need a beach!

[hokeyhydro]

Boats are launched from the beach to start the Everglades Challenge, and also the OBX Challenge. I need a beach to practice. I live in New Bern, NC, close to the Crystal Coast (Atlantic Beach et all), and Beaufort. Does anyone of our NC posters know a good beach launch spot on the sounds or rivers?

[ChrisObee]

Boats are launched from the beach to start the Everglades Challenge, and also the OBX Challenge. I need a beach to practice. I live in New Bern, NC, close to the Crystal Coast (Atlantic Beach et all), and Beaufort. Does anyone of our NC posters know a good beach launch spot on the sounds or rivers?

The north carolina challange (another watertribe event) puts off from the beach at Cedar Island to the east of the ferry dockage.

[paul_stewart]

Would you like surf with that? (small, medium, large.) Cedar Island is indeed a good choice as it has a good boat ramp next to a sandy beach. You cannot drive your trailer onto the beach, however; is that something you were hoping to do? It is easier to find a ramp next to a sandy beach than to find a beach you can drive onto. For example, the boat ramp off Straits Road at the bridge that crosses to Harkers Island is a ramp next to a sandy beach (see second image below.)

There is/was a small sandy beach in Oriental that the Isotope catamaran fleet used for their Neuse River racing (see first image). It might still be available.

--Paul

cs20dawnpatrol.blogspot.com

[hokeyhydro]

Paul - the boat weighs about 160 lb rigged, so it can be carried, and the trailer is light enough to hand push, so we would not need to 4WD it out on the beach. The initial launch was off the Ramp at Union Point Park in New Bern = rocky and not user friendly for the wading crew doing last minute set up tasks. Thanks for the tips - I'll send out the recon crew and pick a site. Water's getting warm, time to get wet!

[Oyster]

There is a perfect place downtown Morehead City where kayaks and hobie cats are launched. I think its somewhere around 11th street on the sound. YOu must push the trailer through some poles which keeps vehicles from driving to the beachhead. But there are kayaks racked up and a parking lot located on scene.

There is a small boat ramp too just a block to the east in the same general area that you can launch and actually swing the boat around to the huge beach area which has made up there.

[MisterMoon]

You don't need no stinkin' practice!

Or at least thats what I thought before the EC. There's some very embarassing video out there of me struggling to get launched at the start of this year's event. I'll be practicing before next year's event. Having a boat that weighs some 250lbs less is going to be nice as well.

[hokeyhydro]

Thanks, Oyster, I like the Morehead City plan. I saw that vid MisterMoon. Yeeps!

[paul_stewart]

Oyster,

I see what you mean. In the middle of the photo below, that looks like public parking at the end of 11th street (which runs north-south) in Morehead City, NC. As you say, it looks like kayaks launch there into Bogue Sound.

The small boat ramp appears at the eastern edge (right hand side) of the photo, and its public parking is visible, too.

Good to know.

--Paul

[Oyster]

This is the beach right to the west of the launching ramp. The kayak beach is just to the other side of the pier thats extending out at the end of the new found beach. What is really amazing but true to form for mother nature is that the sandy beach on the sound made up over the course of five to six years after the ramp and along side dock was installed. The prevailing winds are on shore and from the southwest with the beach running east and west. So its quite a treat to tack your way off the shore when its really hard. But with the cat ketch rigging, it should be a breeze, so to speak.

Of course the cape yields plenty of sand too.

[Doug Cameron]

Before my first EC, I practiced moving my Sea Pearl on a grassy slope at the school whee I taught.

[Tom Ray]

You don't need no stinkin' practice!

Or at least thats what I thought before the EC. There's some very embarassing video out there of me struggling to get launched at the start of this year's event. I'll be practicing before next year's event. Having a boat that weighs some 250lbs less is going to be nice as well.

Hah! No doubt a reference to the video I posted. Sorry 'bout that, Mr. Moon, but I thought it was a great illustration of the fact that the beach launching hurdle is a significant one, and even a little sailboat can be a real PITA to move off a beach.

Next time, if I don't participate myself, I will be at the launch AND at the low bridge at Placida to catch the mast lowering/raising antics. Try not to do anything embarrassing near my cameras if you do not wish to be famous for it!

[MisterMoon]

You may not see all that much at Placida. I saw several boats there and we all seemed to be pretty efficient at getting the rig down. I was just grateful that I came and departed on favorable tides.

[hokeyhydro]

You may not see all that much at Placida. I saw several boats there and we all seemed to be pretty efficient at getting the rig down. I was just grateful that I came and departed on favorable tides.

Getting rigs down - have to get my brain in gear to devise a slick way to drop a rig. Yes, tabernacle, but I'm thinking some sort of block & tackle deal to drop and raise the rig. Figure make it east ans save the muscle power for ... rowing!

[MisterMoon]

How heavy is your rig? The 25 foot aluminum spar on the boat I sailed this year wasn't any problem to just walk down. On my CS17, I just walk up on the foredeck and lift out the mast. No problem.