We are sitting nice and snug in a slip in Hampton VA, at the Hampton public Piers, like the city dock in down town Annapolis, letting the rain and wind of a noreaster blow through.
Before we left, Greg’s co. hosted a “semi-retirment” dinner party . There were some nice things said about him….everyone laughed a lot and ate a lot of really great food!! They gave him a couple of nice gifts and this special picture…..
Thanks to GPStrategies….we are now the boat out here with the worlds longest ethernet cable!! Thank you to all at GP for the special evening, the gifts and especially the friendships! Also thanks to our son, Keith, who is the Ex chef and GM of Factors Row, where we had the scrumptious dinner!! The whole evening was very special to us.
Also…a couple that we have become good friends with came over to say good bye, the night before we left, and gave us a poem that she had written for us. They have been cruising to the Bahamas for 8 winters and are so excited that we are going to go do what they have been doing and love so much. It was such a special gift and is hanging framed in our boat right now. Thank you William and Frances you will never know what an encouragment you have been to Greg and me!
He quieted the sea with His Power
He quieted the sea with His power
Our first day started out with a beautiful sunrise as we left the dock and headed out of the marina.
The winds were light so we moved along at about 4 knots….feeling at times like we were on a busy highway as we passed lots of ships…..actually they passed us.
Greg put the fishing lines out….but all we did was fish….no catching today.
We passed Cove Point Lighthouse.
During the day we had a temperature alarm that went off several times on the alternator. So when we got to Solomon’s we went to a marina and had their mechanic, Chuck, come down and check it. Turns out the “new” alternator we had had put in just a few months ago was bad…..So Chuck installed the old one we had kept for a back up and we will swap the bad one for another one and store it away for a back up…..hoping we never need it…..but now know why we have so many spares on board!!
Then we motored up Mill Creek and dropped our anchor…and sat in the cockpit eating dinner with this beautiful sunset.
We were thankful for God’s provision today and for his beauty that is all around us.
He quieted the sea with his Power
Hello out there in blog world….how’s everybody doing?
We are great here!! We’ve been busy working on Paperbird….trying to get this adventure started!! And we are almost ready!!
Over the winter we did a complete over haul of the engine room…cleaned the bilges, put in new bulge pumps…had new gelcoat put on the bed of the engine room….covered the walls with new insulation….moved and installed new filters ….and Greg got a shiny new engine for Christmas!!
After the snow melted and spring arrived….it’s just wrong to shovel snow off the deck of a boat!!…..we continued the work by installing electronics and making an awning for shade.
Next we put up an alternate back stay antennae for an HF radio….yes, another trip up the mast…for GREG!!….and installed solar panels….YES, off the grid!!
We have friends from Church that we’re sure think we’ve lost our minds…..some came down to see for themselves what we are always yakking about.
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We are almost ready to head south and see what “cruising” really is all about….Stay tuned for post from exotic or not so exotic ports!!
He quieted the sea with His power
Over the winter we installed our auto pilot, George. Several boxes of components. And even then we had a fabricate a few more. Lots of headscratching, diagramming, drilling, measuring, more headscratching and more measuring.
But now George is a faithful crewmember. He doesn’t eat much (amps), doesn’t make a mess, but does a great job standing watch!
Last week we left Dividing Creek on the Wye River, on a beam reach, all the way to Herring Bay….with George at the helm all the way. Winds built to 15-20 kts, our speed increased, but George never complained.
It’s great fun to watch kids learn to sail, especially very young kids. Recently Keith, Kim and their kids went out with us for a day on the Bay. Noah spent most of the day figuring things out. How the winches worked, what various lines do, how to tie (or mostly untie) knots. Ropes always seem to fascinate kids. Hours of fun can be spent just messing with a few ropes!
Blue Heron
8/5/12 The last couple of weekends were hot and stinky on the Chesapeake. So we decided it would be a great time to install Lyn’s new wind instruments. Of course, it’s never as easy as you think.
Most of the cabin headliner had to come off in order to get access to the back of the cockpit coaming to install the gauge and to snake the cable up from the bilge.
Earlier this summer, we moved the speed/depth gauge to the coaming and left it offset a little to make room for a future wind instrument. Shoulda just bought the wind instruments back then and done them both at the same time. parental security <sigh> Maybe we’ll wait a few months and then add something else to the coaming….
Side by side – lookin’ good! As an added benefit, with both the instruments connected via NMEA, it means we’ll now be able to read both true and apparent wind, and boat speed and VMG. Never had that before so it’ll be fun to learn how to use that info.
Next phase was the stuff at the top of the mast. This was our first time to try out our new hoist plan using the spin halyard run forward to the anchor windlass instead of the halyard winch. Worked great!
There was plenty of room on the masthead, but it took longer than planned. Turns out drilling the holes and then tapping in the screws was more challenging than planned. Snapping off the first drill bit didn’t help. Very thankful to have stuck an extra bit in the tool bag!
How long did it take? Long enough for my legs to go numb. Kinda hard to stand up when you finally reach the deck again!
Of course, I had to snap a couple pics from the top. Here’s the ever-popular view straight down.
And a view of the marina looking north from our slip. So many boats! All different. Some used a bunch. Some not so much.
Vacation on the Southern Chesapeake Bay
7/21/12 We’ve never really been to the southern part of the Chesapeake. I’ve passed through it a couple times and we’ve driven around it, but not sailed it. So the Dalby’s joined us and off we went for a week long trip.
The wind started off out of the North so it was a good chance to try our old cruising spin on Paperbird. It’s a little small, but works nicely. Small made it easy to handle which could come in handy when it’s just the 2 of us.
We decided to read and discuss Keller new book on marriage during the trip. It’s a little wordy but made for some good discussions along the way. His core message: become best friends with your spouse. Spend time together and cultivate shared interests and hobbies. Between the Dalby’s and us, we have well over 60 years of marriage so I guess we’re doing OK so far.
Of course the week couldn’t pass completely without a project or 2. We finally sorted out the rest of the mast wiring harness. Turns out a couple of the 12V breakers were mislabeled. Shoulda known to test everything, assume nothing.
The grill got some good workouts starting with fresh striped bass on day 1.
We visited a couple of museums along the way. This one in Solomon’s with some very interesting restored old boats. It’s interesting to see how purpose-built boats on the Chesapeake were. Shallow drafts for the thin water, wide beams for working and lots of sail area to catch the light winds.
Of course, ice cream was at the top of our shore search list!
Beautiful scenery! The southern Bay is different than the middle Bay. Wider, fewer boats, fewer towns. Different but beautiful all the same.
Footnote: Friday night on the way back north, we anchored in Mill Creek behind Solomons at about 8:00 after a 70 mile day starting in Deltaville, VA. During dinner in the cockpit, we saw occasional heat lightening to the west. Since the temps had been in the upper 90s, conditions were ripe for thunderstorms. We had tucked up against the west bank of the creek in about 15 ft of water. Just in case, we secured everything on deck and got the boat ready for a blow. A little after 11, we turned in and listened to the VHF weather. They said a line of storms was moving quickly through the mid-Atlantic with very strong winds. About 10 min later, we heard the trees on the riverbank rustling as that very strong wind, the derecho, neared. We jumped up, fired up the engine just in case and watched as the winds blew like crazy for about 30 min. Later we learned that peak winds were reported at 70-80 kts. Maybe. But not at deck level. Best guess maybe 40-50 kts at most.
Couple things were in our favor. We were tucked up against the west bank which sheltered us somewhat. The derecho moved so fast that the winds never reversed like in a normal storm. So we sailed back and forth a little, but mostly just hung back on the chain. And, most importantly, no one else was anchored anywhere near us. One boat had pulled anchor about 8:30 or 9 and left. Hopefully he was secure before the winds hit.
Interestingly, the next morning, a trawler was anchored not far from us. He wasn’t there during the storm. Not sure when he arrived.
6/3/12 For the 3 day weekend, we decided to head over to the Choptank River and play it by ear – or by wind, really. We left Sat AM and sailed across the Bay in a slightly stronger than forecast southerly breeze. Just about perfect sailing weather.
We passed the infamous, and now abandoned, Sharpe’s Island lighthouse. Knocked a little crooked in 1977 by an ice floe, it’s makes for good pictures!
We spent the first night in Baby Owl Cove. It’s a snug little bowl-shaped cove off Leadenham Creek. Quiet, great holding for the anchor and very peaceful. Of course, then we had to figure out our next stop.
We had to go for dinghy ride (had to), a short swim (still a little cool)…
and, of course, try a little fishing. Very little… – fishing, not catching. 🙁
The next night we headed over to Flatty Cove just past Oxford. Not a bad spot in a southerly breeze. In anything else it would be a little rolly.
We finally passed the breakin period on the new dinghy engine so we could have fun taking turns ripping around the anchorage!
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All in all, a fantastic weekend. The sailing was excellent, the cool water kept the temps just right, and the fellowship great.
It feels like we’re finally shifting from pure project mode to sailing mode. Finally!
