2009 Log
5/1 to 5/15/2009
This is the current period of our log for 2009; our earlier voyages are in Prior Voyages.
We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to history; pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!
Updated on 05/18/2009
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5/1/09 - A balmy sunny day with just enough wind to hold off the heat. We moved AA up the dock to a position near Our Way. I worked on projects on Our Way most of the day, taking time to fill our water tanks and flush off the deck. John and I pretty much got his to-do list done on the boat, finishing with repairs to damage done during a race last weekend. The companionway steps had torn out and we had to laminate the bulkheads back together so we could mount the steps again. I talked to Ruth several times, she's helping Pat get things in order relative to his insurance, after-care, and putting some order to his finances. We talked about when she might return to AA... at this point there is no way to estimate. The materials for Ed's project arrived too late to finish it today - a project for tomorrow. I've tentatively set Tuesday for departure, weather permitting. 5/2/09 - Up and dawn, had breakfast and packed my tools to go finish Ed's job. By 8:15am I was working and by 11:15am I was done. Looks good if I say so myself. After lunch I worked on Our Way with John, finishing the repairs to the companionway stairs. By 3 we had it to the point we had to wait for glue to dry on the teak plugs so we can sand, stain and varnish. John had a little project he wanted me to look at, a broken tile on the steps to the dock. While he went looking of tools I removed the broken tile with my Wave, noting that all five of the tiles were loose. By the time he arrived with the tools I had 5 tiles stacked next to the step. We determined the cause, cleaned and caulked in preparation for re-laying the tiles tomorrow. 5/3/09 - Another.... I know, I know, let it be. Anyway by 8:30 I was working on Our Way sanding, staining and varnishing the repairs we made to the companionway stairs. All done, looks like new! John had another little project he want my advice on. When the crew was working on the sea wall they chipped a couple of tiles and cracked one. When we looked it over we found that 5 terracotta tile were loose as the result of years of settling. We re-bedded and grouted them, cut 3 terracotta tiles to repair the landing and 3 more for the stair riser. Got the job done. While we were cleaning up John mentioned one of the sprinkler risers was broken so we repaired that; then on to fix the switch for the spa. I suggested to John that I'd be his handy man for a room, meals and a stipend. Ended the day with a relaxing beer in the spa (hey, had to test it) followed by a pleasant dinner with Nell, John, Wes and Victoria. 5/4/09 - Today was an errand day. John and I started by chasing down hardware for his hurricane mooring harness. Then I headed to my semi-annual doctor visit; on to the pharmacy, the DMV and the super market. The pharmacy needed two hours to fill the prescription so I went on to the DMV where I waited 1-1/2 hour to find out they wanted more than my passport, old license and a document with my new address. They wanted a copy of a lease or property tax bill, or a utility bill, or a bank statement, or two to three envelopes with cancelled stamps showing delivery to my new address. All the old folks in Florida were young when they got in line - they grew old waiting. Ruth called, she's flying into Miami Thursday noon! Happy dance! Even Buddy is excited. It means I'll be heading north later but we'll make better time as a team. 5/5/09 - Today dawned clear and warm, as the sun rose the temperature quickly climbed to the mid 80's. John had only a few projects -he and Nell are heading to Norway for their annual stay so he's trying to finish a lot of things up. I did housekeeping today, vacuuming, cleaning the freezer, refrigerator and Buddy's cage. I also gave her a shower - one of her favorite treats. 5/6/09 - Dawn revealed scattered clouds that morphed into another beautiful clear day. Tomorrow Ruth arrives. Kewl! Today was a maintenance day at Sol Bu - various little projects that John needed to complete before leaving the house in the hands of their house sitter. Before I knew it 6pm had arrived. 5/7/09 - The sun was up a little after 6 and so was I (I think I'm solar powered... that's why my hair is disappearing; I must be needing more energy). John and I worked on installing and testing an electric fireplace until 10am, then I headed to Miami to pick up my partner. Ruth's plane arrived on time just after noon. A mad dash to Del Ray and a 2 hour wait yielded Florida driver licenses for each of us. Boy, it sure felt weird turning in our WI licenses. Next step is to finalize the boat registration. We are now Floridians. 5/8/09 - Ruth and I threw off the dock lines at 8:15am and headed north on the ICW. Our first few bridges we lucked out, arriving at the same time as southbound tugs (they get an immediate opening), we were authorized to pass with them. By mid afternoon we were exiting the ICW at West Palm Beach, having decided to make a 380 mile passage offshore. 5/9/09 - We had a beautiful night, full moon, 10-15 knot winds, high 70's for temperature. Ruth and I did an informal 3-4 hour rotation, one of us sleeping while the other conned the vessel. We let the autohelm do most of the steering while we watched our radar and the horizon for other vessels. We saw a few casino boats and some commercial shipping - nothing close. We decided to change our destination from Charleston to Beaufort, NC as the seas were kindly and the winds favorable. This is our longest offshore passage by a factor of 4. Riding the gulf stream we were making 8-10 knots on a much shorter straight line course. The net result is that we will arrive in three days and two nights whereas it would take us 12-15 days on the ICW. 5/10/09 - Mother's day crept up on us. We were doing 2-3 hour shifts all night. I couldn't sleep so my shifts were 1-1/2 to 2 hours, letting Ruthie get her beauty rest. I came up for the 2:30am shift groggy. While I was checking the chart plotter and radar to get a picture of where we and anyone else were the boat suddenly spin through the wind with the sails flogging and the vessel lurching in 6-8 foot seas, we'd lost our rudder - the auto pilot had disengaged. I looked to the compass to get my bearings, dark - the light had been accidentally turned off the day before (it shares a circuit with some nav station lighting. I got the boat under control and determined I'd done a 180, heading back to whence I'd come - bummer. Another brutal 180 and I was on course. The following seas were tall enough for radar to pick them up. I could see each series approach the stern. Can you say surfing? Morning went quickly, Ruth and I were both up; she was fishing. We watched a couple of big fish fight for her lure. One got it and stole it, completely stripped it off the leader. Ruth tied on another lure and had a strike in 15 minutes. Whoa, more than a strike, she caught a beautiful Mahi Mahi. That lady sure knows how to keep our freezer stocked. 5/11/09 - I had the magic watch last night, 7pm to 11pm. After Ruth went to bed a large pod of dolphins came alongside and played with our wake. The babies were jumping about 3' clear of the water as they frolicked by. After dark I had several large fish enamored by our green bow light. They would streak by the cockpit throwing spray in the air as they tried to reach the light. I think they may have mistaken the green glow on the water as mating squid. Later the moon rose spectacularly through thunderheads building offshore, looking like a large golden roman candle in the midst of an aerial display. The balance of the night slipped by as we alternated watches. Ruth woke me at 6am at the end of her last rotation. I'd timed our arrival at Beaufort, NC to catch the first light of dawn and an ingoing tide. By 8:30am we were 8 miles past the city, anchored off Bock Marine in Core Creek waiting for the new Sampatecho. By 9am we were motoring together up Core Creek. The weather forecast included a warning about severe thunderstorms passing through with high winds. The storm arrived just as we entered Pamlico Sound. We felt bad for Bradd as rain and 30+ knot winds whipped by, he was exposed in their cockpit while we were snug in our enclosure. Fortunately the trip was short and both boats were anchored in a very crowded Oriental harbor by early afternoon as the rain stopped. We went to town for a few food items and a replacement for a damaged and lost fender. Dinner was at Sampatecho. Their new boat is cavernous compared to the old Sampatecho we knew and loved. We brought Mahi Mahi fillets and Maeve did her culinary magic on them... delicious. 5/12/09 - Sunny, calm and brisk. We greeted the newly arrived cold front by turning on the diesel heater. Buddy murmured thanks (or was the word finally idiot?). I spent a little time troubleshooting our site as my brother had asked why we hadn't published since the end of April. Whoops, file conflict problems - now resolved. To our surprise the wind indicators turned on when we booted our instruments this morning. Bigger surprise yet, they were working correctly - verryyy interesting. Like the old song said "don't touch it". While I was hauling the anchor Bobby Jo of Don't Look Back radioed and talked to Ruth. They were putting their boat in storage for 4 months of cycling in England. Sounds like a neat adventure. We're back in ICW ditch mode, taking watches on the helm as we thread our way through the woods and swamps of North Carolina. After a long day of motoring we exited the Alligator - Pungo canal and anchored at 6:30pm. We'd invited Bradd & Maeve to dinner, Ruth already had the spaghetti simmering. Buddy was in heaven, Bradd was aboard. Great way to end the day! 5/13/09 - Another brisk sunny morning. We headed out about a half hour later than Sampatecho as they had to stop for fuel, We had a nice motor sail to the Alligator River bridge where we learned that the marina's diesel pump was broken as was Sampatecho's throttle cable. Bradd and Maeve set the throttle at the engine using their headsets to communicate with the engine room. We ran to a couple of anchorages recommended by Skipper Bob's guide near Pungo Ferry Landing. They were all silted in and unusable. We tried for the Landing Marina and found it was closed... bummer. We tied to their pier, no options, there was not enough daylight to go either way safely. We're going to have to mark the last north bound and south bound anchorages for future reference. 5/14/09 - I was up with the sun, made coffee and collected the email. As I enjoyed my java I listened to the Canadian geese calling out in the marsh across the waterway. Their raucous sounds were accompanied by a variety of song birds. Nice way to start the day. We ran from Pungo Ferry to Norfolk, a short hop, with Sampatecho running without a throttle. When they needed throttle control they'd put on their headsets and Maeve would sit next to the diesel moving the throttle arm to Bradd's commands. At the Great Bridge we docked and Bradd picked up a new cable. He and I installed it again proving that the simplest task can take half a day. By then it was a little late to try for downtown Norfolk so we continued with boat projects. Ruth and Maeve coordinated a grilled fish dinner to close the day. It's time to go our separate courses for a few month: Sampatecho to Canada to finish her outfitting and Another Adventure to Maine for visits by friends and family. 5/15/09 - Up early and awaiting the 8am opening of the Great Bridge. Sad morning as we knew Bradd & Maeve would be continuing north offshore once we dropped behind at Hospital Point in Norfolk. It was fun being with them for a short time and are looking forward to rejoining them in October. Godspeed friends! Miles & Laureen are across the river from us. We were going over to visit after lunch. Heavy rains changed that plan. The weather after tomorrow looks funky for several days. With luck Bradd & Maeve will make NY before it hits. We've decided to hold in Norfolk until it passes. Thanks to the weather we still haven't gotten to see Miles and Laureen. I called and invited them to come out to the anchorage for "Rain downers" but they respectfully declined. We snuggled in and turned on the furnace. 5/18/09 - Strong winds and cold... we must be getting close to WI. SkyMate reports that the Wellman's are within hours of us, trailing. We want to visit Ariel but the wind is keeping the river too riled up. |
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The picture column is a little bare as a good portion of this time was spent on projects at Sol Bu. Hard to post tile repairs and other small projects. However, we did finally get moving - in a big way. We embarked on our longest offshore run to date, three days and three nights. We motored from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach, immediately departing for Morehead City, NC.
Our only company on the offshore run was an occasional cargo ship
Ruth loves to fish, so being it was Mother's day she decided to treat herself to some fishing... and caught some big mothers.
Ruth's a real Mahi Mahi killer, dinner caught fresh in the gulf stream.
Ruth's first King Mackerel of the day, we released #2 and made her put the pole away - freezer full!
Our offshore jump We departed from John's house at 8:15am Friday the 8th, motoring to West Palm Beach 26 miles north. There we passed to the Atlantic and continued north seeking out the Gulf stream. The weather forecasts suggested we'd have a perfect window for 3 days. The first 24 hours we averaged 10 knots over the ground strictly under sail. Then the wind dropped and we motor sailed the next 24 hours. Toward the end of that run we were in 6 - 8 foot following seas with waves occasionally approaching 10' - that leaves a nasty hole in the ocean. We could watch the taller waves approach our stern in the dark on radar. Dawn the third day the wind died and we motored through the day and night, arriving at Beaufort / Morehead City at dawn the 4th day - exactly 3 days after we'd departed. We'd covered 511 miles total. If we'd run the ICW it we'd have motored 733nm which would have taken around 16 - 18 days given traffic, bridges and traveling only during daylight. We joined Bradd & Maeve for a morning run as far as Oriental, NC on the ICW... enroute the window slammed shut. Rain, thunder and winds gusting into the low 30's. Glad we didn't encounter that storm on the Atlantic. Our trip had been timed perfectly. When we got to Oriental I had problems walking. Staggered around like a drunken sailor. I couldn't get use to the ground not moving. It actually took several hours before I got my land legs back.
We're Floridians... Florida's 90 day rule concerning out-of-state boats and WI state income taxes jointly convinced us to change our state of residence. We ate our cheeseheads, surrendered our driver's licenses, registered the boat and registered to vote. Sounds easy (actually the boat was, but the driver's license was another story). Now we need to learn the state song - we're not badgers, we are Gators. See you later alli...
The "new" Sampatecho motoring north on the Pungo River. They're kinda missing the comforts of the old one - now with a yacht broker.
Large crane passes our Great Bridge mooring.
Sampatecho leading us into Norfolk. The pictures that follow provide a taste of the waterway leading north into the city.
The shoreline reflects the industrial nature of this portion of the ICW.
Bulk shipping facilities line the river. Sometimes the product is hard to determine, others, like coal, are easy.
Cranes dominate the skyline as this is a major Navy maintenance center.
Tugs scurry by both ways
The center span of the Jordon St bridge, removed for disassembly as the bridge was no longer in service.
Heavy barge traffic typical of Norfolk. I love to see the waterway in use as it supports maintenance.
Cruise ship slides by our Norfolk anchorage...
looking for room to turn around (thanks to bow thrusters she spun in her own length) |
2009 Logs