NORTH CAROLINA TO MONTAUK CREW MEMBERS:
Captain: Rich Freda, First Mate: John DeWitt, Sean Paxton, Brooks Paxton II

UPDATE:
04.23.07, 8:29pm, White Marlin Marina / Ocean City, MD:
We've just tied up for the night. Today was another beautiful day. We finally got out of the rootbeer colored water and made it to the green waters of the cold North Atlantic. We chopped up another 120 nautical miles leaving Portsmouth, VA last night. We're on a tight schedule with more shooting taking place tonight. However, we took advantage of some sea time to grab some highlights. We hope you're all doing well. Stay tuned for more updates. Our route has leaving tomorrow at first light and headed for our next fuel stop in Jersey City -- just across from Manhatten. That will be it before our last leg into Montauk.

Over & Out for now from the crew of the Cricket II:
Sean, Brooks, Rick & John

04-18-07
Home / North Port, FL
The beginning of another adventure as we say good-bye to the family in Florida and head for North Carolina. We've got about 14 hours ahead. Rick and John have about a dozen on the road from New York.

04-19-07
Cricket II / Beaufort, NC
There she is. Just like we left her in February. At just about 8am, we rendezvous with the rest of the crew and get to work on final preparations for a sea trial ASAP in advance of leaving on Friday..
This is the company she's been keeping -- no place for a lady like her. It's a yard we referred to as the boatyard of broken dreams.
Not approved in the budget
We we got back from a long drive into town to visit West Marine, the yard was ahead of schedule returning The Cricket II to her natural habitat. We got there just in time.
After nearly 19 months high and dry, the old girl finally gets a drink.
Among other things, the 500 HP Detroit Diesel needs a new starter. NAPA hooks it up for pick up at 7:30am. We all need to teach our pillows a lesson so it's a wrap.

DAY ONE - 04.20.07
Beaufort, NC

After Rich and John pick up a new starter at NAPA we meet back at the boat. It was nice showing up and seeing the Cricket II in the water for change ... and floating. We inspected for leaks. Everything looked good so the starter replacement was handled then we fueled up and prepared for a sea trial.
After all that, and with a gusty north wind, cold temperatures and a little nervous tension, we are actually underway.
Hard to believe as everyone takes their own little moment ...
We head north and our sea trial turns into a 40-mile run. The funny part is we left 2 rent-a-cars at the boatyard, and 2 of us still had our stuff at the hotel. A plan is made to make for New Bern, NC, slip up for the night, get a cab back to Beufort, pick up our cars at the boatyard, Brooks and I drive back to the hotel in Morehead City, get our stuff, check out, then drive back to New Bern, drop off the rentals at the airport, catch another cab to the boat, and meet up with John & Rich aboard the Cricket II. After a few hours and a $100 cab ride, the plan came together.

Home for the night -- the Sheraton Hotel & Marina in New Bern. Pretty nice digs for not knowing where the hell we were going in the first place. Preparations are made to leave early the next day and make it as far as we can. The Cricket II was configured by this time with a 100 gallon fuel tank. We carried an additional 30 gallons. We had computed an approximate 6 gallon per hour fuel burn. After looking at the map, it seemed we might almost make it out of North Carolina ... really, we had no idea just how far we might get. But we were feeling lucky.

Our first night on the boat was a cold one, but we felt good to be out of Beufort. After a hot dinner and a few cold drinks, we uploaded some updates to this story and hit our bunks. Captain Rich had our exit set for 6am.

DAY TWO - 04.21.07
New Bern , NC
It doesn't take much time to get dressed in the morning when you sleep with a few layers of clothes on. We chow down some breakfast, fuel up, pay our slippage and hit the intracoastal. Since we're navigating with only a compass and the eyes in our four heads, we'll only be running during daylight hours. With our fuel consumption, we hope to get in 10 - 12 hour days running at 7 - 10 knots. With about 500 nautical miles to go, and hopes of no major problems, we set an ambitious ETA in Montauk for Monday or Tuesday -- 3 to 4 days. Sounds good and even looks great on paper. Let's see how it turns out.
It didn't take that long, but in the end, there's no doubt we never would've made it if it weren't for Rich Freda's experience and participation. After being in dry dock and left alone for nearly two years, there were persistent mechanical issues to deal with. We never really knew what might come next, but when it came, Rich was ready.
Life on a boat. We all kept busy taking turns at the wheel, rolling a lot of tape and shooting plenty of stills. Later on, Brooks and I would turn the cabin into an onboard production studio; downloading and editing footage, writing and updating the website when we had and occasional wireless signal. Aside from his honed skills as a seaman, John DeWitt turned out to be a damn good cameraman, too.

I check my nails on the pulpit.

We stayed in this rootbear-colored water for a few days before it finally turned.

Rich gets a much-needed break and wonders how he ended up here.

Alligator Creek on the Intracoastal. 20+ miles of not much at all. Straight as an arrow, though.

Time to grab a slip, a shower and a meal for the night. Later on, we would find our first indication of real mechanical troubles with the exhaust manifold. It was coming apart so Rich advised us to, 'Go into that swamp and find some sheet metal to patch it with.' Strangely enough, that's just what we did. Then, we helped Rich work his ass off till the wee hours. It was patched, but the question was ... just how long it would last?
Good Night ...

DAY THREE - 04.22.07
Alligator Creek , NC
And, good morning ...

It's not every day you pull into a Shell Station in North Carolina and see the Cricket II tied up in the back.
Time to cook some breakfast on the engine.
We end up in a different setting than the day before in Portsmouth, VA. Turns out there's a Hooter's nearby with dockage. Where do you think we're going to eat dinner?

Let's hear it for Hooter's. They have great ... wings ... and other ... stuff. Thanks to the lovely staff for taking care of us.It's time to grab some sleep.
We have Ocean City in our sights tomorrow.