A sunrise start was necessary to time the first of three bridges that opened either on the hour or half hour. That resulted in a combined delay of about one hour. Mild temperatures and a gentle afternoon breeze from the south resulted in plenty of motor sailing with full main and jib. An enormous wildfire in the Croatian National Forest was visible from a distance and from our anchorage in Swanboro.
Upon entering the harbor and rolling in the main, the spare halyard used to raise Christmas lights rolled up inside the mast along with the topping lift to which this spare halyard was attached. The main was now hopelessly jammed halfway furled. As Debbie followed the ICW in a mostly windward direction, I wrestled with the jam, eventually by pulling on the topping lift, I was able to fully unfurl the main. However, the topping lift was still jammed inside the mast. Fortunately by loosening both the main halyard and topping lift the jam was freed and I was able to fully furl the mainsail. That spare halyard has been retired. I'll use it again but only for Christmas lights. We reentered the harbor two hours later. We decided not to go ashore. Fortunately there was only one other boat anchored. There was a strong current and a dragging anchor would have resulted in being swept into a low clearance bridge. That new anchor investment last year really paid off.
Anchorage: Swanboro Harbor
Distance today: 53 nm
Total distance: 816 nm