NCC Rundown Part Two!

Last update I got as far as the entrance to Clubfoot Creek. We arrived at about 8PM and changed into our nice dry clothes while sailing into the mouth of the creek. We hadn't seen any sign of other Watertribers for hours. Night had just fallen and we rigged our boat with red and green glowsticks for navigation lights and found our flashlights and headlamps. The wind by this time had shifted to come exactly from the south, so we were only able to sail a couple short tacks into the creek before we needed to furl the sail and take down the mast. We dropped the mast without incident and secured it to the outrigger crossbeams.

The first few miles into the creek were uneventful. We finally saw our first Watertribers, KnightSailor1 and KnightSailor2, heading the wrong way back up the creek towards the Neuse! We figured the tree had blocked them and they were turning around to head for the ICW. We hailed them for info but got a cryptic answer. They sounded tired. It was dark. We continued paddling on.

At about 3 miles in, the sky started to darken with clouds. A giant wall of thunderclouds moved east across the creek at what we considered to be unreasonable speed. Lightning that had been on the horizon was booming right off the shoreline. We battened down the hatches and adjusted our spray suits and waited for the oncoming wall of rain. It moved over us and almost instantly soaked through all our gear. Cold and wet (what's new...), we kept paddling on. All of a sudden we saw a bolt of lightning strike at what seemed like just a few hundred yards from the far shoreline. We were in the middle of the storm now. We decided we needed to get off the water. Hugging the treeline didn't seem like a smart idea since it could be just as bad as being on the water. We decided to pull off at a house that had a visibly lit carport with some folks standing outside. We beached the boat, walked up, and introduced ourselves, not sure what to expect.

The Storm! JohnnyFive posted this radar image on Watertribe.

In the end, we met a couple friendly guys who offered us towels, steak, beer, and a truck to carry our boat around the bridge. We refused all except the cold beer. In retrospect water would have been a better choice! At any rate, we hung out under the carport for about twenty minutes to let the worst of the storm pass before heading back out to the wet boat and returning to the creek. After one beer our motivation was flagging. Our arm muscles felt like they had atrophied. The current had turned against us during our weather hold. We made it to the canal and shortly after, the first bridge. The giant tree we expected to see blocking our path had been neatly severed. We paddled through without incident. When we reached the second bridge, we pulled to the side and hooked the front crossbeam on a bridge piling, anchoring us in the current for a 30 minute nap. I was about ready to drift off when I was jolted awake by an incoming text message. I woke up Jack and we both looked up and saw boat lights heading towards us - another watertriber? It made a U-turn and disappeared down the canal. We never saw it again.

After being jolted awake we decided to continue paddling on. The current sapped our energy but we managed to make slow progress. We prayed we would reach the fabled 'tidal node' and get a free ride out. After a while, we got our wish, about the time we reached the marshes on the south end of the canal. The wind started to pick up as the canal opened into the marsh. We raised the sail and drifted out, stopping a couple times to un-run-aground ourselves. A couple floating markers and PVC pipes marked the channel into the Newport River. As we rounded the first corner we found our first favorable winds of the night, from the NW. We sailed east on a broad reach around the big marshy spots before jibing south to head into the Beaufort channel. Jack got some good sleep while I manned the boat from the front seat. We made it across the river and to the bridge in about an hour. We hailed the bridge but they closed at 10PM (we arrived at about 4:45). We dropped the mast (not even bothering to furl it), sailed through, raised the mast again, and sailed into CP1 about 5AM.

Returning to land was a huge morale boost - I'll post the rest of the story soon.