Aboard Lady

Caribbean 1500 - Departure minus 5

Hampton, VA  37 01.05N 076 20.50W

Tuesday October 27th to Wednesday October 28th

We have been really busy getting Lady ready for her final safety inspection for the Caribbean 1500 rally and the trip offshore for 1500 miles.

One of the big items was to get the dinghy ready.  Her tubes had got soft with the cool weather, so on Tuesday it was Charlie's turn to pump them up.  We lowered her down.  As you can see we are stern in to the dock, so this made doing this task easier.  After her tubes were full, we dug her cover from the lazarette, installed it, and found straps to secure it.  Then we hoisted her up to her perch under the arch and put additional straps around her and the arch, just in cast the lines or pulleys holding her up should fail.  She now looks really snug and secure and ready for an ocean voyage.

Next project was to finish off the anchors and the anchor locker.  Charlie had fashioned a wooden plug to fill some of hole where the rode goes down in to the anchor locker while he was a bachelor at Solomons Island, waiting for me to return from England in September.  He installed it, and tied the #1 anchor down, up and sideways.  He later added plastic shelf liner that he also used in this engineering feat!

Then we had to finish the MOB  stuff.  We all know that if anybody leaves the boat while we are at sea, those left on board will keep searching for them until the food runs out.  However, safety rules require that we have all kinds of (expensive) gear aboard to try to get them back from the ocean.  One of these is a pole with a drogue, another is a horseshoe float with a light.  The horseshoe needed a place to hang, so Charlie installed a fixture for it, and then hung the horseshoe on it.

Meanwhile, I worked on provisioning.  It seems like chocolate chip cookies might be good crew snacks at 3:20 am.

We also transferred about seven gallons of diesel from the jerry cans to the main fuel tanks and refilled the cans. 

Wednesday morning it was rainy, a good time to complete paperwork, and we got the Type 1 PFDs (that the Millers on Dulcinea had given us) checked, labeled and stowed. I did more laundry after it stopped raining.

The sun came out; it got hot, and we changed in to shorts.  More and more boats, most of them bigger than Lady are coming in.  Safety inspections are underway.  Miles Poor (Karina) came by and did our final check - what a relief it is to have completed that!

We hoisted our C470 burgee, Charlie installed some ferrite cores on the new VHF radio, and we strolled the docks, visiting with other rally participants.  We feel really relieved that Lady is ready for departure, and we still have four more days to go before we leave. Hope we don't run out of booze!

  The rally has lots of seminars and events organized starting tomorrow. 

Hampton - countdown begins

Hampton, Virginia   

Thursday October 22nd to Monday October 26th, 2009

37 01.05N 076 20.50W

We left Carter Creek at daybreak.  The sun was coming over the horizon as we motored down the Rappahannock River, the ebb tide giving us a speed boost.

By 0745 we were out on the bay.  The wind was out of the south-west.  A close reach, so we unfurled sails and motor-sailed getting as far as we could as fast as possible before the tide turned.  Our log entry for 0830 shows 9.0 knots.  Shortly after 1100 the current was against us, and the rhumb-line to Hampton had the wind on our nose, so we furled sails and chugged on.

We knew we were getting closer to the sea when we spotted a pod of dolphins.

The Thimble Shoal Light marks the deep channel entrance to Hampton Roads.

We arrived at Blue Water Yachting Center, and our next departure preparations started before we even got to our slip.  We visited the fuel dock, filled both internal tanks to the max, and also 16 jerry cans that we will carry on deck.  This gives us about 144 gallons of diesel.  If there is no wind between here and the British Virgin Islands, we will be able to motor at least part of the way.

Rick and Julie (Altair) helped us tie our lines.  They were instructors at the Ocean Sailing Seminar we attended in September, and are also participants in the Carib 1500 rally.

Friday was busy.  The day was warm, and we were able to put the shorts on that we had put away in Solomons. While I did laundry and interior cleaning, Charlie worked on removing all the Chesapeake mud from the anchor locker and anchor rodes.  We used the spare genoa halyard to hoist up our second anchor and stow it on top of the third anchor in the anchor locker.  One less thing to lose overboard in heavy seas.  We checked all the running lights after dark.

Saturday, Enterprise Car rental came and picked us up, and with wheels we started on the list of errands.  The pharmacy had not yet received our prescriptions.  The Post Office was closed.  It was homecoming for Hampton University, and we were competing with a parade!

We found the local West Marine, and picked up supplies and spares we had pre-ordered, and, of course, other extra items.  Hampton's West Marine is giving the Carib 1500 participants a super discount - very sweet.  They will also provide FREE rides to their store all next week.  Then, it was on to the Newport News Sam's Club, where we purchased a lot of provisions.  It took all afternoon to re-package the meats, cheeses, butters, etc. that are now stowed deep in the freezer for use in the islands.  Dinners all week have been one-pot meals that are three times what Charlie and I need, so that the extra is in the top part of the freezer for easy-fixing dinners for four people on a heeling bouncy boat.

Sunday was more shopping at the local grocery store for items we'll need for the next week before we leave and another visit to West Marine.  Then we took some time to toured this area, going through tunnels under the rivers to get to Portsmouth and Norfolk.  This is the USS Wisconsin, on loan to the Naval Museum.

Monday - our last day with a car.  Pharmacy, Post Office, Radio Shack.  Charlie found a new tool - an infra red thermometer. Generator was exercised, fuel filters checked, more cooking.

A few more rally participants arrived today - We saw Miles Poor on Katrina who had done our preliminary safety inspection when we were in Annapolis, and met Joe on Brown Eyed Girl who is berthed opposite us on pier D.

Carter Creek Friends

Irvington, VA Tuesday October 20th to Wednesday October 21st, 2009

 After a pleasant night in the Great Wicomico River, we pulled anchor at 0920 and headed out to the bay.  We did not have too far to go, as our destination was the next river down, the Rappahannock. By 1330 Commodore Coleman Brydon of the Rappahannock River Yacht Club was helping us with our lines, and we were tethered for a couple of nights.

Scott and Kimberly Vail, formerly of Tulsa, now of Irvington, had contacted us while we were in Tulsa, when they had seen Lady on the hard at Solomons Island, and invited us to come and visit as their guests at the yacht club on our way south.  No sooner were we ashore, that we ran in to Kimberley, who took us for a drive around the village, pointing out some of the lovely homes, the White Fences vineyard with giant corkscrews outside the fences (sorry didn't have the camera with me), and other attractions.

That evening, Kimberley brought the fixings for dinner down to the club (it has a good kitchen, and they live just across the street), and we had a great time learning about their life in Irvington, since we knew them in Tulsa eleven years ago.

Other relatives (sister, sons) joined us as we had a splendid time together watching the new moon set shortly after the sun.

Since we planned on staying a second night, Wednesday was a great opportunity to walk.  We did not have far to go to get to  Scott's Yacht Brokerage  office.  Even though it was a business day for Scott, we were able to visit for over an hour; Charlie and Scott reminisced about their late twentieth century days in the oil business in Tulsa.

We walked through the village, ending up at the Tides Inn, a highly-regarded resort with a marina, a golf course and a good place to eat lunch!

On the way back, we saw a  very interesting garden featuring a statue of Liberty that Kimberley had designed; usually it has red, white and blue flowers, but this is the end of the season.

Kimberly's sister, Mitchell, and  John, Scott and Kimberly's seven-year-old son came by to visit after school.

That evening, our Catalina 470 friends, Bill and Lynne Phelps (Outpost), had invited us to Lynne's Virginia home in Weems for dinner.  Weems is just on the other side of Carter Creek from Irvington, so Lynne came to pick us up at the Yacht Club, and it took about seven minutes to get over to her gorgeous home.  Bill was preparing to move Outpost to his Florida house in Marathon, and had crew John and Pat there as well as neighbors Buddy and Pam, who are also members of Rappahannock River Yacht Club.  Lynne and Pat fixed a delicious dinner of rockfish, which we all enjoyed.

Lady and her crew had a wonderful time and can't wait to visit ICarter Creek again!

Another stop at Solomons Island

Solomons Island, Maryland  

Wednesday October 14th to Monday October  19th, 2009

After a night at anchor, we left the Rhode River and stopped at Herrington Harbor South around lunchtime for fuel.  Our friends John and Colleen Miller had offered to lend us their Type 1 PFDs, required equipment for the Carib 1500, so we picked them up from Dulcinea.  After a blustery day, with decreasing weather, we were glad to anchor off the mooring field near Zahniser's Yachting Center in Solomons Island.

We moved to the dock on Thursday, rented a car on Friday, and spent a lot of time doing errands.  Sooty visited the vet and had a check-up and all the shots he needed for the big trip south.  The weather was nasty.  Near record cold and rain throughout the weekend.  We felt sorry for the people who were exhibiting at the power boat show in Annapolis.

Saturday we moved around to the Mill Creek area and dropped an anchor, put on full foul weather gear for the dinghy ride and went ashore for a great party given by Catalina 470 friends High and Paula MacNeil (Barra).  We met lots of interesting people, even a couple who charter in the BVI's, so we hope to meet up with them again a in a month or so.  It was cold enough that we started the generator to run the heat for the cabin, and it overheated after an hour, and Charlie could not get it to restart.  So, after a cold night and chilly morning, we went in to Zahnisers dock to plug in to shore power and wait until Monday for a generator mechanic.

We phoned Hugh and Paula, and they came over Sunday evening, and we all went out for Mexican food together.

Jim Franklin showed up at 8:05 am Monday, and showed Charlie how to bleed fuel from the generator when it overheats, and by 10:30 we were off.

The rain had finally stopped, and we had a great sail out on the bay, crossing the wide entrance to the Potomac River.  We passed a coast guard ship, Frank Drew, doing maintenance to the aids to navigation.

At about 1700 we entered the Great Wicomico River and anchored behind Sandy Spit.  By the time it was dark, four other transient sailboats were anchored there with us.

   

Catalina 470 Owners Rendezvous at Annapolis

Annapolis, Maryland    The Yacht Basin

October 8th to 13th, 2009

Jim Wohlleber  (Beckoning...) suggested some time ago that the Catalina 470s that were in the area meet in Annapolis the weekend of the sail boat show, and we decided to join them.  He reserved us fabulous slips at the Yacht Basin.

Lady 

was the first of the 470s to arrive, getting there Thursday morning, after watching the Navy practice man-overboard drills in the Severn River as we came in from Weems Creek, where we had spent the night. 

We waved at Outpost, with Lynne and Tim Phelps aboard as we entered the marina.

Dulcinea, with Jim and Collen Miller came in that afternoon, followed by Beckoning...with not only Jim and his friend Yvonne, but also Mike and Maureen Yorke from Certa Cito, who spent the weekend aboard.

Thursday night the crews of Beckoning and Lady went to a party given for Carib 1500 participants, past and current.  We met some of the other people who are going to participate this year, and found friends from the SSCA gam there as well.

Friday, Charlie and I attended the boat show, and shopped for equipment that we need to the trip to the Caribbean.  We got charts, lights, wrenches, medicines for Lady, and a darling skirt for me.  Outpost was the fourth C-470 to arrive at the marina.

Jim hosted a great cocktail party based on Beckoning... at the dock that night.  There were quite a few C-470 owners in the area who were able to come.

Saturday I did some grocery shopping and then spent most of the afternoon cooking chile for the group's dinner that evening.  A good day for it, as it became progressively colder over the day. Colleen Miller and Lynne Phelps helped a lot with pots and salsa and margaritas!

Almost twenty enjoyed the meal on Dulcinea and Lady that evening.  Lots of fun, and lots of new friends.

Old friends also came by to visit while we in port.  It was fun to see Norm and Jan (English ARK)  from Kemah, Paula and Dave (Dreamtime II)  from the Abacos, and Thierry (Curlew) from Florida and the Bahamas.

We left on Sunday, and spent a couple of nights at Weems Creek, while the weather did not improve.  Mike stopped by to visit on Monday, and on Tuesday, after having a preliminary inspection for the Carib 1500 in Eastport, we headed south to Solomons Island.

Maryland Rivers - 2

October 2nd to October 7th, 2009  39 01.011N 076 32.117W

On Friday, we said good-bye to High Priority and Beckoning at Pirates Cove, planning on meeting everyone again in a week at the Annapolis Boat Show.  After departing the West River, we unfurled sails, and had a great ride north up the Chesapeake, under the bridges and entered the Magothy River.  Quite a narrow entrance, but lots of room once inside, and we explored around. It looked like there was a marina that would be a good place to pick up Mike when he came down for the day, and we found a lovely quiet anchorage in the back of Old Man Creek.

Saturday October 3rd we picked up Mike at the Magothy Marina, and worked on making a deviation table for Lady as we motored out to the mouth of the river in fairly slack water with not too much breeze.  After lunch we had a lovely day-sail out on the bay.   Mike tried to catch a fish, but no luck. 

I finally finished the blanket I have been knitting for Anna Louise.  I started it when I was in England last November.  Charlie's joke was that she would be attending OU by the time I got it finished.  It felt quite strange to be going back to the same place we started from, but we dropped anchor in about the same place as the evening before, and took Mike back to the Marina by dinghy.

October 4th
After another peaceful night at Old Man Creek, we had the wind behind us for a great sail down the Magothy.  Lots of others out on this lovely Sunday afternoon.  A great reach out on the bay, but after we got under the bridges, the wind turned on our nose, and we started engine and doused sails.  A cruise through the anchorage at Annapolis showed all the moorings occupied (we are too large a vessel for most of the city's moorings), although many of them were off limits, as the town was getting ready for the boat show.  Weems Creek off the Severn River has lots of boats on moorings, and also the U.S. Navy has moorings there that they use if a hurricane is headed to Annapolis, but are available at other times.  The Navy moorings were all occupied, so we dropped a hook, and  gave Mike directions to the dinghy ramp at the back of the creek.  We picked him up there and had a relaxing afternoon.  Some deer came along the shore as Mike was still was not able to catch a fish.

October 5th
We dinghied ashore and walked into Annapolis, about a mile and a half to the Ego Alley area.  Preparations for the boat show were in full swing.  The Island Packets were the first boats being brought in, tents were being erected, busy workers in red hats everywhere.  We checked out the Yacht Basin, where we had a reservation for the weekend, determined which was our slip and the best way to get in to it.  We did some shopping at Fawcetts, a chandlers there downtown, had an outside lunch at  harbourside pub, and did some shopping at some of the cute stores along the main street.  We were able to pick up a FREE trolley at the top of the main street that took us most of the way back.  There was a grocery store and a bakery close to the dinghy ramp, so we were able to get a few provisions as well.

October 6th-7th
The forecast was for 40 knot winds for the next day, so we wanted to explore the Severn River some more and find a secure place for Lady when the big winds hit.  There were lots of beautiful homes, lovely woods. We went all around St Helena Island, but decided that we could perhaps find a better place to spend the next day.  Clements Creek had steep banks, only developed on one side, and although there were a number of private docks and moorings, there were also eight Navy moorings, all available!  We tied our lines to Navy mooring 2, and were secure for the night and all the next day when the wind did indeed blow quite hard.  We did not see 40 knots, but did see over 25 on our anemometer.

We got some boat maintenance done - put additional water repellent on the bimini top, and also some more preparation for our Carib 1500 passage - we made sure that the dinette would work as a sea berth, practiced using the SSB radio for email and getting weather faxes and inventoried our SOLAS flares and charts.

More Maryland Rivers - 1

Clements Creek, Severn River

September 28^thto October 1st, 2009 38 59.889N 076 30.197W

 

Monday morning, there were still lots of boats in the anchorage off Camp Letts in the Rhode Riverafter the Gam was over.  The weather forecast was for strong winds for a few days, so we decided to stay put and wait for lighter winds before moving on.  We are able to purchase ice at one of the marinas on the north shore.

The Honey Dipper, a pump-out boat came by, and we emptied the holding tanks.  Mike, the captain, informed us that he had another customer with a similar boat – Beckoning…which he told us was berthed at Pirates Cove, Galesville on the West River.  If you look at the link to our positions, you can see that the Rhode River and the West River seem to share an entrance off the Chesapeake Bay.

We could see over on the shore to our west a couple of huge chimneys, and Tuesday we took the dinghy over that direction.  We found a ramp near a small cluster of houses, so we landed and walked up the hill.  The chimneys were part of a ruined house high on the hill.  Signs directed us to the Smithsonian Environmental Reseach Center’s Visitor Center, so we walked further along the road, through lovely woods and stopped by the Center for a few minutes (they were getting ready to close by the time we got there), before walking back to the dinghy through the woods.

We worked on getting the new solar panels wired – three trips into the lazarette for me, and successfully got one of them connected and producing amps, but did not have enough wire for the second.

Charlie had phoned Jim Wohlleber, owner of Beckoning, and he told us that there was a marine hardware store in Galesville, so Wednesday morning we motored down the Rhode River a few miles, then up the West River and were able to get a berth at Pirates Cove Marina, and met Jim in person.  Galesville is quite small…there are a couple of antique shops, only open at the weekend, and a temporarily closed liquor store, about three restaurants and a number of marinas.  We needed a few provisions, but there is no grocery store in the village, but I walked a mile to the highway, and found a convenience store/gas station.  No limes, but I did get milk, cooking oil and chocolate chips.  When I returned, I was pleased that a third Catalina 470 had pulled in – Ron and Ingred Libitsky’s High Priority.  We met Ron and Ingred last fall as we headed down the ICW to Pompano Beach – a lovely evening at their home.  The local boats were racing Wednesday evening; Jim was crewing on one of them, but after the racing, he joined us and Ron and Ingred for the boaters buffet at Pirates Cove. 

As Charlie was washing the boat that day, I discovered a leak!  The starboard aft hanging locker had water coming down the inside, and many of my clothes had a wet right sleeve.

The following day, in addition to finishing off the solar panel installation, now that we had additional wire, finding the leak was high on the list.  I turned out that the hole drilled in the deck for the new wire to come through was the problem, and we were able to fix it with creative engineering and lots of silicon.

After two days with C-470 friends, we departed on Friday October 2nd.