
Opportunity
On the Wings of the
Wind
Questeria
Slainte
Un Reel
Sea Gazin’
Fresh Breeze couldn’t get out and Josephine didn’t want to anchor in the wind. Un-Reel and Sea Gazin’ leave around 1730 and My Pleasure shows up late.
26-Apr-2009 – We wake up at 0630 and have coffee and breakfast. Burt does a vessel safety check on Questeria, and we pass.
Boats start splitting off from our starboard side and then Slainte leaves and we are the last boat at 1020. We have wind on the nose all the way back to New Bern we do 6kts and don’t heat up too much. We really must keep the prop and bottom clean. We get fuel at 1530 and dock by 1600. We take some time to clean the boat. Quote from John – “A muddy anchor is a happy anchor.”
Here’s an article I wrote for the Raleigh Sail and Power Squadron newsletter…
2009
Kick-Off (A.K.A. Shake-Down) Cruise
Lt/C Ron
Olson, AP
The RSPS 2009 cruising season officially started
on April 25 with the annual kick-off cruise. We had nine boats (three sailboats
and six power boats), 22 people and two dogs all rafted together on South
River. We saw many familiar faces and some new faces, like those of some newer
members, like Chris Simpson and his son Matt.
The
weather was great, except for the SW winds that were gusting to 30 knots. Some
people decided the wind was too strong and returned to the shelter of their
marina. Another problem from the winds was that they blew the water out of the
Neuse River, keeping at least one boat in the marina and causing some problems
for people launching their boats. But we minimized the affects of the wind by
anchoring closer to the western shore.
Although the wind never stopped blowing, it did
calm some Saturday night, making for a great time. Many of us got our 2009
Vessel Safety Checks, thanks to Burt Pearson. Some people were able to take a
kayak ride or a dinghy ride thanks to Wilbur and Morgan Chapman.
On
Sunday the winds were calmer and most of us had a nice trip back to our home
ports.
Slow Boat Cruise
15-May-2009 - We plan to go to South River, Ocracoke, Englehard, Manteo, Alligator River, Dowry Creek, South River, and then back home to New Bern Grand Marina. The past few weeks have been hectic. We have fixed the holding tank (added a pump-out fitting and replaced the hoses), installed new lifelines, and a few other items. We drive from Raleigh to New Bern on Thursday night, after work. Ben is coming with us, so we move some extra stuff to Molly Marie.
We leave the marina in New Bern, in the morning and head towards South River. A little bit later, we hear a vibration noise coming from the steering pedestal. Ron goes down to investigate and sees the bilge is full of oil. Ben and Fran immediately shut off the engine and drop an anchor. We find a busted high pressure oil hose, call Sea Tow and clean up the oil. Sea Tow shows up a bit later and tows us to Oriental Harbor Marina.
16-May-2009 – We get up and Fran’s mom comes to Oriental in the car. Ben and Ron drive to Napa and they make a replacement hose. Be installs the new hose and we are ready to leave. The wind is blowing us to the dock and there is a boat anchored behind us, so we walk the boat around corner of the dock and take off. We put up the sails and turn off the engine and sail for a while. When the wind picks up, we drop the sails and motor to South River to anchor for the night. We have a fine dinner of hamburgers and salad.
17-May-2009 – We pull anchor and head towards Ocracoke. We make good time, about 7kts, with the wind behind us. When we turn to enter Ocracoke, the wind picks up to 25 kts. We drop the sails and motor into Ocracoke. At first we anchor out, but then Wilbur and Morgan kayak over and tell us there is room for us at the docks. The wind is blowing 15-20 kts, but we make it before the storm starts.
18-May-2009 – It is windy, cold and rainy all day. There are small craft advisories and gale warnings. We are not going anywhere today.
19-May-2009 – It is still cold and windy, but most of the rain has stopped. We decide not to go to Englehard or Manteo. We plan to leave on Saturday and spend some time in South River.
23-May-2009 – We leave Orcacoke at 0900. It is sunny with about 5 kts of wind. We put up the sails and turn off the engine. A little bit later the winds pick up, so we put in a reef. After a bit, we put in a second reef and motor sail to South River. We drop anchor at 1705.
25-May-2009 – South River to New Bern, 0937 – 1607.
Here is an article I wrote for the New Bern Grand Marina newsletter…
Ten Days on the Water with Ben
by Ron Olson
Nancy asked
me to write about our recent boat trip to Ocracoke with assistant dock master
Ben. But first I should introduce my wife and myself and explain how we
happened to go to Ocracoke with Ben.
My name is
Ron Olson and my wife is Fran Olson. We have had our 37 foot Irwin sailboat, Questeria,
for four years and have been in the marina since April of this year. People
call me “Captain Ron”, like in the movie. You can call Fran “Admiral Fran”. We
have been at the marina a short time, but we have known Ben for a long time.
Ben is Fran’s
uncle. Fran’s mom and Ben are siblings, Fran’s mom being the oldest and Ben
being the youngest. Ben is eight months older than Fran, so they are more like
cousins than uncle and niece.
We had been talking
with Ben about taking a trip for a while. We planned on visiting South River,
Ocracoke, Englehard, Manteo and Bellhaven.
We had discussed taking our boat, Ben’s boat, or both boats, but finally
decided to take Ben on Questeria.
We left the
marina around noon on Friday, May 15. We were planning to meet two other boats
in South River and anchor for the night. Then we would head to Ocracoke early
Saturday morning and stay at the federal docks.
We were
motoring along, almost to South River, when we heard a buzzing sound. I asked
Ben to take the helm and I went below and saw a puddle of oil under the engine.
We turned off the engine and dropped the anchor. We cleaned up the oil and
discovered that an oil hose was leaking. We thought about a temporary patch for
the hose, but after some discussion we decided to call Sea-Tow and get towed to
Oriental.
On Saturday
we got a new oil hose and left Oriental around noon. It was a perfect day for
sailing. Yes, Ben was sailing!!! At this point we knew that a cold front was
supposed to come through some time on Sunday afternoon so we planned to anchor
in South River and leave for Ocracoke early on Sunday morning.
Some of you
may know that Ben was born in Oriental and that South River is across from
Oriental. Knowing that, you would expect that Ben would be very familiar with
South River. But in fact, this was to be Ben’s first time in South River. He
really liked it.
We made it to
Ocracoke by around noon time on Sunday, before the bad weather came through. We
got gale force winds and rain and it was as cold as ... let me just say it was
cold for May. It seemed to rain for days and our main entertainment was
drinking coffee and watching the Ferries. When it stopped raining we added
fishing and death by chocolate to the entertainment list. (Death by chocolate
was our favorite ice cream at the slushy stand.)
I’ve heard
stories about when Fran and Ben were young. Ben claims that Fran would get him
in trouble by making him laugh and Fran claims it was the other way around.
Well I’ll tell you that I think they were both to blame. We laughed so hard
that I thought I would die. And the strongest thing we were drinking was
coffee. I collected enough material that I can write a weekly sitcom. (Look for
a new series called “One and a Half Ipocks”.)
The gale
force winds kept us in Ocracoke for more days than planned so we decided to
stay in Ocracoke until Saturday. I now know how it feels to be with someone
famous. All the boaters in Ocracoke had one of two reactions to seeing Ben.
“Hey Ben, what are you doing here.” or “You look a lot like Ben, but you can’t
possibly be him because he never leaves New Bern.”.
We left
Ocracoke on Saturday morning and Ben got to see South River for the second and
probably not the last time. We got back to New Bern on Memorial Day, and we
were relaxed and ready to go back to work (NOT!). The three of us had a
great time, and we wouldn’t change a thing, except to bring more coffee.
Here’s an article I wrote for the Raleigh Sail and Power Squadron newsletter…
2009 Slow Boat Cruise
Lt/C Ron
Olson, AP
This
year’s slow boat cruise could be titled “Cruisers versus Weather”, but in the
end the cruisers held out for good weather. We had Tommy Dunn and Paul Schmidt
on Fresh Breeze, Art and Sandra Hubert on Magoo, Wilbur and Morgan Chapman on On the Wings of
the Wind and Ron and Fran Olson and Ben Ipock on Questeria.
On
Friday Fresh Breeze, Magoo
and Questeria headed to South River
enduring occasional showers. Questeria
had an oil hose break and was towed into Oriental for repairs.
Saturday was a great day for sailing. Fresh Breeze, Magoo
and On the Wings of the Wind made it
to Ocracoke and Questeria made it to
South River.
On Sunday a cold front came through bringing
rain, gale force winds and chilly temperatures. But before that, Questeria made it to Ocracoke and Bobby
Glover showed up in a very large boat (the Ferry). The storms kept us on our
boats until Monday, but we did learn a new card game called 727 and gambled
away our life savings (just kidding).
The
rain ended on Tuesday, but it remained cold and windy until Wednesday. Because
of this, we decided to cancel our time in Englehard,
Manteo and Bellhaven and stay in Ocracoke for the
next several days.
On Wednesday On the Wings of the Wind left with Wilbur, Morgan and Bobby. Magoo left on
Thursday, Fresh Breeze left on Friday
and Questeria left on Saturday. The
weather kept us in Ocracoke longer than expected, but it was a great place to
be “stuck”. We had a good time and great fellowship.
Day Sail on Neuse River
13-September-2009 – We leave New Bern Grand Marina at 1012, with Adam, Amanda, Fran and Ron. We have newly installed steering (cables and sheaths), Mack Pack, Lazy Jacks, bimini top (with widows up top), and engine room fan (aka, the annoying fan, because it is loud). Everything works great. At 1100 we put up the sails and turn off the engine. We have reworked the furling line and the jib comes in much easier.
We eat a lunch of hotdogs and chicken salad. At 1250 we turn around to go back. We try sailing but the wind is too close, so we motor back to the marina. We get back in the slip at 1509.
Molly Marie – NC to FL
We help Ben move his 34’ Marine Trader, Molly Marie II from New Bern, NC to Big Pine Key, FL. We take off right after coming back from Ron’s nephew’s wedding in Chicago IL.
28-Sep-09 – Leave New Bern Grand Marina at 0910. Wind picks up to about 25 kts with seas around 3-4 ft. We turn into Adams Creek and at 1245, 34° 55.167’N 076° 39.528’W the engine over heats. We finally determine the raw water impellor is completely gone. Ben replaces it, but we stay anchored for the night.
29-Sep-09 – Leave at 0700. It is sunny and cool all day. We get to Onslo Beach Bridge at 1415 and wait 15 minutes for an opening. We get to Surf City Bridge at 1705 and wait 55 minutes for an opening. We get to Sloop Point anchorage at 1830, we have problems setting the CQR anchor and shut down at 1900.
30-Sep-09 – Pulled anchor at 0700. It is cool and windy. Make 0900 opening of Figure Eight Bridge, but went under it with 23 ft. clearance. Make 1000 opening of Wrightsville Beach Bridge. Make 1700 opening of Sunset Beach Bridge. Anchor in Calabash Creek, SC at 1740. The Generator stopped running sometime during the day. Ben changes the fuel filter.
01-Oct-09 – Started to pull anchor at 0650. Have a difficult time. Once we get it up we see that it has a crab pot stuck on it. We cut it off and get underway at 0730. We stop at Barefoot Landing Resort Marina for fuel and water. We get 75.6 gal. of diesel for 51 hrs of generator and 39.7 hrs of engine use. We take off at 1000. We drop anchor at 1735 before Esterville Minim Creek Canal entrance “R2”, St M 410.
02-Oct-09 – We pull anchor at 0715. We have to wait for a number of barges and a 1000 ft of dredging equipment. We get to Charleston, SC at 1500 and drop anchor at 1707. We have made over 70 St miles and anchor by R “54” on Stono River. No problems, except for the engine trying to stall when coming out of Charleston, under the Ben Saywer Bridge.
03-Oct-09 – We pull the anchor and are underway by 0730. At 1055 the engine dies, in South Edisto River, by G “157”, 32° 37.401’N 080° 24.558’W. We think it is a fuel filter that is stopped up. Ben replaces primary and secondary fuel filters. We anchor in Beaufort, SC at 1728, at St M 536.3.
04-Oct-09 – We wake up at 0600, drink coffee and use free Wi-Fi. At 0800 we take the dinghy into town. Between two Auto Zones, West Marine and Ships Store, we get all the fuel filters we can. On the way back, the Yamaha outboard does not want to run at idle speed, but we make it back to Molly Marie and pull both anchors in a 1.5 kt current, and get underway at 1200. We anchor in Herb River, GA at 1800, St M 584.
05-Oct-09 – Ben replaces fuel filters on polishing system. The Westerbeke (generator) filter is still sucking air, and Lehman secondary filter is leaking fuel. Today is rainy and still dark at 0655. At about 1630 the engine dies, in Creighton Narrows, GA, just before the Crescent River. Ben replaces fuel filters and tries priming the pump, but it appears that we are out of fuel. We call Tow Boat US. The good news is they know where we are. The bad news is that we are in the middle of nowhere. It is 1 hour and 40 minutes before they can get to us and then will tow us 15 miles. They show up at 2000 and tow us to Two Way Fish Camp, outside of Brunswick, GA. We “crab” into the fuel dock at 0100.
06-Oct-0 – Ben fuels up and bleeds the lines. It takes 107.7 gallons of diesel. Sandi drives us into town to buy fuel filters and groceries. We leave the marina at 1200 and join up with the ICW at St M 662. We drop the anchor at 1805, in Crooked River, St M 703.
07-Oct-09 – Ben adds a lot of water to the batteries, which is a slow process, because of their location. At 0730 the fog is as thick as pea soup. We watch a tug has been aground since we woke up. He is waiting for the tide to come in. We are underway by 0820. We stop at 1530, St M 750, because the fuel filters are stopping up. Ben reworks fuel lines so we can polish fuel while underway.
08-Oct-09 – We run aground during the night. We come free and are underway at 0730. We stop in St. Augustine, FL at 1130 and get fuel. The fuel keeps overflowing and Ben squeezes 43.6 gallons, when he expected to get about 70 gallons. Next we pull the boat to the end of the dock, start filling the water tanks, and go to lunch. We eat at QC’s – the service is slow and the portions are small. At 1330 we leave the restaurant and take a taxi to Marine Oil & Supply on Riberia & Bridge. This was a waste of $8, because it was closer than a ˝ mile. We buy more fuel filters and walk back to the marina. We buy ice and pump out holding tank. At 1600 we leave the St. Augustine Municipal Marine and head south. At 1755 we drop anchor at St. M 785.
09-Oct-09 – Fog has come in overnight, but is clearing. We pull anchor and are underway at 0725. We see some manatees today. We drop anchor at 1645 in New Smyrna Beach, St M 846, 29° 00.960’ N 080° 54.783’ W. No “adventures” today.
10-Oct-09 – The fuel polishing pump has died. We stop at Melbourne Harbor Marina for fuel and water. We get 43 gallons of diesel. Water costs 40˘ a gallon and the guy needs to take a “friendly pill”, but we tip him anyway. We see a lot of manatees today, we even bump one with the hull. We drop the anchor just past St M 926, at 1737. We put out two anchors here.
11-Oct-09 – We check the anchor at 0200. We have swung around, but the anchors are still holding. At 0700 we pull the anchor and are underway. We drop the anchor at 1345 in Port St. Lucie, St M 982, to meet up with Ben’s friends. We dinghy to shore and have dinner with Pete and Karen.
12-Oct-09 - We pull the anchor at 0715 and head for the state park at Manatee Pocket. Ben meets Pete and gets a new pump for the fuel polishing system. We try to anchor at St M 1040, but can’t get the anchor to hold. We tie up at Delray Harbor Marina fuel dock. A little later the security guard stops by and we pay for dockage and hook up to shore power. The A/C feels great.
13-Oct-09 – We wait for someone to show up at the fuel dock, but we give up at 0700. We are underway at 0708. We stop for fuel at 1150. We drop anchor in Biscane Bay at 1845, St M 1120.
14-Oct-09 – We pull the anchor at 0715 and head for Hawk Channel via Angel Fish Creek. The engine slows down at 1500. Ben changes the fuel filters and it runs fine. We tie up at Burdines Marina, in Marathon, FL at 1805.
15-Oct-09 – We fuel up at Burdines and get about 46 gallons. We head to Newfound Harbor at 0830. We are welcomed by George and Nancy and raft up to Steel Lady.
This is where Fran and Ron depart. George, Nancy and Ben take us to Key West airport, where we fly back to Raleigh, NC. When we get home, Fran discovers that SAS has announced that they are reducing their retiree medical insurance benefit in 2010, so she decides to retire at the end of 2009. This leads the way to us selling our house in Raleigh and moving aboard Questeria, but that’s another story.
Ben moves Molly Marie to a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor and gets a job at Home Depot, in Marathon. He later moves to the dock at Boot Key Harbor Marina and comes back to New Bern to get Dolores and the rest of their stuff.
When Ben and Dolores decided to leave New Bern Grand Marina, we decided that we wanted to go back to Northwest Creek Marina, so we get on the waiting list. After we get back from our trip we get a call from Northwest Creek Marina that there is a slip available. We find out that it is our old slip and we move back. Our new slip neighbors are our friends, Ed and Bunie. We enjoyed many things about New Bern Grand Marina, but we are very glad to get back to NWC.
Pirate Cruise
7-November-2009 – Annual Raleigh Sail and Power Squadron Pirate Cruise to South River. We leave Northwest Creek Marina at 0818. There is very little wind, but we do get to sail into South River at 1215. We anchor up next to Liberty at 1514. New Horizon comes next. There are a total of eleven boats by nightfall.
8-November-2009 – Wilbur hauls Ron up the mast to fix the anemometer. We pull anchor at 1101 head home. There is no wind, so we motor all the way back to Northwest Creek Marina. We pull into the fuel dock for fuel and a pump-out and are back in our slip by 1617.
