Dean mentioned he was having some problems with his mainsail mast track so I volunteered to dinghy over and help him this morning. He had to go up the mast and repair the track that had broken which allowed the sail cars to come disconnected from the mast - not a good thing.
After breakfast I dropped the dinghy and motored over. Dean had everything ready and we went over the procedure before he went up the mast. As typical for mast work, we had a bosuns chair (seat) attached to a halyard which went through a pulley at the top of the mast then back down to the deck. The deck end was wound around one of the mast winches. On most boats, you would use the winch to pull the person up the mast and hold him in place while working. Autumn Borne and Second Wind have steps attached to the mast so it is a little easier. The person climbs up the steps while a helper keeps the halyard tight around the winch. If the person slips or wants to stop, the helper just secures the line around the winch and cleat. Very safe operation if everyone pays attention.
All went well and he completed the repair in about 1/2 an hour. I motored back to Second Wind and secured the dinghy for our short run to Mathews Yacht Club.
Laura and I prepared to get underway then raised the anchor and motored south out of Fishing Bay. We continued south to the end of Gwynn Island then through the Gwynn Island Bridge. It was a twisty-turney course around the islands which we took slow because we were at low tide. Approaching the yacht club about an hour later we had less than a foot between our keel and the bottom. No problems as D and Don were there to help us tie up at the yacht club.
We were here for the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) dinner that evening. Many of the OCC members had come to the club for lunch and we joined them a short time later. Laura and I split a crab-cake sandwich which was yummy (you have to eat crab when in Chesapeake Bay).
After lunch we unpacked some of the packages we had shipped to our friends Chris and Bill who live in the area and were OCC members running the dinner. Our packages included the new Honda 2200 generator which I hauled down to the boat, filled with oil and gasoline, and had running a short time later. The packages also include both of our new NY driver's licenses which we had renewed just before leaving Catskill. Yea! We were legal again!
Just after 6pm we dressed up a little (I put on long pants and collared shirt) and headed to the dinner. Turns out a past Commodore of the club decided to buy drinks for everyone so it was open bar all night. We met many new friends and had a very tasty dinner of fried oysters and BBQ brisket plus all the fixin's served home-style. After dinner was a slide presentation from two couples who had sailed around the world (circumnavagitor's) - one in 1992 and the other in 2016. It was very interesting to compare the two voyages and the changes in world travel during those periods.
After dinner we said good-bye to new and old friends before retiring to the boat and crashing. I don't think either of us slept well from the drinks and rich foods.
Friday, October 25th (Day 29 - start of week 5)
We had not slept well and, since we were both awake, we decided to get going early. It was still dark and only 6am. I used a hose on the dock to wash some of the salt off the boat and fill our water tank to about 3/4 (we'd have a chance to fill the tank again in the next day or two when we filled up our diesel tank so why carry the extra weight?). After engine checks and pulling in the power cord, we were underway just as it was light enough to see the water. Here's a cool picture Laura took before we left the dock. Notice the little sliver of moon.
No wind and glassy water made for a beautiful, sunrise ride back to Fishing Bay where we could reconnect with Chesapeake Bay and turn south to Norfolk.
Here was just before sunrise a short time later.
As we motored back through the Gwynn Island Bridge, Slow Cruisin' was coming out of Fishing Bay and Autumn Borne was just picking up their anchor. Once again, three boats from Catskill Creek within a few miles of each other after traveling over 400 miles.
The day became overcast with no wind. I don't think I've ever seen Chesapeake Bay this calm. I took this picture as we were motoring south past the York River. Where does the water end and sky begin?
We had the tidal current with us most of the day and motored past the huge Navy ships in Norfolk around 2:30pm. Now we had to decide where to head for the night. The past few days have seen LOTS of boats around us heading south. I think the bad weather last week had backed up all the southbound boats so, on the few nice days for traveling, everybody was on the move. This meant that many of the anchorages would be overflowing (and they were) plus some of the places we normally stayed would be packed too.
Gilmerton Bridge in Norfolk is the only one that has to open for us but there are 3 other railroad bridges that are normally open but close periodically for trains. The Gilmerton Bridge stays closed for rush-hour between 3:30pm and 5:30pm. We could not get there by 3:30pm so I idled through Norfolk at slow speed. We motored past the beginning of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) at Hospital Point - Mile 0 at 4pm. Wouldn't you know, the very first ICW bridge (out of maybe 200 between here and Miami) was closed for a train and we had to wait.
There was a huge Gypsum loading pier next to the bridge which I checked out as we waited for the train. I had thought that Gypsum was brought into Norfolk by train then loaded onto ships for export. But, after a little on-line research, it turns out that Gypsum is brought into Norfolk by ship from Nova Scotia. In Norfolk, there is a huge factory for building wallboard with the Gypsum.
After about another 1/2 hour, the bulk carrier train finally left the station and traveled west out of Norfolk. The bridge opened and we proceeded down the Elizabeth River where we waited about 15 minutes for the Gilmerton Bridge. After the bridge it was only 2.5 miles to Top Rack Marina where we tied up to their fuel dock for an overnight stay. We've stayed here many times. The fuel is just about the cheapest on the ICW (was $2.58 / gallon of diesel) and the dockage is only $40 per night. Up to two years ago, the dockage was free if you ate at their smancy restaurant. The food was always excellent but expensive. We never got out of there for less than $100.
They had excellent WiFi here so we watched a few new Netflix shows and hit the sack early after a long 12 hour day on the water. 62 nautical miles traveled today. That's a lot for us!
Saturday, October 26th (Day 30)
I was up at 7:30am to prepare the boat for leaving as soon as the 8am crew arrived to fill up our diesel. I disconnected our power cord and coiled it on the deck to dry. As I was filling our water tank, one of the marina staff came by and we talked about fueling up. My goal was to fuel up and leave here as soon as possible so we could make the 8:30am opening of the Great Bridge lock and maybe beat some of the boats coming from Norfolk to the free dock in Great Bridge.
We started filling our diesel tank around 7:45am and finished with 62.5 gallons shortly after 8pm. That was our usage for the past 15 days since Atlantic Highlands.
Everything was quick and we were off the dock by 8:10am - right in front of a line of powerboats from Norfolk. Of course, they all had to pass us over the next 10 minutes even though it was only 2 miles to the lock. No problems making the 8:30am lock schedule and we tied up with 1 other sailboat and 9 powerboats.
When the lock door opens to let everyone out, the powerboats think it's a race to the bridge only 1/2 mile away. They were even passing me in the lock and got yelled at by the lockmaster. The Great Bridge Bridge opened on schedule at 9am and we were able to tie up at the free dock on the south side a short time later. The dock was empty except for a large Army Corp of Engineers boat on the north end. We tied up way down the south end with our dinghy off the dock so we could leave as much room as possible for other boats.
Dean and Sue on Autumn Borne arrive at the next bridge opening and I helped them tie up in front of us. They had decided to anchor at Hospital Point last night and not wait for the train and Gilmerton Bridge. Yea! We made the free dock and could relax for a couple days.
Not so fast.... After tying up Autumn Borne, we noticed there were signs on all the dock posts that the entire dock was reserved for the "Corp of Engineer Boat - Ewell" from 8am to 6pm TODAY. Oh no. But wait... the big boat tied up at the north end was the Ewell. I walked up and talked to the Captain who told us they were here for the Veteran's Day Festival and they did not need the whole dock. But, we should check with the lady managing the festival. After asking around, I found the lady in charge and she said we were fine where we were. There was only one other "big" boat coming to the festival - the Miss America - and they should be able to fit in front of us. Cool! We could stay.
Laura took this picture of gents working wood-lathes at the festival. The festival seemed to be mostly this type of work including fly fishing and metal working booths.
We did enjoy the festival - especially the hotdog cart where we had lunch. A short time later an older 30 foot powerboat came in and tied up in the middle of the 100 feet open dock reserved for the Miss America. Turns out they were the Miss America. Don't know what connection they had to the festival but, guess they were invited for the day.
Since they were tied up in the middle of the 100 feet of open dock, they had left about 30 feet on each end - not enough room to tie up another boat who might be looking for dockage. I walked over and suggested to the Captain that he move the boat either forward to back to make room for another boat since the waterway was very busy. He told me, "This is where I'm supposed to be and I'm not moving." Several boats stopped and tried to get him to move during the day but he would not do it. Always one in every crowd.....
After lunch we walked down Battlefield Blvd to a small strip-mall that had a salon where we've stopped in the past for haircuts. They were able to work Laura and I into their schedule over the next hour or so. Now we were good lookin' again!
A few bag of groceries at Krogers (we only needed eggs...) and we walked back to the boat for a nap. Dean and Sue came over for munchies, cocktails and MUSIC around 5:30 and we had a fun time. Dean and I alternate playing songs on our guitars and now Laura is adding to the mix with a few songs on her Mountain Dolcimer. After they left Laura made chili from the fresh hamburg we purchased today and we relaxed to a few shows on the TV.
Rain tomorrow so we will probably sit her for the day and maybe talk a walk between the raindrops.
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