Visit with Cousin Vic Copelan

We stayed at Carolina Beach State Park for 7 nights waiting out a strong Nor'easter that was blowing 30+ knots. It is amazing the amount of protection you can get from the small trees at the entrance to the marina.

We left Carolina Beach on Wednesday and went to Swansboro, NC where we met up with Stacy's cousing Victor Copelan. He rode with us the next day back to his marina at Matthew's Point on the Neuse River. We got on his boat and met a few of his dockmates after we arrived.

On our way to Swansboro we passed by Camp LeJeune (Marines). We noticed a few helicopters in the distance and then one came by us with a whole line full of guys hanging from the helicopter. They were just flying around like this. Another seemed to be picking up a bunch so apparently they were practicing extractions.

Vic is preparing his boat for extensive cruising since he is now "retarded" as he says. We discussed options for how to install his new autopilot ram and then cooked steaks for dinner.

On Saturday we left with Vic on board and traveled to Bath, NC in his old "cruising grounds". It is the oldest city in North Carolina and has the oldest church. Our plan was to go on the next day to Belhaven with Vic where he would depart and catch a ride back to his marina. He had some of his local friends over and ran into someone else he knew from Washington so we had a small "party" on our aft deck. Due to a death in the family, Vic left us at Bath. Stacy and I went to church at the old Episcopal church on Sunday morning and then we left for Belhaven.

After overnighting in Belhaven, we headed out first thing in the morning to go to our anchorage spot just before the Albermarle Sound. On the way Bill decided to go on to Coinjock using the Virginia Cut route to the Chesapeake. This would get him in to Yorktown a day earlier where he is leaving the boat. An hour later before he got to the Albermarle, he called to say he was not getting any output from his alternator. He checked and found the belt loose and tightened it only to have it come apart completely a few miles later. Since he was not in the Albermarle yet, we caught up with him and he decided to anchor with us so we could figure out the problem. Since we had a spare belt on board, I replaced it and then we made some adjustments to the generator to solve an additional problem with over-voltage.

We had a breezy night on the anchor and left the next morning to cross over the Albermarle sound to Elizabeth City. The winds did not die down over night and the sound was up. We had beam seas of 3 to 4 feet that rolled us a bit. We rode through this for 4 hours and tied up to the free docks at Elizabeth City to prepare for our trip through the Dismal Swamp.