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