Thur. 8/19/04

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	*Letter from Periauger:* Thursday, August 19th., Oriental. Hello everyone! What can I say? Early Thursday morning in New Bern was spectacular - if you are a motor boat. This is a travel day for the fleet. But something wasn't right from the start because as I woke up to the sunrise I found myself in a new location away from Twilight Time. Word has it that our commander and his bosom buddy Bill were coming back from emailing at midnight and hatched a scheme to fool my motley crew when they stepped out of Twilight Time in the morning. (That crew is fairly easy to fool early in the morning - and they were startled to see only the dock "welcome" mat sitting where I had been. Boys will be boys with their toys!) The tow on the hot flat water was fine for me. I just gently swung from side to side in long lazy arcs in Destiny's gentle wake. Commander John radioed everyone that my best cruising speed was 6.4 knots - that point where I just settled in with my bow cutting and my wake wave lifting my stern. Destiny said she didn't feel the strain at all and her occasional mild diesel fumes were perfume to me - because I was on the water! My friend Kiwi Magic left New Bern about 30 minutes later but then passed us (oh, so gently) and went on ahead to meet us at the three hour point (which they calculated to be 18 nautical miles ahead), where they anchored and prepared lunch. Twilight Time did the same. By the time we stopped so the humans could eat, my crew was pretty happy to be shuttled over to Kiwi and to get some relief from the sun and the boredom. They had practiced making an awning on Wednesday morning, but thought they would rather suffer from the heat than put it up again. Some group decision! So when my commander asked Bill if any were looking overheated, he said 'no, but maybe they could all stay aboard Kiwi and he would just ride her himself.' (Check out the pictures of Bill in a state of true boredom! There is one other that was not appropriate to put on the web site...) They were very grateful - and Bill must be a glutton for punishment. But Bill and I did have a nice time together. He likes to be on the water just like me. Things got better for all of us as we neared Oriental harbor because the wind came up! So my commander, bless his heart, called Kiwi Magic and asked her to shuttle the crew out to me so we could sail into Oriental. By the time Noel got his dinghy ready, the waves meant a wet ride for him and the crew, but it cooled them off! The crew was getting so wet that they rolled aboard and kissed me! Mr. McKechie estimated that his dinghy had 9 inches of water in it Bill released me from Destiny and we were off. As Destiny circled and led us in, I saw photographers on the docks, so my crew took me to a smooth landing in front of a crowd of towering fishing and shrimp boats. I felt right at home when they whistled and called out "Ahoy mate!" After tying me up, there was great discussion at dock side between commander John and Bill and Larry (the historian that dug me out of all those research papers, starting 20 year's ago!). They were discussing some things they could do to improve my sail set and handling, so tomorrow I may get a boat's equivalent of a chiropractic adjustment. Good night, Periauger

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