In Maine 9-2-2006

9-2-06

Jay tells me that the last time he wrote was when we were in Portsmouth, VA, so I have some catching up to do. We've found that we have infrequent internet access; so even as I write this on Saturday, September 2, I may not be mailing it from the library here on Swan's Island until later in the week.

In a nutshell, we left Wilmington, NC, on 6/15, traveling all the way to Connecticut with friends Bryan and Chris on Pearl S. Buck. The trip was made more enjoyable by traveling with friends because we could get together in the evening over a bottle of wine and recount the day's adventures. Did I mention that we consumed a lot more alcohol in those first few weeks that we normally do? In terms of sailing strategy, we did coastal hopping, anchoring every night; so that made the sailing easy. Also, we had remarkably good weather (if you don't count the extremely hot and humid days). We only had thunderstorms twice while we were underway, so that was a blessing. We arrived at Swan's Island, ME, on 8/10, our destination for waiting out hurricane season.

During the trip, we stopped in Hampton and Jamestown, VA, Washington, DC, Annapolis and Baltimore, MD, Staten Island, NY, New Rochelle, NY, Port Jefferson, NY, Warwick, RI, and Deer Isle, ME, to visit friends and family. Our longest stay was in Washington, where we were anchored right in the heart of the district, about half a mile from the Washington Monument and across from the Capital Yacht Club for two weeks. Our arrival there was quite memorable in that we had gotten a 10 pm clearance for the opening of the Woodrow Wilson bridge (they would only open at 10 pm and midnight for pleasure boats); and just as we were about to go under the bridge, the sky opened up with a major thunderstorm. In addition to the torrential rains making the bridge hard to see, there were no navigation lights on the bridge which made it tricky to determine the appropriate span for passage. Also, there was lots of construction equipment under the bridge (for the NEW Woodrow Wilson bridge) that significantly narrowed our pathway. In spite of all of the hazards, the captain (Jay, of course) got us through just fine, and we proceeded up the Potomac to the Washington Channel, dodging debris in the river all of the way to our anchorage. When we finally dropped the hook at about midnight, we were tired and relieved. We spent a lot of time in DC sightseeing (Bryan and Chris had never done that, so we had a great time taking them to sights we'd seen before) and, of course, visiting Mom and Dad, Aunt Janet, and brother Larry. We stayed through July 4th and watched the fireworks display (with the Washington monument in the background) while sipping wine on the deck of our boat. Fun!

Another highlight of the trip was going through New York harbor. Although intimidating at first, it wasn't as busy as some of the other harbors in which Jay has sailed, and we had fun taking turns taking pictures of each other's boats in front of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline. Along the way, we took friends and family on day sails when we had the opportunity; and they seemed to enjoy that. Rather than come all of the way to Maine with us, Bryan and Chris stayed in New London, Connecticut, where they have friends and the opportunity to do some work to earn money for their cruising coffers.

Maine is truly a nature lover's dream; so many islands, gorgeous scenery, and abundant wildlife (we had an up close and personal experience with a whale mom and calf). Swan's Island is a large but sparsely populated island (about 350 people year 'round which swells to about 1500 in the summer). Access to Mount Desert Island (where Bar Harbor is) and the mainland is only by private boat or ferry. It's one of the few populated islands up here which has not become "touristy" largely, I think, because it's a dry island (no bars or liquor sold). There are no fancy restaurants, no grocery store, no other stores. Supplies must be acquired via a ferry trip; and if you want to take a car on the ferry, you might have to wait all day to get a spot if you haven't made a reservation in advance (assuming you were able to make the reservation far enough ahead of time). It's an interesting way to live, and wouldn't work for me, personally. It actually feels more isolated than being on the boat, where we frequently pull into busy harbors and just go ashore to have access to some conveniences. The primary economy, of course, is lobstering. We're learning a lot about that occupation since Betsy's partner, Leona, has been lobstering since she was a kid. She works on a commercial boat, plus they have their own private traps. This allows us to eat fresh steamed lobster many nights a week. We are REALLY enjoying that! No butter for us; but the lobsters are so fresh (just coming out of the 56 degree water) that we really don't miss it. We've also taken several members of Leona's family out for day sails to try to make inroads into the prevailing local mentality that sailors ("yachties" "summer people" "people from away") are all kind of dumb and not good for much except the humor derived from pulling them off ledges when they go aground. It's all quite interesting from a sociological standpoint. Our plan is to stay here until about the end of September before beginning the trip south. While here, we're having a cockpit enclosure made for the boat and are installing solar panels and a wind generator so that we can be more energy independent while at anchor. I think we're also going to refresh the varnish and do a few more projects.

So . . . after all the planning, we're actually living the dream. Not surprisingly, it has been challenging at times being in a confined space with another person 24/7 (we've heard the first three months are the hardest). Also, although I'm very comfortable thinking of the boat as "home", I do miss Colorado and our friends there. At times it seems like one of those really busy vacations where you're almost anxious to get home to relax and recover. Now that we've been on Swan's for three weeks, I feel largely recovered. While cruising, small tasks like grocery shopping and doing laundry become much bigger projects when you have bicycles rather than a car and the grocery stores and Laundromats aren't necessarily close to the anchorage. I'm still very content, however, with the boat and how comfortable it is for a small space. No concerns there. We'll be going south with the expectation of being in Washington for Thanksgiving for the annual Matheson family reunion and then on to the Bahamas and points south. We'll probably meet up with Bryan and Chris again for that trip along with two other boats of their friends.

Please keep in touch. We love updates from friends.

Barb

jupiters_smile@peoplepc.com

In the Potomac 7-4-2006

7-4-06
We are presently anchored on June 29th off the Potomac, within sight of the Washington Monument less than a mile away in DC. This message covers our adventures from Wrightsville Beach, NC to Portsmouth, VA. June 8, through June 19, 2006 and I will catch up with our more recent adventures in the near future. When I wrote last time we had addressed three issues: meeting up with sailing friends, electrical gremlins and tropical depression Alberto.

Chronologically then; the electrical gremlins had continued despite renting dock space and connecting to AC power, removing all three “house” batteries (80 lbs each) and taking them to be tested, testing the output of our charger, testing the alternator output, testing the regulator operation, checking circuit breakers at the breaker box and the condition of all the fuses I could find. No luck. The only time things worked properly was when I ran the engine and the alternator was providing almost 14 volts. With engine off – gremlins came back.

The sailing friends, Brian and Chris on the 41’, Cheoy Lee, Pearl S. Buck and Ted and Judy on a 47’ steel boat. Helen Irene, made the trip from the Bahamas and Ft. Pierce, Fl to Wrightsville Beach, NC without incident and arrived on Sunday, June 11. Brian and I went through electrical gremlin chasing again on Monday and something we did, wiggled or bumped suddenly caused everything to work correctly or about 6 hours and then the gremlins returned. No luck, but it was time to prepare for the storm.

Tropical Storm Alberto got downgraded to a tropical depression by the time he got to us in Wrightsville Beach and blew through with a highest wind of 46 knots (53 mph.) We had lots of anchor chain out and the boats were prepared otherwise as well and we did just fine. Everyone in the anchorage looked out for themselves and each other and we arranged ahead of time to monitor the same radio frequency to keep in touch. The brotherhood of sailors rose to the occasion and the storm passed without harm costing us only two days. We ran our engine from time to time to keep our refrigerator cool.

The crews of Pearl S. Buck and Helen Irene had told us about their plan of going up the ICW while we had decided to sail the Atlantic. Barb and I left the anchorage early Thursday morning, June 15, but because the winds were light we motored with the sails up from Masonboro Inlet to Beaufort Inlet (about 70 miles.) At about 4:30 PM we anchored off the town dock in quaint Beaufort, NC. We launched our dinghy and went to the town dock to walk around the village. Meanwhile, the crews of Pearl S. Buck and Helen Irene had decided to follow our path instead of plying the ICW and had arrived near Beaufort at dark. We spoke on the radio, but did not meet that night.

We had made an electrical gremlin chasing appointment with Deaton’s Boat Yard in Oriental, NC for Friday so we weighed anchor early again and motored our way up the ICW. Along the way we conversed with Ted and Judy and learned that they wanted to put their boat in a yard in Beaufort to be painted and have a new prop installed while they would return to Washington State to deal with business and pet issues. Brian and Chris pressed on after us.

We continued into Pamlico Sound and got to Oriental at about 1100. We docked and the technician came aboard and listened to our symptoms and when he checked our main power distribution center he found a connection at the main breaker that was loose and very hot. The heat was due to the resistance caused by the bad connection that was being made when lots of current was being drawn. I removed the wires from the breaker and cleaned them and reattached them firmly and everything worked like it should. Problem solved! Gremlins be gone! They did not have the same breaker so I will need to get one from the Island Packet factory to replace the old one that was subjected to the heat and is not to be trusted. As we departed Oriental, Chris and Brian were approaching the channel. Barb had visited the town while I was with the technician and reported that it was nothing special so the two boats decide to continue their journey. We sailed in the sound for about an hour until our course brought us into the slackening wind so we motored a ways and then put in at Broad Creek for the night. On Saturday we continued together along the ICW and anchored at MM 102, on June 17.

We had discussed transiting the Dismal Swamp, but Brian felt his depth requirements would not allow for a safe passage, so we split up and we sailed in Abermarle Sound toward Elizabeth City while they went Eastward on Sunday, June 18th. We sailed quite a bit that day which Barbie enjoyed. We docked at the Elizabeth City Dock (free for 48 hours) and met Fred, the original Rose Buddies. Fred, now 93 years young, sits on his golf cart with a pair of shears and he invites passing ladies and girls to cut a rose for themselves from the rose bushes along the dock. Since there were five boats at the docks, he announced that there would be wine and cheese served at 5 PM. What a darling little city!

At about 6 AM we raised the Elizabeth City Bridge and motored into the wilds of the Elizabeth River, Turner’s Cut and the approach to Dismal Swamp. The channel becomes very narrow, maybe 40 feet wide in places and the trees overhang so that the helmsman needs to watch both above and below the boat at the same time. I put the nose of the boat into the side of the river bank so that Barbie could cut some of the wild roses we were smelling. Two days in a row we stopped and smelled the roses! We arrived at the South Mills Lock and the entrance to the Dismal Swamp Canal before the 11AM opening time with time to spare. The lock tender efficiently moved us about 8 feet higher and into the canal. We cruised as quickly as we dared and decided to forego stopping at Virginia’s US Rte 17 rest stop that services cars, buses, trucks, RVs and boats.

The Dismal Swamp Canal was a venture undertaken by George Washington where he and his company cut the timber from the surrounding land and shipped it by barge to the cities. The surrounding land is now farmland and woods with this heavily treed canal running through it. It is neither dismal nor a swamp. We arrived for the last opening of the Deep Creek Lock at the northern terminus of the canal and prepared to lock through with another sailing couple. The lock tender here was very different from the first. We had heard of his reputation for playing conch shell horns and he gave us a fine concert. He remarked that the bridges ahead in Norfolk would be restricted from opening until after rush hour so that we would not be losing any time by staying at the lock and learning about conch shell trumpet construction and playing some tunes. Great fun!

As we approached Norfolk, even though the restriction period was almost over, it still took us 2 hours to travel 3 nautical miles because of the bridge traffic. Being held up by train traffic on the bridges is not unexpected in this busy city. By 7:30 PM we had anchored in Portsmouth and had rejoined Pearl S. Buck.

Until later - fondly,
Jay & Barb

Wrightsville Beach 6-11-2006

6-11-06
Hello friends and family,

There are three issues to talk about. First, we are waiting for two boats heading north to meet us here in Wrightsville Beach. We expect them within the hour, so I am taking this opportunity to write this while we are waiting.

Second, we have had issues with our electrical system so that the batteries, which seem to be charged fully, do not run our refrigerator or our radar (both are big power hogs) so we have some problem somewhere and the problelm is on a weekend when there is no one from whom I could get help.
Tomorrow will be busy.

Third is the weather and Tropical Storm Alberto. We expect strong winds tonight and tomorrow from a system unassociated with Alberto, but then we expect Alberto to visit offshore on Tuesday and Tuesday night. I don't plan to move from Wrightsville Beach until after the weather systems pass us.

Wish us better luck. More later.
Jay & Barb

Jacksonville to Wrightsville Beach Apr 21 - 25, 2006

Palmetto to Jacksonville, FL Feb 7 - 13, 2006

Bradenton to Palmetto, FL Jan 20 - 26, 2006

So, I called Barb and asked,"Do you want to go sailing?"  She gave notice at work that she would be taking an unplanned week's vacation and flew to Tampa/St. Petersburg leaving a recovering Annie in John MacFarlane's trusted hands.  Soon after, on a Friday, we were underway bound for Palmetto.



Since it was a Friday, we anchored near DeSoto Point
and did not depart the Manatee River until the next day.

I was dismayed with the number of crab pots near shore and it made me reconsider being so close to land through the nightime hours.  We got about 20 miles out as we made our way southbound, clear of the crab pots.  Colin Curtis had recommended anchoring in the Little Shark River and we did that for a day while weather passed by.  

The next day we departed the Little Shark River and we headed across Florida Bay dodging crab pots and skimming the sandy bottom about a foot and a half below our keel.  Again, the winds were expected to pick up so we elected to follow the Intracoastal Waterway from Channel Five to anchor in the lee of Key Largo.  We motored the next day to Biscayne Bay and then sailed to Miami Beach and anchored next to Star Island and Julio Iglesis' Florida home.

We continued the next day through the Intracoastal and opened twenty-two (?) bridges on our way to Bernie Radoush's waterfront home and our appointment with Howard Wells.  He and his crew installed a stainless steel arch on the boat.  This installation was the entire reason for the trip from Texas that began earlier this month.  The installation took long enough for Barbie to return to Colorado and for me to plan my solo journey to Jacksonville and our dock at Mariner's Marina until the Spring.

Kemah, TX to Brandenton, FL Jan 7 - 16, 2006

Some sailboats have an arch on their sterns to hang a dingy for quick deployment and retrieval at anchor and to mount solar panels, wind generators and antennae. The purpose of the trip was to install such an arch.  The arch could have been fabricated at a shop in Texas and installed there, but I had met Howard Wells at the Annapolis Sailboat Show in October and liked him and his product.  He had already made an arch for our model of boat so he could save us some money because he would not have to start from scratch with new measurements.  He was willing to fabricate the arch and then cut it in half for shipping to TX.  The shipping charge would be about $500 and then installation would have to include welding it back together by someone he didn’t know for some additional cost.  The Texas installer could blame Howard for what ever didn’t go smoothly and Howard could blame the installer while Barbie and I would be stuck in the middle of whatever could go wrong.  Remember, I was the contractor for our house and know how finger pointing works.  Howard’s shop is just north of Ft. Lauderdale, in Palmetto, on the east coast of Florida.  I convinced myself, and then Barbie, that I could bring the boat to Howard to install the arch by the one person with a vested interest in the success of the project besides Barbie and me.  Howard had a friend to whose dock I could tie at no cost in an area where overnight docking could cost nearly $100 per day.  He estimated that would save me about $700 over the week it would take to install the arch (I spent 9 days there it turned out).  After the arch was installed, If I could move the boat to a less expensive part of Florida (if such a place existed) or further north (but not too far north so as to avoid freezing) and we would be getting a head start on our goal of cruising up the east coast this year.  The down side was that Barbie did not want to cross the Gulf during the winter again, but it was almost too easy to assemble a crew to help me.  The idea became a float plan and Barbie spent the week after Christmas cooking and freezing meals for dinners during the voyage for four men to last us a week and extra meals for me to last 5 days longer.

I left Colorado on Sunday, Jan 1 and drove to Kemah, TX arriving the next day to prepare the boat for the journey.  After picking up a new spinnaker, storing the new liferaft, doing a quickhaul to clean the bottom, changing sacrificial zincs and lubricating the MaxProp and seacocks, I installed boards between the stanchions to secure 8 jugs for 35 gallons of extra diesel fuel and 5 gallons of gasoline.  I hoisted my radar reflector and checked my instruments and installed waypoints on the chartplotter.  My crew, two fellows from Colorado and one from Texas arrived on Thursday and we spent the rest of the day and Friday provisioning, stowing and becoming familiar with the boat and her controls.  Friday evening we had a wonderful dinner at Clifton By The Sea with two other fellow sailors and Sandy Bogard.  Sandy is the wonderful woman who provided me with shelter during Hurricane Rita back in September and she is like a sister to us.

We left Saturday morning, Jan 7 at 0800.  We motored down the Houston Ship Channel with the barges, tankers and container ships making us feel very, very small.  The sun was warm and the wind was calm so spirits were high.  We hoisted sails as we approached the mouth of the channel and sailed to clear the jetty and entered the Gulf of Mexico at about 1300 hrs. 

Sailing through the night we alternated watches in pairs and kept track of oil platforms and the occasional ship both visually and on the radar.  The wind picked up and we were making good time at about 7 knots.  I had estimated that the entire trip would take 6 days if we could average 6 knots.  If we could maintain 7 knots it would save us a whole day at sea.  

We hit tough weather later on the second morning out and I was the only one not seasick.  I had the boat to myself for 16 hours straight in over 30-knot winds and high seas.  Once two of the guys recovered I got some rest the next morning.  It took another whole day for the fourth crewmember to recover.  The wind continued to be strong so the seas continued to build.  We had the bow light at the top of the pulpit buried into almost every wave and it finally went out and blew the circuit breaker on the third night.  I hung off the anchor platform to check it and found that a wire had rusted from its connection.  I rigged it back together so we would have running lights again, but by this time we heard that more weather was likely and we decided we had had enough.  Even though it would take another day of sailing to near land, we changed course to run north towards Alabama.  We were tired when we anchored behind Dauphin Island, but happy to be tucked into sheltered water.

We decided to stay in the Gulf Intra-Coastal Waterway to Pensacola and by then the weather would pass.  We stopped at LuLu Buffet's (Jimmy's sister) restaurant along the way and at the fuel dock noticed rust stains along the hull starting at the base of each stanchion, pulpit and pushpit post where they joined the cap rail. A concern!  How could stainless steel rust and leave such a stain on an Island Packet?

 We pulled in at the Bear Pt. Marina to hole up for the passing front which brought a tornado a little north of us that killed a woman.  We headed out the on the 14th with northerly winds around 25-30 kts, so we stayed close to shore to minimize the seas.  We logged 155 nm that day hitting over 8 knots for extended runs.  That was a real thrill. 

On Jan 16th we sailed into Tampa Bay and the Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton, FL on the Manatee River.  My Island Packet dealer is located there and I wanted them to check out my rust stains and as long as I was there check on some other minor items for me.  The leading hypothesis to explain the rust is that either before the wire in the bow light disconnected itself or after I reconnected it there was a stray electrical current running through the rails, life lines and stanchions.  This caused a de-plating process to deposit the rust.  In any case the boat was fixed and cleaned of all rust under warranty (Hooray, Island Packet!!!).  My crew hopped on planes and was gone by the next day.  It was good to see the folks from the dealership and be able to get things squared away.  They are the IPY Dealer of the Year for good reason.