My brother-in-law, who lives in Manteo, courteously invited me to bring my C22 and visit him this fall. He specifically stated that the first or second week of October was generally good and a little cooler weather, hurricanes excluded. So I am tentatively planning the trip. It will be about a 10 hour drive. Since my brother-in-law works at Spencer Yachts (he is a Spencer) he offered the use of their boatyard, dock, and ramp for launching and tying up.
I know the winds there generally trend from the SW in summer and change to NE in the fall. I had thought about sailing down to Ocracoke and/or Oriental during the week. I would be interested in anyone's experience in the time involved for this trip in varying conditions. I will have about five days of sailing available before I have to get back to work.
Does anyone have any suggestions or warnings? What it costs to tie up at the local marinas? Things to watch out for? Any information at all would be helpful. My brother-in-law knows all about running multi-million dollar sport fishermen, but does not sail. I hope to take a sailing buddy to go along to assist in the fun.
This is a great story to read about the Pamlico-
usaa.albacore.org/usaa_files/Pamlico_97.pdf
Sailing Pamlico
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gregcrawford
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:41 am
- Location: Knoxville, TN
Oriental, Beaufort, and Cape Lookout are all great destinations. most people travel from Oriental to Beaufort and Cape Lookout via the Intra Coastal Waterway. It is narrow making it difficult to sail. It should be an easy motor trip down if you have a good outboard.
There is a small ancoracge and a smaller public dock in Oriental which are free. Anchoring out at Cape look out is great. Especially after Labor Day when the crowds are gone. You would need to watch the tides at the Morehead inlet as you come and go to Cape Lookout. Incoming wind and tides can make some pretty big standing waves there.
There are no free docks that I know of in Beaufort. You can achor in Tayor creek across from the waterfront, but it can get crowded. A dingy is really nice to have to see the sights and stay cheap. The beach at Cape Lookout is well worth draging a dingy around.
There is a small ancoracge and a smaller public dock in Oriental which are free. Anchoring out at Cape look out is great. Especially after Labor Day when the crowds are gone. You would need to watch the tides at the Morehead inlet as you come and go to Cape Lookout. Incoming wind and tides can make some pretty big standing waves there.
There are no free docks that I know of in Beaufort. You can achor in Tayor creek across from the waterfront, but it can get crowded. A dingy is really nice to have to see the sights and stay cheap. The beach at Cape Lookout is well worth draging a dingy around.