Stuck in Oriental, NC

On a sailboat standing rigging stabilizes the mast and is under incredible loads while sailing. In other words, it's important, so before we left, we had it inspected right before leaving Deltaville. Unfortunately, we did not get the report until yesterday. Luckily we were able to find a rigger and yard in Oriental, NC who would be able to work us in, but we are losing a day of progress waiting for the work to get done.

Last night we met up with the Roberta and Larry Jones, who are friends of Ben's parents from Illinois and are now living in Oriental, NC. Last winter they sailed their catamaran Symmetry to the Bahamas. When Ben was growing up in Illinois the Jones' had a lake house on the same block as Ben's parents, and Larry's ski boat was the first boat Ben ever drove. That early practice must have been useful because Ben has gotten some compliments docking the boat recently. Part of it is probably Whisper's layout - the motors are slightly forward from what you'll see on other catamarans, and with one in forward and one in reverse she will spin 360 degrees almost in place. The dockmaster at Coinjock's marina said Ben docked the boat better than anyone that day, although apparently by the time we got there the current was not as strong. Ben attributed that docking to his sailing class in the English Channel where strong currents are the norm.

The Jones' has a lot of advice for us last night as well as somethings they considered must haves for the boat - two Skipper Bob ICW books, the Bahamas Explorer charts, Trader Joe's Lentils, and Purex Complete 3-in-1 laundry sheets. It was great to hear from those who have been here before. They also came by this morning and took us to the grocery store, West Marine and a really neat marine consignment shop where we purchased a ham radio receiver which hopefully works.

Just got word from the rigger that the work will not be completed tonight. It's disappointing, but our next stop is not far so this should not put us any more off schedule.