Afterthoughts and Lessons Learned
1. Use the bimini. Sailing performance when cruising is less important than being comfortable (dry).
2. The poor mans canvas dodger I made worked well both when it was raining and to keep sun out of the cabin.
3. Set the Fortress anchors by hand dragging with short scope until they bite in.
4. At night, if there is a chance the wind might shift or be strong, set the Garmin anchor alarm and turn the light off so it won't use much power.
5. Fix lunch in the morning before leaving the anchorage. If it's windy, you will have something to eat.
6. When preparing for a trip, calculate the number of meals needed and only over provision by a little.
7. It isn't that hard to buy milk, eggs, salad, bread, etc. along the way. Don't over provision to start off.
8. Silk Milk in the cardboard box was pretty good - especially on cereal and for cooking.
9. Start cooking when preheating the stove burners. Saves on fuel.
10. The Boat US app to send friends and family location emails worked great.
11. It seemed as though I was always looking for some excuse to push on, go faster, or relax less. When I did take a break, I enjoyed it. This is is a "lesson" that applies to many aspects of my life - to slow down and enjoy the "now".
12. My smaller (110) headsail does not perform as well to weather as my larger 140 genoa. The best I seemed to be able to do with it was about 50 degrees off the wind. I'm not sure if that is because the sail is out of shape or because the boat just doesn't go to wind as well in lighter winds. It was nice having the smaller sail though.
13. I used about 300 lbs. of ice. I used about 25 gallons of diesel fuel and ran the engine about 100 hours. These were my two biggest expenses. I anchored out a majority of the nights. I docked at free docks about 6 nights and stayed at marinas just two. Overall, the trip was pretty inexpensive.
14. Beware of jelly fish in bays and rivers south of Elizabeth City - I spotted several when at anchor.
15. "Brown Brown - Run Aground" - tip from bar tender in Beaufort's Backstreet Pub.
16. Get a recent copy of Chapmans and carry on boat.
17. Having Active Captain on my phone was very helpful. The software to show the charts doesn't work well but being able to view markers offline was extremely valuable. In the future, can use Polarview on the laptop.
18. Deaton's in Oriental was fantastic. Buddy in the office, Tanya in parts, Gary the mechanic, and Eric the service mgr. were all great. They are outside of "downtown" but only a short ride and their rates are much better than in town.
19. Consider downloading GRIBUS and Passage Weather for weather reports.
20. At 4.5 knots, the boat goes one statute mile in 12 minutes. Measured on the Dismal Swamp using the mile markers.
21. Oriental has a great (free) town dock. It is very protected, good depth, very convenient to stores, coffee shop right across the street with wifi and can handle two 40'+ boats. It has a 48 hour stay time limit but is not strictly enforced.
22. As good as my Garmin 441 chartplotter is (and I consider it VERY accurate), there are times when you are in the middle of a cut/canal and the chartplotter shows you on land - outside of the channel. I had the most current charts too. Don't rely on it in the cuts.
23. I was surprised at how little time I had to "relax". Several times, I wondered if I wasn't pushing too hard. Or if it was just my personality that wouldn't allow me to relax. I think the answer is more straight forward. Solo sailing is just a lot of work. It's a lot to do, every single day.
24. The Dismal Swamp Visitor Center has dockage for 4 or 5 boats - depending on their size. When it is crowded, everyone just rafts up - sometimes 2 or 3 deep. It makes for somewhat of a party and is interesting to meet others from far away places.
25. On long tacks in open water, dim the Garmin to save on the battery. It's much quicker than turing it off and on.
26. After a few days, I developed a helpful checklist for each evening.
27. Logs were informal. Each evening, I'd record the day's activities that I later turned into this blog. I also kept lists of fuel purchases, new friends, things to do once I got home, lessons learned, and other notes. A formal log would have been nice but I didn't have the time.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Day 28 - Magothy River to Bowleys Marina (33.3 nm, 8:46 hrs.)
I guess it only makes sense that my last day would be a challenge. Before today, I only had one high pressure move through (that pushed me from Mobjack Bay to Norfolk). If the conditions had continued as they had been for over a week, my last day would have been a fairly uneventful 21 nm sail. Instead, the wind shifted to the NW and it became a 33 mile sail that took almost 9 hours. On the bright side, it was a bright sunny day and I was doing what I was there to do so it was a great way to end my trip.
I was up at 5:30am after a great nights sleep with lows in the mid 60s, clear, and calm. Pulled anchor around 6am and was out of the Magothy by 7. The wind didn't pick up much till I was just north of Baltimore Light. Then it got VERY choppy between the Magothy and the Patapsco North Point. After that, tacked another 10 or 12 times as the wind clocked around from NNE to NW to WNW. When I turned, so did the wind - always on the nose. I'd say this was the best weather day of my trip. Got to Bowleys around 3:30pm with wind W at around 10. Had a little trouble getting in but no damage. Took 3 hours to clean up - still lots more to do when I go back. It's nice to be home!!
Scenes from Gibson Island Anchorage
Anchorage across from Gibson Island horse farm
It's a wrap! Sorry about the audio - I'm headed into Middle River on the last leg of my trip.
I guess it only makes sense that my last day would be a challenge. Before today, I only had one high pressure move through (that pushed me from Mobjack Bay to Norfolk). If the conditions had continued as they had been for over a week, my last day would have been a fairly uneventful 21 nm sail. Instead, the wind shifted to the NW and it became a 33 mile sail that took almost 9 hours. On the bright side, it was a bright sunny day and I was doing what I was there to do so it was a great way to end my trip.
I was up at 5:30am after a great nights sleep with lows in the mid 60s, clear, and calm. Pulled anchor around 6am and was out of the Magothy by 7. The wind didn't pick up much till I was just north of Baltimore Light. Then it got VERY choppy between the Magothy and the Patapsco North Point. After that, tacked another 10 or 12 times as the wind clocked around from NNE to NW to WNW. When I turned, so did the wind - always on the nose. I'd say this was the best weather day of my trip. Got to Bowleys around 3:30pm with wind W at around 10. Had a little trouble getting in but no damage. Took 3 hours to clean up - still lots more to do when I go back. It's nice to be home!!
Scenes from Gibson Island Anchorage
It's a wrap! Sorry about the audio - I'm headed into Middle River on the last leg of my trip.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Day 27 - Dunns Cove to Magothy River (33.3 nm, 8:42 hrs.)
Got thunderstorms last night around 9pm. They were preceeded by 40+ kt winds from the west. Was a good test of the new anchor since the wind shifted a full 360 degrees around the compass. Below is a screen shot of my track showing my path around the anchor in the center. Being in 8' of water probably helped but I was very nervous through the night. I took bearings off house lights but as the lights went out later on, I lost that tool. Up at 6am with a light rain. There were about 5 other boats closer to the entrance to the cove and they all left before me, around 8:30am. Motored to and through Knapp Narrows and up and through Poplar Island Narrows. Wind was forecast to be SE but was NW at around 3 to 5. Tide seemed to never turn to aid my movement north so finally started the engine and motored up to Bloody Point light and then onto Gibson Island on the Magothy. Felt like I was back on the Dismal Swamp with all the motoring. Fred had advised to try the anchorages behind Gibson Island and that was my plan. Got there around 4:30pm. Went past the horse farm and the nice (large and somewhat open) anchorage across from it onto the small and protected anchorage to the West of the Gibson Island Yacht club and Marina to the West. One other beautiful 40' Saber squeezed in behind me but we both held fine for a nice peaceful night. Cleaned out ice box. I expect to have no ice left over. Cell phone coverage marginal (suprisingly).
Dunn's Cove anchorage - made me dizzy!
Gibson Island horse farm
Got thunderstorms last night around 9pm. They were preceeded by 40+ kt winds from the west. Was a good test of the new anchor since the wind shifted a full 360 degrees around the compass. Below is a screen shot of my track showing my path around the anchor in the center. Being in 8' of water probably helped but I was very nervous through the night. I took bearings off house lights but as the lights went out later on, I lost that tool. Up at 6am with a light rain. There were about 5 other boats closer to the entrance to the cove and they all left before me, around 8:30am. Motored to and through Knapp Narrows and up and through Poplar Island Narrows. Wind was forecast to be SE but was NW at around 3 to 5. Tide seemed to never turn to aid my movement north so finally started the engine and motored up to Bloody Point light and then onto Gibson Island on the Magothy. Felt like I was back on the Dismal Swamp with all the motoring. Fred had advised to try the anchorages behind Gibson Island and that was my plan. Got there around 4:30pm. Went past the horse farm and the nice (large and somewhat open) anchorage across from it onto the small and protected anchorage to the West of the Gibson Island Yacht club and Marina to the West. One other beautiful 40' Saber squeezed in behind me but we both held fine for a nice peaceful night. Cleaned out ice box. I expect to have no ice left over. Cell phone coverage marginal (suprisingly).
Dunn's Cove anchorage - made me dizzy!
Gibson Island homes
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Day 26 - Reedville VA to Dunns Cove on the Choptank (66.8 nm, 12:56 hrs.)
Up at 4:30 for a long day. There aren't many stopping points other than Solomons on the way north and I really didn't want to go that far out of my way. Tillghman Island is not that far off a direct line north so I figured I'd go for it. Pulled anchor at 5 as it was just starting to get light. Travelled about 5 miles just getting out of the Great Wicomoco before I could head north. Once in the Bay, wind was SSW at 14. Passed Point No Point at 10:30am with wind SW at 7-10. Wanted to make Solomons by noon as criteria for continuing onto Dunns Cove. Was a little late but the wind was building so I kept going. Figured I could motor the last 5 miles if necessary. Was easy sailing - all a port broad reach with lots of help from Auto after Point No Point. What a great day! Sailed into the Choptank and into Dunns Cove, running the engine for only the last 15 minutes. Wind in the Choptank was SSW to SW at 10 to 15. With a very large fetch, made for a fairly rough following sea but I managed. Did 67 miles and got into Dunns Cove at 6pm - long before dark. Rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow with 5 kt. winds shifting from W to NE.
Sunrise on the Bay - 42' light on North side of Great Wicomoco entrance on left. Workboat in center.
Just as a point of reference, this is what a 55' foot catch looks like pounding into the seas with a 15 kt. headwind. I'm not sure why but photographs and even videos always seem to make the seas look much more calm than they really are. For me, it was a following see which means no pounding but harder to steer (due to yawing).
Up at 4:30 for a long day. There aren't many stopping points other than Solomons on the way north and I really didn't want to go that far out of my way. Tillghman Island is not that far off a direct line north so I figured I'd go for it. Pulled anchor at 5 as it was just starting to get light. Travelled about 5 miles just getting out of the Great Wicomoco before I could head north. Once in the Bay, wind was SSW at 14. Passed Point No Point at 10:30am with wind SW at 7-10. Wanted to make Solomons by noon as criteria for continuing onto Dunns Cove. Was a little late but the wind was building so I kept going. Figured I could motor the last 5 miles if necessary. Was easy sailing - all a port broad reach with lots of help from Auto after Point No Point. What a great day! Sailed into the Choptank and into Dunns Cove, running the engine for only the last 15 minutes. Wind in the Choptank was SSW to SW at 10 to 15. With a very large fetch, made for a fairly rough following sea but I managed. Did 67 miles and got into Dunns Cove at 6pm - long before dark. Rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow with 5 kt. winds shifting from W to NE.
Sunrise on the Bay - 42' light on North side of Great Wicomoco entrance on left. Workboat in center.
Just as a point of reference, this is what a 55' foot catch looks like pounding into the seas with a 15 kt. headwind. I'm not sure why but photographs and even videos always seem to make the seas look much more calm than they really are. For me, it was a following see which means no pounding but harder to steer (due to yawing).
Monday, May 28, 2012
Day 25 - Piankatank R. to Reedville VA (27.2 nm, 8:35 hrs.)
Wind shifted during the night from S to W at 12 to 17. Made it a little rough and wind noise in the rigging. Anchor held fine in 7' of water. "Piankatank" must be Indian for "wind" cause I've sure had plenty of it since I got here. Up at 5:30, anchor up at 6:30am. Wind west at 10 till I got out of the Piankatank - then dropped to W at 3 to 7. Crossed the mouth of the Rappahannock on a broad reach. Motored for half an hour till around 11am. Broad reached up to the Great Wicomoco in a S at 5 wind. Pretty boring. Tacked into the River and then up into Mill Creek on the South. This was my first time in Mill Creek (Fred had recommended it). This is one of the nicest areas on the Bay -lots of great anchorages, white sand beaches, etc. First dropped anchor on the SE side of the point. Then the wind shifted to SE around 6pm. Got choppy so I moved over to the West side where there were several boats already anchored and rafted. Dropped anchor 5 times and drug every time but the last which was a little upsetting. I'm sure it made my new neighbors nervous too. Later read on the technique for setting the (new to me) light weight Fortress anchors. Went for a swim and cleaned the hull for the first time on the trip. Then showered, listened to some tunes (first time), and had a beer. Heaven couldn't be better.
Mill Creek white sand beach. One of several.
Long day for the commercial boats too.
My buddy in Oddessy still plugging away! Notice the fishing pole on the port side.
Wind shifted during the night from S to W at 12 to 17. Made it a little rough and wind noise in the rigging. Anchor held fine in 7' of water. "Piankatank" must be Indian for "wind" cause I've sure had plenty of it since I got here. Up at 5:30, anchor up at 6:30am. Wind west at 10 till I got out of the Piankatank - then dropped to W at 3 to 7. Crossed the mouth of the Rappahannock on a broad reach. Motored for half an hour till around 11am. Broad reached up to the Great Wicomoco in a S at 5 wind. Pretty boring. Tacked into the River and then up into Mill Creek on the South. This was my first time in Mill Creek (Fred had recommended it). This is one of the nicest areas on the Bay -lots of great anchorages, white sand beaches, etc. First dropped anchor on the SE side of the point. Then the wind shifted to SE around 6pm. Got choppy so I moved over to the West side where there were several boats already anchored and rafted. Dropped anchor 5 times and drug every time but the last which was a little upsetting. I'm sure it made my new neighbors nervous too. Later read on the technique for setting the (new to me) light weight Fortress anchors. Went for a swim and cleaned the hull for the first time on the trip. Then showered, listened to some tunes (first time), and had a beer. Heaven couldn't be better.
Mill Creek white sand beach. One of several.
Long day for the commercial boats too.
My buddy in Oddessy still plugging away! Notice the fishing pole on the port side.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Day 24 - Hampton to Piankatank River (46.1 nm, 12:49 hrs.)
Up at 4:45 am. Pulled anchor at 5:45 to take advantage of the 1.5 kt. ebb out of the harbor. Of course, this was later offset some by the .5 kt. current flowing south on the Bay. Headed north in a 3 to 4 kt. SE wind - a very nice and relaxing start up the Bay. Then around 9:30, depth went from 14' to 4.8' within minutes and I was well aground. Unfortunately, there was a following wind pushing me further onto the shoal. Fortunately, the wind was light and the current was pushing me off. Once I lowered the sails, the current was able to do it's job. Of course, this was after I had gotten the dinghy out and taken the anchor aft of the boat as far as the rode would let me take it. Once back to the boat, I realized that the current had taken me off the shoal and the anchor was now off my bow. Later review of two different charts showed 18' of water so I created a hazard in Active Captain to warn others. What was amusing about the event was that I had just gotten out my navigating tools out 20 minutes before (for the first time on my trip) and was trying to plot a position when I ran aground.
Wind was 5 to 12 SE all day. Made 4 - 6 knots. Very nice day for sailing. I was able to do things around the boat with the help of Auto. Got to the Piankatank entrance around 3pm - just as the wind was picking up to SE 10 to 15. I have wanted to go into the Piankatank River for some time - recommended by Jody of CB Magazine and had thought this might have been the place I found the Island years ago with Ed and Len.
Came to inside of Gynn Island but it was pretty rough since the wind was coming straight off the bay and through the shallow inlet. There were lots of power boats on the sand bar (protected from the wind). I ended up having to anchor pretty far off the bar (for depth). It was a beautiful area but not so great this day due to the wind and chop. The entire area is nice has somewhat of a resort type atmosphere.
Finally moved to the protection of Edwards Creek for the night.
Another beautiful cruiser at anchor in Edwards Creek
Gwynn Island swing bridge
Up at 4:45 am. Pulled anchor at 5:45 to take advantage of the 1.5 kt. ebb out of the harbor. Of course, this was later offset some by the .5 kt. current flowing south on the Bay. Headed north in a 3 to 4 kt. SE wind - a very nice and relaxing start up the Bay. Then around 9:30, depth went from 14' to 4.8' within minutes and I was well aground. Unfortunately, there was a following wind pushing me further onto the shoal. Fortunately, the wind was light and the current was pushing me off. Once I lowered the sails, the current was able to do it's job. Of course, this was after I had gotten the dinghy out and taken the anchor aft of the boat as far as the rode would let me take it. Once back to the boat, I realized that the current had taken me off the shoal and the anchor was now off my bow. Later review of two different charts showed 18' of water so I created a hazard in Active Captain to warn others. What was amusing about the event was that I had just gotten out my navigating tools out 20 minutes before (for the first time on my trip) and was trying to plot a position when I ran aground.
Wind was 5 to 12 SE all day. Made 4 - 6 knots. Very nice day for sailing. I was able to do things around the boat with the help of Auto. Got to the Piankatank entrance around 3pm - just as the wind was picking up to SE 10 to 15. I have wanted to go into the Piankatank River for some time - recommended by Jody of CB Magazine and had thought this might have been the place I found the Island years ago with Ed and Len.
Came to inside of Gynn Island but it was pretty rough since the wind was coming straight off the bay and through the shallow inlet. There were lots of power boats on the sand bar (protected from the wind). I ended up having to anchor pretty far off the bar (for depth). It was a beautiful area but not so great this day due to the wind and chop. The entire area is nice has somewhat of a resort type atmosphere.
Finally moved to the protection of Edwards Creek for the night.
Another beautiful cruiser at anchor in Edwards Creek
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Day 23 - Deep Creek to Hampton (22.8 nm, 7:42 hrs.)
Slept in till 6:30am since lock doesn't open till 8. Fixed pancakes. They were the worst I've ever made - the thickness of a quarter - with the consistency of cardboard. Not sure what happened. Waited for bridge/lock till almost 9am. While waiting, met a couple who had motored from the Visitors Center that morning on their Benetau 50 - Andrew and Susan. Both British. The docked behind me at the Deep Creek bridge. It was a little tight. Saw them again at Norfolk. Motored to the Gilmerton Bridge and got there at 10:20 for the 10:30 opening. Sailed most of the way through Norfolk and across the channel to Hampton. Wind got stronger as the day went on and ended up tacking on jib alone up to the Hampton entrance channel. IAfter a fairly rough sail across the main channel, I realized I had the engine running at 1800 rpm with the transmission in neutral. No wonder I wasn't making much headway and the engine was running so "cool". Anchored across from the City Marina - very nice and a good value. Not many slips, however. Dinghied into the marina and walked into town. Went to the Taphouse for a beer but ended up sitting next to some annoying guy. They were having a music fest downtown that evening so I wandered around that for a bit, then went back to the boat for the night. I liked Hampton - appears to be a real sailing town and a cool place to come back to.
Reminder of my Navy days
Some of the barges are downright intimidating!
All sorts of "ships" being refitted
Schooner "Virginia"
Navy's newest design warship
Hampton City Marina and Crown Plaza
What I Do at anchor in Hampton
Hampton street fair
Slept in till 6:30am since lock doesn't open till 8. Fixed pancakes. They were the worst I've ever made - the thickness of a quarter - with the consistency of cardboard. Not sure what happened. Waited for bridge/lock till almost 9am. While waiting, met a couple who had motored from the Visitors Center that morning on their Benetau 50 - Andrew and Susan. Both British. The docked behind me at the Deep Creek bridge. It was a little tight. Saw them again at Norfolk. Motored to the Gilmerton Bridge and got there at 10:20 for the 10:30 opening. Sailed most of the way through Norfolk and across the channel to Hampton. Wind got stronger as the day went on and ended up tacking on jib alone up to the Hampton entrance channel. IAfter a fairly rough sail across the main channel, I realized I had the engine running at 1800 rpm with the transmission in neutral. No wonder I wasn't making much headway and the engine was running so "cool". Anchored across from the City Marina - very nice and a good value. Not many slips, however. Dinghied into the marina and walked into town. Went to the Taphouse for a beer but ended up sitting next to some annoying guy. They were having a music fest downtown that evening so I wandered around that for a bit, then went back to the boat for the night. I liked Hampton - appears to be a real sailing town and a cool place to come back to.
Reminder of my Navy days
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