Dawn Patrol: NC Challenge 2010: Oars and Paddles This Time

The winds and waters around Cedar Island have many faces.    Weather for the NC Challenge (NCC) has ranged from windy and wild in 2009 to warm and placid in 2010.   The two adventure races were as different as night and day.

NCC'09 challenged us with wind and waves. Primarly due to rough conditions, only 9 of the 17 boats finished the NCC'09. Aboard the Dawn Patrol, Alan and I sailed 23 hours, rowed only 1.5 hours, and anchored for 7 hours for overnight sleep. The 1.5 hours of rowing in the Harlowe Canal was an enjoyable highlight. About half of the sailing was gusty upwind work pounding through the chop on Core Sound. The last mile was a fast tight race with EC22 Southern Skimmer (1st), kayak racer ArdieO (2nd), and Dawn Patrol (3rd).  We were in motion 24.5 hours and covered 94.1 nm (3.8 nm/hour).

NCC'10 covered the same "100-mile" route, but the experience was completely different. Now the challenge was to row, row, row yer boat. It was a great year for paddlers in kayaks and for small boats that row well.  The beautiful calm weather allowed 29 of 32 boats to finish but challenged those of us in Class4 (monohull sailboats) in two ways: (1) the light/vanishing wind kept us rowing for 18.5 hours, (2) there was no weather-related reason to drop anchor.   We knew our competitors wouldn't stop to sleep.   Compared to 2009 it was a slower race: it took us 7.5 hours longer to reach the check point in Beaufort and overall we were in motion about 5 hours longer than in 2009.   Start-to-finish we covered 85.2 nm in 29.3 hours (2.9 nm/hour).

GPS Track NCC'10

42.9nm / 16.50 hours Fri Sept 24 (RED) 7:30am start
42.2nm / 12.75 hours Sat Sept 25 (BLUE) 12:45pm finish

GPS Track Summary

We rolled off the starting line on Friday at 7:30am and began rowing. The west / southwest wind was so light we continued rowing until the wind picked up at about 3:30pm. This "first wind" took us to the mouth of Clubfoot Creek by 6:30pm. In the wind-blocking Harlowe Waterway we rowed in the dark against a 1.5 knot (1.7 mph) current. By 1:00am Saturday we exited the waterway and found our "first wind" still strong and waiting to help us short-tack out into the Newport River basin. By 2:00am the lights of the draw bridge at Beaufort were coming into view. At 2:30am we reached Check Point #1 (CP1) on Taylor Creek. Sailing at 5 kts with a SW wind, we had rounded the eastern tip of Harkers Island at about 4:45am and began a downwind run up Core Sound. At 5:12am we stopped 15 feet short of hitting a line of pound nets and tacked east 0.1 nm to the narrow marked channel. The wind started to die at 5:30am and we began to row again. Our "second wind" kicked in at about 9:30am to send us on a downwind run up Core Sound chasing the EC22 Southern Skimmer and being chased by the Sea Pearl 21 Moon Shadow. Even when moving at 5kts the Moon Shadow continuted to row. The unexpected exciting finish was the highlight of our race.

Figure 1. GPS Speed Data for Day 1

Key: GPS speed (black dots connected by tan lines), smooth curve (red), rowing (shaded gray). Garmin GPSmap 76CSx was set to record [lat, lon] and time at 20-second intervals.

Figure 1 Summary

The race started at 7:30 am with a beautiful sunrise, warm mild weather, and light/vanishing winds off the beach. Away we rowed out onto Pamlico Sound. Rounding the Swan Islands and Racoon Island into the Neuse River we rowed. In the hot and sunny mid-day on the Neuse we rowed.

We rowed until 3:30pm when our "first wind" finally arrived. What a treat! We sailed close-hauled up the Neuse to the mouth of Clubfoot Creek and then at sunset short-tacked into the narrowing creek toward the Harlowe Canal.

In the canal we rowed in the dark against an unfavorable 1.7 knot current. The moon provided some light especially after it reached its apex around midnight and before clouds moved in. In the canal we passed two catamarans stopped to lower masts. With no sound or lights, Moon Shadow slipped up behind us and passed us with fast rowing. Two kayaks passed us. After we rowed under the 3 fixed bridges the current became slightly less unfavorable. It was midnight and Friday was history.

Figure 2. GPS Speed Data for Day 2

Key: GPS speed (black dots connected by tan lines), smooth curve (red), rowing (shaded gray). Garmin GPSmap 76CSx was set to record [lat, lon] and time at 20-second intervals.

Figure 2 Summary

Midnight on Harlowe Creek. As we neared our exit into the Newport River we caught up with Southern Skimmer stopped against the saltgrass banks to raise masts. We did the same.  In the pitch black darkness we somehow managed to arrange all the rigging properly and sailed off ahead of Southern Skimmer.  That "first wind" was still strong and waiting for us on the Newport River. We had been shielded from it while in the Harlowe waterway, but now we were able to short tack out of the creek into the open waters of the Newport River.

We reached the draw bridge at Beaufort just ahead of the Moon Shadow and we both waited for Southern Skimmer at the draw bridge. What were we thinking? Sleep deprived people do strange things at 2am. The drawbridge operator was friendly and would have opened the bridge anytime we asked. The channel through the open bridge was upwind and against the current, but we got a running start and had no problem getting through the bridge with only one or two strokes of the oars.

Reaching into Taylor Creek, all 3 boats simultaneously paused at the small dingy dock to check into CP1. All three captains hopped onto the docks to sign the log at about 2:30am.   Later, Jarhead of Moon Shadow said he was going to write a nice long comment in the CP1 log, but then he realized that that Dawn Patrol and Southern Skimmer were not waiting around for him to finish signing in.

Leaving Taylor Creek we saw Southern Skimmer  aground ahead of us right where the channel should be. Entering Back Sound required very close attention to our handheld Garmin chartplotter to sail through the channels and shoals at night.  We rounded the eastern tip of Harkers Island at about 4:45am and began a downwind run up Core Sound. At 5:12am we stopped short of hitting a line of pound nets and tacked east 0.1 nm back to the narrow marked channel. The wind started to die at 5:30am and we began to row again.

Our "second wind" kicked in at about 9:30am to send us on a downwind run up Core Sound chasing Southern Skimmer and being chased by the Moon Shadow. We flew the mizzen stays'l on port or starboard all the way to the finish line. Even when moving at 5kts the Moon Shadow continued to row. With all sails up we rowed too. Between 10:45 and 11:00am M.Shadow seemed to be veering slightly westward of S.Skimmer's track. By 11:09am we realized they were headed toward a shortcut --the very shallow cut-though of Beach Creek--  and as we turned 60 degrees to port at 11:10 to give chase our exciting sprint to the finish.

NCC'10 Weather History

Friday, Sept 24 at Piney Island weather station on Pamlico Sound

7am - 1pm... winds 0-5 mph from the South and variable

1pm - 7pm... winds 5-13 mph from the South, maximum gusts 18mph

7pm - midnight... winds 5 mph from the South

Air temperatures 73-89 (F)