\n
\n<\/a>We ended up staying in Great Bridge a second day because the weather forecast was for rain, rain, rain. \u00a0We were still hoping one of the other boats in front or behind us would leave first. \u00a0But no such luck, as we woke up today with both neighbors still in place.<\/p>\n
We prepared to leave the dock in order to make the 0800 opening of the Great Bridge Bridge.<\/p>\n
The engine started easily as it had gotten a full charge from the shore power overnight, so that was a bit of good news.<\/p>\n
First challenge of the day was how the heck are we going to get out of the slip. \u00a0The 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. \u00a0They 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.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0But thankfully there is not any real current and Bob was able to keep us at a standstill without too much stress or challenge.<\/p>\n
Immediately after the bridge is the only lock of this Northbound route we are on. \u00a0The lock is timed with the bridge opening so we knew we would be proceeding into the lock directly. \u00a0If we were tied up on the port side the wall was rubberized and fenders were not essential. \u00a0However, if we were tied up on the starboard side wall, fenders were necessary to protect the boat. \u00a0Of course we wouldn\u2019t 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\u00a04 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). \u00a0And one fender on port side. \u00a0Dock lines were out and could easily be attached to either side.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Everyone caters to the large tugs.<\/p>\n
Finally the bridge went up and on we go. \u00a0As 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\u00a0he loops them over the lock cleats and hands us the free ends. \u00a0(Lock lesson in case you don\u2019t remember from our trip south\u2026. 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.)<\/em><\/p>\n With today\u2019s lock we would be rising a mere 4 feet\/1.2 meters. \u00a0As we were now prepared for the process, Christina busied herself moving a\u00a0couple fenders from the starboard side to the port side just to give the boat a bit more protection from the padded wall.<\/p>\n Remember that big tug at the bridge? \u00a0Well 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. \u00a0The lock tender declares that recreational boats come in first and leave first or else the tug\u00a0would create too much wake\/movement and cause potential damage. \u00a0We watched the tug begin to back up. \u00a0But wait – \u00a0there is a recreational power yacht right behind him! \u00a0There 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. \u00a0I think the captain of the recreational boat got a bit of a scare though.<\/p>\n 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). \u00a0If 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.<\/p>\n The southend of the lock closed and the lock began to fill with water as\u00a0we gently rose the 4\u2019. \u00a0Agreement 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. \u00a0All 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. \u00a03 of the sailboats were moving significantly faster than us and pulled away quite a bit and approached the next bridge long before us.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0This 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. \u00a0Otherwise we would have had to wait for at least another half hour for a 2nd opening.<\/p>\n As we finally came\u00a0into 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. \u00a0All 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. \u00a0We thanked the bridge tender for waiting for us and we continued on our way.<\/p>\n Shortly after this we passed mile marker 0 and officially left the ICW behind.<\/p>\n We meandered past Portsmouth and through Norfolk harbor to the Hampton River where we would be spending the next two nights. \u00a0Two nights because the wind on Sunday was forecast to be strong from the north and we didn\u2019t want to have to deal with it. \u00a0Instead of the marina in the middle of downtown Hampton\u00a0where 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. \u00a0They advertised a free water taxi that would take us to downtown so we thought that would work out well.<\/p>\n We still needed a pumpout so as we approached the marina we got directions for the pumpout dock. \u00a0Using the bow thruster a little bit to maneuver into the slip we arrived and got pumped out. \u00a0We 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\u2019t have to be moved, thinking we would keep things simple for ourselves.<\/p>\n 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). \u00a0When it was time to start the engine to move to our slip the engine did not start. \u00a0UGH! \u00a0Battery was dead. Yeap – it is confirmed we have a problem. \u00a0The dock was able to loan us a portable battery jumper unit and we jumped the starting battery. \u00a0But in order to do that we had to empty out the \u201cgarage\u201d also known as the aft cabin to access the battery. \u00a0One more hassle.<\/p>\n We were very lucky that we hadn’t raised the sails to take advantage of the good wind earlier like we had thought about. \u00a0Because 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.<\/p>\n To get out of the basin of the pumpout dock, required a tight U turn which Bob used the bow thruster to help maneuver. \u00a0As 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.<\/p>\n Because this boat does not respond very well in reverse, Bob relies on the bow thruster to steer the boat when maneuvering in reverse. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n We weren’t sure which fairway we were supposed to turn down and saw the dockhands\u00a0busy tying up another boat in another slip, so we turned circles outside the first fairway waiting for them to get free. \u00a0In so doing we confirmed that the bow thruster was going, going, gone<\/strong>\u2026.okay not going to be able to use the bow thruster for docking. \u00a0Abort our original plan and now we will go bow in.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0Our anchor made contact with a piling and Christina rushed to the bowsprit to push us off and fend us off. \u00a0 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0lassoing the port stern dock line onto the piling. \u00a0Christina went to the starboard side, extended her\u00a0boat 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. \u00a0(One small success.)<\/p>\n Okay – back to moving fenders to protect the boat, hand off the other bow line and move the spring line to the port side. \u00a0We 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.<\/p>\n We eventually got secured and breathed a sigh of relief. \u00a0We never figured out if we were on the fairway in the slip they had originally intended but\u00a0when we looked over at the next one over we saw they had longer finger piers and a wider fairway to more easily maneuver. \u00a0Oh well \u2014 we are not moving the boat again now.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0We realized we may be here for awhile.<\/p>\n It was time to get off the boat to check in and pay for the slip. \u00a0As 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. \u00a0This 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. \u00a0We each figured out what works best for our own body mechanics and successfully got off the boat. \u00a0(We already so miss those full finger piers down south!)<\/p>\n Our Gozzard owning cruising friends we have been catching up with throughout our journey are also in Hampton\u00a0at the town docks and told us\u00a0of a block party in downtown Hampton\u00a0with live music which sounded like alot of fun. \u00a0So when we\u00a0checked 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. \u00a0Alrighty\u00a0then, we are not going to be going to downtown Hampton\u00a0tonight. \u00a0Last disappointment of the day.<\/p>\n One of the great things about owning a Gozzard is being able to communicate directly with the builder, Mike Gozzard. \u00a0So I emailed Mike about our alternator and charging woes, recognizing it was the weekend and not really expecting a response. \u00a0But 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. \u00a0Bob did some of the initial checks and decided we would more fully troubleshoot the system the next day.<\/p>\n We called it a day, got showered and went to the on-site restaurant for dinner. \u00a0Things could be worse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. \u00a0We were still hoping one of the other boats in front or behind us would leave first. \u00a0But no such luck, as we woke up … Continue reading First real boat problem along the way….<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"P1020828\"](\"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/P1020828.jpg\")
In the harbor\u00a0we 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.<\/p>\n