moving on

Day 2 continued

After the 3 hour wait for the water level to fall far enough for the lock to operate we pulled into Atlantic Yacht Basin just a few miles down. It was too late to make our planned destination of Coinjock. We took advantage of the facilities (showered, shaved and so on), rested a bit on the boat and went off to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner…and so to bed

Day 3

We pulled out of the marina around 8:30 and headed down the ICW to Coinjock. The canal was narrow but tree-lined, some changing colors and it was quite beautiful and very calm…but very cold.

We arrived at Coinjock around 1:30pm, again took advantage of the facilities, rested a bit and went off to the bar to watch some football

That evening we went to the famed Coinjock restaurant, which is in the marina and shared 3 32oz Prime Ribs.. They were among the very best any of us had ever eaten (including the ones at Abe & Louis)…and so to bed…we’ve been enjoying being able to plug in to electricity so the boat’s heater can keep us comfortable. I sleep in the forward cabin, Art and Allan have been alternating sleeping on the starboard settees or in the back cabin and Bobby has been sleeping on the port settee.

Day 4

Left the marina at 7:11. After a short passage through a winding channel we entered the Albemarle sound, a wide body of water with reasonable depths…Winds were 15 -18 knots and we could have had a nice sail but we motor-sailed since we wanted to make up some of the time we lost with the delay at the locks. It was a pleasant journey and we soon entered the Alligator river which was hard to distinguish from the sound. From there we entered the Albemarle-Pungo river canal…a 27 mile long ditch lined with trees. 4 hours later a short motor down the Pungo river brought us to Dowry creek and the eponymously named marina just after sunset. We were tied up and plugged in (so the heater worked) by the time it was too dark to see…we did cut it little close. We were tied up by 7..nearly 12 hours since we started the day in Coinjock.

Tomorrow we head off for Beaufort, NC

Day 2

Left the marina at 8:30. It was windy, gusty, rainy, but we were all in good spirits, probably due to the great coffee I made on my new Coleman stove top drip coffee maker

Passed an impressive line up of navy boats (carriers, battleships, etc.). I'll post pictures soon as I figure out how

We entered the canal about 1/2 hour later and the wind and waves were blocked. The rain soon stopped as well and we motored on to the first of many bridges which open on the hour or 1/2 hour. Our goal was Coinjock, a small town on the ICW with one marina and one restaurant famous for miles around for their 32 oz. Prime Rib! We made reservations and were looking forward to a nice dinner when we came to the only lock on our route. As we pulled up to wait for the opening we were told that it couldn't open cause the water was too high. Turns out we are having unusually high high tides (two to four feet above normal and now (high tide) there was just too much water outside the lock for the gates to open. We have to wait till lower (or low) tide till it can open.

So... We anchored in the middle of the ICW and had lunch (a great soup that we got from Palate Pleasers in Annapolis). By the time we finished there were 5 other boats anchored nearby.

Our plan now is to stay at a marina just beyond the locks and head off again to Coinjock in the morning (36 miles away). We couldn't make it before dark today and there is no place to stop for 47 miles beyond. So I cancelled tonight's dinner reservations and made new ones for tomorrow

The upshot is that we lose a day...once again we prove that one shouldn't make firm schedules when sailing..just enjoy the trip. Which we are

Travels: Sailing to Miami

Background: The goal is to move Priority, our Island Packet 380 sailboat to Miami for the winter (November to May). A sub-goal (one might even say the primary goal) is to fulfill a long term fantasy of sailing from the Northeast (either Philadelphia, Boston or Baltimore) to Miami – partly along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and partly off-shore in the Atlantic Ocean. This trip will fulfill both goals.

Plan: The trip is in two parts. The first part takes place on the ICW. The first phase is to sail from Baltimore to Norfolk via the Chesapeake. This should take ~25 hours (in fact it took 23 hours) The second part (which should take 4 days) is to travel from Norfolk to Beaufort, NC. It is a trip of ~200 miles but the ICW can only be transited in daylight and at best a sailboat can travel 6 miles/hour, but there must be time to wait for bridges to open and such so we estimate 50 miles/day, so…4 days.

At Beaufort, weather permitting, we head offshore for the ~600 mile trip to Miami. Again, assuming 6 miles/hour it will take 100 hours, but we travel 24 hours/day so it should take ~4 days.

A major issue is “weather permitting”. I have hired a private marine weather service who will advise us once we get to Beaufort if it is safe to leave (or whether we should wait a few days) and will give us daily updates as we travel. There are numerous inlets along the east coast of the US into which we can (and will) turn in case the weather turns bad. The point is…we can’t be sure when we will arrive in Miami, but this is the nature of sailing….you shouldn’t make hard schedules.

The crew:

Bobby Ward, a friend since we first purchased Priority in 2000. He had his boat, an Island Packet 350 (same boat, 3 feet shorter) in the slip next to ours in Rock Hall. He sailed with me on one of our trips to Boston. He retired from the Pentagon several years ago and he and his wife Lesley spend the winters sailing the Caribbean and the summer at their house in Punta Gorda.

Alan Huffman is also an Island Packet owner (his is a 420, same boat as mine but 4 feet longer). His boat is in Punta Gorda but he currently lives in Wichita Kansas. He is in the process of retiring to Punta Gorda. He has extensive sailing ability, including participation in the Chicago-Makinaw island race!

Art Firester is a friend (with his wife Lynn) for over 40 years, when our sons , both named Jon, went to nursery school together in Rock Hall. We have sailed together in the Caribbean many times over the years.

The first day:

We cast off at 11am on Thursday, Oct 27. Our first stop was a fuel dock 1 mile away to top off. 16 gallons and ½ hour later we were off.

The winds were calm so we motored and didn’t raise a sail till south of the Bay Bridge. We were travelling south and the wind, such as it was from the south. We were making good time (~6knots) till ~7pm when suddenly the wind shifted to the north (i.e. now it was behind us) and increased in intensity to 35 knots. We were suddenly traveling nearly 8 knots. I lowered the motor speed and on the staysail and a little bit of engine we travelled the rest of the night at 6 – 7 knots.

The wind change brought a sudden drop in temperature and an impressive change in wave height. Mountains of water would rise up behind the boat and cause the boat to slew left or right and roll side to side as they passed under. Happily the autopilot maintained our heading and no one touched the wheel as we sailed through the night…People on watch just watched. Between being very cold (I put on my long underwear, two polartecs, foul weather gear, a polartec hat and thick mittens) and being bounced around it was a boisterous night. We decided to have two people stand watch together, in two hour shifts and did this from 7pm to 9am.

We pulled into the Old Point Comfort Marina in Fort Monroe (Bobby used to work for the DoD and so has priveleges) and immediately plugged in and started the heater.

There was not much to see on the trip down. We saw the “Pride of Baltimore” with full sails just south of the Annapolis Bay Bridge – beautiful. We passed a few tugs late at night, some of whom talked with us on the VHF radio to confirm we were staying out of their way. Remarkably few boats of any kind out on the water…probably a testament to their intelligence (and our lack of any)!

The next few days should be much better (albeit it will be cold for the next two day). We will be well inland and well protected from waves and such. We will spend most nights at marinas, especially if it is cold, so we can plug in and run the heater.

More to follow