November 6-9
Urbanna & Deltaville
solo

My last sail of the season was to move the Goober from home port in Urbanna downriver to Deltaville where she'll undergo some repair & upgrade this Winter. I arrived in Urbanna Friday night and spent a freezing night on the boat. On a 3:00am trip to the head, I discovered that deck shoes are no longer non-slip on a frosty deck - OUCH!

I spent all day Saturday and the world famous Urbanna Oyster Festival. Patsy and I had attended this back when we lived in Richmond, but I'd forgotten what a huge event it is. The streets were jammed with thousands of people attenging the oyster shucking contest and...

a huge parade.

Almost every slip at every marina was in use and I counted close to 75 boats at anchor in the creek. For a sleepy little town with a population of 538, the place was packed!!
Even the dinghy fleet had trouble finding a place to tie up!
After walking all over town checking out all the sights - and eating oysters in more ways than I'd ever thought possible - I came back to the boat for a shower and a little down time. I was concerned about the crowds and getting dinner, but being a single willing to stand at the bar got me in Cafe Mojo for a nominal cover. I ate more oysters - what else?! - and listened to a really good band.

I ran into a few people that I knew. Ann Katherine and Graham (who bought my Flying Scot) were there from either the family place in Deltaville or their home in Richmond. I also ran into the Castellos who keep their boat in Deltaville.

The next morning I got some breakfast, read the paper, and packed up for the move to Deltaville. The weather was forecast to be mild (lower 70s), but as I left about 10:30 I had to break out the fleece! Unfortunately, once I got on the river there was little to no wind, as you can see from this picture as I passed under the Rappahannock River bridge.

The breeze did pick up shortly after this, but was dead in my face, so I ended up motoring all the way to Deltaville Yachting Center, the Goober's Winter home. When I arrived and attempted to dock where instructed, I discovered that there were no slips there, so I took the first one I saw that didn't look inhabited. I found a marina employee and got the OK to stay where I'd tied up. I also got instructions from him on how to get in the head and where to dump my trash.

I was also in need of a place to eat and asked him about a nearby restaurant that I might be able to walk to since my truck was still in Urbanna. He was not very encouraging because [a] the nearest place was over a mile away, and [b] it was Sunday night. I said I could take my dingy to one of the nearby marinas and that ended up being the answer to my problem. I motored over to Cocomo's for some great local fish. I liked it so much that I motored over there the next day for a late lunch.

Monday morning I woke up to sunny skies, but they were soon blocked out by a thick fog.

I met with Lew to get up to date with him on my repairs and to get a ride back to Urbanna for my truck. The rest of the afternoon was spent in getting a bunch of stuff off the boat for the Winter and meeting with Scott, the electronics wizard who's going to be working on my wind gauge & auto-helm and installing a new chart plotter for next season.

After packing up the truck for the trip home, I headed back over to Urbanna to double check that I'd not left anything on the dock. The crowds and the boats of the past weekend were all gone and as I stood at my slip looking out over the creek, I found myself missing Urbanna. It was somewhat of a strange sensation because I've only been there a year. We haven't exactly set down roots there yet, but I guess it's "home" now and neither I nor the Goober will be there for some time. Perhaps it's not missing Urbanna as much as it is missing sailing.