We worked our way down and out the Beaufort Inlet on a nice ebb tide and into the Atlantic Ocean. Once we passed the shoaling, we made a right turn and started sailing south along the coast. Our goal for the day was to make it to Masonboro Inlet for the night then duck inside on the ICW the next morning to go to Carolina Beach for fuel and to run around the shoaling outside the Cape Fear River Inlet.
The night was very quiet and the next morning we started down the ICW to Carolina Beach to pick up a morning for the night. While we were there, we fueled up the boats, walked to town to get some provisions, had great pizza at a joint run by a guy from NYC, and to look at all the awesome boats that were docked there.
We got up early the next day so we could catch the tide down the Cape Fear River and head out into the ocean for another day moving south. As we got closer to the inlet, this monster of a ship was coming the other way and I was quickly asked if my hatches were closed this time…lol. Of course they were, but when we went by this guy, the wake was much calmer than the one in Norfolk so no water even got on the deck.
Another wonderful day of motorsailing on very calm seas was in store for us as we made our way to our next anchorage at Bird Island just inside the Little River Inlet. Once we were anchored, a little bit of metal detecting on the beach brought out the normal treasures of bottle caps and pull tabs!! The next morning, we braved a rough inlet to head back out into the Atlantic to head for our next stop up Winyah Bay so we could then go back inside and take the ICW down to Beaufort SC for a couple of days.
We got up early the next morning and headed to the entrance to the ICW on Winyah Bay. Pegu Club was leading the way as we passed a sailboat that was putzing along. As we were just ahead of the sailboat, Pegu Club suddenly slowed down. Kimberly called me on the radio and said that their engine was making some loud knocking noises and the RPMs were fluctuating. I could actually hear the engine over the radio and it didn’t sound good. After a couple of minutes, they slowly increased the RPMs but the knock was still there. At that point, they decided they wanted to turn around and head to Georgetown to see if they could figure things out. As they started to make their turn, the engine made a few more noises then shut down. Not good…😖. After a couple of minutes drifting, I motored past them so I could grab a line that Jeff was rigging to their bow and tie it to Infinity so I could start towing them to Georgetown. At the same time, Kimberly was trying to raise BoatUs on the VHF to have them come tow them the rest of the way to Georgetown. It took a few attempts but they were finally contacted and a boat was on its way to tow them (BoatUS is like AAA for the water). I handed off the line back to Jeff and started motoring towards the marina where we were going to troubleshoot the engine and hopefully get back underway. It was not to be…..
Up next…a condensed story of when owning a boat really sucks seawater….
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Sailing Infinity 