Florida Trip, part 2: We had two added bonuses on our trip. The first was that we got to spend two nights at Cary and Randy's beautiful house on Kiawah Island, SC. It was not only a beautiful house, but we got to spend a great day exploring Kiawah and the surroundings. It was a perfect break in the middle of the long drive home.
We also discovered what we judged to be the best barbeque / southern home cookin' joint on the planet. It's called the Lone Star, it's in Santee, SC, and we liked it so much on the way down that we stopped again on our way home!

More pictures at http://flickr.com/photos/22029008@N02/sets/72157603510938544/show/. (Click on the picture after the slideshow starts for information on each picture.)

We just returned from a trip to Sanibel Island, Florida to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. I looked into renting or chartering a sailboat while I was there, but the water on what we'd call the "sound side" of the island is just too shallow for any kind of keel, and there were no places on the gulf side. Even without sailing, it was a great place to spend 12 days in the Winter! We had...

uncrowded beaches with temperatures around 80 every day...

lots of shelling (although this one was live and we had to send him back home)...
tons of wildlife (an anhinga here)...
beautiful sunsets...
and lots of good rum!

More pictures at http://flickr.com/photos/22029008@N02/sets/72157603510938544/show/. (Click on the picture after the slideshow starts for information on each picture.)

I took what might be this season's last sailing trip to the boat on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The weather's getting colder and although the sailing is OK, it's somehow just not the same as when it's warm; probably been listening to too many Jimmy Buffett songs! I'll probably try to get the boat in the boat yard within the next few weeks.

When I arrived just after noon on Monday, I got a call from the folks installing my cook top asking if they could come work on it. I was hoping they meant that day since the winds were not looking very promising, but they meant Tuesday morning. I said fine as long as I could have the afternoon for sailing. They arrived as arranged and got it installed, hooked up and working. It not only looks great, but it works like a real gas cooktop, not that campground type alcohol stove that came with the boat which is tempermental to light and to regulate. (I won't elaborate on the burning curtains episode!)

While they worked below decks, I spent some time repairing my jib furler so that I was ready to sail after lunch. The weather had been alternating between light rain and a beautiful Fall day all morning, but I was not going all the way up there and not sail, so I made myself a sandwich, got my foul weather gear ready, and set out. The winds ranged from very light to enough to give me a 4+- knot boat speed, which made for a pleasant, but sometimes boring, sail.

I only got one little short sprinkle and even was treated to a bit of blue sky on occasion. It wasn't the kind of sail that I'd hoped to end my season with, but to paraphrase the old fishing bumper sticker, "a bad day sailing beats a good day at work"!

I reflected as I sailed that I've come a pretty long way since I acquired "the Goob". I may elaborate on that in a later post, but as one of the guys who works in the boat yard said in one of my many question asking sessions: "You're getting to the point that you're not nearly as stupid as you look." I took that as a compliment and I'm pretty sure he meant it that way! I think what he was saying was that I'm becoming a sailor, which is nice to hear. I've got a long way to go and lots to learn, but that's part of what I love so much about the whole enterprise!

Well here's another non-sailing post to my sailing blog. I guess when I can't get to the boat, spending time at the blog is all the substitute I have!

We spent two glorious weeks on the Outer Banks in mid-October. The daytime was sunny and warm (70s & 80s) for the entire two weeks, and we didn't get any rain until the last full day there. We don't typically get weather that good in the Summer!

We had beautiful sunrises...

...beautiful sunsets (Thanks to Gary for this picture.)...
...and almost nobody on the beach but the "peeps"!

These pictures are [a] obviously not about sailing, and [b] being posted way out of sequence, but what the hell; it's my blog! I found myself home alone on my birthday (October 2), so I decided it was a perfect early Fall day for a hike. I have a book of hikes along the Skyline Drive, so I picked out one nearby that looked manageable: Turk Mountain.

The hike was about 2 1/4 miles round trip from my parking spot along the Drive and the trail was well marked and for the most part not as rocky as pictured here.

Here's the birthday boy at the summit (2981 feet). The total climb, point to point was about 370 feet, but considering the trail went down before it went up, I'm guessing my climb was a more like 450 feet.
View from the summit, looking NNW.
I love sailing and I'm certain it will be my extracurricular activity of choice for a long, long time, but this hike helped me to see that I don't really take advantage of all the great adventures right in my own back yard.

Patsy and I went to the boat this past weekend for one last sail before our next two week trip to the Outer Banks. (It'll be almost a month before I'm able to get back to the Potomac!)

We got up there late afternoon Friday, and after getting all our stuff on the boat and having "happy hour," we headed out to the Driftwood for a typically great dinner. Most of Saturday morning was taken up with maintenance items, but we did get out mid-afternoon for a sail over to Tall Timbers and back (very light winds over and very nice winds back).

For Sunday's sail, I decided to check the wind direction, pick a destination accordingly, and sail to it and back. All too often, I just get out in the river and go wherever the wind is best, but if I ever want to cruise one day, I know it's not going to work that way. We tacked up river towards the Maryland side and then back down to Branson Cove on Lower Machodoc Creek - basically from one side of Cole's Point to the other. At best, we were making 4 to 5 knots which is fast enough, in my view, to give you a bit of a rush, but also calm enough to let you sit back and relax. The downwind leg was typically calm, but we made good time here too.

Here's Patsy at the helm motoring on the homeward leg Sunday while I got the sails down.

A good shot of our wing-on-wing down wind stretch on Sunday.
The ancient, and hirsute, mariner in bad need of a beard trim and haircut! (I like the way you can see the sun on the water in my sunglasses.)
One interesting addition to this sail was the presence of scores of monarch butterflies in the area, presumably making their way to Mexico for the winter. We saw quite a few out over the river as we sailed, but when we went to AC's, the marina restaurant, for a pizza before heading for home, there were hundreds more floating by as we looked out over the river.

"Where do you keep your boat?"
I get that question alot, so I thought I'd show you if you're interested. It's at a marina in the little town of Cole's Point on the Virginia shore of the Potomac River, 70+ miles northeast of Richmond and about 20-25 miles upriver from the Chesapeake Bay. There's a link to the right under "Websites I Like" if you want to zoom in.

After attending a rainy soccer game in Richmond on Friday night, I got to the boat about 11:00, determined to make two full days of sailing over the weekend. Mechanic Jason had told me that my engine was ready to go, and relieved me greatly by telling me that he couldn't get that oil filter on either, without removing a water hose. (Maybe I'm not quite the mechanical moron that I seem to be!)

So Saturday morning I got up early, ready to go - but the weather was not. NOAA radio was calling for 20-25 knot winds with 30+ gusts and 2-3 foot seas. Now Chuck and I might have handled close to that on our sail in July, but with nobody there but me, I'm cautious. Fortunately, a couple of more experienced sailors on my dock returned from giving it a go and confirmed my caution.

As the day wore on and I got more and more antsy to get out there, the winds seemed to subside (as they were predicted to), the whitecaps on the windy part of the river didn't look as bad, and I formulated a plan! For reasons I won't bore you with, I decided to sail downriver and down wind to Kinsale, spend the night at the marina there, and sail back Sunday where the winds are predicted to be lighter and from a better direction.

It was a good plan and in the end was a great plan, but the first glitch in it was that I didn't make my turn into the Yeocomico River until after sundown, still a good mile or two from the marina. So it was looking like my first night time passage into relatively (for me) narrow waters, and that was spooking me more than a bit! I made the first up-river mark with no difficulty (motoring by this point), but just as I got to the more technical part of the passage, it's well after dark.

The problem with the Yeocomico and other rivers flowing into the Potomac is that they have several coves or creeks just inside the mouth, so there were plenty of places I could have gone wrong - and aground! But I'd completed my coastal navigation class under Capt. Chris Daniels at the Oriental Sailing School, and I knew I could do it. Well, let's say I was pretty sure I could do it, but more than that, I definitely did not want to spend the night at anchor when I wasn't even sure I knew how to unhook the bloody thing!

So, chart and flashlight in hand, I crept onward looking for any sign of marks in the water. Thanks to a clear night with a bit of moon lighting the way, I was able to spot things in the water and with my $10 West Marine 20 gazillion candle-power torch I found good old red #2 channel marker. And then #4, and then #6. I felt like a real navigator!

Unfortunately, I was having less luck (make that NO luck) raising the marina on the radio. Now it is late and I don't really expect them to sit by their radio all night, but I was not able to raise anybody on the radio; couldn't even get the restaurant on the cell phone! So here I sit out in the river seeing the warm glow of the restaurant, knowing there's a bacon cheeseburger in there with my name on it, and not sure exactly how to get there!!

Thankfully, a small motor boat went by and into the marina, so I figured that, even though he needs a whole lot less water under him than I do, I had no choice but to follow his path, creeping along as slow as my engine would go, giving the big triangular DANGER sign on my port side a wide berth, eyes glued to the depth gauge, and listening for any scraping sound from my keel.

It was a piece of cake, said the brave captain after he'd done it! I found a slip that I thought I could get into and out of easily, tied up and went in for that cheeseburger. It tasted like nectar of the gods!

The next morning I awoke to a beautiful day and took a couple of pictures of the marina.

After enjoying a shower and the mammoth Sunday Brunch at the marina restaurant (and vowing to not eat any lunch), I got the Goober ready for the return voyage. The marina is relatively sheltered, but the wind was kicking up its heels every now and then, and I did not want to make the trip back into the same 20+ knots that had pushed me down here on Saturday. The weather radio, however, assured me that 5-10 was the forecast and the buoy report for Cole's Point was only showing 6-8 knots.

As I motored out towards the Potomac, I noticed a couple of boats under sail, so I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, the wind direction didn't really allow me to move in the direction I wanted, so I left the sails up, but motored until I got out in the Potomac. The trip home was looking like a long one as the promised wind direction had not fully developed and I was looking at a whole lot of tacking to get home.

I made for the Maryland side, vowed that I'd just use the tacking as some of that experience that I desperately need, and just get back when I got back. (I'd already called Patsy and told her that I was not real comfortable promising that I'd be home in time for dinner!)

After my tack back to the Virginia side, the wind shifted just enough to give me a shot at making straight for Cole's Point, or at least it seemed. I got on a good tack, got the sails set, and settled in for the trip home. Unfortunately, the winds were squirrelly in both velocity and direction, so I had to throw a combination of tacking and motor power in every now and then.

Eventually, the problem became just velocity and I just left the sails set and waited for the next puff to show up. The last couple of hours of the trip were just perfect. The wind wasn't perfect, but it was just a magical day on the water. I had enough wind to keep me moving. I had calm seas. I had a cool, clear day. And I didn't have to work my butt off.

I settled in and just enjoyed the ride.

Everything seemed to work right. Just as I was thinking I'd need to turn the engine on, wind would start to ruffle over the water in the distance and fill my sails a minute or two later. The stereo even seemed to have just the right songs on it; rocky songs when the wind picked up, and soothing songs during the calm stretches.

I suppose I sound hopelessly naive to experienced sailors and maybe a little nuts to non-sailors, but the discipline and patience that sailing forces on you overwhelms me more and more. On the Sunday stretch all I had to do was sit back and wait for the breeze, something I had no control over. I just had to patiently take whatever the wind gods dealt me! Contrast that peaceful picture to the night before where I was inching my way in the dark through unknown waters, being forced to be constantly vigilant. And contrast that to my trip with Chuck in late July where we not only had to be constantly vigilant, but had to work our butts off to maintain control in rough winds and seas. I'm not sure I've ever experienced any endeavor quite like sailing!

I really felt like a sailor on this trip. I did things I'd never done before, I took chances and succeeded, I actually went somewhere, and I actually got back. Pure magic!

I headed back to the boat Labor Day in hopes of a couple of long, adventuresome days on the water, but 'twas not to be! I did manage a nice sail across the Potomac on Monday - relatively light winds, but a pleasant sail. Unfortunately, shortly after turning downriver after the crossing, the wind just died! That left me little to do but motor back to the marina. After getting her all settled into the slip, I got this relatively nice picture of the helm at sunset.

The next day, I had hoped to change the oil (again, after the over-heating) and oil filter and get in a good day before returning home. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that I'm not the engine mechanic that Jason is. I never got out on Tuesday - DANG!!

I did manage to get a couple of good things done on the boat, however, and headed for home mid-afternoon. On the way out, I remembered a conversation with Jen, the bartender, and Chris, a patron, at AC's the night before over a cheeseburger about the grave of Richard Henry Lee which I'd read was just off Cole's Point Road. They gave me directions, so I decided to check it out. Sure enough, there in the midst of a field of soy beans (I think) was a very well-maintainted brick wall with four graves inside.[The Northern Neck of Virginia is just crawling with historical sites. Check out the August, 2007, issue of "Chesapeake Bay Magazine" if that's of any interest to you.]

In addition to this nifty historical find, I was floored as I rode down the dirt road leading to the grave site when I saw a BALD EAGLE! I had seen a large bird move out of the corner of my eye high in the trees but hadn't gotten much of a look at it. Suddenly, it appeard flying beside the truck just above eye level only about 50 yards away! I'd heard that there were eagles on the point and had even seen one at a long distance at the marina, but this was a much closer encounter.

That almost made up for the lousy sailing - almost!

This site just got the ability to add videos, so I thought I'd try this little clip taken last July when I was out with Chuck.

Some sailing news, or I guess it would be more appropriately called "boat news" because I never did get to sail! I'm discovering that easily half of what one does with one's boat does not involve actually sailing it!

I went up to the marina Sunday after returning from the OBX to take a cooktop which is to be installed this week. I'd hoped that the mechanics would have finished fixing the over-heating problem that Chuck and I had a few weeks ago, but they had not. Pat looked at it Sunday and got it (we thought) to the point that I could motor out to the river and sail a bit, but by the time I got her to the channel, the temperature gauge was rising alarmingly. So, I turned around and came back to the slip.

Another mechanic, Jason, looked at it Monday morning, but it appears that there's more to be done than what he was able to do that day. So, instead of sailing I busied myself with exciting stuff like cleaning the bilge, filling the water tanks, doing some minor repairs on the dinghy, and other less exciting, but nonetheless necessary, stuff.

(I decided that pictures of all this fun wouldn't be of much interest to anybody!)

No sailing news here, but I did spend the last two weeks at the Outer Banks which is at least on the water and I got to see lots of sailboats! We were there from July 27 - August 10 and Gary & Jean joined us for the first few days.

Family started showing up after G&J left, and we had a great time. The weather was unusually cool during the first week and blistering hot in the second, but we managed to stay cool enough to get in plenty of beach time. Pictures of the beach babes (Missy, Patsy, & Lulu) and cocktail hour (Patsy, Lulu, Barb, Missy, & Ray) follow:


One pleasant surprise was that the fishing had improved greatly. We'd stopped taking our fishing equipment to the OBX years ago because there never seemed to be any fish. But after seeing the luck others were having, I managed to catch 15+ spot and mullet which fed the fish eaters in the family one night.

This past Friday & Saturday found the old salt Chuck and your captain on the most ambitious trip of my sailing life. Our intention was to sail across the Potomac from Cole's Point, up the St. Mary's River on the Maryland side, back across the Potomac to the Yeocomico River, and spend the night at a marina near Kinsale. (See "Where's My Boat?" link at right if you want to locate all these places.)

The weather forecast was calling for 15-20 knot winds and small craft warnings, but we decided that we were a bit bigger than a "small craft" and decided to go for it. We sailed downwind - see the wing on wing picture below - to the mouth of the river but realized when we got there that we'd have to sail directly into the wind to get up the St. Mary's, so we revised our plan. We decided to make for the bay considering [a] we had a great tail wind and could get there quickly and [b] the wind direction at the time appeared to lend itself to a decent tack to the Yeocomico after we made it to the bay. Unfortunately, after making it to Point Lookout and well into the bay, the wind had shifted to a more westerly point and we had little hope of holding a course anywhere near our destination. Nonetheless, we sailed into those 15-20 knot winds and increasing seas back to the Virginia side about 8-10 miles down river from the Yeocomico.

We tacked up wind for what seemed to be hours and finally decided to try motoring a straight course for the rest of the way. The seas had increased to about 3 foot swells and we were motoring straight into them, but we made the mouth of the river shortly after 5:00. That's when I noticed the temperature gauge pegged to the right! (I'd been religiously checking the gauges to make sure we weren't overheating or running out of fuel.) I immediately shut the engine off as Chuck noticed a puff of smoke from below, and we got the sails up and resumed tacking into the wind.

The consideration then became, "What are we going to do if we have no engine?" Chuck suggested that we might be better off making for Cole's Point where we could, if nothing else, drop anchor for the night and call the marina for a tow into the slip in the morning. That sounded better to me than trying to get into an unfamiliar marina or anchorage under sail alone, so we resumed a tack as close to the wind as we could make it and headed for home.

Our speed over the water was very nice into the brisk wind, but our speed toward home was considerably less so! To add insult to injury, as we made the Maryland shore about 6:30, the winds just died to nearly nothing, and we again had to consider finding a place to anchor for the night. Finally, our luck turned and the winds not only picked back up (not exactly 20 knots, but better than 0!) but they also shifted to about ESE which pushed us slowly but surely home!

With calmer sailing the crew broke out a beverage, made ourselves some "lunch" about 7:00, and settled in for the two hour trip home.

...into a beautiful sunset.

After about 13 hours of sailing, we tried the engine, found it to be working well enough to get us into the slip and snuck into Cole's Point under cover of darkness, exhausted but exhilarated!

~~~_/)~~~

On Saturday, having gained some confidence that the engine could handle at least short periods of activity, we sailed across the Potomac to a place called Tall Timbers that a friend from the marina, Kip, had told us about. As we sailed over, tacking about as efficiently as most novices do, we looked back to find Kip and his wife Linda tacking as efficiently as experienced sailors do and catching and passing us. I snapped this beautiful (he said modestly) picture of them as they passed.

We followed them through the channel, switching the engine on, and talked to them briefly as they headed into the marina there. As they left us, I noticed the temperature gauge rising again, so we used yesterday's logic and decided to head back to the safety of home port. Another nice sail across the river where we were able to again use the engine long enough to get in the slip.

After a cheeseburger at the marina and packing up the boat, we were off for home. The experiences we gained on this trip were invaluable, and even though things didn't go exactly as we'd planned, we had a blast!

Patsy and I went to the boat Friday with an eye primarily on some maintenance work and possibly some sightseeing in the area. It was fun & relaxing but a pretty uneventful trip. Friday, I changed the oil for the first time, took the old broken frame off the davits, and did a whole lot of organizing below decks. (I still have tons of stuff left by Joe that needs to be organized!)

Saturday was spent tinkering around with the steering which seems to be a little tight to me and scrubbing the entire topsides. She was gleaming when I finished; I just hope the birds haven't had their way with her when I return!

We left the boat early afternoon on Saturday, got some lunch in Montross, and spent the afternoon touring Stratford Hall, the ancestral home of the Lees of Virginia and the birthplace or Robert E. Lee. If you've never been, it's very impressive. I still suffer with a dead camera (new one on order), so here's a picture of the Great House I found online:

I drove to Cole's Point Saturday to check out the latest repairs to the boat prior to crewing in a race down in Deltaville. As with last trip, the family of ospreys that live on the channel marker saw me off, but today I was also watched over by a great blue herron!


The primary goal on this day sail was to check out the auto-helm which had not been getting power after the repairs were first done. I was able to get it working (most of the time) and snapped the followning picture as it steered me across the Potomac.

I'd only intended to stay out long enough to check out the auto-helm, but the winds were perfect (10-12 kts), so I tacked downriver into a southerly breeze for well over three hours. The sunset was amazing, but I discovered that my camera, after hitting the deck during a tack, no longer worked, so you'll have to take my word on the beauty of it all.

In addition to the auto-helm, my new cockpit stereo speakers had been installed, and gave me some appropriate sailing tunes while under way. Frank Sinatra's "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" was particularly nice! A great day; probably my best solo sail in this boat.

I rose early Sunday, tidied up the boat a bit, and took off for Deltaville for a great day of racing. We participated in two races aboard a nearly new 38' Catalina which is like a castle compared to my 30-footer! The first race was in very light winds and therefore a bit boring and extremely HOT!! The second, however, had us in 15-20 kt winds flying across the water. I've never really thought I'd get much out of crewing in races other than learning experiences, but I do believe I'm growing to like it! Again, busted camera = no pictures. DANG!!

I had the experience of a lifetime yesterday. I have been paying attention to the voyage of Captain John Smith's "shallop" throughout the Chesapeake Bay, recreating the exploratory voyage made in 1608. I'd known that the shallop was due to be near my marina this Saturday for an official stop, but scheduling matters precluded my getting there. After watching the progress of her trip online, however, I determined that if I left home early Wednesday morning I'd be able to get to the boat and meet her on the river somewhere near Cole's Point. So having the luxury of being semi-retired, I decided to go for it!

A family of osprey wished me well as I left the marina!

As I motored (due to lack of decent wind) downriver, I caught a speck on the horizon, and checked it in my binoculars. Sure enough here she came - under oar, not sail!As I drew near, I almost felt guilty motoring past as these folks worked their butts off. The website tells me that on this particular day, the shallop made almost 15 miles rowing upriver and for at least part of the trip against the wind!! I waved and wished them well, and they returned the favor and got promptly back to work!
I decided it would be appropriate to fly both my US and Virginia colors!
As they rowed off upriver, and I had a calm moment after my sails were set, it hit me what a monumental task our forefathers took in even coming here in the first place. I've heard the exploration of America called the 1600s version of our 20th century trip to the moon, but I think that's cutting Capt. Smith and his small crew a good bit short. These folks had nothing but a compass, a good ship, a good crew, and a sense of adventure. No support staff of thousands back in London guiding their every move, no freeze dried food stored away for the entire trip, no GPS (hell, no maps!), and on a day like today, not even any wind!!

I've always considered myself first a Virginian and then an American. This trip's reflections on those first Virginians 400 years ago reinforced that notion and make me ever prouder to be so!

(See the link to the right for a ton of information on Capt. Smith's 1608 exploration of the Bay, including a map showing where she is right now.)

I forgot to add that I stopped in Richmond on my way home last Friday and finalized the sale of my Flying Scot which some of you may remember (see below in July, 2004) . I have mixed emotions about letting "the orignial Goober" go. I certainly can't rationalize owning two boats at the same time and the money will come in handy for the new boat, but somehow one's first boat is very much like a first love - difficult to let go and always with you!

I'll miss her.

FINALLY! I spent three days this past week (June 6-8) getting the boat de-winterized (would that be springized?). The new wiring is a bit of a mystery to me, but the engine started first try, all the lights worked, and the new stereo is a great addition.

Most of my activity over the three days involved very uninteresting things such as cleaning and checking oil and sail maintenance and the like, but I did manage to get her out for a 2-3 hour sail on Friday. The winds were light and I didn't really have a chance to go much of anywhere, but It was an absolute joy to be out there again!

As Rat in "The Wind in the Willows" says in explaining to Mole why there is nothing quite like "messing about in boats" - "Nothing seems to matter, really, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular, and when you've done it there's always something else to do..."!

Here are a couple of pictures taken at late dusk:

'Tis Spring and a young man's (& this old geezer's!) fancy turns to thoughts of SAILING!! As I prepare to get the good ship Goober back in action, I find myself coming back to this picture taken last Fall. I cannot wait to get back asea!