We hung out at the marina in Masonboro for as long as we could and then set out for Carolina Beach at 3:30 pm. On the way into the anchorage, we were hailed by Bill and Margie of Tortuga, another Gemini, whom we had met in January 2008 when we were in Crystal River, Florida, with our friends from Toronto, Ken and Nancy. We couldn’t make contact on the radio that night, evidently their VHF was turned down too low, but we did talk by radio the next day and learned they were on their way down to Florida as well.The windlass control failed when we dropped the anchor – it was stuck in “down” mode so all 100 feet of chain was pulled out at once. We had to disengage the control and go back to the “old fashioned” manual way of doing things. Fortunately, it was only 5 pm and not dark yet. It would have been a little dicier had we been trying to manage it in the dark.
Gale was able to take the handheld control apart and make a temporary repair. The “up” switch was worn out so he switched the wires to make “down” into “up.” This repair got us through until we could order the replacement part and have it shipped to Charleston.
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