Virgil Brigman is Back On The Air

Remember that great quote from “The Abyss”?

Well, we’re back. After I ran aground, I was able to back Freedom out of the sand? mud? But when I did so, I forgot to ensure that the rudder was straight, So it appears that the rudder got pushed over so far that I sheared the metal “key” that connects the rudder post to the steering gear. The “key” is intended to behave this way: it is designed to shear off to protect the rest of the steering gear.

The repairs took less than a day. And since we had a contingency day planned this week, we are still on schedule!

Here’s a shot of the boat up on the Marine Travellift.

Here, you can see the heavy, curved metal skeg that protects the prop and rudder. That’s why the damage was so minor.

We used today to re-provision at the Piggly Wiggly and plan the next several days’ routes.

Tomorrow we’ll take a short run to Beaufort, just to ensure that everything is working as it should. Provided Freedom passes muster, on Wednesday we’re going out the Beaufort Inlet and run about 100 miles south along the coast to Wrightsville Beach. And, yes, we are watching the weather carefully.

This was always an alternative plan. I think it’s prudent because we may lose a day to Hurricane Eta. This skips one stop in Topsail Beach. We’ll try to visit Topsail on the way back north.

BTW, THIS Beaufort is pronounced Bow-Furt, y’all. In SC, it’s BeewFurt.