Month: June 2016

9 May 2016 – Hampton, VA – Deltaville, VA … and our near encounter with the US Navy

The harbor between Hampton and Norfolk is often filled with many different types of vessels.  Today we saw a US Navy submarine approaching.

Radio broadcasts alerted us to this and they requested all vessels keep a distance of at least 500 yards/450 meters from the submarine.  Two US Navy boats were escorting the submarine through the harbor.

We think we got a little closer than they may have been comfortable with and this nice Navy boat made sure he was between us and the sub.  Yes, that is a big gun he is holding.

We don’t know what he thought of us, and he must have assessed we were no real threat.  We waved as we passed by and it was kind of cool to have a heavily armed friendly USN sailor wave back to us.

After this we then officially re-entered the Chesapeake Bay and celebrated the fact that there was wind and space to sail as we unrolled the genoa and enjoyed some motorsailing.  Our friends were near us and were able to take a photo of us underway – it is very rare when we are able to get a photo of us under sail.

We made our way to Deltaville, Virginia where we would spend 2 nights because …. you guessed it…. rain and cold was in the forecast for the next day.

But because we were here for a second night we were able to enjoy this beautiful sunset.

 

Sunday – 8 May 2016 – Another day in Hampton, Virginia

Sunday morning would be spent tearing the aft cabin apart, tearing the forward cabin/salon apart to access the cabinet where all the manuals are kept and start troubleshooting our electrical problem.

Bob pulled out his tools and voltmeter (which meant tearing the galley and nav station apart) and discovered the battery is dead….dead batteries are a running theme at the moment.  Replacing the voltmeter battery was easy and he was now ready to start testing things.

To test the voltage regulator is a 3 step process.  First with the engine off – all is fine.  Second with the ignition on and engine off – all is fine.  Third requires starting the engine to do the test.  Turn off all electric, disconnect shore power and start engine.  (The starting battery again got charged over night by the shore power so it started easily.)  With engine started and RPMs raised to above idle we noticed the volt meter now showed over 14 (yesterday was under 13) which is the normal and acceptable level.  Turning on the combiners so the starting battery and bow thruster battery were included the volt meter now read 16 which is what we are accustomed to.  (We don’t know if it “should” be like this, but it is how it has been ever since we replaced the batteries so many months ago.)  Okay — problem is no longer a problem.  Everything is working fine – but for no apparent reason.  It is possible that there had been a loose connection that got “fixed” by Bob’s fiddling with wires.

Sooooo….. magic happened, or the mystery plot will thicken as we move forward, but for now, unless the builder warns us otherwise we will move on up the Bay tomorrow as originally planned, knowing that the next marina we are scheduled to stay also has a good service yard….just in case.

 

7 May – Great Bridge, VA to Hampton, VA

Goodbye ICW

We ended up staying in Great Bridge a second day because the weather forecast was for rain, rain, rain.  We were still hoping one of the other boats in front or behind us would leave first.  But no such luck, as we woke up today with both neighbors still in place.

We prepared to leave the dock in order to make the 0800 opening of the Great Bridge Bridge.

The engine started easily as it had gotten a full charge from the shore power overnight, so that was a bit of good news.

First challenge of the day was how the heck are we going to get out of the slip.  The wind driven current seemed to be in our favor, and the owners of the boat behind us assisted with our dock lines from the dock.  They untied the bow line and the bow just drifted away from the dock. The spring line was next while our neighbor pushed the stern out so the dinghy would clear the pilings on the dock. And with what appeared to be a very easy maneuver Bob slid us safely away from boats and dock.

We had 15 minutes to wait before the bridge opening and basically had to sit still in the river which is always a challenge. There were at least 6 other boats waiting for the bridge at the same time.  But thankfully there is not any real current and Bob was able to keep us at a standstill without too much stress or challenge.

Immediately after the bridge is the only lock of this Northbound route we are on.  The lock is timed with the bridge opening so we knew we would be proceeding into the lock directly.  If we were tied up on the port side the wall was rubberized and fenders were not essential.  However, if we were tied up on the starboard side wall, fenders were necessary to protect the boat.  Of course we wouldn’t know which side we would be assigned to until we got there, so we took advantage of the “wait” time at the bridge to prepare the starboard side of the boat by tying 4 fenders and the fender board (a piece of wood that is placed to span two rubber fenders hanging from the life lines to give more horizontal protection).  And one fender on port side.  Dock lines were out and could easily be attached to either side.

We then heard on the radio a large tug boat was approaching and asking the bridge tender to hold the bridge for him, which he obliged.  Everyone caters to the large tugs.

Finally the bridge went up and on we go.  As we approach the lock, there appears to be enough space on the port side wall, and we head that way, handing the bow and stern dock lines to the lock tender ass he loops them over the lock cleats and hands us the free ends.  (Lock lesson in case you don’t remember from our trip south…. the lock is a basin where they either fill with water or drain of water so boats can transit the channel with different depths on either end.)

With today’s lock we would be rising a mere 4 feet/1.2 meters.  As we were now prepared for the process, Christina busied herself moving a couple fenders from the starboard side to the port side just to give the boat a bit more protection from the padded wall.

Remember that big tug at the bridge?  Well he too is coming through the lock and begins to make his way in when the lock tender yells at him to back off a couple of times.  The lock tender declares that recreational boats come in first and leave first or else the tug would create too much wake/movement and cause potential damage.  We watched the tug begin to back up.  But wait –  there is a recreational power yacht right behind him!  There were some quick maneuvers done by both and there was no major incident and the power vessel was finally able to make its way around the tug.  I think the captain of the recreational boat got a bit of a scare though.

The tug finally made its way into the lock but as it made its turn toward the wall, the stern came uncomfortably close to the boat behind us (the same boat that was behind as at the marina last night).  If it had been my boat I would have been a bit stressed as the sailboat folks could reach out and almost touch the tug before he brought the stern in toward the wall. That is alot of trust that the tug knew what he was doing.

The southend of the lock closed and the lock began to fill with water as we gently rose the 4’.  Agreement was made to let the power vessels out of the lock first as they go faster than the sail boats, then the sail boats and finally the tug.  All vessels proceeded out of the lock in an orderly fashion without incident and away we go to the next (and last) drawbridge of the day 5 miles away.  3 of the sailboats were moving significantly faster than us and pulled away quite a bit and approached the next bridge long before us.

Knowing that the bridge tender may be loathe to open the bridge twice in a short span of time, we radioed ahead when we we were just over a mile away (further out than usual) to let him know 2 more sailboats were coming and would be requesting an opening.  This early communication served us well as the bridge tender told the other 3 sailboats he was going to wait for us and have us all pass on the same opening.  Otherwise we would have had to wait for at least another half hour for a 2nd opening.

As we finally came into sight the bridge tender radioed us to “turn the screws a bit faster” and so we pushed the engine harder than normal to get up to the bridge more quickly.  All went well as he raised the bridge and the first 3 boats proceeded as we barreled down (barreling down for us at least) to and through the bridge.  We thanked the bridge tender for waiting for us and we continued on our way.

Shortly after this we passed mile marker 0 and officially left the ICW behind.

In the harbor we saw two sailboats apparently playing “chicken” with the large cargo ship. There was no harm done, but we really do wonder what some people are thinking sometimes.

We meandered past Portsmouth and through Norfolk harbor to the Hampton River where we would be spending the next two nights.  Two nights because the wind on Sunday was forecast to be strong from the north and we didn’t want to have to deal with it.  Instead of the marina in the middle of downtown Hampton where we had stayed last time that had a nasty current which made docking a major challenge, we opted for another marina which was further from town, but with less current.  They advertised a free water taxi that would take us to downtown so we thought that would work out well.

We still needed a pumpout so as we approached the marina we got directions for the pumpout dock.  Using the bow thruster a little bit to maneuver into the slip we arrived and got pumped out.  We got directions to the slip we would be tying up to and told the dock hands we would go stern in (which makes it easier for departure) with a starboard tie so fender and dock lines wouldn’t have to be moved, thinking we would keep things simple for ourselves.

Throughout the day we had noticed the voltage was showing less than 13 (less and less than before) and that generated a bit of a concern (per the books this should be between 13 and 14).  When it was time to start the engine to move to our slip the engine did not start.  UGH!  Battery was dead. Yeap – it is confirmed we have a problem.  The dock was able to loan us a portable battery jumper unit and we jumped the starting battery.  But in order to do that we had to empty out the “garage” also known as the aft cabin to access the battery.  One more hassle.

We were very lucky that we hadn’t raised the sails to take advantage of the good wind earlier like we had thought about.  Because if we had, most likely we would not have been able to start the engine to get to the marina, and we would have had to call the towboat or try to sail in – which would have been a definite challenge and another level of stress we really didn’t need.

To get out of the basin of the pumpout dock, required a tight U turn which Bob used the bow thruster to help maneuver.  As we proceeded down that fairway and make our way to the next one we started to think through the whole battery situation, just then realizing that if the starting battery had not been getting charged throughout the day with the engine running, the bow thruster battery probably was not getting charged either, so that may die at any moment when we may need it most while docking.

Because this boat does not respond very well in reverse, Bob relies on the bow thruster to steer the boat when maneuvering in reverse.  

We weren’t sure which fairway we were supposed to turn down and saw the dockhands busy tying up another boat in another slip, so we turned circles outside the first fairway waiting for them to get free.  In so doing we confirmed that the bow thruster was going, going, gone….okay not going to be able to use the bow thruster for docking.  Abort our original plan and now we will go bow in.

Bob aimed for one slip which still would be a starboard tie, but the current or wind caught the bow and we ended up aiming for the next one over for a port tie.  Our anchor made contact with a piling and Christina rushed to the bowsprit to push us off and fend us off.   She was able to hand the dock hand a bow line (as both had been readied for the 4 point tie, but everything else was rigged for starboard and and had to be moved.

The dock hand tried to keep us off the finger pier as best he could so the boat wouldn’t get marred by rubbing alongside the dock while Bob was busy lassoing the port stern dock line onto the piling.  Christina went to the starboard side, extended her boat hook as far as it would go and was thankful she was able to slip the starboard stern dock line around the other piling on the first try.  (One small success.)

Okay – back to moving fenders to protect the boat, hand off the other bow line and move the spring line to the port side.  We were thankful there were 3 dock hands assisting us, one held on to the bowsprit to keep us off the dock until the stern dock lines were secured, one held us off the small finger pier and the third helped the other two.

We eventually got secured and breathed a sigh of relief.  We never figured out if we were on the fairway in the slip they had originally intended but when we looked over at the next one over we saw they had longer finger piers and a wider fairway to more easily maneuver.  Oh well — we are not moving the boat again now.

Okay – now we are safely in a slip and thankful we chose this marina because it has a full service yard and we can get electrical help if needed – but not until Monday.  We realized we may be here for awhile.

It was time to get off the boat to check in and pay for the slip.  As we are now bow into the slip, the end of the short finger pier does not come close to the gate at mid ship but rather only extends about 1/4 – 1/3 of the way down the boat.  This means that we have to climb over the spare fuel/water jugs tied to the side, over the life line, finding something secure to grab hold of on the boat, balance on the toe rail while lifting second leg over life line before stepping down onto dock.  We each figured out what works best for our own body mechanics and successfully got off the boat.  (We already so miss those full finger piers down south!)

Our Gozzard owning cruising friends we have been catching up with throughout our journey are also in Hampton at the town docks and told us of a block party in downtown Hampton with live music which sounded like alot of fun.  So when we checked in at the dock master office we asked about the advertised water taxi and were told that the boat was “on the hard” getting a bottom job and wouldn’t be in the water again for the next couple of days.  Alrighty then, we are not going to be going to downtown Hampton tonight.  Last disappointment of the day.

One of the great things about owning a Gozzard is being able to communicate directly with the builder, Mike Gozzard.  So I emailed Mike about our alternator and charging woes, recognizing it was the weekend and not really expecting a response.  But lo and behold within an hour or two he had responded and we were able to have an email conversation about what to check first.  Bob did some of the initial checks and decided we would more fully troubleshoot the system the next day.

We called it a day, got showered and went to the on-site restaurant for dinner.  Things could be worse.

 

5 & 6 May 2016 –  Coinjock, NC – Great Bridge, Virginia

Today was probably the most miserable day we have had on this trip.

We woke up to FOG and very poor visibility, even worse than yesterday.

It was downright cold, with the temperature not forecast to get to 60F/15C.  We layered up as best we could with 4 or 5 layers of clothes on and got ready to get underway.

We carefully pulled away from the dock and as we pushed away from the dock, and headed up the river, the fog rolled in thicker and thicker resulting in even lower visibility.  Today may be a long day!

As we began to make our way across Currituck Sound, the wind picked up causing the water to get even choppier and we took water over the bow several times, with it splashing all the way onto the dodger/windshield.   We were very thankful for the full enclosure because if it wasn’t for that we would have gotten very wet (and even colder) from the splashing water.

The fog slowly lifted but the wind did not for quite a while.  Once we were across the sound a few hours later, we had to traverse up a river/channel that was riddled with tree stumps and debris, always having to keep a look out for floating (and non floating) logs.  Not a very relaxing day on the water.

Along the way we were passed by two HUGE tugs and barges.  One was carrying scrap metal, and the other was pushing 2 old steel commercial boats side by side headed for scrap it appeared.  Of course these two passed us on a curvy narrow part of the river where we didn’t have much extra room to maneuver.

The third tug we passed was right after a bridge and a blind corner.  We knew there were two sailboats behind us and we tried to warn them on the radio of the tug’s approach to the bridge, but to no avail.  We later heard the tug on the radio telling the sailboats they had to change direction to let him pass.  It didn’t sound like any drama resulted, but it may have been better for all if the sailboats had responded and were warned beforehand.

There were also a few bridge openings we had to contend with.  One of the bridges had been hit by a tug and barge a month or so ago, and now only the northern half of the bridge is able to open for boats to pass.  So a bit of extra careful steering was necessary with the current and wind pushing us around through the more narrow opening.

When we finally were approaching our marina for the night in Great  Bridge, Virginia, we radioed the dock master to say we had just cleared the bridge and asked for directions to the fuel dock and pump out.

He told us to “pull up to the red pilings after we passed the large sign”.  We saw the sign but no red pilings.  Confused, we asked again.   He said the same thing.  Still confused as we were now at the marina passing the dock, a third enquiry of “which end of the marina is your fuel dock” with the answer being the North.  It was then I noticed the Great Bridge Bridge (a drawbridge) ahead, and said “Ohhhhh THAT bridge”.  The dock master finally realized he thought we were a different sailboat heading south and giving us incorrect directions and thus the confusion between us.

With that sorted we made our way past the face dock, where we didn’t see any real open space for our boat which made us wonder where/if we were going to get a slip for the night.  We’ll deal with that quandary after we fuel up and pump out.

Dock lines were rigged for a port side tie up and we pulled into the fuel dock without incident and filled the diesel.  We had also asked for a pump out of the holding tank (human sewage from the toilet).  But, the dockhand said, “nope”, their tank was full because they have had so many boats today.  Ugh!  As we only use our onboard head and when underway (usually walking to the marina’s facilities during the day) we should be good for another day – so no real drama just a bit more frustration.

The dockhand then said there were actually two spaces still available on the face dock we had just passed – one had 48’ and one had 50’ of space between the other boats.  He looked at our boat and said how long IS your boat?  Our boat is a 37’ boat, but when you add the bowsprit and dinghy davits it is 42’ per the specs.  But the reality is that with the dinghy ON the davits, and anchors hanging off the bowsprit we were about to learn the hard way that we are at least 48’!

Due to the wind we would go back down the river and approach from the North which would require a starboard tie-up.  This means Christina must hurriedly move the dock lines and fenders from one side of the boat to the other as Bob makes our way to the slip.

As we approached the 48’ space the dockhand was waiting for us. I was near the bow with a dock line in hand to throw to him and of course the wind chooses this time to pick up again.

Just to give you an idea of what we were about to attempt:  Imagine parallel parking a large SUV/Hummer/LandCruiser into a space that looks like it could possibly accommodate a compact car.

Christina looked at the available space and told the dockhand she didn’t think we would fit.  He didn’t say anything and just stood there waiting for the line.  She threw him the spring line, which is tied to the midship cleat, so he would have better control of our boat as he pulled us onto the dock.  It was then that we noticed we were getting too close to the boat we needed to be in front of.  Rushing back as far aft as possible, Christina fended off the other boat’s pulpit so we wouldn’t collide.

Because of the design of our boat, there is no deck to walk on for the last 1/4 length of the boat, and because of the enclosure we can’t reach out from the cockpit to fend off in this section.  So Christina found herself doing the unsafe thing of standing on the edge (toerail) as far back as possible reaching over the life line and pushing off their boat.  Any slip and she would find herself in the water.

As we continued forward she could no longer reach the offending pulpit or anchor on the other boat and we could tell their anchor was going to connect with something on our boat.  Sure enough, our dinghy outboard scraped by the anchor and it finally hooked to our dinghy davit.

Bob stopped the forward movement, the dock hand gave us some slack and Bob was able to un-hook us and began to ease our boat into the slip again.  Christina rushed to the front of the boat to throw the bow line and watch as our anchor on our pulpit came perilously close to the boat ahead.

Once we were tied up, our anchor was literally hanging over the transom of the boat ahead of us, and there were just inches between the anchor of the boat behind and our dinghy.  AMAZING!

Bob really did a superb job easing us into the slip with no damage to dock or boats.

He later revealed that because of the wind pushing us he actually had no control of steering in idle forward (think of the forward momentum of a car when it is in gear but no foot on the gas pedal) and so had to give it more throttle than he wanted and then pull back so we didn’t come crushing onto the dock.

We really didn’t know how we were going to get out of the slip when it was time to leave tomorrow, and hoped our neighbors ahead of us and behind us would leave before we did.  But we’ll worry about that tomorrow.  For now, it is time to pour a cocktail and breathe a sigh of relief that this day is done.

Bob’s brother lives in Virginia Beach and he came to the marina to go out to dinner with us, and we had a nice family evening out.

It was also this day that Bob shared his observation that the battery gauge had been reading less volts than usual.  The day prior we had heard the inverter start running as soon as we turned the shore power on which was unusual.  When he started the engine after fueling up today the engine was harder to start than usual.  These three things are telling us that something is different on the boat.  Although everything seems to be working we know that when something starts acting differently on the boat, it is the boat’s way of trying to warn you…and it is wise to not ignore the warning signs.

Not knowing exactly what was happening, we came to the conclusion that something was different with either the alternator, the voltage regulator or something else.  But because everything was ultimately working, we thought there was no immediate danger and we would continue to monitor and troubleshoot as we go.

 

4 May, 2016 – Albermarle Sound

This was our view through the dodger (windshield / windscreen) from the cockpit  as we crossed the Albermarle Sound.  Definitely not the ideal situation.

Visibility was only about a mile most of the time.  The only good news was that there were very few crab pots we had to navigate around.

After crossing the 10 mile expanse of water we made our way back onto into the river and the ICW.  At this point there are two routes for the ICW, the Dismal Swamp which we did on the southbound trip  and the “Virginia cut” which has more commercial traffic.  We opted for the Virginia Cut so we would be experiencing new places for the next couple of days that we haven’t seen before.   We tied up at Coinjock Marina for our last night in North Carolina on this trip.

Ever since we started planning for the trip on the ICW Bob had been hearing about Coinjock Marina’s prime rib dinner (which you have to reserve in advance), so we knew what he would be enjoying for dinner.   We reserved his prime rib upon our arrival, and ultimately ended our day enjoying a lovely dining experience.

 

 

2 & 3 May 2016 – With an eye on the weather, we knew that we would be “stuck” somewhere for more than a day with the forecast for strong northerly winds and heavy rain.

Our next planned marina stop was to be Alligator River Marina which is literally a truck stop on the side of a highway.  We decided that although there are no services or facilities nearby, this marina may not be the most comfortable experience but would be safe to sit out the forecasted weather if necessary.

The day was dreary as we meandered up the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal seeing a bit of wildlife along the way.

The trip was pretty uneventful, with the only real concern happening when we heard a loud thunk from below.  We saw nothing in the water but figured we had hit something like a submerged log.  There was no apparent damage, after checking to be sure there were no issues with the steering, we breathed a sigh of relief thankful for our heavy boat and the design of the hull which helps to reduce the likelihood of damage from these types of encounters.

We made our way to the marina/truck stop and got settled in for what would end up being a 2 night stop.

All our neighbors plan to leave tomorrow, not concerned by the weather forecast of rain and thunderstorms tomorrow.

We woke the next day, Tuesday, to pouring rain and thunder so we decided to stay put for the day.  At least a couple inches fell in a short time, and the way to the bathhouse was flooded to almost knee deep.  And those neighbors who were all planning to leave….. well they all stayed another day as well.

We hope for better weather tomorrow to cross the Albermarle Sound, a 10 mile (1.5 – 2 hour?) passage over an exposed body of water which can get very choppy with winds and weather which is also littered with crab pots which we have to keep a look out for.  We don’t expect it be a very relaxing part of the journey.

On the plus side – staying at Alligator River Marina for 2 days, we have unlimited access to southern truck stop fried food.