Gone Sailing!

Pulled out of Edenton on Thursday morning bright and early.....well early anyway! Ran hard all day long and ended the day at Slade Creek southeast of Belhaven. Alas I had to motor the whole way as there just wasn't any wind. For a change the Albemarle Sound was almost devoid of crab pots....I only saw a few thousand and almost got to run a straight course....well at least not a completely random zig zag as evertime before.



Friday I pulled into Clubfoot Creek just after One O'Clock having weighed anchor at half past Five in the morning. The Sun Rise was one of the best I have ever seen! The Sun was filtered by some morning mist and low cloud that allowed for looking directly at the perfect Orb glowing brightly in gold and flame orange as it rose above the grayish hued tree line and the molten lead colored water. Definitely makes one glad to be alive! Frady elected to stay in bed thus missed such a glorious start of a new day.



Young Shannon came aboard that afternoon and went out for a bit of sailing despite the weather being a bit wet looking. We no sooner got all the sails up....first time for Shannon....than the weather took a very bad turn for the worse. We managed to get the sails down without any major disaster but were definitely way late in doing so. Shannon turned to and did a very good job of securing the mizzen sail by herself and the main sail after I had lowered it. I needed to be on the helm as the winds picked up to forty knots as the rain poured down. She was jumping up and down hooting and hollering having the time of her life.....me I was just shivering in me sea boots wishing I was at anchor in the creek with a cold beer in my hand.



In time the blow moved through and we headed back to the creek for our dinner. Jeff and his girlfriend stopped by for a drink after the rain stopped. I am pleased Jeff has found such a lovely young lady and they both seem to be very happy together. As Jeff works a one month on and one month off schedule on the oil rigs in Brazil.....I very nicely offered to stop in on his girlfriend just to make sure she did not get bored or lonely. Jeff politely refused my kind offer!



Harold Pope sold his boat to a fellow that I ran into here at Edenton.....guess Harold will be buying a Trawler now....as he thought his sailboat too slow in travelling to the Bahamas. He will probably do the same with the trawler and then buy a Sport Fisher and really roar down to the islands.



Buck and Vickie of the Victoria Gayle were down and had two of their dogs along.



Wayne and Wezzie showed up in Sunday from their trip to Cape Lookout aboard Sea Prompt.



The Porpoises were in the creek by the droves....several pods swam under the boat and gave us a good show. Shannon grabbbed her surf board and went paddling after them. Later we rigged up a tow rope for the Dink and I towed her all over the creek while she stood on her surf board. She took a couple of really good face plants in the process but finally did really well.



After Shannon departed Sunday Afternoon, I departed Clubfoot Creek and anchored out at Green Mark 23 just north of the Bay River south of Hobucken. The anchorage was a nice place and had a good view. Early Monday I was again underway and ran the ICW north through the Alligator River Canal and ended the day at north end of the canal just south of Swan Creek in nine feet of water. The wind picked up for the last few miles and would have made for perfect sailing had I not needed to anchor for the night.



So....here I sit in the Alligator River....hitting the internet by means of my Blackberry....ain't technology great!

Fighting for Freedom!

I lived in Iran for just over two years back in the late 70's just as the Shah was being overthrown by a popular uprising led by radical Islamic Clerics. Today I see another popular uprising amongst the Iranians seeking freedom from the tyranny of radical Islam. Again brave people are willing to risk death to seek their freedom.

Photographs of young Neda ,shot down in the streets of Iran as she protested the election results of the past few days and having done so under the threat of death by the oppressive Islamic Regime of Iran, should be all over the TV screens of this country. Not the portrait shot of a beautiful young Persian woman but the blood covered face of her lying dead in the street is the one that needs to be shown. That is the price young people around the world are willing to pay in the cause of freedom. Her death is so typical of that part of the world. She was killed more for being a Woman than she was for protesting especially because she was not wearing a Berqa and had the audacity to insult Islam by wearing jeans and showing her face in public.

Apologists for radical Islam need to pay attention here and see what they are supporting when they do not actively denounce the barbaric acts of repression and other acts of human rights violations. Is this yet another attempt to establish a democratic free society we will abandon out of the lack of politcal will our elected leaders? Is this to be another Hungary, Kurdistan, or Southern Iraq?

We never heard about the Afghans that stood against the evil of the Taliban at grave risks to themselves. A Doctor in Kabul who is a painter and who painted water colors over oil masterpieces that were doomed to destruction otherwise. He did this knowing being caught would result in a very nasty death at the hands of the Taliban religious zealots. Several employees of the Afghan Film Archives did much the same. The Taliban had decreed that all film....every single reel of the national archives must be burned. The employees undertook an effort to protect the master films and only allowed the copies to be burned. They then hid the masters in a store room and then plastered over the doorway, disabled the wiring for the lights in that part of the building, and thus prevented the Taliban inspectors from finding the stored masters. They also faced immediate death had they been caught protecting the films.

We have young warriors of our own that are doing incredible things and demonstrating great acts of courage but yet we hear of Gay Marriage protests, our nation being accused of being cowards regard to racial matters, and all sorts of other insignificant issues but we never hear of the courage of our Troops in the media.

How many Medal of Honor recipients go unheralded by the media? How many accounts of courage are ignored? When things were going wrong and the situation was bleak, we heard all about it. Never once did our media stand up for the Troops and tell the real story.

We sit here now being threatened by North Korea that places Hawaii and Alaska in reach of their missiles which could be armed with a nuclear warhead. Fortunately, we have a missile defense system that came to us by means of previous administrations that the current one wants to do away with.

Al Qaeda leadership have announced they will use Nuclear weapons on us if they can obtain them and are keeping an eye on the Pakistani arsenal with the hope of taking control over them either by seizing them or working in conjunction with a Radical Islamic Regime should it take over Pakistan's government. That comes as no surprise to anyone with a grain of commonsense.

Yet, we have people in power in this country that still do not accept the real threat Radical Islam poses to the world in general and to us in particular. I guess a Nuke going off in the middle of New York City might get them to tweak to the danger but only after it has happened.

Iran is working at getting nuclear weapons and threatens the security of the Middle East and our forces there and the current administration thinks talking is the right way to handle them. Brave Iranians are dying in the streets as they seek freedom from the tyranny of the Radical Islamic regime that is in power there, and our President doesn't want to interfere with domestic issues in Iran as it might prevent some sort of dialogue with the Regime there.

How many people are we going to allow to be murdered by the Radical Islamist's before we finally decide enough?

Dinner was early.....great Tomato sandwiches and a couple of cold Heinies then a boat ride. Fired the dink up and rode out into the River to watch fish feed. That has fed a hankering to do some fishing. Really enjoyed watching the wake of the boat as I headed into the Sun as it set behind the Cyprus trees. The wake was glittering like diamonds as the sunlight reflected off the spray. The fish were in shallow water and were surface feeding, cutting the water with their fins as they fed. The cloud was brewing up a storm out to the east and north but the western sky was clear mostly with some scattered clouds reflecting the golden sunlight. While admiring the sight I watched the FedEx Feeder Cessna Caravan make his afternoon takeoff headed to Raleigh or wherever the Hub is in this area. He left just in time as the weather was definitely going to get lumpy and wet in a bit.

The run back in was good fun.....smooth as glass....sun just below the horizon....and the boat tearing along at twenty five miles an hour. Add in the curves of the channel and the fun of weaving along through the cyprus trees and houses on the opposite bank and it made a fitting end to a lovely day.

Quick run to Winston-Salem coming up and then provision the boat, shanghai Frady, and it is off to see the Wizard time. Might even take the boat out for some saltwater fishing and hang out at Wrightsville Beach for a week or so.

Frady Caught Stealing My Breakfast!

I turned my back on my bowl of cereal this morning just long enough to pour the tea.....and when I turned around....I caught a felonius feline filching my breakfast. Mind you this was after he had been properly fed and watered just a few minutes before! He has now gotten to the point he will sit on the galley counter and monitor the opening of a "fresh" can of Fancy Feast.....no left overs for this Cat!

He spent the night on the foot of my bunk last night as it was a very stormy evening with lots of lightning and thunder. Of late he has been much happier sleeping in the walk thru companionway rather than listen to the air conditioning fan in the aft cabin.

After his morning chow and half of mine....he assumed his normal position on the port side settee....and got into sleeping as only cats can do.

Glad To Be Alive Day!

June 17th each year I take time to contemplate yet another year of tromping around God's own green Earth and think back to events on that day in 1970. Each of us has that special day that reminds us of how Fate, Luck, and the laws of probability figure in our lives. Ernie Gann, in his book "Fate is the Hunter", discussed this at length. In order to be an Aviator, one must know Gann!

The events of that day in 1970 were most interesting and proved to be as intense as any before or since. I managed to get shot down twice in one day which for a Chinook pilot was a real trick. We had taken the war into Cambodia in pursuit of the logistical and headquarters bases for the North Vietnamese Army in that area. It was the start of Monsoon season which provided us with lots of bad weather, rain, and low cloud. The usual routine was takeoff just before Dawn, fly up to our operating areas on the border and fly until dark or just after. We were supporting the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Air Cav Division units in an area north of Tay Ninh and south of Bu Prang.

The first bit of fun that day happened while we were engaged in moving an artillery unit to a site just north of Katum. The weather had deteriorated a bit and we were forced to fly lower than we liked but had to continue the move as the choice was to finish the move or return the unit to its original location. We could not stop the movement in midstream as the unit being moved would not be able to defend itself or accomplish its mission if split into two parts.

We were hauling a sling load of 105mm howitzer projectiles and several boxes of fuses for the shells when we flew over an NVA unit of some sort and took hits from a 7.62 mm machine gun. The rounds started hitting us in the nose of the aircraft and worked their way aft with some hitting the sling load of ammo and fuses. Evidently, the fuses exploded which caused a lot of fire, smoke, and fumes to enter the aircraft. The explosion caused the aircraft to nose over and begin diving towards the ground which was not far away due to our reduced altitude. Both the Flight Engineer and I hit the cargo release to jettison the load and the other pilot and I both hauled back on the cyclic to stop the dive and by doing so over controlled slightly. We went from seeing nothing but trees in the windscreen to seeing nothing but gray clouds. I got the aircraft under control, realized we had lost power from one of the engines and had a flight control hydraulic failure. Fortuitously, Katum airstrip at the base of the Special Forces camp was close by and we made an emergency landing there. Alas, as we were landing we got tangled up in the barbed wire perimeter fencing and dragged up several hundred yards of barbed wire, trip flares, and claymore landmines. The infantry guys who had just finished putting that stuff together were not very amused at having to do it all over I guess.

Enjoying my adrenalin high.....read that as having a drug induced fit on stupidity....I walked over to a Cav Gunship team....an OH-6 Loach and two AH-1 Cobra's....and announced I would show them where some bad guys were that had just shot my aircraft up. They agreed that would be good sport and I climbed into the Loach and off we went with the two Cobra's tagging along behind. As we made our second or third orbit at tree top level in the area where the shooting had taken place, my adrenalin induced fit of stupidity faded to the point I comprehended the error of my ways. Luckily, the Cav guys could not spend long doing this ad hoc bit of flying and returned me to my aircraft. One does not have to be insane to be a Loach pilot but brother it sure helps!

We replaced the hydraulic line that had been damaged, topped of the reservoir with fresh fluid, cranked up the good engine and burned off enough fuel that we could do a single engine takeoff and flew the aircraft back to our base at Phu Loi.

While we were there we encountered two other crews who had taken hits and had returned for some needed repairs. One crew had a very narrow escape.....a round had severed one of the two hydraulic input lines on an aft rotor head servo....and creased the other. That was a million to one shot and if it had severed the second line the crew would have died without a doubt.

Lucky days can be shared it seems!

We swapped aircraft and took off for our afternoon mission staging out of a Special Forces camp known as Bu Dop. We flew a couple of flights that were pretty short and then shut down as the weather had gotten really bad....low cloud, rain, and poor visibility. We were waiting around in the hopes the weather would improve before we had to head home.

While we were setting there, a 1st Cav fellow asked me if I could fly three loads for him as his aircraft had departed for home at Phouc Vinh due to the inclement weather. He was in tears and explained he had guys that were almost out of ammo, food, and water. I inspected his three loads and they were as described them....bullets, C-rations, and jerry cans of water. As there was always some rivalry between the Cav and real aviation units like ours I offered to fly for the guy.

We hooked up the first load and headed north into Cambodia to the LZ where the Cav troops were. Due to the weather and the destination being a mountain ridge, we climbed into the murk and contacted the Ground Controlled Radar (GCA) controller at Bu Dop and got navigation vectors to the LZ. We were in almost solid cloud and at times could see straight down through small holes and see the jungle.

About halfway there we got hit by a .51 caliber AA Machine gun. The round made one heck of a "Bang" when it hit....especially being so close to me. The round came into the aircraft on my right side, angling up from the rear edge of the chin bubble, striking the pedal under my left foot removing the pedal, and exited out the left side of the chin bubble. My first impression was of thinking "What the Hell happened?" My left leg was jammed back under the seat, the aircraft had taken a huge jump, and almost instantly I was sitting in a fire. The round evidently severed some hydraulic lines when it removed the pedal.

At this point....things got a bit intense. We were in cloud, on fire in the cockpit, and somewhere over Cambodia in a mountainous area occupied by thousands of bad guys. We had a quick Chinese Parliament over the intercom and determined we were still flying, had flight controls, no longer had the slingload, and decided to find a place to put the aircraft down. We could not do so and finally elected to climb back up and try to return to Bu Dop.

The fire finally burned itself out, we got picked up on Radar by the kind folks of Bu Dop GCA, did a radar controlled approach to the runway and landed safely.

I was treated for burns and a shrapnel wound to my leg and was evacc'ed to Bien Hoa Field Hospital. Later I was transferred to Camp Zama Army hospital in Japan and finally to Fort Bragg.

That is why I consider June 17th, my Glad To Be Alive Day along with the luckiest day of my life!

This June 17th was another lucky day....Shannon called and wanted to meet for lunch in New Bern. I threw on my go to town duds.....grabbed some canvas items that needed some attention by Cedric the Canvas Man....and hot footed it south. We had a good meal at Ratty's....walked the docks at the Sheraton....hit a couple of flea market shops....introduced her to Cedric as being my wife (but later admitted otherwise) and had a good time talking. John Townsley called and commented about this post.....he and I flew together when he was a door gunner and crew chief in my unit and is the guy that organizes tours to Vietnam where I met Shannon a couple of years ago.

Anytime you hear from old comrades in arms.....and get some hugs from a very pretty young lady is a darn good day! Poking fun at Cedric who is a very gentlemanly English fellow is good sport as well.

Heck....even Frady came running when I pulled in at the boat in Edenton....but then he was looking for his dinner....matter of fact I bought Shannon's lunch....hmmm....maybe there is a correlation there?