Day Four - Wednesday, July 31

On Tuesday night we changed our plans from sailing to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore to go to the Back River in Hampton, VA, on the Western Shore.  This change will save us a full day on our trip.  At 7:30 AM we undid our lines and left The Narrows Marina on Gwynn Island. We also decided not to try to take a short-cut through the "hole in the wall" because of what a fisherman told us about getting through the hole.  Instead we took the long way and drove the boat around Gwynn Island and out into the bay.  

As has been usual on this trip so far the winds have been blowing from the place we are going, so we spent another day motoring toward Norfolk, VA..  

About mid-way between Gwynn Island and the Back River we were escorted for a while by a school of dolphins diving and playing alongside the boat.  

At about 3:30 PM we arrived at the Belle Isle Marina on othe Back River in Hampton.  It was a long motor with choppy seas and we were beat.  

We were met by the owner of the marina, Marty, a pilot for U.S. Airways, who greeted us with a complimentary coca-cola and interesting conversation.  Marty flies A330 Airbus out of Philadelphia to Europe several times a month.  He has owned the marina for 23 years and (we think) he really enjoys running it.  

Ed's mother, Bea, and her husband, John, who live in Williamsburg, VA, came to the marina and took us out for dinner to a restaurant on the waterfront in Hampton called the Surfside Restaurant.  We enjoyed meeting them and had a very nice evening.

We are planning to get up early tomorrow to get through Norfolk and down the Elizabeth River to reach the locks at the top of the Dismal Swamp Canal by late afternoon.  We are concerned about the timing of the bridges that need to open on the river.  If time permits will try to get to the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center about halfway down the canal.  If not, we will anchor near the entrance over night.

Lat/Lat = N 37 06.0 W 76 17.2

Day Three - Tuesday, July 30

Another windless day!  We motored out from Tangier Island and pulled out the genoa, but there was not enough wind to keep it full, so we set a course for Gwynn Island, VA, and set the motor for 4+ knots.  Very few ships or boats on the water.  Saw a few container ships and barges going up the bay.  Few, if any, pleasure boats. 

We arrived at The Narrows Marina around 5:30 PM and tied up.  Had another great dinner at the Sea Breeze Restaurant.  After dinner we asked the marina owner when his gas dock was open in the morning and he told us that he didn't sell gasoline, only diesel fuel.  He then said we could use his truck to drive our portable gas cans to a gas station on the other side of the bridge.  Rich took the truck and tanks to get the gas for our trip tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are leaving early to catch high tide so we ca get through a channel called, "the hole in the wall".  This is a very shallow and narrow channel out to the Bay that will save us perhaps 4 or 5 hours on our way to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore.

Lat/Lon = N 37 29.8 W 076 19.8

Day Two continued

No posts from Tangier Island because phone service was spotty or non- existent.  Arrived at Parks Marina on Tangier Island about 7 PM and was greeted by Milton Parks on his motor bike.  Milton greeted us by welcoming the "three old men on a sailboat".  He said that Ed was "quite a man" due to his size.  He also said that he could tell Jeff was a level guy because his bubble was in the middle.  It was Milton's Birthday.  He was 82 years old today and we wished him many more.  

We ate dinner at Lorraine's Restaurant since it was the only place open after 5 PM on the island.  This has been a Maryland crab cake feast every night so far.  Food was very good.  

We slept late because of the rough two days we had had and then took a leisurely stroll to the Chesapeake House for an all you can eat family style breakfast: bacon, eggs, home fries, and freshly baked buttered bread.  What a meal.  After making some small repairs to the boat we again wished Milton a Happy Birthday.  To which he replied, "How do you spell seventy years old?"  He said,  "G-O-N-E".  He was a hot ticket!

We shoved off around 11 AM for Gwynn Island, VA.

Day Two - Monday, July 29

Motored away from Solomon's Island Yacht Club at 9:45 AM after having breakfast, getting gasoline and ice.  The wind was coming from the North North West so we were able to sail for most of the morning. We raised only the mainsail with 2 reefs and were able to keep 5 knots of speed.  We had following seas so at times the dinghy would surf right up to the stern of the boat and a few times it actually hit the back of the boat.  We used a long dock line as a new painter for the dinghy to let it drop back farther and keep her from hitting us.  By noon the winds had subsided enough for Ed to go forward (with his harness on) and shake out the reef in the main.  We  then set the genoa for a wing-and-wing sail.  The winds decreased to less than 3 knots, so we started the motor at 1:45 to keep our speed up.  We expect to arrive at Park's Marina on Tangier Island around 7 pm tonight.  It is a legend that if you get mud between your toes, you will return to Tangier Island someday.  We will take our shoes off when we get there and try it.

Lat/Lon = N 37 49.8 W 75 59.9 

Cast off at 8:00 this morning

Day One - Sunday, July 28

We arrived at Solomon's Island Yacht Club at 8 PM after a long day (12 hours) of motoring from Annapolis.   The wind was dead ahead of the entire day.  The waves were very rough to motor through and the ride was very uncomfortable.  Then thunderstorms and heavy rain began as we came into the islands.  We are wet, but without injury or any disagreements.

We are off to a local restaurant for dinner and will sleep well tonight.

Lat/Lon = N 38 19.2 W 076 27.3

We all got up fairly early this morning had a breakfast sandwich at the local café and started to work on the boat.  We got a lot done, the projects are just too numerous to mention all of them with a lot of little details included.  Jeff and I manufactured a new bow for the dodger and got the dodger installed, it will be great with the southern sun.  A couple of the big projects we got done are: Jeff tuned the rig and Rich installed the new chart plotter and entered the course for tomorrow.  We start sailing for new Bern in the a.m.  Rain is predicted however we will sail anyway and it will be great.   I have looked forward and dreamed about this for years.  I have my friends and my wife Sue to thank for being able to make the dream come true.

The Adventure started today Jay the driver who delivered Cachalot and his dog, Bella, dropped me off at Bert Jabin's early this morning.  They launched the boat right away and I spent the day getting the boat ready for our sailing trip. Rich and Jeff arrived late this afternoon and promptly got to work helping me, it was great to have the help. Tonight we all went out to dinner and a good part of the town the restaurant was im llost power but we had a great dinner anyway.  One of the bows for the dodger was lost in shipping so tomorrow Jeff and I will try to make a replacement out of PVC.  Rich is going to wire in a new chart plotter that he bought for me and brought with him.

Cachalot looks real small in this big lift that they used to put her in the water

The Adventure started today Jay the driver who delivered cachalot and his dog, Bella, dropped me off at Bert Jabin's early this morning.  They launched the boat right away and I spent the day getting the boat ready for our sailing trip. Rich and Jeff arrived late this afternoon and promptly got to work helping me, it was great to have the help. Tonight we all went out to dinner and a good part of the town the restaurant was im llost power but we had a great dinner anyway.  One of the bows for the dodger was lost in shipping so tomorrow Jeff and I will try to make a replacement out of PVC.  Rich is going to wire in a new chart plotter that he bought cor me and brought with him.

Cachalot looks real small in this big lift that they used to put her in the water

We are on our way

Just got an Email from Ed at 10:06 AM on Thursday, July 25, that the truck has picked up Cachalot and they are on the road to Annapolis.  They expect to arrive around 5pm tonight.  The boat yard will not be able to launch and rig Cachalot until tomorrow morning.  Rich and I will drive a rental car to Annapolis tomorrow to meet with Ed and get underway on Sunday morning.

Today was sure frustrating day Wayne, the man who is transporting the boat, was supposed to pick me up at "noontime or shortly thereafter".  Peter Mchenry and I went to the yacht club real early with all of the stuff for the trip including all the provisions with ice and everything else to loaded up the boat and we had it all ready to ship by 11:30.  Wayne never showed up.  When I called to ask about an ETA he told me the bearings on one of his axles broke on the way to pick up Cachalot.  He said he would try to get the parts and repair the trailer and call me when he could know for certain the time he could pick up the boat.  I spent the day on the phone and Internet on my iPhone trying to arrange a back up plan.  At the end of the day I had made no progress and was very frustrated.  About 8:30 tonight he called and they had the parts for the trailer was planning to repair the trailer on Wednesday and pick me up at 10 o'clock Thursday morning.  With this new pickup time I will be arriving with the boat in Annapolis at around 6:30 or 7 o'clock at night.  I will have to call Bert Jaben Yacht yard tomorrow and tell them of my new arrival time.  Jeff and Rich are planning to leave very early Friday morning and driving to Annapolis and meet me Friday night.  If all goes well we will plan on starting our sailing trip early Sunday morning.  I hope with this disastrous start the rest of the trip goes smoothly.  

Tomorrow I plan to work on the house to get it ready for closing and maybe I will not have to make a trip up from NC just to work on the house for closeing.

I would like to take the time to acknowledge and thank all of our friends and neighbors who havr helped Susan and I close up this house and helped me plan and execute all of the work necessary to make this great adventure and dream come true.  Our friends have really outdone themselves and are to numerous to name without taking the chance of missing somebody so thank you one and all.  We are greatly indebted to you and will miss you and Needham as we start the next chapter of our life.

Monday night and I finished cleaning the boat inside and started to stow things.  I just got back from the grocery store.  I do not know where I will put all of these grocerys I do know we will eat well on this trip. Wayne called today and he will pick up Cachalot around noon or shortly thereafter and so the adventure begins

It's Monday morning sitting on the front porch waiting for the fire inspector to come certify the house so we can pass papers.  It was quite a marathon weekend Rich came on Saturday and we replumbed the entire holding tank system so we would comply with the rules were we will be cruising. Peter Mchenry came to help us as well we installed the outboard engine I picked up Saturday, it's all bolted in the well.  Sunday Jeff came to help with the projects and Peter came back to help again.  Jeff finished the rewiring of the cabin lights and install a new red light for night vision in the main cabin. Peter and I installed the traveler in the cockpit and did many other small projects both days. installing the traveler was no easy feat as I had to crawl headfirst into both quarter berth and one of the lockers to reach the bolts inside the boat. At the end of the day Peter and I sat down with my check list and went over it.  The only two large items on the checklist are cleaning the entire inside of the boat and painting the outdrive of the engine. As with any boat there are lots of little projects.  I hope to today after I clean the boat if I have time I can get to some of them, others we will do along the way.

Well it is Saturday morning the second day of getting the boat ready for the trip. Yesterday I replaced the electric bilge pump. I added 30 feet of chain to the anchor rode for increased safety for anchoring when we anchor out. One of the biggest projects I did was when they built the boat Bristol did not use the same color wire for the positive and negative wires on all the cabin lights, and when I connected the batteries the LEDs did not work on all lights so I had to redo the wiring on many the lights.  Today I am picking up the engine and installing it with Rich Terry and Peter.  We are also putting in the manual bilge pump and doing several other small projects. Rich is dropping off his gear for the trip on the boat so that it gets shipped with the boat.  Tommrow Jeff Gardner is coming down to help get the boat ready and dropping off his gear.

Well Susan and Fran will be happy.  I have received my new inflatable PFD "suspenders" from Defender Industries.  I bought the Mustang Survival MIT100 PFD only style since I already have a safety harness and tether.  This is the automatic inflatable style.  So, if I fall in the water it will automatically inflate in 4 seconds without me doing anything.  It also has a floatation rating that should keep my head above water for a long time.
Susan, kept insisting that, "the boys must wear their 'suspenders' at all times while on deck."  Susan is a Past Commodore of the Great Blue Hill Power and Sail Squadron and she knows boating safety.
Rich and I will be meeting Ed at the boat this weekend for final preparations before the boat hits the road for Annapolis, MD, where she will be rigged and launched for the trip to New Bern, NC.  We will bring our basic gear that we will need for the sailing trip so it can travel to Annapolis on the boat.
Rich and I will drive to Annapolis in a rental car and then return from North Carolina in another rental car.  A long drive, but the adventure in the middle should be great.  I have not been on a long sailing adventure since my return from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands via Bermuda.  I am really looking forward to it.

Monday July 15th and I leave in two days to work on Cachalot and get her ready for the trip south.  The house down here in New Bern is getting put together.  We are better than 1/2 unpacked and running out of room to put stuff.  When I get back from my great adventure with my friends Jeff and Rich on Cachalot I have lots of projects to keep me busy.  I am looking at putting upper kitchen cabinets along the walls of the garage.
First to have an adventure.  I have been making lots of calls to finalize plans for moving the boat and emails to the crew about planning the provisioning for the trip.  Northeast rigging has put all the new rigging on the boat ready to ship with the mast on deck.  I have made arrangements with the sail maker to have the sails ready to pickup this week.  I talked to the mechanic about the engine and he is running it up to be ready for the trip.  I have done just about all I can from down here and can not wait to get to the boat to finish preparations.

Well we have arrived.  Now comes the job of unpacking and the adventure of bringing Cachalot down to the back yard.

T

Well the adventure starts.  The house is totally empty and clean. Last night we went to our last fireworks in my hometown.  Today we are going out to breakfast with friends and then watch the parade.  It is time for Sue and I to start the next chapter in our lives.  Friday morning we leave very early on a plane to our new home.  I come back on the 18th to pick up Cachalot and start my sailing adventure.