A long days night and then some

I always think there will be lots of time to write these blog posts but stuff usually gets in the way. Like on long passages it would be great to just sit and write. But, there are usually other things to do.

We left Baltimore about 0630 on July 28 in order to catch the current at the C&D canal and the forecast was for storms later in the day. As per usual there was no wind to speak of so we motored down the Patapsco River and up the Bay to the mouth of the canal. The Bay was fairly quiet because it was during the week. Had we made the trip on a weekend day it would have been bustling with watercraft of all kind.

The dawn's early light over the glass water in Baltimore harbor by Fort McHenry.

As we got close to the entrance to the canal we began to see our speed increase as the current was turning in our favor. In the C&D the tide floods to the east and ebbs to the west unlike the usual pattern in the western hemisphere where the tide generally floods west. Since the current in the canal can run up to 2 kts that can make 4 kts difference in speed. For us that means doing the 15 nm of the canal at 9 kts or 5 kts.

As we made our way through the canal the skies turned threatening and the thunder storms that were predicted for later were upon us earlier than expected. We had hoped we could get to the anchorage with the hook down before it hit but it hit. We thought about ducking into a marina but we tried calling them but they didn't answer. We found out later the power was out in that area. So we motored with only a few more miles to our anchorage.

The channel in the Northern Chesapeake Bay.

Lighthouse on Elk Point where several rivers converge to form the Bay.

The squall abated as we headed into the Delaware River with thunder storms around in many directions. We planned to anchor behind Reedy Island which is just a few miles south of the canal and in relatively deep water and fairly protected. There was only one challenge. The area is protected by a stone dike that runs from the south of Reedy Island for a few miles but there is a cut through that is marked with lighted marks and there is at least a knot of river current on both sides so while you won't touch bottom you could crash into the rocks. So when we began to approach the cut a new squall blew up adding a few more challenges to getting through this narrow cut. So with high winds, fast current and heavy rain we made it through to a calmer inside but we motored around until the squall ended before we tried to anchor.

With it still raining but not blowing as hard we dropped the hook and I began paying out chain. With about 25' out I had Linda try to get some power back to help get it set and when she did the anchor caught with such force that I thought we must be fouled. But we got it set and put to bed thinking I may need to swim on it in the morning if it is caught. Squalls continued all night with winds up to 30 kts and lots of rain.

When we awoke in the morning the squalls were continuing but the winds had shifted from SE to NW and a ketch that had gone in after we did was now much closer than it was when we went to bed. With 20 kts of NW wind the boat bobbed closer. Fortunately the current was going the other way so there was some resistance to its movement. There was nobody on deck and we had no way to contact them so I blew the air horn several times to try and rouse them but to no avail. The noise of the wind and rain made it unlikely they could hear it at their distance.

View of Hope Creek Nuclear plant across from our anchorage showing the ominous skies and wind blowing the steam.

View of Cape May Point Lighthouse.

The Town of Cape May from the ocean. Good to be back on blue water again.

When the current began to abate we pulled up the anchor before they got closer and to our surprise it came right up. We weren't fouled which we hoped would be a good omen. With the wind behind us the current soon changed and we tried to sail but it soon dropped to less than 10 kts dead behind us. Given the distance and weather threats we opted to continue motoring.

About half-way down the Delaware Bay we began to notice flies attacking us. We started swatting them but it seemed like the more we killed the more there were. Pretty soon there were flies all over and around the boat that came from nowhere. We continued swatting them, used insect repellent but nothing seemed to reduce their number or intensity. Soon there were so many fly corpses we couldn't spot the living from the dead. This continued until we got close to the sea breeze by Cape May Point and they started to disappear. The few remaining ones we quickly dispatched and going up the Cape May coast was relatively peaceful but the cockpit, the coamings and rails were covered in fly entrails. A guy at the marina said the storm the night before blew them offshore and they went for the first thing they could find.

Enjoying Happy Hour after arriving in Cape May.

Enjoyed a nice couple of days at Cape May riding out the remaining storms with plans to leave Monday for Block Island. But the weather for BI Sound didn't look good for Tuesday so after extensive consideration we decided to leave Cape May on Sunday with the threat of storms. A decision I hope we would not regret. There was another boat in Cape May from Annapolis named Discovery and they were doing their first New England trip and planned to leave Sunday for Newport.

Sunday morning we were still checking weather and it looked like we might have wind to sail before motoring. Also looked like storms to our north would be clearing out so we opted for leaving around

Sunset in Cape May.

8 rather than sunrise. We left at 0820 on a heading of about 060 which took us just off the Jersey coast line. We saw showers all around and one did go over us but didn't last long.

Threatening skies the night before departure. Partial view of Discovery.

Wildwood from the sea.

Atlantic City from about 5 miles off shore.

A cargo ship coming out of NY headed to Baltimore.

There was no wind to speak of for most of the day but about mid-afternoon we caught a moderate easterly breeze that helped us motor sailing with some lift but so far so good. We used our Go and checked weather about 2100 and the forecast was still the same. About midnight we saw storms passing by in different directions but none right where we were. Then about 0100 we had a squall pass right over us with lots of wind and lightning. Not much rain but it kicked up the seas and the wind was right on our nose.

A squall behind us as it got late in the day.

The seas became confused with wind generated chop coming right at us with a previous southeasterly swell to our beam and the seas were building. The winds were running 25-30+ kts directly on our nose. +/- 10 deg off the bow. Swells quickly built to 6-8' with some waves probably 10'. We slogged on although I brought in the sails because they were just flogging in the wind. Hoping that we might catch a break at sunrise.

As the sun rose it only made the wave heights more visible but no relief. By this time we were about 12 miles off the coast of south central Long Island so I fell off the wind and pulled out the sails to get lift and we went more northerly hoping that being in closer would reduce the chop against us. It worked and with the sails we improved our speed and as we got in close the waves became less punishing. We tried a tack or 2 but the lift gained was not enough to improve our speed getting back out into the bigger waves so we stayed in and followed the shoreline with the wind close but waves manageable.

Montauk light at the end of Long Island.

As we continued the wind calmed down to 10-15 and we kept a decent speed. We made it to Block Island about 1730 Monday. Last year in absolute calm we made it here in about 30 hrs. This trip took us about 33 hours even with the conditions.

Boats anchored in Great Salt Pond on Block Island upon our arrival.

We had 2 radio conversations with Discovery during the trip but after the squall hit I didn't reach out to them again because we were too busy with everything going on as I'm sure they were. We lost contact with them but hope they also made it. Hope we see them again.

We left Baltimore knowing the weather could become challenging and it did. We left Baltimore in nearly 100 degree heat and got to Block Island it was in the 60's. The weather front that came through made all the difference and the challenges for us. It made some long days and nights. We lost a boat hook that got washed off the boat but it was a cheap one that was on the boat when we got it. We still have the good one we brought over.

We celebrated another successful passage and look forward to having some fun on these islands with no palm trees.

Hot time, summer in the City.

We spent a great week in "Charm City" as Baltimore is known locally. For probably the hottest week of the year we had a great time accomplishing lots of tasks but not really seeing much of Baltimore. It became as much of an operating base (kind of like most of our stops) to accomplish disparate tasks. The time we were there was during a hot spell in the northeast. Temps were running in the upper 90's every day with little cooling at night. Fortunately we were busy and in air conditioning so it wasn't too bad and there was a nice breeze by the water.

What is left at Sparrows Point. Once the site of the world's largest steel mill and boat yards that built any ships in WWI and WWII.

Fort Carroll a  Civil-war era fort guarding Baltimore Harbor.

We got a slip at the Anchorage Marina because they were the only marina with a reasonable weekly rate and we could get a rental car for a weekly rate so it made more sense to go there than to make several short stops and friends from our sailing club, HHSA were coming for the weekend. Plus it was on the way to our next destination, New England.

We got to Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon 20 July and Thursday we spent back in Northern VA with medical stuff and shopping. Friday was spent working around the boat and shopping although we got together with friends Stefan Leader and Andrea Heintzelman for happy hour and dinner. As always good to see them.

Saturday we spent at the Baltimore Museum of Art and in the evening we caught up with several folks from HHSA for a happy hour. But, instead of joining them all for dinner we returned to the boat for a meal more akin to our diet and to pack for our upcoming trip.

On Sunday we drove to Montgomery County PA to meet with sailing buddies Hayden and Radeen Cochran to discuss our plans for sailing this winter. Hayden and Radeen invited us to their lovely home in the country where it was still hot but comfortable. We spent the hours watching videos, reviewing charts, books and blogs about the Caribbean.

The 4 cruisers.

After our deliberations we decided that going to the Western Caribbean would probably be the best. We would start off in the Bahamas and work our way south until we were ready to jump off from Inagua andpass through the windward passage and then possibly stop in Santiago de Cuba, Port Antonio Jamaica, the Caymans, Belize and then into Guatemala where we will spend hurricane season.

On the way back to Baltimore we stopped by a college classmate, Mike Campbell to visit with him and his lovely wife Hannah. Hadn't seen them in about 5 years. Great to see them and catch up.

So back to the boat and back to our RW (real world). Many people look at our lives and see it as a vacation. But, while we do get to visit lots of fun places and do cool things that many people wish they could do there is a lot of work. We spent the next couple days doing routine work  and getting ready to leave to go north.

Much of the work we do is routine "house" work. Things like laundry, cooking, cleaning, repairs and upkeep consume alot of time. Beyond that there is boat maintenance to do on the engine, plumbing, electrical, hvac, the deck, rigging and generally every part of the boat. Unlike a house which doesn't move our boat has lots of moving parts or parts that help us move that need to be continually serviced and maintained because having them break at a bad time could have catastrophic results.

So we wrapped up everything and headed north.

The boat loaded and ready to go.

On to Baltimore

We finished our work in Galesville on Monday with the connection of the solar panels into our electrical system. By the time we got finished and everything wrapped up afternoon storms blew-up with the passage of a cold front that lasted into the evening. So we spent one last night in the slip at Hartge's Yacht Harbor in Galesville before heading out.

Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful day but with not much wind. So after pumping out we took off to anchor in the Magothy River. There was little wind so we had to motor the 2+ hours out of the West River, past Annapolis and on to Sillery Bay behind Gibson Island. Forecasts were for continued settled weather after the passage of the front the night before so we anchored out away from the islands so we could get some breeze.

Galesville in the rear view mirror.

On the way we passed through a pod of dolphins leisurely swimming and occasionally came by to check us out. Other folks have reported seeing dolphins in the Bay but we never have and nobody has ever reported seeing them this far up the Bay. Don't know if it's the water clarity, the temperature or fish but there they were and a good omen for us.

Dolphins off Thomas Point.

After dinner we saw the full moon rise and then watched a movie. Near the end we began seeing flashes outside and went out to find a storm with lots of lightening just to our south. We quickly put all our electronics into the oven and turned on the TV to find the local news talking about severe storms. For the next 2 hours we watched the light show as the boat clocked around twice in the winds shifting in strength and direction as we hoped the storm would slide by. Fortunately with all the lightning there was little thunder so the storm was too far we really couldn't measure the distance. The lightning continued for several hours but we dodged the bullet.

Iconic Thomas Point Light.

Annapolis off to port.

A ship at anchorage off Annapolis waiting for clearance to go to Baltimore.

Coming up to and passing under the Bay Bridge.

Sandy Point Light with scaffolding for renovations.

The scene by or anchorage in the Magothy.

A beautiful full moon rising.


Wednesday into Baltimore. The winds from the night before continued to blow and we were able to sail part of the way but as we got up the Patapsco the wind died and we motored under the Francis Scott Key Bridge and past Fort McHenry and into our slip.

Sailing up the Patapsco.

What's left of Sparrow's Point.

Fort Carroll. A civil war protection for the port of Baltimore.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The little marker in front of the ship marks the spot where the ship carrying Francis Scott Key was anchored when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner.

We checked into the Anchorage Marina (kind of an oxymoron) for a week. We could have stayed in Galesville but we had several objectives in Baltimore. So we were able to get a weekly rate that would enable us to drive to Virginia for follow-up medical appointments, meet up with some HHSA friends Friday and Saturday and drive to PA to meet with friends Hayden and Radeen Cochran to discuss winter plans.

Enjoying happy hour at the Boathouse in Canton.

Views from near the top of the mast when I went up to affix the radar reflector (Pic below).

We took some time and visited the Baltimore Museum of Art after which we had lunch at a little place called "the Diz" where they had memorabilia on the walls.

The view inside the cockpit after my first work on the sunshade.

The marina is conveniently located to a Safeway where we can provision, a West Marine for a few supplies we need and plenty of great restaurants and bars.

But of course there was work to do. In the steamy heat of Friday morning I ascended the mast again but this time to attach the radar reflector. I had hung it twice before on a flag halyard and both times it broke the line. This time I affixed it to a shroud with a wire clamp underneath it to which it was connected with seizing wire. I tied shut all the ends with wire and then connected it with wire to another shroud to avoid any spinning. Now it should stay in place even though I really doubt the need for a radar reflector on a boat of our size.

As always there was other maintenance things to do. I finally put some grommets in the sunshade cloth we bought and hung it around the cockpit. Makes a huge difference. But, I need to redo it by doubling over the material to make a hem to give the grommets added strength. Another project I need to finish is to clean the contacts on the leads to the tachometer.

But for now we're ready to discuss what's next and plan. But for right now we're enjoying Baltimore and traveling to meet our friends. So our next report will be on our future plans.

  

Down to Work

We got into Galesville on the 4th of July hoping that maybe we would get out in a week but knowing that things rarely go as dreamed. We also had plans to meet some friends in the area while we stayed here doing the needed work.

Let me first talk about the opportunities we've had while here to catch up with friends. We've had the opportunity to get together with our friends Skipp Maiden and Maryanne Ulrich on 3 occasions. Almost the first night here we dinghied across the West River to their slip in the Chesapeake Yacht Club at Shadyside, MD to share a grill and meet Maryanne's son Dave. They also came over for Happy Hour on Saturday night the 9th and then again for a team prepared dinner on Monday night. In addition to swapping sailing stories Skipp shared his adventure in Spain which sounded just fascinating.

On Friday night the 8th we had the chance to spend the evening with our friend Jeff Schumack. We hadn't seen Jeff in several years. It was great catching up with him. We had planned to dinghy over to his boat in CYC but with our dinghy challenge (explained later) he was good enough to come by to see the boat and drive us. We were excited to hear about Jeff's first offshore adventure and maybe he'll come crew with us someplace.

Backing up a bit we were lucky enough to catch Marty and Susie Diamond for dinner in Annapolis at Carroll Creek. It's been awhile since we saw them after being regulars for many years.

On Sunday evening our friends Matt Schramm and Sahalia came by and after happy hour went to Chevy's for dinner out. Matt was the previous owner of the Beneteau 50 we saw on the mooring next to us in Block Island after having had a slip just down the dock from us several years ago. Ironically the people who bought his boat and the people who bought our 380 both changed the name of the boats to Papagayo. What a small world.

Saturday night the 16th we had happy hour on the boat and dinner at the Thai Kitchen in Edgewater with Gary and Toby Schwartz who Linda formerly worked with before her retirement.

Dinner at the Thai Kitchen with Gary and Toby Schwartz.

But like our time in Oxford we continue to make improvements on the boat. I have used the time to accomplish many boat tasks I've had on my list for months like rebedding the chainplates and replacing the head pumps and rebuilding them.  I now have new pumps on both heads and 2 newly rebuilt ones as spares. These are tasks that should not have to be repeated for years.

The reason we are in Galesville is to have a contractor, Eastport Spar & Rigging do some custom metal fabrication needed to complete several projects. The first and most straight forward is installing 2 new solar panels to replace the 1 that we've had on the hard top. We've always thought it was a 130 watt panel but we'e not sure since it was on the boat when we bought it. While doing all the re-engineering of the hard top we were able to solve other annoying challenges as well.

Our hatch bar installation.

By adding the extra solar we are expanding our solar capacity to 650 watts which will be capable of producing a maximum of about 40 amp hours of solar energy. But given our experience we will be lucky to get anything close to that because of interference from clouds. But when we are closer to the sun we should be able increase our solar output of course augmented by our wind energy. Hopefully with this addition we'll become more self-sufficient without running an engine.

Our new solar panels.

The next improvements are security enhancements. We have installed bars in the hatches to keep intruders from climbing in through them and a new companionway insert that we can use to lock the boat and still allow air passage or lock ourselves inside at night to prevent intrusion. While these won't stop a determined criminal it will hopefully slow them down enough to make them want to go elsewhere or wake us up so we can chase them away. Hearing them trying to get in at night we can turn on lights and call for help on the radio that will hopefully scare the off avoiding the need for lethal force.

Finally, we've added an external antenna for our Iridium Go so we can keep the router down below while we use our phones and devices from the cockpit. This permanent installation will enhance our worldwide communications capability with weather, email, phone and data access. We still need to get everything setup so we can use all our devices on the satellite network.

We always enjoy getting together with our friends. It's really what makes our time in these ports fun.  Hopefully many will come visit us in the islands so we can have fun together in the land of no Mondays.  As we work through our task list we hopefully avoid issues as we move forward by resolving them on our terms.

Enjoying summer heat and making progress

We left Oxford on Tuesday 28 June after completing our work their and headed for a brief interlude in Annapolis.

Oxford in the rearview mirror.

In Oxford during the second stay we were able to replace our vinyl coated lifelines with stainless steel that look great and had the hole in the cockpit covered where the sonar was. I was able to remove much of the old wiring for the sonar and paint the lazarettes with Bilgekote. The boat is looking better and getting ready for our extended offshore voyage. But still many tasks to complete.

A selfie at the bow.

We left for Annapolis with little wind although we were able to sail down the Tred Avon and Choptank the wind soon died as we turned into the Bay and we motored on the rest of the way. Typical summer day on the Bay with little wind. We motored up to the Annapolis City Marina where we added fuel before our stay in Naptown. After waiting for the bridge over Spa Creek we found a mooring in Wells Cove. In the week before the 4th of July we found a convenient mooring as most of the mooring balls were available.

Sailing a little cool and wet.

We had several objectives while in Annapolis. We had a rental car reserved for Tuesday afternoon that we needed to get for medical appointments on Wednesday and Thursday of that week. We called our friends Al and Trish Del Negro who live and have a dock on Spa Creek and we arranged with them to be able to dock our dinghy at their dock and park our rental car in their driveway. A safe and convenient spot to leave our dink and rental car. We've gotten quite used to renting cars as needed for appointments and provisioning.

Passing Thomas Point Light.

We used the opportunity in Annapolis to catch up with old friends and visit some of our old haunts. We previously took the opportunity to dine at the Boatyard so this time we went to Pusser's Dock Bar for a Painkiller. It used to be one of our favorite spots but we haven't been there in a couple years so after getting our car we stopped downtown for a quick painkiller before heading back to the boat. Pusser's dock bar in Annapolis is an icon of water culture and is a great place to people watch.

Our visit to Pussers.

The next 2 days we did our medical follow-ups and provisioned. But we really enjoyed the opportunity to catch-up with old friends. On Wednesday night we met our weather gurus Dane and Jenifer Clarke. We've used the Clarke's for years after first meeting them at an SSCA Gam in 2011. We do most of our weather planning using online data and now reports from OCENS through our Iridium Go. We always count on Dane and Jenifer's insight on the Gulfstream.

Dinner with Dane and Jenifer.

Thursday night we enjoyed a nice dinner with our friends Trish and Al at their home. We used to get together frequently so it was nice to have the opportunity to enjoy a quiet evening together.

Us at Trish and Al's.

After having been in Annapolis for several days Friday was the first day we actually got to walk around the town and shop. We did lunch at McGarvey's which was another favorite of ours. We returned to the boat and got the dink up in ample time before storms raged through. The Friday night storms were severe and we watched lightning strike on what we later learned was the Maryland Statehouse.

We stayed in Annapolis through Saturday morning and gave up our mooring on Saturday and headed to the Rhode River for the holiday weekend where we met our friends Trish and Al for Saturday night. We spent Sunday in the Rhode River grilling the last of our Bahamian conch.

During a break in the rain and storms on Monday we motored the short distance to Hartge's Yacht Harbor in Galesville for what hopefully will be our last round of work.

Scenes from our anchorage at Rhode River.

Our dock Monday after our arrival.