Heading to Beaufort, NC tomorrow!

Chris here.. Well, Pelican was launched yesterday, and she still floats! Yippee!! I'm really tired right now, so just a short post... The good news and the bad news: Good news - she floats, the engine started on the first try when we first launched her and also today, and we were able to get the engine RPM's up to 3400 with the engine in gear. The bad news: We couldn't get the prop spinning faster than 2400 until we went fast in forward, put ourselves in hard reverse, heard a big "thunk" coming from under the boat, and then put ourselves back in forward. Then, all of a sudden, we could go in forward at more than 2400RPM's. We're not quite sure what's up, so we'll be more testing over the next few days. The other piece of bad news: we did an oil change and the oil MAY have had a milky color. It didn't look like it when it was sitting in the bucket, but when we poured it out into the oil drum we saw some whiteness to it. Kristen doesn't recall what was in the bucket before - whether it may have been something chalky. It wasn't milky until the very last bit from the bottom of the bucket, so I'm not 100% sure. All I can say is that we're going to keep a close eye on everything and take it gently, a day at a time.

Tomorrow morning at 5am we leave Charleston to head for Beaufort, NC. We'll be going on the outside, around Cape Fear. If y'all remember our trip down, we hit 35-40kt winds and 12ft seas on our way around Cape Fear the last time and ended up ducking in for several days over New Years. We're obviously a bit apprehensive about this trip, especially since the weather forecast is now calling for winds at 20kts and seas to 7 feet through tomorrow, and only moderating slightly on Saturday, with squalls to 40kts possible through Saturday. We figure we'll poke our nose out of the harbor tomorrow and see how it is, and stick around if it doesn't look good. If we're out for a few hours and don't like it, we can always duck into Georgetown, SC or turn around. We expect to arrive in Beaufort late Saturday afternoon/evening. Keep on eye on our track by clicking on the link to the right.

Speaking of turning around, we got an e-mail from our good friends on Side by Side. Apparently, due to various problems with their computers and engines, plus difficult weather, they decided to turn around on their way to Panama and are on their way to North Carolina too. We wish they could have made it, but we'll be happy to see them again.

Anyway, keep an eye on our track tomorrow, and we'll hopefully be talking to you from Beaufort next!