Finally we get into the ICW

All of our travels so far were but preamble to our trip down the ICW, which officially begins in Norfolk, on the Elizabeth River, at red buoy 36 (designated as mile "'0" on the ICW)

But first

last evening the crews from the five Island Packets docked at Hampton public piers went to dinner at a wonderful Tapas place (Venture) about 2 blocks from the marina. It was chosen in part because the food and ambiance were reported to be good (which indeed they were) but mainly because they have Prosecco on tap!..there are those in the group who dearly love their prosecco..as my friend David would often say "Segustubam non disputem est"...you can look it up

The crews..clockwise from me: Hayden, Drew and Deb from Shawnee, Greg and Sharon from Dream Catcher, Eric and Pat from CutterLoose (Pat is taking the picture), Radeen (who sails with Hayden on Island Spirit and Molli, who sails with me.

It was a fun evening and a great way to cap our trip down to the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and our beginning of the trip down the ICW

The morning was glorious and we cast off at 7:15 with the goal of getting to the Gilmarton Bridge by 10:30 (we were under the impression that the bridge only opens on the half hour, but that proved to be wrong...it opens on request..but it worked out nice)

Right away we sailed post lots of naval warships (Norfolk is the main base for many humongous aircraft carriers, some of which are in dock when they aren't off scaring the natives around the world)

Sunrise in Norfolk

A better view of one of the many aircraft carriers docke here

Molli enjoying the view

We got to the Gilmorton bridge in about 3 hours (a lift bridge, often one of the hurdles to going down the ICW if you miss the opening. but today we requested an opening as we got close and it opened in minutes (probably annoying lots of drivers forced to wait for us to whiz by at 6 knots...you can jog faster)

An hour later we got to the "Great Lock" which equalizes the heights of the water before and after the lock...in this case it only dropped us down about a foot!, but still...

The drill is...we wait for the lock to open (at quarter past the hour) we motor in and lean against a wall with one person up front who holds a line around a cleat to keep us against the wall. Another person ( in this case me) does the same at the stern

(last year when I did it alone I stood in the middle, holding two lines...this way is easier)

Boats tie up at both the left  and right (port and starboard) walls, and assume the position.

Molli holding her line at the bow

Looking to the forward locks, that will eventually swing open to let us out

The boat slowly drips, and the crew holding lines let it out slowly to keep us in place.

Soon the front gates swing open and away we go

500 feet further down is the Great Lock Bridge which is supposed to be synchronized. Timing was a bit off and we had to all mill around, which can be tricky if there is wind or current, but today there was neither. It opened in about 5 minutes and under we went

Our stop for today was the Atlantic Yacht Basin, mainly because they have a large service program and an electrician (named "Sparky" of course) will come by first thing in the morning.

We spent the afternoon fixing those things that had broken...turns out the problem with the deck wash was that the pump had lost prime and when I reduced the afterload (by temporarily removing the hose at the pump) it recovered and is working fine now. 

We refilled the fuel and the water and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

We'll eat in tonight....looking forward to another great barbecue!

Down to the Bottom of the Bay

We rose this morning to a beautiful sunrise

Priority is the boat in the center, Cutter loose is to the right

We sat and drank coffee as the sun camie up

At 7:30 we raised the anchor and headued out of this beautiful anchorage. That's when we found the first of the problems...the deck wash used to clean the chain as it comes in didn't work..I didn't have time to figure out why and so stowed the chain..mud and all

Then I noticed that the alternator that charges the battery when the engine is running wasn't charging. Its a dual output alternator, with one side charing the stater battery and the other charging the "house" battery..the starter battery was charging jsst fine, but the big house bank, which among other things supplys the power for the refrigerator, wasn't being charged at all.

But the engine was running fine and off we went

The winds were dead calm, the water was smooth and glassy and we didnt even bother to raise any sails. We made good time, passed another lighthouse

Wolf Trap Light

and by 3:15 were in Hampton, docking at the Hampton Public Piers. The first thing we did after tying off the boat was to plug into a 30 amp service to recharge the batteries. 

I spent much of the time on the trip down the Bay trying to find an electrician to come to the boat and figure out what was wrong with the charging system, but I failed completely. I'm now hooping that at our next stop, which will be at a marina in Great Bridge Virginia I'll bemore successful.

We had dinner this eening at a nice restaurant (Venture) a few blocks from the marina. Crew from 5 different Island Packets were around the table and it was a very nice evening..

Tomorrow we head into the ICW proper, which begins a mile marker zero, about 11 miles south of our marina. 

On to Deltaville

We cast off this morning at 7:45 and fell in behind Island Spirit (Harden and Raydeen's Island Packet 35). It was like old times (or at least like last year)

Sunrise at Solomons as seen from the deck of Priority

It was clear, calm, beautiful..at least till we hit the Bay.

The wind picked up to  2-25 knots from the South (which of course was the direction we were heading). There was a 1 knot current flowing to the South, which initially gave us a nice boost in speed, but quickly resulted in a "wind on current" chop. We soon had water crashing over the deck and spray hitting us in the face...The boat kept plowing into the waves with a resultant loss of speed and much rocking and rolling.

Molli and I put on life jackets, mainly to take advantage of the  tethers the lifejackets have, to hook us to the jacklines I had installed this summer. These are lines made of new synthetic fiber that is stronger than steel that I had made this summer, and is hooked to padeyes (strong attachment points fore and aft in the cockpit). The idea was that no matter what happened we would stay on the boat and not be thrown overboard...paranoid perhaps, but it couldn't hurt....

But we kept going. 

The wind veered a bit to the SouthWest so we put up a reefed main and a staysail. Hayden went with a  jib and staysail which ended up giving him a bit more speed...but we were both motor sailing to help push us through the waves. 

In about 3 hours we got to the mouth of the Potomac, and in another 2 hours we were across it...it is a really big river..at least at the Bay

Point No Point light house, just north of the mouth of the Potomac..it stands just off point no point, which is a nice little point...have no idea why they named it that way

In another hour we got to Smith's point where we turned west to head into our anchorage, which is just north of Deltaville

Smith Point Lighthouse, just south of th mouth of the Potomoc...don't know which Smith its named after

As we approached the anchorage (which was to be Little Bay) Radeen radioed with an updated weather report which was predicting 20 knot winds from the north. Unfortunately, while Little Bay is a great anchorage, it offers no protection from the North. Hayden quickly checked the charts and proposed Dyers Creek which is just to the North of Little Bay

Up we went past a few Beautiful houses and anchored iin a beautiful secluded setting

Island Spirit at anchor

Cutter Loose at anchor

Priority at anchor (courtesy of Hayden)

Some of the views around us

We went below to clean up the mess from all the bouncing around..Happily nothing broke but we found that water had come in through the chain locker and wet the head of the bed..Tonight we'll see if we can just put some towels under the pillows and sleep that way...the back up is to move to the back cabin till it dries up

Thisis the second time water came in through the chain locker...going to have to fix that

But meanwhile...its a beautiful setting..

We're going to enjoy the and presently enjoy some nice barbecued steaks (and perhaps some wine)

Tomorrow on to Norfolk!

Great Day

Today was a Fantastic Day....nothing broke!

The Fridge kept Fridging, the oil filter kept filtering, the water pump....oh yeah, I haven't mentioned the water pump...it was working, then two days ago it wasn't working (actually, it was working too good...it wouldn't stop pumping), then it is working again. I was about to take it apart and clean the diaphragm (which is the usual cause for such failure) but hey...its working so I'm leaving it alone

But the main point is everyhing...at least for now...is working..we take blessings as they come!!

We cast off from Herrington Harbor South at 8:15 into a beautiful, clear, cloudless and windless day. After clearing a point we headed south. In hopes that the wind would come up we raised sails...and the winds did come...directly on our nose!! It wasn't much of a wind, between 3 and 6 knots, but still...it could have chosen a different direction...It did get more blustery at the very end, but by then we were approaching Solomons and were rolling in the sails. 

The riide was pleasant and calm, with not too many other boats out and about. We set it on autopilot and sat back and enjoyed the ride, remembering to look about from time to time to see what's out there. 

I have this wonderful piece of kit ( as the English would say) called AIS which identifies all commercial ships and not a few private boats (like my very own). It places an icon of all ships broadcsting AIS information on the chartplotter screen showing where they are, what heading and speed they have and other details, such as their name, last port, country they are flagged in (usually panama for commercial ships) and the likelihood of a collision..that last bit is useful information. It is my custom, whcih I did today, is call the offending ship on the VHF radio and ask if they see us. That usuallly results in a course correction or at least advice on which way I should turn (if they are bigger than me). It's fun to play with

We passed a neat Liquid Natural Gas facility

I've passed this 3 times now and have never seen a ship loading up

Just beyond the LNG facility we passed a neat lighthouse tucked ashore ( and I couldn't tell what dangers it was waring about..maybe the  LNG facility, but its light flashed every 10 seconds

neat lighthouse, that's probably the lighthouse keepers house right next to it

Soon after we turned into the Patuxent river and then into  a harbor chock full of marinas..we had reservations at one called Zahnheisers...its main attaction for us was a well regarded restaurant (the Dry Dock) and after tonights dinner I can attest that the reputation is well deserved. 

Its a pretty marina, very professionally run, in a nice setting

A small part of the marina

Priority, nicely tied up at the face dock.

We spent the rest of the day mostly relaxing and reading, and as mentioned had a very good dinner.

Tomorrow we continue down the bay to an area called Deltaville, but will likely stop at a nice anchorage that we used last year called "Little Bay"...looking forward to it

More Stuff Happens!

Today (Sunday) is the day we set sail!

We spent yesterday putting food and clothing onto the boat, topping off the water, checking the oil and  getting all in readiness.

The food was all packed away...some in the refrigerator (now working wonderfully!!) and most in the storage spaces behind  and under the settees in the saloon.

Some of the food stored in the space behind the starboard settees

This morning we woke early, had some coffee and headed out to the boat ready to begin the adventure.

Did the usual preparation (unhooked the electricity, checked the oil, turned on the computer and started the navigation program, started the gadget that reports our position every 10 minutes....

Finally, around 7:30am turned the key to start the engine..it started fine but a few moments later an alarm went off, signalling low oil pressure. I immediately turned off the engine, went below to check the oil and sure enough it was empty!...but it was full just before I started the engine...

 Looked under the engine and sure enough there was a big pool of oil

Went to the rear of the engine compartment where I had installed a remote oil finter (of course getting there meant removing everything we had stored in the aft cabin) and found the oil filter had unscrewed...I had just changed the oil last week and installed a nice new Yanmar oil filter...maybe it was defective

So I mopped up the gallon of oil in the bilge of the engine compartment (lots and lots of oil absorbant pad), put a nice new Yanmar oil filter on, added a gallon of oil to the engine and...

Started the engine

Moments later we heard a loud "pop", followed immediately by the "low oil" alarm

The new filter I had just attached had blown off its fitting!!

As I mentioned, I had just installed a remote oil filter (and that was because the oringinal location of the oil filter was nearly impossible to get to). 

The kit had come with a generic filter (a Fram knockoff) and had worked fine..

I was starting to think we'd never be able to leave Baltimore, at least not today and perhaps not this winter.

But then I reckoned that there must be something different between a Yanmar filter fitting and "regular" filters...

So (its now 8:30am) I went to the local Ace Automotive Supply, got there just as they were opening at 9am and had a discussion with the guy behind the counter..We googled Fram equivalents for the Yanmar filter, i bought three (and two more gallons of oil) and headed back to the boat

By 9:45 I had the new filter installed and another gallon of oil in the engine

I started the engine///we held our breath and....no alarm!!

I checked the filter and it was still on and not leaking (of course there was a gallon of oil under the engine, but that would have to wait...we had to leave if we were going to make our first stop (Herrington Harbor South, about 40 miles south) before 5pm, when the dock hands went home.

The trip itself was anticlimactic

We pulled away from the dock at 10am and headed out to the Bay

Looking back at Baltimore after having just passed Under the Francis Scott Key Bridge

It was a calm day...almost no wind...and cool (it got up to 66 later in the day, but felt much colder.

We got to Annapolis in 3 hours

Approaching the Annapolis Bay Bridge, with the Sandy point lighthouse in the foreground

Close up of  the lighthouse

A pretty sailboat at the Annapolis harbor

Three hours later, at 4:15 we were tied up in our slip at the Herrington Harbor Marina

Looking down the dock from our boat towards the marina restaurant.

We had a pleasant dinner at the restaurant, watched a little of the New England game (wasn't

 this the 4'th game that Brady wasn't supposed to play in?

 and back to the boat, which as always is quite pleasant

Tomorrow we are off to Solomons island. We'll meet up with our flotilla mates as we head down the bay. 

Hayden and Radeen aboard Island Spirit and Eric and Pat aboard Cutter Loose..both Island Packets. They are still in Annapolis enjoying the boat show.

More tomorrow

"Stuff Happens"

Two nights ago, in preparation for loading the perishable food for the trip, I turned on the refrigerator....it didn't start!! Having a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering I did the usual things...I turned the switch on and off several times. I banged the display...all to no avail.
I looked at the manual and the schematic showed a fuse on the compressor, put there as a backup in case the switch (breaker) went bad..
The compressor is located in the starboard lazerette and to get to it I had to empty the lazerette (its a locker about 5 feet deep by 6 feet long by 3 feet wide meant to hold stuff you might need (lines, fenders, buckets, whatever).
I crawled in and crouching down in the bottom front part of the lazerette I could see the compressor, but the fuse is on the opposite side of where I could see. Using a mirror positioned behind the lazerette I could see the fuse, but I couldn't pull it out (and if I had succeeded, there was no way I could have put it back in .

I decided to call a marine refrigerator service company. He whined about how busy he was what with the Annapolis boat show coming up, but promised to send someone out on Thursday (today).

We started planning on foods we could bring and meals we could make without refrigeration..

Molli and I spent this morning loading clothes and bedding onto the boat while  waiting for the service guy to show...

He never showed and didn't return calls so I decided to see what I could do myself

I spent some quality time this afternoon down in the starboard lazerette (after having spent time emptying it out so I could get into it). 

As I mentioned, the compresser is tucked up under the deck at the forward part of the lazerette. 

After staring at it for a while I noticed a black wire, the ground wire from the battery, was not attached.  But of course the attachment point is hidden behind part of the compressor (actually right next to the fuse that I couldn't reach before. Having nothing to lose at this point... I took part of the compressor off-the electronic control- so I could get to the terminal. Assuming a pretzel shape,  I attempted to reconnect it... Almost had it once... And decided I really needed to find someone much more limber than me.  

I called Tidewater Yacht Services who had done much work for me this summer, some of it actually taking place in the lazerette as part of the radar installation and sort of implied they had knocked off the wire and could they send someone limber over to help me. I was desparate and they took pity on me.  One of their guys showed up an hour later. 

Took him 15 minutes (Oh to be able to bend agan.)...and now it is cooling away!!

I celebrated by driving over to Whole Foods and buying 10 steaks that are going into the freezer tomorrow!!

Tomorrow (Friday) we shop for other perishables (cheese, vegetables) and continue packing. 

We plan to cast off our lines Sunday morning

All is well!!

Heading South Again

A few years ago, in belated recognition of my advancing age and finally overcoming denial about my decreasing strength and stamina, but still wanting to continue sailing, I  started thinking about downsizing from our IP 380 to something smaller, perhaps something around 30-32 feet LOA. So I looked at a bunch of different boats at the boat shows, read reviews in the sailing magazines, even visited a few dealers, but nothing offered the features, style and comfort of our 380…

After some more thought I decided that we would keep Priority, our IP380, but upgrade it with an eye towards decreasing effort and increasing comfort.

Last year we added a new Lofrans Tigres windlass which has enough strength to pull the boat up a mountain. At the same time we added a Sidepower Bow Thruster to make it even easier to maneuver the boat in an out of slip and off the dock. Following Drew Sunstein’s suggestions we mounted two type 27 batteries under the forward berth, just over the bow thruster to supply both the windlass and bow thrusters, putting the batteries in parallel with the 4 battery housebank. All 6 batteries would charge as a single unit, but the instantaneous current draw of the thruster or windlass would mostly come from the two batteries up front.

It works as planned.

This summer I threw caution and money to the winds and added many new features. 

• I replaced all the batteries (the housebank batteries were 10 years old, and I decided to start fresh this year with all new batteries)

• I added a Magnum MS2812 inverter/charger with battery sensor and remote control. In part I wanted to take advantage of all the battery capacity I have (a total of nearly 570 Amp-hours) so I could run the microwave and a Keurig coffee maker while  at anchor or even underway (remember, I’m talking comfort) and in part because the original, 16 year old Charles charger 30 amp charger is way underpowered for the current battery capacity. The Magnum has a 125 amp capacity charger!

• I added a Raymarine 18” HD radar and a Raymarine a95 Multi-Function Display (MFD). I also added a RMK-9 remote to the MFD to create a hybrid touch and knob system just like the e95 system that Raymarine sells (for $500 more!). 

• I worked with the nice folk at NavPod to design a pod that would hold the MFD, remote and my old B&G instruments.

• I had new helm rails built to hold the new Navpod. I used a design brilliantly created by Norm Pierce and perfectly executed by Kato.

• I mounted the radar on a stern pole, also built by Kato. By the way, Terri and Keith, the owners of Kato are a pleasure to deal and talk with.

The new radar standing proudly on its stern pole (there is a nice nonsuch just in front of us in the yard at Tidewater)

The new Navpod. The Raymarine a95 is in the center, the RMK-9 remote is just below to add knob control  to the touch screen. My old B&G instruments are nicely positioned around the radar

With the new helm rails, which positions the navpod forward and slightly above the compass, visibility forward (presence) is maintained. But I will be increasing the height of the helm cushion so Molli will also be able to see forward (which actually was a problem for her even with the old arrangement

Side view of the new helm arrangement. Norm Pierce designed and Kato executed brilliantly

• I installed an AIS transceiver (Si-Tex) and antenna splitter (S-Tex). I had been receiving AIS via my matrix VHF 2100 radio, but wanted to be seen as well as see. Of course the AIS displays at the MFD at the helm.

• One very nice thing about the Raymarine MFD is that it acts as a WIFI hotspot, streaming its screen (and controls) to any wifi device on the boat (In my case, an iPad, iPhone, and Nexus 7) so you can, for example huddle up under the dodger and still see the display back at the helm….very nice on a cold, rainy night!

• I finally had a remote oil filter installed, with the remote filter placed at the rear of the engine compartment, just above the muffler and under  the aft bunk. I can now actually see and touch the filter at the same time…makes oil and filter changes a relative pleasure!

• I replaced the 16 year old Raritan PHIIE head with a shiny new, and comfortable, Elegance head made my Raritan. 

• I replaced the 7 year old Lectrosan sanitation device which was starting to get cranky (I came to find out, in conversations with the nice folk at Raritan Engineering, that the expected life of these devices is about 7 years, which has been my experience}..but they are a lot easier, and a lot cheaper, to replace than a holding tank..and I haven’t used mine for about 12 years. I added a 3 way valve so I can switch the waste to the holding tank if and when I sail in the Keys

• While I was at it I replaced all the sanitation  hoses on the boat. Some of them were original (i.e. 16 years old) and were becoming smelly.

• I replaced the lifelines which were original with the boat and had way too many rust streaks. Seco South knew the dimensions of my old ones and sent me the new set in about 2 weeks. I decided to go with bare steel wire and actually think it looks nicer than than the white plastic coated wires I had before.

• I had the nice folk at Annapolis Performance Sailing put together two jacklines made of the new synthetic line to attach to the padeyes in the cockpit. They put a braid over the line to resist UV degradation so I can just leave them attached. 

• Finally, I had the bottom painted again (this time I chose Petit Trinidad SR, black) and had Propspeed put on the propeller. 

All of the work, with the exception of the lifelines and cockpit jacklines, was done by the guys at Tidewater Yacht Services here in Baltimore and they did outstanding, highly professional, work. 

 

We are now just a week away from the start of our latest voyage south, heading again for Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove. Once again we will be in flotilla with Hayden and Radeen (and perhaps others) and I could ask for no better company.

We will be spending the next week putting food, bedding, and clothes on the boat. I’ve already changed the oil and oil filter, changed the fuel filters, and even changed the transmission fluid (although I’m not at all sure that is ever necessary). The water and fuel tanks are full, and I’ll once again fill two 5 gallon  diesel jugs and put them in the lazerette as backup. 

One big change this year is that Molli will be joining me on the trip, at least as far as Charleston, which should increase the enjoyment of the trip considerably. 

Robert  Brown, who helped me bring the boat back to Baltimore from Miami last spring will be joining me in Charleston and we’ll be heading offshore to Miami, continuing our most interesting discussions as we go.