Tom Clark and Bill Scott of Oak Hollow Yacht Club joined Peter MacManus, also of OHYC and his college roommate Gary Smith at 0930 Friday morning at Harmony’s marina in Washington, NC, to help Peter deliver his catamaran Harmony to her new home on the Pungo River. 

When Tom and Bill arrived Peter was having his motor serviced (finishing up the installation of the impeller on the cooling system).   The lower unit had to be welded and this was going to be finished in about two hours.  So, we took advantage of the time to deliver our return vehicles to Harmony’s new home port.  We stopped at the grocery to pick-up survival supplies ( beer and ice, Frito’s, potato chips and water) I’m not sure why we purchased the water.  Anyway, we stopped for a great lunch at a local dive to stoke our stomachs for the journey from the Pamlico to the Pungo.  When we arrived at the departure marina, we quickly loaded the food and remaining gear on the boat.  Peter turned the key to test the engine repair and to our surprise the engine did not turn over.  The mechanic showed up and pulled yanked and tested and then told us the starter was no good.  Well, we called around and there was no starter to be found.  However, one of the marine supply stores suggested we pull the starter off and test it ourselves.  We did and found that the starter was in fact GOOD ( where is AL when you need him ).  Anyway, it didn’t take long for us to figure out that the starting solenoid was bad and we could short the switch with a screwdriver and manually start ( with sparks flying ) the engine.  So, after Tom Clark was able to read the wiring diagram (we could not remember where all those wires went) we reinstalled the starter and solenoid, rewired it and stuck the screwdriver to the points;  to our delight she started.

Our departure time was 1830 from Washington and we decided to make for Bath to overnight, there is a free city dock there.  Well, the engine was running a little rough and we decided to hoist sail.  The wind picked up and the clouds were thick and dark in some places.  The wind picked up and we were making 5 - 7 knots.  We were making great time under sail for Bath, but there was no way to make it before sunset.  We took fixes to verify our position and to estimate our arrival time in Bath (2030-2100).  It was dark now  and  we, using our binoculars, located the entrance marker to Bath.  I can’t remember, but I think it was flashing R every 2.5 sec..  Anyway, the entrance mark was bearing 040 and we dropped sail and started the engine and made for our overnight port.  Bill went forward with Tom and Peter taking turns at the helm.  Tom Clark has a lot of night time sailing and motoring experience so he gave me good advice on using the high candle power light to light up the channel markers.  Every 10 seconds a beam of light showed either a green or red marker.  A small motor boat with no running light motored by all you could hear was the hum of the motor, you could not see them.  So I put a blast of light on them just for the fun of it.  Well soon the dock came into view of the light.  We poured light all over the dock and could see a couple of spots to dock.  Someone from the dock yelled to come on the other side, that there was plenty of room and they would assist our docking.  Well, Peter did a fine job at the helm and put us to the dark dock as good as you can do it.  We all heard a voice coming out of the dark yelling “luck of the Irish”,  I could not believe my eyes when out of the darkness of the Bath dock I saw Joey Darr, another OHYC member.  Joey just had a new engine installed in his sloop and was breaking her in.   It was so good to see Joey, he is a fine sailor and knows the waters of NC well.  OHYC was well represented in Bath that night.  We were too late for food so we drank our beer and ate our Frito’s and went to sleep.  It rained until 0230 in the morning and then cleared. 

 We got up at 0630 and marched one mile to the local breakfast place for a hearty meal.  Our stomach full, we shoved off the Bath dock and made for the Pamlico River.  Once out in the Pamlico we set sail and the wind continued to build.  Eventually Peter reefed the jib and we were making 7-8 knots at times.  White caps and a cold blowing wind put us all in our best foul weather gear.    After passing the NC ferry, PCS Phosphate,  the PCS camp grounds, sight of the former Wide Open Open ( fleet 191 hosted this every year ) and finally Indian Island, we soon sighted the entrance to the Pungo River.  The wind strengthened and we went from a reach to a close hauled and tacked our way up the Pungo.  Soon we sighted Peter’s new house and the entrance to Harmony’s new berth.  We dropped sail and took her in.  Peter did a great job at the helm as he navigated Harmony into the shallow water ( 2 feet and minimum depth ) and docked her nicely to her new home in Pungo.  Well done to the crew of the Harmony.  BRAVO ZULU