day nine - the Bight

Tap, tap, tap. Not yet dawn. Maybe a light rain. Wake at first light. Clear skies. Tap, tap, tap. I realize it is the sound of shrimp snapping below SPARTINA.A cinnamon bun and iced tea at CRU. No rush to leave. Slack tide at Beaufort Inlet is 8:00. Cast off 7:20 with a solid west wind. 7:30 sails up just off the docks. 7:30 tacking into the wind at 2.5 to 4.0. No traffic in the channel and a beautiful morning. 7:50 round the west end of Bird Shoal and see the inlet to the south.Red marker "6: shows the beginnings of the ebb tide. 7:55 passing the southern tip of Radio Island. Shackleford Banks to the southeast, 3.3 into the inlet. 8:05 into the inlet, 5.0 with wind on the starboard beam, rolling in the swells. 8:05 out of the inlet, watching a shrimp boat coming out of the inlet behind me. The shrimper turns east and drags her nets in the shallows off Shackleford Banks. We turn to port, wind on the starboard quarter, raise the centerboard for the downwind run. Making 3.9 with waves…