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Herb Lincoln's Log Book
Herb Lincoln is on his way north. He left Beaufort, South Carolina 21 May and he is currently on the Inter-Coastal Waterway in North Carolina. He is sailing single handed in his new Com-Pac Horizon Cat sailboat. He had one day of bad weather between SC and NC and spent that day at anchor reading a book. The rest of the week was good sailing weather and an interesting trip without any boat problems. He has enjoyed talking to some nice people at the marinas where he spent most of his nights. He sailed across the Cape Fear River and into Snows Cut under sail. The river current was with him on that crossing. He is going to reach the Erie Canal in New York sometime in July. He was born and raised in that area and he plans on leaving his boat with family and friends. He will go back and get his boat with his trailer after some rest and relaxation at home. He promised to keep us posted as he makes his way north.
Herb's Daughter is keeping track of his journey north via cell phone. He started at Mile Marker 524 and he is on his way to New York.
day 0 - House at Beaufort, MM524.
day 1 - South of Charleston, MM477, sailed some, warm day, hit a bad storm about 4pm, anchored and took a nap.
day 2 - Bad weather, stayed at Marina, went into Charleston for dinner.
day 3 - Isle of Palms, SC, MM458, beautiful day, sailed into Charleston harbor, visited friends in Isle of Palms.
day 4 - Georgetown, SC, MM403, good run, put up Bimini Top for first time, worked good, walked around town.
day 5 - South of Myrtle Beach, Ospry Marine, MM375,walked to town, had good old breakfast, neat town. Motored to Myrtle Beach, hit a terrible storm, was throwing hailstones out of cabin, visited my friend Swaz (?).
day 6 - Holden Beach, NC,MM330, delayed today for 1 ½ hours for 2 bridges.
day 7 - Wrightsville Beach, NC,MM284, Motored to Southport, sailed up Cape Fear River thru Snows Cut to Carolina Beach! Stayed at Seapath Marina. Jack Kuske picked me up and we toured, etc He had supper with Marion (Watson) Neese & Joe.
day 8 - Swansboro, NC, MM227, Changed oil on trip. He called Keith Scott and he and wife Johnnie met me at Marina and took me out for a great flounder supper.
** Ginny’s note: see Keith’s website with info on my Dad: www.ipass.net/sailboat
day 9 - Moorehead City, NC, MM204, Had supper at Sanitary Restaurant & Fish Market at Moorehead City.
day 10 - He Sailed outside from Moorehead City to Cape Lookout.
day 11 - Bellhaven, NC, MM136, good run to Bellhaven- had to use GPS to navigate the 10 mile run across the Pamlico River with no markers. He hit it right on the nose and anchored out in their harbor.
day 12 - Alligator River Marina, MM106, Bad day windy, had to turn back and anchor on the Alligator River.
day 13 - Alligator River Marina, Manteo,MM84, Stopped early at Alligator River marina. It was too rough across the Albermarle Sound, got here about 10am and He rented a car and went into Kitty Hawk.
day 14 - Alligator River marina,MM84, Stayed here. Big rain and wind and there wasn't any way to go out today.
Day 15, 6/3/05 - MM33 - South Mills Locks, Dismal Swamp. Went as far north on Dismal Swamp to the first of 2 locks. Anchored at locks on their ballards (?) for the night. Dismal Swamp was beautiful with no traffic, it parallels Hwy 17 and you could see the cars go by. Very wooded, narrow, about 100’
Day 16, 6/4/05 - MM0 - Portsmouth, VA. Dock at Tidewater Yacht. Went through the 1st locks (Mills Locks) at 8:30am with about 4 other boats, locks are 300’ long and about 50’ wide. Stopped in the Dismal Swamp Canal at the rest stop which was actually a highway rest stop serving auto and boat traffic. One goes into Virginia in this canal and then there is a second locks at Deep Creek; stayed in the swamp canal to Portsmouth VA at a nice marina. Went down to old town in Portsmouth for supper and a cigar!
Day 17, 6/5/05 - MM0 - Stayed at Marina all day (Tidewater Yacht Agency) and planned trip north on Chesapeake Monday and the next 4 days. Rode bike to Food Lion and got some food & stuff.
Day 18, 6/6/05 - 563 miles - Left marina in Portsmouth into Hampton Roads, called Herbie and told him I was 10 miles from where he was born and about 100’ above the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. A very busy Navy shipyard with lots of activity. He raised his sail had a good sail until until he ran into 4’-5’ seas, 20 mph winds. He had a rough time getting sail down and it wasn't worth sailing. He motored the rest of way. Anchored out in a bay (Cheltonville, VA ). He had a terrific storm come up at midnight. A was really bad and scary and it probably had 40 mph winds and 5’ seas. The anchor held and we survived!
Day 19, 6/7/05 - 614 miles - Uneventful, almost boring day. It was calm, clear and I just motored along! I stayed at Lookout Pt. Marina in Maryland for the night. A good place.
Day 20, 6/8/05 - 654 miles - Good day making 6+ mph all day. I got in late and I anchored out. Went to bed early. Herring Bay, MD
Day 21, 6/9/05 - 693 miles - A Good day started at 6:30am and I stopped early at Great Oat Marina and went to pool. He had a G&T and ate supper at their restaurant. Maryland
Day 22, 6/10/05 - Left Great Oat Marina at 6:50am, clear with wind behind me and headed for the C&D Canal (Chesapeake and Delaware) and made good time. Called Mitchell Cornelius with our engineering office in Newark, Delaware and he and his daughter came down to the end of the C&D and met me. We went shopping and his daughter showed me how to take pictures with my cell phone. She was 14! Had a terrific rain and wind storm just before meeting Mitch. Left them and headed down the Delaware Bay, anchored out across from a nuclear power plant. The location was good except the bugs ate me up, first flies and then no-seeums! Terrible
Day 23, 6/11/05 - A DAY THAT WILL GO DOWN IN INFAMY! He Left his anchorage about 6am for a nice cruise down the Delaware Bay with all the ocean freighters. The wind picked up, right on his nose, the wave height increased and the tide was in the wrong direction and then it got worse. 8 hours later I hit the Cape May canal with huge waves and wind on my starboard beam coming off the Atlantic - finally got in the canal and the waves were gone. I felt better, however my day was not over! Coming up on my 3rd draw bridge, with the wind and current pushing me towards the bridge, I decided to circle and wait for the bridge to open. I put it in gear and nothing happened! I drifted into the bridge against the piling and with the mast against the superstructure. I put out an anchor prior to making contact, but it didn’t hold. The bridge finally opened and I drifted thru, anchor held and a good Samaritan towed me to a marina to see what happened. After this horrendous day, I showered, went out and had a martini and supper and thought I was pretty lucky that the problem didn't happened 3 hours sooner. I would have been on the rocks and in a bad situation! End of bad day and I went to bed.
Day 24, 6/12/05 - Everything closed, did nothing but play tourist in the delightful town of Stone Harbor, NJ
Day 25, 6/13/05 - DAY OF RECKONING! I thought I should be sure if the prop really did come off the boat. I donned my snorkel and dove in - and much to my surprise the prop was still on !!!!!! The flanges at the transmission had parted when all 4 bolts fell out! The shaft slid out and was stopped by the shaft flange hub. I called a diver and he secured the cutlass bearing and I rebolted the flange hub. I’ll be on my way tomorrow AM. A stressful couple of days. I think the builder did not tighten the bolts and only put one set of screws to hold the cutlass!
Day 26, 6/14/05 - 872 miles. I did not get away as early as planned. I left my VHF radio in marina on the charger so I had to wait. Good day, good weather, had some major delays tho:
No markers at Egg Harbor, took a wrong turn and I had to backtrack.
Probably 2 hours.
The bridge was fixed, ( I did not read the chart close enough).
I had to backtrack again to another higher bridge that took another hour plus.
Another misread at a bridge in Atl City
I was calling the wrong bridge and he wouldn’t open.
Another hour.
All told about 4 hours!
Interesting thru Atlantic City, the NJICW (New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway) is lined with all kinds of houses. Some nice some not so nice. Lots of bridges, they even opened a RR bridge. I had to wait for a train and then they opened! Kept going north and it turned into a wild area (as far as humans go) went west and north of Atl City and ended up in the NJICW about 2 mi North with a great view of all the gambling casinos, Trump, Bally, etc. The lights were impressive. My anchorage was good, lots of current and lots of bugs. Flies, mosquitoes and noseeums were everywhere.
Day 27, 6/15/05 - 916 miles It started out well, really zig zagged thru the NJICW and had to watch the buoys and the depth. I kissed the bottom once (By the way I did run aground yesterday for sure and didn’t know which side of the Channel I was on, so I jumped in and found it to Port. (I walked the anchor out as far as I could and winched the boat into deep water!) Ran into a lot of big water at Egg Harbor and the wind came up I switched to the north along with a major temp drop which lead to the dreaded FOG!!! I had the GPS on since the buoys were spaced far apart and I really needed it because all of a sudden I couldn’t see 100’! I was in big water, 6’ deep. I kept on the course and tracked my location with the GPS and finally decided to anchor out because it was too spooky. I turned towards a likely anchorage and hit it right on the nose. I thru out the anchor and took a nap. Decided to stay here for the nite and the fog is still thick at this writing, about 8pm.
Day 28, 6/16/05 - Stayed in Port - Woke up at 6:30am and it was still foggy. I took my time and anchored at a yacht club at West Manotloking about 10am to wait for the fog to lift. Rode downtown on my bike and had a good ole NJ deli egg and sausage on a roll. It was delicious!
Day 29, 6/17/05 - 960 miles - Left Brielle Marina early, took the Bimini down so I could sail outside in the Atlantic to Sandy Hook (The northern tip of the Jersey Shore). Had a good sail of some 20 miles about 1-2 miles off shore. The wind picked up and was doing over 6MPH! Took sail down outside near Sandy Hook, motored into bay. It was extremely rough water at northern tip of Sandy Hook where it meets NYC’s lower bay and the ocean. Anchored out in the Shrewsbury (?) River at Atlantic Highlands in NJ. Ate on board (the great leftovers from the Italian restaurant in Brielle!) Went to bed prior to sundown!
Day 30, 6/18/05 - 978 miles - Cranked it early and headed due north. All I had to do was aim at the Verazzano bridge! It looked a mile away but was actually 8+ miles. Rough but OK crossing the lower bay of NYC. I calmed down as I neared the Verazzano Bridge.
Went under the bridge (had no clearance or depth problems, 200’ to bridge and 75’ to bottom!). Entered the NYC harbor (called the Upper Bay). Soon as I went under the bridge, I was on the Hudson River. I could see the Statue of Liberty about 3-4 miles ahead and on the right was Governor’s Island and beyond was the battery and all of Manhattan. A very impressive sight. I kinda choked up when I saw this spectacular view, messed around at the foot of the lady and gawked and headed up to the Liberty Marina across from the space that once the Twin Towers!! As I entered, at least 50+ 40’ etc racing cigarette type boats were leaving with an awful noise. I had to wait to get into the Marina . I found a slip for the boat, showered and took a ferry across the Hudson to the Twin Tower stuff. Took the subway to Times Square, played tourist with the rest of the thousands (true) of people milling about. I had a black and tan at a pub along with fish and chips. Caught a subway back under the river and caught a cab to the Marina about 10:30pm.
Day 31, 6/19/05 - Slept in a little, great sunrise over Manhattan, got my bike and had a great breakfast and read the Post (tabloid NY paper) and learned all the good stuff. Rode into Hoboken and finally found Frank Sinatra’s birthplace at 415 Monroe St. There is a 3 inch square plaque in the sidewalk. Francis Albert Sinatra, born here on ?? 1915. And behind this was a vacant lot barricaded by a wooden gate with a brick arch over (I peeked into the lot and was full of junk, so much for ole blue eyes’ lot!) Toured on the bike a bit and went back to the Marina and watched the end of the US Open Golf game. My new neighbors gave me some of their leftover pasta that was excellent and I went to bed early and slept well.
Day 32, 6/20/05 - Changed the water and fuel filters on the engine, learned how from a great mechanic. I'm going up and fax this and then head north on the Hudson River about 165 mi to the Erie Canal.
Day 32 (continued from last email), 6/20/05 - Continued up the Hudson, with the fast NYC commuter trains on the East and the freight trains on the West. Quite a river. It is TIDAL up to Troy (my destination) so it is either helping or hindering (6 hours each way) and it is substantial 3+ knots. It is deep, even close to the shore, a train was going by about 200’ away and I was 70’ in the river and it was 85’ deep! I waved and the train man whistled at me! Stopped once and visited a guy with an 18’ catboat. A young guy about my age!
Day 33, 6/21/05 - Continued up the Hudson past West Point. It was quite impressive and I called to see if I could dock there but they said no due to increased security. The water in the river here is 165’ deep! Went under the GW Bridge which was built in 1932 and noticed of course that it was all riveted steel construction. BUT somewhere I would bet, there are some DARDENELL bolts in that structure. Jack Kuske is the only person reading this that knows what a dardenell bolt is! It's getting dark, so I picked a spot on the west side of the river. I had a great sunset and moon rise (my sister said it was the summer solstice so it was quite an event) everything was still, no breeze, bright moon, a gin & tonic and a cigar. An impressive evening.
Day 34, 6/22/05 - Continued up the Hudson and it got rather boring. It was interesting into Albany and on to Troy, where I docked.
Day 35, 6/23/05 - 1150 miles. Short day, met my sister Jeanne and her husband Al who drove down to Waterford from VT. for a visit. Waterford is the confluence of the Erie Canal West and the Champlain Canal North. Very historic and interesting town. Continued west after they headed home and started the docking (locking?) process (about 30 of them on my trip) Went to Lock 7 and tied up at seawall.
Day 36, 6/24/05 - 1184 miles. Continued west of the Erie Canal and Mohawk River thru 9 canals. The same old stuff. Not much happening and pretty boring. I finished my book and docked at St. Johnsville Marina. (Ginny’s note: I spoke to Dad today and he said the sailing was so dull that as he was reading, he only needed to periodically glance away from the book to adjust his position in the river!)
Day 37, 6/25/05 - Continued on Hudson. The same old scenery. Nothing spectacular except I went thru the largest lift lock in the world! (How about that!) Pulled over to this neat park and I am writing this from there. I will continue this tomorrow.
** ALL POINTS BULLETIN **
The Cat’s Paw has landed, repeat The Cat’s Paw has landed!!
Yesterday 6/26/05, 12:30pm EST, my Dad arrived in Waterloo, NY, safe and sound. He called from his cell phone as he walked down the street in the neighborhood where he grew up, went to his old home, touched the front porch and went back to the boat. He said he was on his way to his sister Joan’s house for some well-deserved R&R in a HOUSE!
Well done Dad! We’re proud of you!
It has been my honor to forward these travelogues to all of you over the last 5 ½ weeks and to get to know many of you through your emails. Thanks for being my Dad’s great friends. I am off to Europe next week with my family until the beginning of August. We will be visiting friends and relatives in Greece, then off to the Greek Islands, then to London where my 13-year old daughter Athena will be attending a ballet camp. I will be hanging out with my good friend who lives outside London. Have a wonderful summer wherever it takes you!
The Sailboat Company
Richlands, NC 910-324-4005