"Following a textbook run from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the 33ft powerboat Spirit of Cardiff arrived outside Cape Fear Yacht Center, Wilmington, North Carolina in the early hours of Tuesday morning."
That, at least, is the good bit. Only problem then is the sand shoals across the narrow Carolina Inlet, which don't appear to have much in the way of buoys or lighting, mainly because they shift with every tide. They operate on a system here called "local knowledge".
So we end up spending the rest of the night drifting offshore, waiting until daylight so we can find our way in without running aground. Four feet of water, we're told, is often all there is to play with here. "Four feet of water, I can live with," says Alan Priddy. "It's the no feet of water that gets a bit more tricky."
As the boat is serviced, we have a steady stream of media interest, including Gavin Williams from WWAY Wilmington - News Channel 3. He shoots a news item, and then wonders if he can liven it up with some of our video footage. It transpires we don't have the necessary connectors to link my tiny camcorder to cameraman Mark Simpson's professional machine. So whilst Alan and Steve head off with our man on the ground Neil Elam to do the shopping for the provisions for our run to Halifax, I take a ride with Gavin and Mark to Channel 3's studios in Wilmington. There we manage to transfer some of my video of the Panama Canal transit, along with some scary "at sea" footage.
It's scheduled to go out on their six o'clock evening news programme, and as ABC affiliates, they'll be offering it to ABC for transmission nationwide, as well as CNN. Stardom! I even get to sit in the news anchor's chair in the studio, although I'm not sure whether I passed the audition. Naturally I'll be sitting next to my satellite phone with bated breath.
Clive Tully
FACTBOX
Fort Lauderdale - Wilmington
Time of leg: 1 day 5 hours 4 minutes
Length of leg: 498 nautical miles
Total distance covered: 21,658 nautical miles
Distance to go: 3,800 nautical miles
Average speed over leg: 17.17 knots
Total elapsed time from Gibraltar: 92 days 21 hours 13 minutes
Total elapsed time at sea: 69 days 23 hours 56 minutes
Fuel consumed: 947 litres
Average fuel consumption: 1.90 litres / nautical mile
Number of refuelling stops to go: 3
Next stop: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ETA: Friday
Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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