When I left my job 6 months ago, my collegues collected a bit of cash and gave it to me as a parting gift. I was told to buy something for the boat and I promised to blog about it once I bought something. So I pondered all summer long. A few days before we departed Annapolis, I found an end of season sale and got what I felt would be the best item to add to the boat.
I purchased an inflatable paddleboard. It’s perfect because it can be stowed during passages when it’s best to have the decks clear, plus it can be shared with boat guests who wantg to give it a try. And, it’s great exercise to boot.
I inflated it the day of our arrival. It’s great. I go out most days and get my paddling in. Charlie insists on joining me every time I go.
Thanks again VGH Ambulatory staff. I think of you everytime I’m enjoying this wonderful gift.
We did it. We sailed 1,440 nautical miles on the open ocean. It took us 11 days and nights of 3 hour shifts. Yes, this means that with only two of us, we slept no more than three hours at a time for 11 days straight. Surprisingly, the body adjusts.
We left Hampton, Virginia near noon on Nov 6th. The day was sunny and warm. Charlie,our dog got sea sick just after dinner and was sick for about 24 hours. We started experiencing heavy seas as soon as we departed the mouth of the Chesapeake. This continued to get worse which followed by me getting sea sick for the first time in my life (Gwyn). I still mannaged my shifts, but could not fathom food for the next 48 hours.
We hit an unusual storm as we crossed the Gulf Stream. I can describe the experience as feeling like you were in a giant washing machine. Being tossed around constantly. This eventually ended with us feeling lucky, as we heard radio reports of boats being demasted, losing props, etc. Those of us that made it through, felt blessed for sure. After this it wasn’t completely smooth sailing. We experienced squals, wierd wind shifts, etc. There were also a few days of sun and mild enough weather to sit on the foredeck and savour the moment.
We approached the BVI in 20-25 knot winds. We were double reefed and had the genoa down and were still going 6 knots. It was the middle of the night and we wanted to arrive after sunrise. We managed to go slow enough to arrive around 6 am.
Paul went ashore after 8 to check us in. He had to return to the boat to bring Charlie ashore. The vet wanted to see thedog to ensure he had faired the trip okay. You’veneverseen a dog so happy to go in the dinghy. He loves his boat, but he knows the dinghy means he gets to walk on land.
So we have another passage behind us, and now we begin to enjoy the sun, the sea, and the sand for the next 6-7 months.
We arrived in Hampton, Virginia on November 2nd after a 24 hour overnight sail from Annapolis, Maryland. The afternoon of our arrival was beautiful and warm and we were able to sun on the deck as we neared the entrance to the bay. There was a lot of shipping traffic along the way and we had another boat from Pier 7 Marina join us during the wee hours of the night, so we buddy boated with sv Simplicity the rest of the way.
Simplicity
After fueling and docking at the Blue Water Yacht Club, we joined the other fellow Salty Dawg Rallyers for happy hour in the Dawg House. We were exhausted, so didn’t stay long, but heard the music from our boat as it lulled us to sleep.
We’ve been watching boats depart for the Bahamas and the BVI daily since our arrival. We missed the initial planned departure of November 4th due to weather, and are now planning to depart in the early morning hours on November 6th. This delay allowed us to hire divers to scrub the bottom of our boat today (the last in a long list of boats they dove for the rally). This is a blessing, as we had some slower than normal performance on the trip from Annaopolis.
Charlie has adapted well to boat life. He’s learned to potty on his fake piece of turf, doesn’t complain about wearing a lifevest 24/7 while underway, and greets everyone he meets with a bark followed by a tail wag. We’ve made many friends who we’ll meet up with once we arrive in the BVI. Others’ we hope to run into in the Bahamas next year.
We’ll give you an update again upon our arrival in the BVI.
Last evening we had a bit of Halloween excitement with a visit from Tommy and Amy of Sail Away Catamarans. They came onto the dock and provided each boat with a bottle of Champaigne, some candy bars and pork rinds (that was the trick). Everyone gathered on dock outside our boat and drank the champaigne. It was an enjoyable few hours of fun talking over the departure dates and destinations of at least 8 other boats. It’s one of the joys of sailing, is being around people of like minds.
It’s been a great experience here at Pier 7 Marina, and with the help of http://sailawaycatamarans.com/ we’ve been able to find the support of the local experts as we did our upgrades to the boat. If you are ever in need of a reasonable place to dock and work on your catamaran, contact Tommy. He’s a great guy who’ll make you feel welcome.
This has been a harried week readying ourselves for the departure to Hampton, Virginia to join the Salty Dawg Rally to the British Virgin Islands.
We flew our son Lindsay here on Monday to help out and to drive our car back to his place in Michigan for safe keeping. It was a good thing that he was here, as there were so many things left to be done. He helped build a platform for the water maker high pressure pump, helped install the one solar panel that arrived in one piece to the top of the bimini. He also helped install new locks to the hatches along with many other tasks, too many to mention them all. He departed today with the car. So our provisions were purchased throughout the week. If we missed anything, then so be it. We’ll live without it.
As I am writing this Paul is madly sorting and putting away tools and last minute supplies. We have a 21 hour passage to get us to Hampton. The weather has been somewhat threatening, but it looks like the worst of it has passed us. The plan is to leave later today or tomorrow.
We are now facing a fast approaching deadline to head back south to the Caribbean. Our summer, which we’d hoped to spend mostly sailing, has been spent on family matters and getting the boat ready for long term sailing. Everything we do to ready ourselves seems to have taken much longer than planned. Some things just don’t go according to plan. And now with our planned leave for next Wednesday, has already been delayed for Thursday and I won’t be surprised if it is Friday. We are still holding out hope that we will make it early to join the Salty Dawg Rally (http://saltydawgrally.org/) in Hampton Virginia for a November 4th launch to the BVI (weather permitting of course).
So, you ask, ‘What have you done to get the boat ready?’ For starters, we had the running rigging redone, sails re-stitched, added radar, a new windlass, new lifelines, installed new instruments, registered our AIS, installed SSB, filed a sail plan, recovered some of the cushion covers, cleaned cushion covers, installed a washer/dryer, ordered solar panels to be installed later, bought and picked up a parasail (which we now have to install more rigging for that, ordered today), purchased charts, replaced navigation and interior lights with LED’s, provisioned (some last minute stuff still to be done), visited a vet to have Charlie’s pet passport paperwork finalized (still in progress), purchased snorkel gear, a pressure cooker, an electric induction cook top, storage bins, mason jars for storing dry goods (all cardboard must be removed from packaging to avoid bugs on board), purchased tools that we somehow missed bringing, along with other items we somehow missed bringing, made new curtains and decorative pillows, purchased bedding for guest rooms, bought slippers because it’s now cold enough to need them, and that’s all I can recall off hand. I’m sure Paul could elaborate on the list.
Now that we are down to our last week in port in Annapolis, we are beginning to panic. There are so many things still to be done. The water maker is not yet installed, the solar panels can wait (we hope), the battery to the generator had to be recharged (hopefully for lack of use and not because we need a new battery), the dogs Titer test was not expedited by the vet, so we paid the extra $155 today to have it complete by Tuesday (let’s hope they come through), the anchor is on order and should be here Monday, the 500 ft chain is being picked up as I write this (I have no idea how we are going to get it on board), the car has to go back to Canada or somewhere for storage for a year (not willing to have a dealer give us a ridiculous low amount of money for it), final provisions need to get on board including 25 gallons of drinking water (since the water maker is not installed yet), and if the new propane tanks do not arrive by Monday, we’ll have to buy temporary new ones and have them filled (because it is illegal to have the ones we have refilled in the US – ‘it is what it is’). With the list of what has to be completed, we are in full panic mode. So much left to do, and with so little time remaining.
As you can see, it’s not always fun and games, but the fun in the sun is there for the taking, you just have to be willing to work for it. I suppose that’s true with all things in life. In future blogs we hope to report it was all worth it by sharing our adventures. So forgive me for not posting more frequently throughout the summer. Hopefully this will change over the upcoming weeks.
