Beaufort, NC to Camp Lejeune, NC

October 26, Tuesday: Intercoastal SM205-245
More heavy south winds in the forecast kept us inside on the ICW once again, even though this is the inlet here is the perfect opportunity to go off shore, after 3 days in the swamps. We finished our laundry while sipping coffee at a nice water front cafe right next to our dock. Headed out at 11 am. As we got to the bend in the channel that allowed us to raise sailf. It was blowing 20 so we unfurled the genoa only and were racing along at 7 knots on a beam reach until the next turn at Morehead City. This put us closehauled and with the wind now gusting to 30 knots the boats heading was all over the place wsith every gust and with lots of traffic it was too dangerous so we furled the genoa and motored to the next bend. At this point the winds were a steady 20-25 and at a direction we could motor sail. We tried the foresail alone close hauled and it worked beautifully. Went from 4.5 knots motoring to 7 knots motor sailing into the wind. This held up for several hours until the channel gradually turned more south at which point we had to furl the foresail as well.
As we got close to Camp Lejeune the marine helicopters were flying all over. We got buzzed directly overhead by one flying fast and at about 200 feet, quite a site with these big birds. We anchored in a dredged area adjacent to the middle of the base with around 20 other boats. Had a relaxing early evening arriving at 5:30. So we watched sunset in the cockpit over a couple of beers as the smell of grilling meat wafted around the anchorage from many of the neighboring boats.