We are underway again

On Monday, Sailcraft applied 2 coats of bottom (anit-foulant) paint and finished the trim around the floor...we were ready to go!
At the end of the day Monday, they positioned

Putting her back in the water

 the travel lift over BoomDeYada to splash at 08:00 Tuesday morning. Before departing, BoomDeYada received a last minute washing of the deck and we pushed off at 10:15. While leaving the channel, we passed s/v ULLR, experienced sailors that were also jumping off shore this evening, "we'll be right behind you", they yelled.

Once we crossed the Neuse River and headed down Adams Creek toward Beaufort, NC, we studied the winds again for the evening off shore passage...sadly, our weather window had closed. We reached ULLR on the VHF and told them of our change of plans; they had decided they would still jump outside on the ocean. I asked if they could give us a report once outside. Our new destination for the night is Spooners Creek, and then to follow the ICW south to Cape Fear where we hope to get another weather window to jump outside. Six miles beyond Moorehead City along the ICW, we made the sharp right turn into the narrow channel that took us into Spooners Creek...with 1knt of current on our side we came in on an angle. Once inside the creek, we found two boats already anchored which left enough room for us. By 16:00 when we were not there 30 minutes yet, ULLR provided a second favourable report..."It's great out here", Jim repeated over the VHF...now 10 miles off-shore. I looked at the winds again and they were back in our favour...with another last minute change of plans we lifted anchor and headed back to Beaufort inlet for the ocean. The inlet, or in this case the 'outlet' is several miles long to get outside. We arrived at the inlet at 17:30...we followed the the lighted red and green buoys that directed us through the channel outward...the same ones the big cargo ships use, as it was pretty much dark now but we could still make out big dark clouds in the direction we were heading and the winds were 15knts, not the 3knts they were supposed to be. My gut was telling me to abort, it just didn't feel right...luckily a couple miles back was a suitable location to drop anchor for the night....I used the flash light at the bow while anchoring. As we went to bed, rain fell and the wind pickup even more...it was the first night that our wind generator actually made more power than we consumed. It was truly a dark & stormy night.

We had resigned ourselves to following the ICW for the next several days, however, after reviewing the ever changing weather the next morning (Wednesday), it was again in our favour. I woke up the admiral to review my findings...Julie and the anchor were up within within the next 15 minutes and at 07:50 we were following the same buoys out of the Beaufort Inlet for an ocean passage.

Heading out the Beaufort Inlet