Laughter summered in New Bern N.C. while we spent time in Indiana and Michigan. We received a call that Hurricane Sandy could cause a dramatic rise in the waters where she was berthed and advised that we should be there to attend to her. We drove all night and found that the water did rise into the yards but not enough to cause an issue with the dock she was tied too. Laughter was dirty and dusty from a summer of neglect so we had our work cut out for us. After a week of hard labor we took a few days to visit the Outer Banks. Our hope was to travel the entire length of the Outer Banks but because Sandy destroyed much of the road just past Ocracoke we were limited in our travels. We did enjoy Ocracoke though.
Once cleaned and provisioned we headed South to our first stop, Hampstead N.C. for a bottom job. No not on me, on Laughter! She had been in the water for two years so a new paint job was in order. We chose a boatyard that would allow us to do our own work to cut back on cost. About 10 miles North of Hampstead we came upon a buoy configuration at the mouth of an inlet that was mind boggling. To follow it per red/green rules would require us to perform half of a figure eight. A trawler was in front of us and we slowed down to see what they would do. They did not follow the configuration but called to tell us they bumped bottom slightly. Tom decided that the extra buoy had to be an inlet marker so he cautiously motored forward with the intention of putting Laughter in neutral in hopes of coasting through the shallow area. This seemed to be working until we throttled when we should have coasted. THUD! was what we heard, not the gentle bump described by the other boat. We were stunned, and silent. Not a profane word was uttered, yet! We held our breath as Tom put her back in gear. Would she vibrate, the tell tale sign of damaged props? We seemed to be doing fine UNTIL he brought her up to running speed. There it was, the tell tale vibration and it was pretty bad. Now a few unmentionable words were uttered! A small consolation in a bad situation,we were already scheduled for a haul out so that added cost was not an issue. We vibrated our way to the marina having an hour to analyze and discuss what had happened in hopes that talking it through would make us feel better I guess.
Sunset from the Ferry
Ocracoke lighthouse
walkway to the ocean/beach
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