THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410070338
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ron Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
For sailors who never seem to find time to cast off the lines and sail away from the dock, the next best thing is dreaming of voyages to be taken when the time is right.
A treasure for adventurers planning to challenge the sounds and rivers of northeastern North Carolina is the revised edition of ``The Cruising Guide to Coastal North Carolina.''
The updated version that came out this summer is full of tidbits that can make life better on the water for newcomers to the area like me, or for old timers who may want to seek out unvisited waters.
The original book and the revised edition are the work of Claiborne S. Young, an inlander who may have the best job in all of North Carolina. He spends his life traveling the waters of the southeast and providing sailors and other watermen and women with details that can erase much of the worry about traveling into new territory.
The 1973 graduate of North Carolina State - with a degree in economics and literature - wrote his first Carolina cruising guide in 1983, and has been making a living ever since with his boating and writing. His other cruising books take readers around Florida, South Carolina, the Gulf Coast and Georgia.
Young, 43, learned to love water as a lad, and he's rarely been far from the water since, although he makes his home in Elon College.
He prides himself on never writing about anything he hasn't seen. He usually travels in speedy power boats to save time, but he's a sailor at heart and says that cruising sailors probably get more use out of his books than anyone else.
``There are no ads in the books, so I can tell it like I see it without worrying about offending an advertiser,'' Young said during a trip to the Outer Banks. ``I like to tell sailors where to eat, and where to anchor, something about the marinas around, and some history of the place.''
So what does he think about sailing in the sounds and rivers of northeast North Carolina?
He says the Albemarle Sound is ``consistently overlooked'' by cruising boaters and suggests that with its eight navigable rivers it offers ``the largest group of cruising opportunities in North Carolina.''
However, he points out that the sound is not a mecca for boaters who need a lot of creature comforts, since ``facilities are few and far between, unusual for a body of water its size.''
But he says that for sailors seeking solitude there are no finer waters because ``the cruising boater can anchor far from the most remote vestige of civilization.
``A night spent under the stars here may lead one to believe that this is what cruising is all about.''
Young describes Edenton as ``one of coastal North Carolina's loveliest communities.'' And he says that the welcoming program for cruising boaters at Elizabeth City headed by Fred Fearing is the warmest he's ever encountered, and makes the town a ``must'' stop for sailors.
He also urges water travelers to sample the offerings around Roanoke Island because they'll be rewarded ``with beautiful, open and little-used waters.''
The guide, packed with photos and helpful drawings of ports and harbors, is produced by Watermark Publishing and sells for $24.95.
I found it a big help when I sailed the Wind Gypsy from Virginia to Manteo in the summer, and it makes great reading if the wanderlust strikes when the time isn't right to head out.
But if there's ever a right time to cast off the lines in North Carolina it is now.
It doesn't get any better than this around the Albemarle, with fresh winds, balmy temperatures, flat waters - and rarely a thunderstorm.
See you on the sound. by CNB