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October 10 2017

'The Neuse Juice'

Volumn 44 Number 10


Sharon Stephenson, 

Commodore


The Commodore's Log
 

Autumn Days

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all” Stanley Horowitz

The last few days notwithstanding, autumn typically has bright, not too hot, not too humid days that are just perfect for getting out on the water, or any other outside activity for that matter.  And so club activities continue into this season as we wind down another successful year for the Neuse Sailing Association. This weekend is the rescheduled Fall Cruise to West Bay and the last weekend of October is the Halloween Cruise back to Ocracoke. See details for both cruises in this edition of the Neuse Juice and on the website. It is also a great time of year to take outside pictures – remember to share on the website as well as for the Photo Contest.  We do have one more seminar this month – October 21. NSA members Ros and Howard Cheetham will be back in the States taking a break from their circumnavigation and will be talking about sailing in the World ARC.

I know that all of you who have participated in any NSA activity this year have had an enjoyable time doing the activity as well as sharing it with all the wonderful folks who are our fellow club members. An even better way to enjoy all the club has to offer is to become a member of the Bridge. Please let me know if you are interested in taking on any of these roles. Another opportunity is to volunteer as a cruise captain, someone who is responsible for just one of the cruises during the year.

Hope to see you at the upcoming events.

Commodore’s Ball

You should have received your e-mail invitation for this year’s Commodore’s Ball to be held on Saturday November 11 at Stanley Hall Ballroom in New Bern and I hope you have this marked on your calendars. I do need you to RSVP by October 27, so I can give an initial number to the caterer. Stanley Hall is a lovely old ballroom on the second floor with large windows looking out over Craven and Pollock Streets. It is quite spacious, so we will have plenty of room to dine, dance and mingle. Music will be provided by Easy Breeze.

Since this is an event venue without an established bar and we are not eligible for a single use ABC permit to sell alcohol, we will have an open bar; however, we will be requesting donations to help cover our bar expense.

This will be a fun evening for all. Hope to see you there.

Annual Membership Meeting

The annual meeting for the NSA membership will be held on Saturday November 11, the same day as the Commodore’s Ball. All members are encouraged to attend this meeting. The business of the club will be reviewed, including any new issues that need to be brought to the attention of club members and leadership.

The meeting will be at 0900. A future e-mail will be sent and the website updated after the location has been confirmed.


Until next time.  

Sharon Stephenson
s/v Pelikan
Commodore 

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Cruising Outlook

Cruising Update for October 2017

I was going to begin by saying that fall is in the air and it’s time for the Fall Cruise, but it’s more like late summer in the air. The warm trend is predicted to continue, but there is very little chance of rain for our Fall Cruise this weekend, Oct. 14-15, to West Bay. The wind is forecast to be out of the ENE, but light, so conditions seem right for a raft-up in the Bay itself.

If you have not been to West Bay before, the bay is on the west side of Cedar Island off southern Pamlico Sound about 20nm from Oriental. The entrance is marked on your chart by Red 2WB. The location of the anchorage is generally Latitude 35°02.593'N and Longitude: 076°22.226'W, but we may go farther in depending on wind conditions.

A raft is a fun and intimate experience. We’ll designate one of our larger boats, possibly Captiva, to arrive early and become the anchor boat, with each subsequent boat rafting up to one side or the other so the anchor boat stays in the middle. Monitor VHF 68 for instructions as you arrive. Don’t forget to bring your fenders and some dock lines!

We’ll have our social on the rafted boats at 4 pm. Please provision so you can offer an appetizer, side dish or dessert on your boat. We’ll have a selection of beer and wine, but you might want to have your favorite beverage on board your boat.

After the social, we’ll separate so that boats can anchor inside or outside near the beach for the night. It’s not recommended to anchor outside near the beach with a north or northeast wind blowing you toward shore, but each captain can make that decision.

If you plan to join us but have not registered, please do so by going to the Events List page and clicking on the “Register” button.

Our final cruise for this season is our Halloween Cruise to Ocracoke,Oct. 28-29, which coincides with Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree on the island. Our slips at the Anchorage Inn have been booked by those members who followed Cruise Captain Chuck Gordon’s instructions and registered early. The National Parks Service docks and anchoring in Silver Lake are good alternatives. Or if you’ve since decided to join us in Ocracoke and want a marina slip, you might try calling the Anchorage Inn Marina to see if there’s a waiting list. There are always cancelations.

More information about the Halloween Cruise can be found in the Events List. Also, for both cruises, please help out your fellow members and post your departure time on the cruise forum, a link for which can be found on the Events page.

Good sailing!


Carl Crothers,
Vice Commodore/ Cruising
s/v Captiva 

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 Photo Contest

2017 NSA Photo Contest coming in November

There have been so many beautiful sights shared throughout the sailing season; why not enter them in the 2017 NSA photo contest? And keep your camera/smart phone handy this fall to capture even more of the fun things that happen when NSA members get together. In November, we’ll have directions on how to submit your entries on the NSA website.

As a reminder the categories will remain the same as last year:

  • Sailing Action - please name the sailing vessel/s in the photo/s
  • Artistic - go ahead and stretch your imagination!
  • Lifestyles - this is a good opportunity to show why NSA is so great
  • Scenic - judging by what I've seen shared, you all have one to submit
  • Fun/Wacky/Silly - hmmm will it be the Halloween Cruise - just sayin...

All members are welcome, in fact, encouraged, to enter the 2017 photo contest Nov. through 01 Jan. 2018. Select your best photos and filter them down to no more than five per category and get ready to enjoy all the submissions.




Lynn Scott
Coordinator, NSA Photo Contest
s/v Serenity

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Club Communications

Using Event Forums: An Important Membership Perk

Did you just sign up for the Fall Cruise or the Halloween Cruise on the website? Then you very likely saw the “Event Forum” button on the bottom of the event description. Don’t be shy—click on that button and discover a really easy way to communicate with fellow cruise participants about the upcoming cruise or event. Be sure to subscribe to the forum, and you will get updates when the cruise captain or other participants post. You can do all of this-on-the-go with the web site on your phone! Also, you can post questions and information to help your cruising companions as well. Event forums are only available when you login to the NSA website.

Now that you’re comfortable with event forums, be sure to discover all the other forums, as well.   Click on the pull-down menu from the Members Center to find forums covering topics ranging from crew requests, galley and provisioning, and even pets! As a new website, these forums are just starting to be used (check out Will Merriman’s posts in the Cruising Forum) and will certainly be an easy way to share sailing information. 

Bill and Susanne Lovelace
VC Communications 
s/v TRiO

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Misto World Arc

Misto beats the weather and arrives in New Zealand

Waiting in New Caledonia for a weather window to go to New Zealand was a rather frustrating experience. We always knew that making this passage in September was considered early in he season and that as such, we could expect to encounter at least one front along the way. The systems were rolling through very close together and the strong winds coming far north. 

We were working with one meteorologist who had to back out for personal reasons and so we contacted MetBob for assistance. He is considered a weather guru for the area and we eventually agreed on a weather window. It looked a bit tight but seemed to be our bet bet. 

Departing New Caledonia we had lovely weather with large, widely spaced ocean swells that were like riding a gentle roller coaster. Two to three days in we met our first cold front and it was a bit of a non-event except it left us with some large and rather confused seas. Now it became a race to the finish in Opua as we could see another large and more vicious cold front approaching New Zealand due to arrive about the same time as Misto. Indeed the last day or so were calm and we were motor sailing but on the 5th afternoon we could see the  clouds gathering on the horizon and so, in anticipation of high winds and seas we put three reefs in the main. Late in the afternoon we were sailing fast in 30+ knots and at dusk as we rounded the headland into the Bay of Islands the wind blew over 40 knots, the rain came down and night came quickly. 

In driving rain we made our way up the river to the Quarantine dock, having reported our arrival to the coastguard. We arrived in 5 days and three hours which we were very pleased with. Next morning we discovered that we were actually on the wrong  dock and had to move a few hundred yards up river!

Opua is a huge sailing center and the marina has recently been expanded and upgraded. But it was cold!  Out came all the winter woolies and thermals. 

After a few days respite we sailed down to picturesque Whangerai and enjoyed some time in the center of town before hauling Misto to do some bottom work. We will be leaving Misto on the hard while we come back to the US for a few weeks and we are looking forward to seeing many of you. We are going to explore New Zealand by road and sail when we return. 

We want to say a huge "thank you" to Mick and Helen for joining us as crew for this trip. I think we all had a great sense of achievement to have completed this trip so early in the season. 

Regards


Ros and Howard Cheetham
s/v Misto

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