31 May, 2016 –
We enjoy alot of quiet days in the marina, and this was just another one.
This is the view from the bow of our boat overlooking the woods – it is a pretty peaceful view.
And the view taken from the bowsprit looking back over the boat.
We ended the day enjoying cheese and crackers in the cockpit.
Life is pretty good today.
29 May 2016 — Being a Good Neighbor
Sailors are often times found helping each other out. Every boater’s problem shared is another boater’s learning opportunity as well.
Neighbors across our dock have an inmast furling system for their main sail. Most people like these because of the ease of raising and lowering their sail. The sail furls (or rolls) in and out of the mast.
(We have a more traditional system where the sail rises and lowers from the boom and has to be tied up and secured each time.)
Today, our neighbors were having problems with their sail and it had gotten stuck in the mast and wouldn’t go out or in. Bob volunteered to go up the mast to try to free the sail. This entails him sitting in a bosun’s chair and attaching it to the halyard, and having folks below hoist him up the mast.
Three or more men stayed down below on the boat and assisted in raising and lowering Bob while also trying to pull the sail out.
Although it is a common experience to have someone go up the mast at times for maintenance and repairs, the dock had wives watching, all glad it wasn’t their husband up the mast.
Bob was able to free the sail, and they tried again to raise it up and down, and again it got stuck….And again…. Bob ended up going up their mast 3 times today. Although there are no photos to prove it, he did end up going all the way to the top of the mast for the last effort.
It was questionable as to who had the worst job, Bob or the guys down below physically getting tired having to hoist him up three times. By the end, they finally borrowed another neighbor’s battery operated portable device that basically powers the winch so no manual pulling is necessary.
Bob says the view was great from up there. And yes, a cold beer was waiting for him down below once the project was complete.
21 May 2016 – Parkview Dockwalk – Sailing Emporium
The Sailing Emporium in Rock Hall, Maryland is where we are calling home this summer. One of the things that makes this marina special is it’s social atmosphere and friendly boaters.
The Sailing Club has wine and cheese social hours at least once a month.
Our dock, named Parkview, hosted May’s Wine and Cheese get together. Here is a video that was shot via a drone as we all walked down our dock during the event. Now you can get an aerial view of where we are spending our summer.
Our boat is the third down from the far end pointing to the right.
Check out the video on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/eT_UM0SheGM
16 May 2016 – Welcome Back to Rock Hall, Maryland
We enjoyed this beautiful sunrise as we left Herrington Harbor South early in the morning even though NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) had issued a Small Craft Advisory due to expected high winds. They were calling for winds around 20 – 25 miles per hour with gusts to 30, and they weren’t wrong.
The gusts picked up around 10 am just like they were forecast to. It was a cold wind and we bounced and rocked around alot as we made our way across the Bay toward Rock Hall. At different times we unfurled each of the headsails so we could take advantage of the wind, and hopefully steady the boat a bit, but without the mainsail up (and it was still under the sail cover) we felt the foresails were putting too much stress on the rigging with the force of the wind. And so we motored through it.
There weren’t too many boats out today as we made our way under the Annapolis Bay Bridge and the familiar waters approaching Rock Hall.
A few hours later we navigated the familiar channel through Rock Hall Harbor and safely docked in our summer home marina. We had mixed emotions as we tied up and realized the journey was done (for now) but it did feel good to say “hi” to old friends as they would return to the marina over the next few days.
And it felt GREAT to not have to plan our days by the weather for a while.
14 & 15 May 2016 – Solomons Island to Herrington Harbour South, Maryland
We woke to a calm day with light winds and water that was as flat as a lake.
We enjoyed the quiet day on the water as we headed to Herrington Harbour South, our last stop before our final destination of Rock Hall, Maryland.
There were lots of fishing boats out and we learned the last that those fishing for Rockfish add an additional dimension of hazard. Fishing boats fishing for Rockfish often tow outriggers which extend far out the back and to the sides of the boat, as seen in this photo from another day.
The red circles show how far to the sides the floats of the rigs extend. This particular boat had easy to see orange floats, but many of the boats used dark colored floats that blends in with the color of the water, making it much more difficult to see. So, we had to stay alert and not just look out for boats, but also look out for whatever they may be towing.
Add to that the hazard of a couple of fishing boats that were so busy fishing with their lines off the stern that they didn’t have anyone at the helm watching where they were going. And no, most fishing boats do not monitor the VHF radio.
We watched as one particular fishing boat that crossed our bow from starboard (so they did have the right of way) without anyone at the helm motor across the path of a fast moving oncoming freighter. It would have been easy for that to be a disaster.
We arrived in Herrington Harbor South without incident. The weather for the next day forecast high wind with a Small Craft Advisory, but we were still planning to make the final leap to Rock Hall.
We awoke the next day to find the forecasted wind had been upgraded, and now it was a Gale Warning. No need to go out in that wind – and it was indeed windy. So we enjoyed the hospitality for another day. We watched with some amusement as other boats made an effort to leave the marina, being blown about and ultimately changing their plans, and most struggling to make their way back to their slips.
Even the ducks were friendly as these two swam by and seemed to enjoy Christina’s voice as she talked with them. The female came by first, and when Christina asked if she had a mate, she seemed to understand the question and she swam away to returned a few minutes later with her mate. They stayed right there next to the boat for over a half hour (and not getting fed by us). They came by the next day to say hello again as well.
Tomorrow we will make it back to our summer home marina.
12 May 2016 – Pt. Lookout to Solomons Island, Maryland
We woke up to fog but really wanted to continue making progress north and didn’t want to wait yet another day, so we decided to give it a go.
Visibility was less than 1/2 mile/.8 kilometer and again we were VERY thankful for the radar and AIS to see what boats may be out there. We kept a constant watchful eye through the binoculars as well.
The river was full of commercial fishing boats but it seemed like they were also always tracking us and would move out of the way as we stayed on a specific course.
We also would radio an approaching boat if we weren’t sure they were aware of our presence, just to let them know our location and our intention. This works well if the other boat has its radio on, but unfortunately that is not always the case.
Once we passed Point No Point Lighthouse and turned to head a bit more northerly, leaving the river and reentering the Chesapeake Bay there was another sailboat on our starboard side. We used the radio to try to hail them to tell them what course we intended and the boat that responded was actually on the other said of the Bay! This is a problem when you don’t know a boat’s name, and are trying to hail, blue hull sailboat approaching whatchamacallit.
We received a response and when we told the responding party of our intention they were confused because the boat that had responded was actually located on the other side of the bay and had no idea what we were talking about.
So we tried again, and again to a hail that boat that was getting closer and closer to us. We included the boat brand (Island Packet), and any other identifying features we could see, but the boat that was approaching us didn’t respond at all. Then we noticed through the binoculars that there was no one at the helm! If both boats maintained course we were definitely on a collision course. Yes, per maritime protocol they did have the right of way, but maritime safety protocols dictate they really should be at the helm aware of all the boats around them.
We were not sure what their intention was, and in order to avoid collision we altered our course, allowing the other boat to cross our bow. Just as they approached the skipper came up from below looked around, appeared to make an adjustment to his autopilot and went back down below to the relative warmth and comfort of his cabin totally oblivious to the inconvenience and potential risk he had caused.
We tried to stay away from that boat which meant we were forced to be on a course that took us a bit out of way. It seemed that every time we did a slight adjustment to our course, he would pop back up from below and adjust his course to stay on a parallel course as us. We were both pretty frustrated that here we are, in the middle of a vast expanse of water in the Chesapeake Bay with this inconsiderate and, in our opinion, unsafe sailor effectively blocking our way and making us maintain defensive maneuvers. .
Yes, there are times when a skipper can be safely below deck, while underway, but seriously? …. In the Chesapeake Bay within close proximity to other boats and with low visibility?!?!?! Yeah, it might be a bit uncomfortable in the cockpit with the wind, cold and rain, but if you aren’t going to do it responsibly and safely you really should stay in the marina — okay our rant is over.
In maneuvering around him, we were finally able to read the boat name and after a few more tries we eventually were successful in hailing the skipper on the radio to tell him we would like to cross his bow to get back on course for Solomons Island. He said that is where he was going too and he would just follow us in. We asked if he could slow down just a bit so we could cross and he obliged. The good news there is that we no longer had to worry about where he was going to go for the rest of the day once we got ahead of him.
The rest of the trip to Solomons Island was uneventful.
Due to the weather forecast for cold, rain and wind, we ended up enjoying the hospitality of the marina for two nights….are you seeing a trend here?
Next on to Herrington Harbor South.
11 May 2016 – Deltaville, Virginia – Point Lookout, Maryland
Today turned out to be rainy with thunderstorms as we motored up the Potomac River to Point Lookout. We were thankful we have radar and AIS because visibility was low. And with radar we were able to track the thunderstorms and anticipate how long they would last and when the next band would be approaching.
Thankfully the weather cleared in time for us to more easily navigate Smith Creek as we approached Point Lookout Marina. Even with the overcast skies we could tell this is a really pretty area and we definitely plan to come back down here to explore a bit more later this summer or on our way south in the fall. 
We have been told the marina has a lovely restaurant, but alas it wasn’t open today – a regular trend for us, so instead we enjoyed dinner on board enjoying the view and relishing the peaceful quiet.
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.
