The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter., 1961-04-14
SAFARl
Continued from Page One)

seems to be subject to all kinds Of
trouble.
| Cliff had a checklist that was
to be run through just before cast
ing off. Too many times I have
been miles from home without a
can-opener. Cliff read them off as
Ritz and l tried to put our hand:
on it in the boat. One dockside OBJ
server made the remark that he
doubted if you would need anymore
if you We're going to cross the
Atlantic.
l had tried to keep the list to an
absolute minimum. Still, it did ap-
pear to be rather bulky as it all
went down into the seventeen foot
hull. We had one change of dry
clothes each in a duffel bag; food
and water for two days; pup tent
and hatchet for driving pegs c.
&G.S. chart 1928, compass, COM
pass rose and binoculars, plus nor
NAL boat gear such as anchor, an
chor line, running light and etc.
Material that would be used only
for camping was slowed under the
fore deck. Boat gear was laid out
on each side of the centerboard
we'll. The space aft of the we'll to
the after deck was kept clear eX-
cept for the sheet line, compass and
chart. Small items that may be
needed during the trip was placed
under the after deck. In seven
years of talking about something
very little is left to chance. There
was a thought-out place for every
thing. At last all was on board and
we were ready to cast off.
The wind was blowing hard,
about 20 mph, from the southwest
when we were at the dock at Eliza
beth City, so we tied in single
reef before we left. The lines were
let go and we said goodby to a
group of about six who had come
down to see us off. My wife still
considered her confinement" a
sinister plot to keep her from go
ing along.
Two short tacks and five minutes
later l was clear of the narrow
waters of the horseshoe bend of the
Pasquotank River where it courses
by the city. passed on the channel
side of the red nun marker num-
ber "8" and set course and sail
for the mouth of the river about
Is miles ahead. No chart or COM
pass would be needed here. All
three of us grew up on this river
and if it had not been for the ridi-
culous necessity of making living
would never have left it.
l turned the boat over to Cliff,
made bed from the spinnaker on
the high side of the we'll and went
back to sleep. Ritz ran out hund-
red feet of fishing line with a rock
bait on it and settled back to watch
the clothespin that the Line was led
through. The sloop, under jib and
single reefed main, made good
time in spite of the chop set up by
the 20 mph wind. We trimed the
boat with out weight so as to MAIN
tain a 10 to Is degree list to lee
ward. The flat bottom hull would
take the sea much easier at that
angle. Cliff made the first entry in
the log, it was $50 Friday morn
ing.
At about 1000 l was awakened,
in a manner not suited to a sail
boat captain at all, by someone
poking an oar at me. We were
bearing before we headed into the
open water of the sound.
l had first crossed this body of
water when was about three
months old with my father who
was skipper of a sixty-five foot
freight boat which carried supplies
to logging and mill town called
Buffalo City,. 1t is now practical
ly a ghost town located at the wide
of Milltail Greek that flows into
he Alligator River.
Alligator River lies due south
across the sound from the Pasquo-
tank, and the East Lake ferry dock,
about five miles up river on the
east shore, was our destination.
l had made many trips across
the sound with my Father in the
early thirties, and years later after
high school, when got my first
yacht job, l crossed it on my way
to Florida. Still, l had not done il
entirely on my own. And being bas-
ically a sailboat man it had become
compulsion to do it under sail
The motivation behind this trip
real or imaginary, was not import
ant. The actuality that three of us
were now approaching the vastness
of all that water in a seventeen.
foot, flat-bottom, open sailboat was
most definitely real.
There was heavy swell rolling
in from the sound, and "Safari'
was beginning to get new fee
along her keel. The wind was fall
ing off so we set about shaking out
the reef.
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