Pamlico Sail & Power Squadron

Chesapeake Weather

cyoung — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:33:22 +0000

From Mobjack, VA (East Ruver, Mobjack Bay):

We’re still floating,and may have everything but the electric bilge pump working by the time we get home. Weather forcasting here this year has been a snap. If you can’t see across the harbor, it’s probably raining – If you can see across the harbor, it will probably rain soon. Showers come in a variety of forms: isolated, slight chance of, scattered, possible, chance of, likely and with thunder storms, (also isolated,etc.). Rain is a little easier. It is either rain likely or just plain rain. the boat has been suprisingly leak free, but we can’t hang the laundry out to dry on the lifelines like some livaboards do.

After leaving Mill Creek once the Gale Warning had been lifted we moved to Jackson Creek, Deltaville. We found that the infamous entrance channel had actually been dredged, and bouys set out to mark where the channel really was. What an improvement! We docked at the marina, and borrowed the courtesy car to go shopping, did tendays laundry, pumpe dout, fueled up and filled the water tanks. When the showers were forcast to be isolated, we took off up the Rappahannock River to Irving, Va – The Tides Inn. They have nice new 40′ floating docks free pump out, free laundry and a very nice resteraunt. Inza thought she’d died and gone to heaven. After that visit, we anchored in the Corrotoman River, then went to Urbana,VA for several days. Back to Deltaville for another shopping trip, then anchored to wait for the next weather window. We had 16 knot winds over the deck with 3-4′ waves coming down to Mobjack Bay where we pulled into a small marina at Mobjack.

“Der’se nuttin here”, but peace and quiet and friendly owners. Today, I put the Espar heater in service, ( it didn’t work well last year, and I installed a new fuel pump over the winter ) Works fine now.

We are one day from Portsmouth, and have nearly two weeks to get there. We plan to go up the Pagan River off the James above Newport News to visit Smithfield, ( ham and bacon ) before moving up the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth. We should arrive there before the end of The Great Schooner Race, and in time for the VA Wine Festival in Norfolk. After that, the sho’s over and we will head down the ICW for home.

Solomons, At Last

cyoung — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:42:49 +0000

9/12 Update: Salty Spouse arrived back in Solomons, MD on Saturday, when the weather finally broke in our favor. We’re wspecially glad to be back here, cause Bad Things happen north of Solomons.

A raw water cooling line hose leaked, spraying salt water all over the hot engine at the Little Choptank River, the transmission stuck in forward when we tried to anchor in Dunn Cove, ( fortunately we were not trying to dock), The alternator and RPM gage went south a few days later, the head outlet line plugged, (22 years of salt build-up between the joker valve ant the y-valve. Tropical Storm Irene came calling, and one of the 2 house batteries failed, ( 5 years old ). All were taken care of with tools on board and spares or purchased replacements, so we are still chugging along. Next week we plan to cruise the Rappahonnock River before visiting Cape Charles and Smithfield before stopping at Portsmouth, VA mid October. We still plan to return to Washington late October. Reef Early, Scott

Tracking the Salty Spouse

cyoung — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:40:09 +0000

***********Before Hurricane Status********** >From Little Round Bay, Severn River, MD: Arrived here yesterday from Annapolis. The bay is protected all but the south by 30 foot high land with large trees and homes. Depth about 16′ . Currently we are in the forecast Tropical Storm Area, with wind from the East, North East, and North. Our Spade anchor developed a crack during a recent thunderstorm front, so we have our 35 lb CQR out with our Danforth as a secondary, both on 120″ of rode. Took the head sail off and bagged it, cleared the deck, and folded and covered the Bimini. Decided to leave the Dodger on for shelter for the companionway. Propane bottle is full, water tank is full, holding tank is empty, plenty of fuel and ice. Now we just have to kick back and try to “enjoy” our Anniversary. Gotta go, breakfast is ready. Reef Early, Scott

**********After Hurricane Status**********
Lots of wind, lots & lots of rain, no sleep, but all is well. Both anchors held. Packed up on Tuesday and sailed to St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore, where we found a welder to repair the damaged anchor, so now we have three good ones. Watching Katia carefully till she decides to turn north offshore, hopefully. Inza stocked up on food, wine and will pick up ice tomorrow. Then we’ll fuel up, pump out and go find another hidey hole. Keep safe, Scott

Mackenzie – was Lady Luck laughing?

cyoung — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:23:10 +0000

From the Pasquotank River, NC:

Lady Luck laughed, and we lost nine days. When you last heard from us we were at Deltaville, doing the Chesapeake Cha-Cha, one day from Portsmouth with 10 days to get there. The weather turned agressive, and got cold. We decided to hang in at the marina one more night so we could use the heater while plugged into shore power. I turned on the Espar, and got no heat. It had worked the last time we used it, (last December during the Flotilla) but not now. Down in the bilge I went, and determined that the fuel metering pump was not metering fuel. We piled on all the quilts and afgans Inza had loaded on board to stay warm. Add one more winter project!

The next morning, about one half hour before departure the head plugged up! Not wanting to “play” with it in 3′ waves we went to anchor in Jackson Creek. Traced the problem to a change in toilet paper – single ply works better than two ply. The next day we left Jackson Creek after a boat quit running aground in the entrance, and made it to the East River off Mobjack Bay. We noticed that the engine was running a bit hotter than normal, and we had more exhaust vapor than normal. but not enough to be alarmed.

when we gor to anchor, the bilge pump seemed to be working more than normal, so I went “Leak Seeking”. Found the clamps on the shaft packing gland tube a bit loose, so tightened them. The pump still cycled, (the new float switch we got a Baltimore was working just fine). The next day we went into Compass Marina, a small, very nice marina at the mouth of the East River at Mobjack, and I resumed my search for the source of the water. I finally found that the flange on the raw water outlet on the transmission oil cooler had failed. When the engine was running we were apparently sucking air into the system, reducing the raw water flow, and when the engine was shut down, water leaked in.

We found the parts in Annapolis, but with the Columbus Day weekend, they didn’t arrive till Wednesday afternoon. Borrowed a truck to go get new hose. Got the engine running that evening, but by now we were a week behind. Not to worry – we crossed three stops off the list, and lit out for Portsmouth on Thursday morning. Got into Portsmouth that afternoon wet and windblown, but a day early. Happy for the business, the marina welcomed us.

The weekend was spent at the Stokely Gardens Arts & Crafts Festival where Inza goes nuts shopping for gifts, the Schooner weekend in Portsmouth, and the Virginia Wine Festival in Norfolk. We left Portsmouth on Monday, and had a delightful lazy passage through the Dismal Swamp route. Next stop, hopefully, Edenton for the weekend, then home by the end of the month. Reef early, Scott

Mackenzies – Good Luck Continues

cyoung — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:52:27 +0000

From Deltaville, VA

Since leaving St. Michaels, we’ve been doing the ”Chesapeake Bay Cha-Cha-Cha”, move one day – hold two or three nights for the weather to improve. While we are not setting records getting down the Bay, we are not due in Portsmouth until Oct. 15, and we’re only one good day’s run from there now. On Tuesday, underway from the Miles River to Solomons, it dawned on me that the coming weekend was the date of the annual Trawlerfest that has been held at Solomons for the past five years. I asked Inza to call a marina to see if we could get a slip there for Wednesday night. When she finally got a cell phone signal she called. Luckily for us they moved Trawlerfest to Baltimore this year. We got a slip reservation. After two nights in Solomons we headed south bound for the Coan River. At Point Lookout we saw that we had made such good time that we continued on to the St. Marys River, and anchored off the St. Mary’s College waterfront.

We had neglected to visit historic St. Mary’s City site and the replica ship “Dove” the last time we were there, so I went to their website for the information. Good deal – seniors get in for half price, ($5). Saturday morning we rowed ashore and walked over to the site only to find that this was “Riverfest” weekend, and admission the site was free. We had a great time touring the replicated buildings, museum, the “Dove” and enjoying the entertainment under the giant tent. Inza enjoyed a grilled Portobello Mushroom sandwich for lunch, (me, I had a hotdog). St Mary’s College is not really known to be a “Party School”, so we were surprised that we heard a loud outdoor band on the campus Friday night till quite late. Saturday morning, when we got ashore we discovered the college was hosting a LARGE collegiate sailing regatta including Navy, Boston College, Cornell and about six other schools on the East Coast. Leave it to a bunch of sailors to know how to party!

We decided to motor up the St. Marys River to Tippity Whitchity Island for a quiet anchorage Saturday night. Found it. Sunday afternoon we slipped back down the river past the dozens of racers still going at it, and crossed over to the Yecomico River, where we were stuck for two more days of windy weather. Luckily, we had a well sheltered cove to ourselves to wait for the weather window. There was also plenty of ice, wine, water and what have you on board, (remember Inza’s wine shopping in St. Michaels).

Wednesday’s weather, while not the greatest, allowed us do pop back down the Potomac, around Smith Point and into Mill Creek (for three nights to wait out the weather). All this stop and go has put a strain on our holding tank capacity. We skipped our normal second cup of coffee this morning before heading for Deltaville. Luckily, we got it pumped out upon arrival before it overflowed. Here at Deltaville we are lucky enough to have access to a car for shopping before we wander off again. The worst case basis is that if this one day – two day thing continues, we’ll just have to cross one or two stops off our plan so as to get to Portsmouth “on time”. There is a big Wine Festival in Norfolk, the end of The Great Schooner Race as well as an arts festival all the same weekend. Happy Hour – gotta go. Reef early, Scott

Belhaven Cruise – September 19 & 20

cyoung — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:59:07 +0000

On Sunday, September 19^th, Pamlico Sail & Power Squadron and Cypress Landing Yacht Club members participated in a joint cruise to River Forest Marina in Belhaven, NC. The weather was great and merriment prevailed. Fifteen boats attended the event which included cocktails on the deck and in the bar followed by dinner at the stately River Forest Manor. Four sailing vessels and eleven power boats proved to be a good mix of mariners. Four people drove to River Forest by car to enjoy the evening events. Sail boaters departed early on Monday for the return cruise to home port; power boaters cruised at a more leisurely rate later in the day. It was truly an enjoyable cruise. Gene Alligood

Mackenzie’s 50th Wedding Anniversary and More

cyoung — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 20:14:55 +0000

From St. Michaels, MD:

We’re still at it, and still getting lucky. We had beautiful weather the last weekend in August for our 50th Wedding Anniversary Party at the North East River Yacht Club on the Northeast River in North East, MD, (the spellings are correct). All of our family was there, as well as friends from as far away as Charlotte, NC. We left there on Monday, heading down the Chesapeake while trying to analyze what hurricane Earl was going to do. Inza discovered that she had not renewed the prescription for her heart medication, and was almost out of it. We organized an expedited delivery to the Annapolis Harbormaster’s office, and decided to hide from Earl about 5 miles up the Severn River from Annapolis in Little Round Bay. The bay is sheltered by high land from the east all the way around to the north and west. If Earl swerved inland there are 4 creeks nearby we could duck into for shelter from the south and southwest.

After Earl passed we headed for Annapolis on Sunday to pick up the meds. Let’s see; Sunday afternoon on Labor Day weekend, and we’re going to find a way to dock in Ego Ally downtown Annapolis – right! At about 2:10 we were off the Naval Academy, and called the Harbormaster on the VHF. Don’t you know, a boat was scheduled to leave an Ego Ally slip at 2:30, and we could fit in that slip. Hammer down! We arrived at Ego Ally at 2:25 and maneuvered around in the traffic till the slip emptied, then slid in. The meds were waiting, and we stayed two nights to watch the show. We enjoyed music from several bands, scads of tourists and parading boats. You gotta do it some day.

The Officers and Faculty Club at the Naval Academy was closed for the weekend, but we did get to eat lunch at Inza’s other favorite, Harry Brown’s on Labor Day.

The following week provided four days in a row of great sailing – mostly Small Craft Advisory weather, but we chose our courses carefully and ran under reefed sails. We spent the next weekend at Chestertown, home of the replica sailing vessel, “Sultana”. The rainy Sunday was laundry day, then back to the boat for reading.

Monday, we reached the Kent Narrows draw bridge 3 minutes before it’s scheduled opening at 12:00, slipped through and went to the Wye River for the night. Tuesday, our mail was waiting for us at the St. Michaels Post Office, Inza did the laundry, and we arranged with friends just back from Chicago to borrow their car the next day to get propane and load up the “stuff” for the trip down the bay. Inza cleaned out the stock of her favorite box wine Chardonnay from all three stores in St. Michaels that carry it. We now have enough till Christmas, I think, (it’s cheaper in MD).

Now we have 4 weeks to make it to Norfolk for the big weekend of the Schooner Race, the Wine Festival and the Arts and Crafts Festival. Yep, we already have reservations for a slip.

Reef Early, Inza & Scott

Salty Spouse – Sometimes You Gotta Get Lucky

cyoung — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:41:53 +0000

Aboard Salty Spouse at Fairlee Creek, MD:

Sometimes you just gotta get lucky. After spending two weeks on the hard in Oxford, Inza and I were heading for St Michaels for shoppng, laundry and visiting with friends. We anchored in Dun Cove the first night out so as to be able to pass through Knapps Narrows near high tide in the morning. Turns out delivery of her new eyeglasses in Washington was delayed, so she had to round up a different person to pick them up for her. The numerous phone calls involved that morning delayed us about an hour and a half. We passed through the drawbridge with no delay, and headed out the west side onto Chesapeake Bay. The channel is well known for silting in at red “4″. As we rounded the marker, our depth indicator showed we had only 0,2′ under the keel. As the tide was ebbing, and still had more than 3 hours to go to low tide, had we been about 20 minutes later we would have been literally stuck.

A week later, we stopped at the North East River Yacht Club on Thursday night, and anchored out off the club Friday night, as it rained on Friday. Saturday morning after breakfast we weighed anchor, and moved out into the middle of the river to raise the mainsail. We were facing directly across the river raising the sail when Inza called out, “What’s that”, pointing up the river. Seems a minute or so earlier someone had fired the starting gun about a mile up the river to start a poker run. About 40 cigarette boats were screaming down on us side by side.We were clearly the stand-on vessel, but it was too late to hide behind the Rules Of The Road. I told Inza to head strait at them on a reciprical course, so as to present the smallestpossible target. Turns out we were just downstream from a flashing red channel marker, so the maniacs had to choose one side or the other, and we were spared. We are going back this week, and guess what? – there’s another poker run scheduled!

After arriving in Baltimore last week, during happy hour in the cockpit, Inza noticed that the high bilge water alarm light was on. A check of the bilge confirmed the high level, (we have a slow leak on our hot water tank I am planning to fix). Apparently the bilge pump float switch had failed to start the pump. The next day, I confirmed that the float switch had failed. Luckily, the nearest West Marine was 1 block away, and they had a replacement in stock.

Now, if I can find someone to crank me up the mast to replace my anchor light bulb………

Salty Spouse Cruising Updates

cyoung — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 11:44:58 +0000

Aboard “Salty Spouse” at Plaindealing creek, Tred Avon River, MD
It took us 3 weeks to get here. The following are changes we noted along the way:
- At Alligator River Marina, the air conditioned lounge TV is now hooked up to a dish antenna, so instead of only one channel, you get a major selection. Still cold water wash machines and morning newspaper, however. You still have to follow your eyes, not your chartplotter at the mouth of the Alligator River!
- At Deep Creek on the Dismal Swamp Canal, the propane fill station at the hardware store is gone! The store is closed.
- At Jackson Creek, Deltaville, green 5 and red 6 markers have been replaced with buoys. the channel is still OK, but stay a bit wide of both green 7 & 9 to avoid the inner edge of the shoal. Deltaville Marina still offers their vehicle for an hour to go into town for a buck.
- The mouth of the Potomac is still rough, sorry
- Woodburns Grocery at Slomons have made a major rearrangement of their food displays – cheeses are where the veggies were, etc., but they still have a wide variety of upscale items.
- There’s major construction going on at the LNG dock at Cove Point, but the security zone size4 has not been changed.
Reef early, Scott & Inza

Daddy Duck and his two ducklings

srebholz — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:11:54 +0000

The story of the Mann’s, Lord’s and Rebholz’s trip up the Chesapeake and James.

We are into day 12 of our Chesapeake/James River trip. So far boating has been good but hot. Our 1st overnight stop was at Midway in Coinjock. They were out of gasoline which then required us to go across the river to Coinjock Marina. Apparently they had been out from sometime. The Chef opened the restaurant for us (normally closed on Monday) because they “remembered Pamlico Mann”. Ed didn’t remember him however. All that had the fried scallops agreed they were the best they had ever had.

On to Norfolk the next day. Bridges caused us problems. Those that were ‘Normally Open” were apparently “Normally Closed” on this trip. So our travel time was an extra hour and a half. Lots to do in Norfolk. We stayed at Waterside Marine, the rates were reasonable, the service great. There is a large mall with Nordstroms and Dillard’s within 6 blocks. A great Italian restaurant called Sirena Cucina on Granby about 8 blocks away. There is a free bus service on Granbyand some adjoining streets so you don’t have to walk. Take the Victory Rover Navel Base tour if you have any interest in the Military. You can also jointly purchase tickets to the tour Naval and the Battleship Wisconsin. We did go across to Portsmouth, an while it has good restaurants, it seemed a little over rated. The showers and head are a long ways and not that great, but not terrible. Has a OK laundry.

Moving on to Cape Charles, the entrance to Bay Creek Marina is a little tricky. Stay close to the Red 2 and 4 markers. What a great top of the line Marina. Big slips, most are 18 or 20 feet wide. The town is small and not a lot to do. Well, some of us didn’t have enough. There is a great old time hardware store and the Irish restaurant was very good. Ask for John. At the Marina is one large boutique shop with lots of interesting, one of a kind items. They had free wine and chocolate tasting on the weekend. The Marina also has a great restaurant called Aqua that we recommend. Despite being jammed on the 4 th of July they handled the crowd well and the food was great. There is a beach to walk on but it was too hot so we settled for the pool. The shore and head here are great though depending on dockage they can be a long way away. Washer/Dryer are free but they only have one.

Next on to Doziers in Deltaville. This was to be our relaxing time, but it was so hot that we just tried to stay in the A/C. The marina has two courtesy station wagons, both without A/C so driving was like running in front of a blast furnace. The highlight was going to Cocomo’s for dinner. They have recently opened under new management. They picked us up in a stetched limo with air. The ride was great and I think the food was good too. J&W Seafood had great crab and shrimp. Judy made terrific crab cakes and we grilled shrimp twice. Good showers and head here. Washer/Dryer expensive, $2.00 each load washer and dryer.

Then on to Hampton, VA. We found out late that we had reservations at the Hampton Public Piers during the Backbeard Festival. Now that may not sound like a big deal, after all Blackbeard is from our neck of the woods. Well, he also had big ties to Hampton for this is where Lt. Maynard sailed from and where Blackbeard’s head and crew were returned to after Maynard won the battle at Ocracoke inlet.

First docking here is a challenge even without the festival(worse than Washington as finger piers stick out into the river). There is current, tide and winds to contend with. Add the festival and the temporary dock problems and it became a circus.

All you Navy guys will love this. Apparently the city contracts with the Army to bring in some barges using an Army tug. Well, they got the barges here OK, just before we arrived, but then the fun began. The army decided that the 60 ft. tug they brought in was too big to maneuver the barges into the proper space, so the left after a lengthy discussions and called for another tug. Well, on their return the 60 ft tug blows an engine and the other tug, which is on it’s way has to stop and tow the 60 ft tug back to Ft. Houston. The tugs (one 80 ft and two small working barges) finally arrive at 8:30 pm. Now to get a picture of this the river here is about 2/3 the width of Broad Creek withMarinas on both sides and we are moving these two 80 ft barges into position 100 ft off the end of a dock. The piling that had been set to help anchor the barges proved no match for the tug, so now that it is leaning over it is more of a hazard. We they finally got the barges in position sometime after midnight, although we had all retired. The showers are private but the head is shared with the public and since this was party weekend you can imagine. o washer/ dryer.

The festival itself was a mixture of the Ocracoke Festival (all related to pirates and sea music) and Summerfest. Lots of street vendors, 3 stages, reenactments of both pirates and British camps, several sea battles ( Blackbeard’s final) and like all good festivals, lots of beer and all that goes with it. The locals really get into this and lots of people are dressed in period costumes. They have acts going on all over including several on the docks. The parties on the docks lasted till 3:00 am although it didn’t impact us a lot. Today we will finish the Festival and do some shopping. Next is Two Rivers and Williamsburg – up the James River.

First real screw-up happens when John tries to leave the slip with a stern line attached. The boat immeadiately swings to port and into the sail boat next to us. No damage as we still had a fender out just in case the wind blew us that way. Moral-take your time and dont rush.

OK we forgot an important part.

“Daddy Duck – I think we have a problem.”

What are you getting us into?

Now onto Two Rivers Marina at Governors Landing. This is a beautiful trip up the James River about 35 miles. The river is wide although there is a deep channel to follow. Twin Rivers has a Williamsburg address but its about 25 min to Colonial Williamsburg. The marina is very nice and they were very accommodating. They have golf carts to get arround the development which has 700 homes but is probably twice the physical size of Cypress Landing. The transient boaters have access to the ammenities incuding the golf course, pool, beach, fitness center and resturant. The resturant has a formal and relaxed dinning room. Formal requires a jacket, we think. Overall this was a great stop but you are a long ways from shopping, resturants or Colonial Williamsburg. We rented a car at Enterprize. The head and showers are very good, the washer and dryer are small but the good news was the $0.75 for the washer fell into an open box so you could recycle it. Price of fuel seemed a little high and dockage was $2.00 a foot.

We left for Smithfield Station on Thursday. Again a nice ride and the Pagan River is very nice. The dregged the river in October 2009 so we had good depth except one location. Smithfield is a very nice marina. It is family owned with a hotel, excellent resturant and a couple of shops right here. They treat the slips as hotel rooms so you get all the same ammenities. Not sure about the washer/dryer and the shower is a long was away.

The city is small but very nice, just 1/3 mile walk. The walk in passes a string of beautiful old homes (there is a self-guide walking tour). There is also 5 art galleries, so it is somewhat like Washington except for the buildings are smaller and not empty.

Sunday we start the long trip back stopping in Coinjock Sunday night.

John & Shelly Rebholz, traveling with the Mann’s and Lord’s