It’s Saturday as I write this post and I am aboard Amtrak to Stamford from Williamsburg VA.  I am always struck by how long it takes to get anywhere by boat and how quickly I get back home via a “normal” route.  However, Amtrak is another story with what sometimes seems like “glacial” progress.

Today’s run will take ten hours and that assumes that we are on time.  However, it’s comfortable and I have WIFI all the way, well most of the way…

It will be good to be home with a normal routine for the next two months and will be a nice break from the chores that I find are always needed on Pandora.

Yesterday I met with a mechanic who will take care of an exhaust leak that has reappeared with the engine.  Funny how some problems seem to persist on boats, even when you get them “fixed”.  I “dealt” with this exact same problem a year ago.  Let’s hope that this time is the charm.

I also decided to have an “adult” deal with the leaking cabin ports.  I knew that time was short until “surgery” would be needed on the large Lexan ports on the cabin side but had hoped to put it off till next summer.  However, after the “sporty”  and resulting “drippy” run to Hampton from CT, I decided that “enough was enough” and brought in a “specialist” to fix the problem once and for all.  Well, once for sure.  We’ll see how long “and for all” part lasts.  The problem is that the Lexan ports are nearly 8′ long and while the actual window opening are much shorter, the expansion coefficient for the Lexan means that when it’s cold, and most of my long runs tend to be in cooler weather, the plastic windows shrink and they leak.  And when they leak, it makes me sad.

The solution, I was advised by Roger Martin, the designer, is to put an “expansion joint” in the middle of the Lexan on each side.  That will allow for the material to shrink without pulling away from the outside opening as much.  Let’s hope that this works.  Wish me luck…

So, for the next two months I won’t have to work on Pandora myself.  I’ll just write checks. Personally, I’d rather not go the “check route”.  Let’s hope that things go smoothly.  I was pleased when I met the folks that will be doing the work in Beaufort.  The plastics guy, well he just does plastic and the engine guy and electrician.  Well they seem to be “multi-taskers”.  Fingers crossed…

So, while my trusty check book is helping to get some last minute updates completed for Pandora, I can focus on when and where we will head out from Beaufort.

Our plan is to catch a weather window in mid-January, after the holidays and Brenda’s birthday on January 15th (mark your calendar) to begin our run to the eastern Caribbean.

We don’t know yet if we will head directly to the British Virgin Islands or clear in in St Martin.  I very much look forward to spending time in the BVI but from there, once Brenda joins me in late January, is to head further south. The problem with this plan is that the run from the BVI to St Martin, the next island on our way south, is 90 miles east into the strong “Christmas winds” that blow hard from the east.  To have this be the first run that I make with Brenda won’t be very appealing to her and could very well end up being a “career limiting move” with her, as my son Rob often cautions me when I come up with some lame idea that involves Brenda and unpleasant conditions afloat.

I guess I can only say “details to come” on that score. However, I have to be sure that we end up somewhere that’s easy for my crew to get out of and for Brenda to arrive.

Speaking about the BVI, this video is a good primer on what to expect if we end up in this very popular island chain.  Oh yeah, if we land there in January, we’ll be arriving at the peak of the charter boat season and we aren’t very keen on mixing with what some call “sailing amateur hour”.  That boat is anchored how close?

Anyway, here’s a nice video about sailing in the BVI. Brenda and I expect to head “down island”.  Perhaps we will see the Classic Yacht Regatta in April in Antiqua.  Beautiful boats.And, of course, there’s always the St Barths Bucket Regatta and the Yacht Marie. Brenda and I sailed aboard her in Newport two years ago for three days of racing.  “Would you care for a lobster roll?”.  Yes, indeed.  What a beautiful yacht and she’s really, really big.Wondering how we ended up aboard such a magnificent yacht? Well, I wrote this post three years ago and somehow the owner ended up seeing the post and invited us aboard. Who knows, perhaps we will end up aboard her again this winter. Something to wish for and as Brenda once said, “Bob and the dog, ever hopeful”.  Yes, that’s me.  Can I have a cookie?

I guess that’s enough for now but there’s sure a lot to look forward to in the coming months.  Oh yeah, did I mention that we will soon be grandparents?  It doesn’t get any better than that!  Boy or girl?  Who knows. For now we just call him/her “Nugget”.

And… drum roll please, the bathroom is FINALLY done.  Brenda says that took WAY TOO LONG.  Ok, ok, I agree but it’s done now.  Whew!!!

Tomorrow I present about Cuba to about 100 at the annual meeting of The Corinthians at Beach Point Yacht Club.  It’s a spectacular location to have a lunch on a sunny day. Brenda and I have been members of The Corinthians for many years and I am very much looking forward to sharing our story.

Yes, it’s good to be heading home to Brenda and to thinking about our coming winter of cruising together.  life is good…

 

It’s Thursday afternoon and we are closing in on the canal that runs from the Albermarle Sound south toward Beaufort where Pandora will be until I return in mid January.

The list of items that need attention has grown in an alarming way including re-bedding of some ports and a few items with the engine.   Oh yeah, don’t forget the new charger/inverter.  That hurts…  All and all, it reminds me why I do most of the work on Pandora myself.  I’d go broke if I hired everything out.  Alas, no choice on this list as I am way to far away from Beaufort to come down and do the work myself.

Anyway, it’s a nice day with temperatures in the lower 80s but that won’t last long as a front is coming through tomorrow that will bring brisk northerlies and much cooler temperatures.

Yesterday was the longest day for us as we left at daybreak and didn’t arrive in Ocracoke until shortly after dark a distance of nearly 80 miles.  Going down the twisty channel in the twilight and then dark was a bit unnerving and I was very glad to have Jim along.  At one point we nearly ran aground as the marks had been moved a good deal compliments of Matthew so the charts weren’t the same as what marked the channel.  A combination of temporary floating marks and pilings sunk in the sand, many of which were unlit and hard to see made it just a blast… NOT!

As we left today, the treachery of the channel was brought into sharp focus as we passed a large shrimp boat hard aground in about the same spot where we had a “near brush” with a sandbar last evening.  Another shrimp boat was standing by that hoped to pull them off.  Several hours later I saw on AIS that the boat was still hard aground and his friend was steaming away.  Mission NOT accomplished.

The channel was so narrow that a ferry that was headed into the channel as I left the harbor stood by outside to allow me to pass.  In all the years I have been out on the water today was the only time that a commercial vessel has ever stood down to wait for me to pass.  Tells you something about the dangers in that channel.  This is the ferry.  The night before, when we were entering the little harbor a ferry came in right behind me and shined their searchlight on me as I was approaching the dock to tie up.  It was unnerving, to say the least and the lights blinded me.  We tied up to our friends on Acadia across the dock.  It is indeed a small world to run into friends unannounced.  We enjoyed our visit. So now, forgive me but I am going to bore you with yet another group of “sunset photos”.  “NOOOOOOOO, NOT AGAIN BOB!”  Sorry… it was beautiful with more than a dozen shrimpers plying the waters in the setting sun. Every few minutes the scene changed.  I was struck by this view that looked like liquid silver in the waning light.  Not sure what I’d do with this photo. Perhaps it would make for nice “wallpaper” on my laptop. Tomorrow I rent a car to head back to Hampton to deliver Jim home and then board a train for Stamford CT and a visit with my friend Craig along with a presentation about Cuba to a group that I belong to.  The Corinthians are having their annual meeting on Sunday.  Other than that, nothing going on, nothing of note at all.

In any event, I guess you could say that I am into the home stretch, well at least the home stretch of this chapter.

Once again, I can only say, “details to come”.

As I begin writing this the sun is just peaking over the eastern horizon.  The water is glass calm as we make our way down toward Ocracoke island and then on to Beaufort where I will leave Pandora until mid January.

The sunrise was beautiful this morning from the earliest light when we picked up the anchor.A perfect reflection of the trees on shore.  Brenda, this would make for a lovely tapestry.  Get on it!  Please?A little while later, a full sunrise reflected on the still water.  What a great way to begin the day.On this trip we are taking a different route, one that my crew Jim enjoys.  We will head further east toward the coast, a route that I have not taken before.  Instead of going through the Dismal Swamp Canal, we took the “Virginia Cut” that has a single lock.

It’s a huge lock that carries commercial traffic and there were quite a few boats there when we arrived.Jim has done this route a number of times, most recently just a few weeks ago.  He keeps his boat in the lower Chesapeake and enjoys heading in a loop down to Ocracoke and then returning via the Dismal swamp canal further to the west.

After leaving Hampton shortly after dawn yesterday we headed down past the naval base.  A cruiser was picking up a mooring out in the river.  Just how many sailors does it take?  A lot, it seems.  Aboard Pandora.  It only takes two, one in a pinch. Hey look…  His and hers aircraft carriers.  If the election doesn’t sort itself out next week, there’s one for Hillary and one for Donald.   Now, that would be fun. And speaking of NYC, which I wasn’t, Highlander, Malcomb Forbes’s old yacht was in dry dock in Portsmouth.  I saw here there last fall too.  She’s looking a bit worse for wear.  Too bad. In any event, we are making our way down the ICW and tonight we will take a slip in Ocracoke, go out to dinner and then make our way to Beaufort by Thursday night.

Interestingly, even though this area feels very remote, we have been passed by a half dozen boats in the last few minutes, all large powerboats heading south as a group.   They will get there a lot sooner than us but their “burn rate” is probably 30x greater than us.  Unlike their “cousins” on the CT River, almost everyone slows way down so that they don’t rock us with their wake.  What a welcome contrast.  I guess that’s because they know they might run into us sometime in the future.  At home, they couldn’t care less as they blast along leaving a 4’ wake to toss us around.  Very unfortunate.

Speaking of “carbon footprint”, on the last day of the programs in preparation for the Salty Dawg Rally to the BVI, we were treated to a live USCG “rescue” right off of the marina docks.  It was just amazing to see the chopper hovering a few hundred feet from us.  Before the chopper arrived a small cutter was on scene to be sure that nobody strayed into the “hurricane zone” while the chopper was hovering overhead.Our “MC” for the discussion that proceeded the “rescue” we had two “Coasties” who shared a lot of terrific information on how to do our best to avoid a ride in a chopper in the future.   Very nice guy but he did look serious.  “I’d like a show of hands if you have an EPIRB on board.  Another if it’s registered with your current information.” Everyone’s hand went up.  Then he smiled.Our rescue chopper is the only one in the USCG that is painted yellow instead of sporting the normal diagonal orange stripe.  We were told that it was a “centennial edition” marking the 100^th anniversary of the USCG.  Think of it as sort of “Eddie Bauer” USCG chopper edition without the soft denim settees.  Well, perhaps not exactly like that because they have to be able to hose everything down after all the salt what they kick up.  “Hey you, scuba man, yeah I’m talking to you! Rinse off before you sit there. This is s a special edition craft you are dripping on.”

“Do I have to go? It’s really windy out there.”  It was windy with about 20kts from the north and the salt spray kicked up by the massive down-wash from the spinning rotors coated all of the boats in the marina with a fine mist of salt.Then they lowered him to the water.  For a second “rescue” he jumped. All and all, it was a fascinating experience with everyone feeling better prepared and more certain than ever that they wanted to do whatever they could to avoid having one of these guys swim up to their boat and greeting them with “Good morning.  I’ll be your rescue swimmer today.”

It’s comforting to know that the USCG has my back and that if I ever have to “pop my EPIRB” and call for help, that the “Calvary” will be on their way soon enough.  Oh yeah, if you want a chopper ride, don’t go more than about 250 miles from shore as that’s their limit.  Of course, they have boats to but they are WAY SLOWER.

So, with no need for rescue on the horizon, here we are motoring along in flat calm on a beautiful morning.   What a way to go.   It’s beautiful day indeed.

Oh yeah, you know the thing about “cruising is boat repair in exotic places?”.  Yesterday was fun as my head macerator pump croaked and spilled raw sewerage into the bilge.  That was fun.  Sorry, no photos but be assured that there was plenty of cleanup with bleach after I was done, Brenda.

Happily, I carry a spare, now installed, so all’s well.  Such is the fun of boating.

The Salty Dawg rally is going to get underway in a few days and everyone is pretty excited about heading out to points south.  At last count, there are over 80 boats that will be making the run south and anticipation is high that there will be terrific weather in store for everyone’s departure.

In about an hour Chris Parker will be doing a webcast for the group and I will be the moderator online with him serving up questions from the audience.   I did this last year and enjoyed the process.

To be honest, I am a bit bummed that I won’t be leaving with them and have to take Pandora to Beaufort where she will sit for a few months prior to my run to the Caribbean in mid January.  Seeing a good forecast “go to waste” is killing me.  Oh well…  Besides, there are still chores and a few leaks to deal with aboard Pandora that would be annoying if I left now.

As I mentioned, I spoke to a group of “Dawgs” yesterday at the Hampton YC about Brenda’s and my trip to Cuba and it seems that one of the participants Peter did a summary of that and other activities that made for a great “Dawg day” for everyone.  I understand that Peter does videos regularly so it might be worth signing up to see what he puts up next. Anyway, I have to get ready for Chris Parker so I’d better sign off for now.

Audios Amigos! (the limit of my Spanish, BTW)   Well, that’s in addition to “no comprende” a phrase that came in handy in Cuba.  I am not sure even how to spell that.  Never mind for now.

It’s Friday afternoon and Pandora is all snug in her slip here in Hampton VA at the run up to the Salty Dawg Rally that will depart from here for points south, primarily the British Virgin Islands on or after November 1^st.
At last count, there are some 85 boats participating in the rally with nearly a week of seminars and social events leading up to the “big event”.
I arrived here in Hampton on Thursday after a two day 350 nm run from Essex CT with my good friend/crew Jim.  Jim has the distinction of having crewed with me for more miles, some 4,000 miles, than just about anyone else in spite of having sailed with crew for over 30 years.  Of course, Brenda has more miles with me but that’s another story and one that you’ve likely heard, ad/nauseam, if you have read more than a few posts.

So, here I am in Hampton enjoying time with others who love to sail and am having a great time.

The run here from Essex was, shall we say “sporty”, with Pandora plowing along on a close reach (wind forward of the beam) in 25kts with gusts over 30, conditions that are anything but fun.  The good news is that we were romping along at 9+kts for much of the first 24 hours and ultimately made the full run in a little less than 48 hours.  That’s very good time indeed.

Good run or not, I was exhausted when we left as Pandora had “splashed” only day before so I only had a single day to get her prepped, sails back on and ready to go.  Way too fast for me.   She looks positively “ginormous” on the hard next to our little VW wagon. While I know Pandora pretty well by now, having put perhaps 5,000 miles on her in my first year, there are still needling problems that I have not been able to correct so far.   In particular, some pesky leaks that have been hard to track down.  Perhaps the worst are with the long lexan ports on the main cabin that tend to leak when it gets cold and they shrink more than the surrounding fiberglass.   I am hoping to get them replaced in Beaufort NC where Pandora will sit for a few months prior to running to the BVI in January.

Anyway, I won’t bore you with more discussion with “drips” but salt water and cushions don’t mix.  Frustrating to say the least.

While Pandora is fast and can outrun most any other boat of her size and plenty that are larger, that speed and long waterline comes with a negative as she is also a very wet boat and as she plows through the seas, there is plenty of water flying everywhere and deck is constantly wet with a river running down the deck and off the stern.  It’s an impressive sight from under the hard dodger.  Fortunately, the cockpit is roomy and secure. In case you have missed it somehow, Pandora has an impressive and nicely designed hard dodger to keep us out of the weather.  This is a shot of her at the dock today here in Hampton.  I think that she looks like she means business.Today I presented a talk about our trip to Cuba at the Hampton Yacht Club to a group of nearly 60 “Salty Dawgs” and was thrilled with how well received what I had to say was.  They asked lots of good questions and laughed at all my jokes. Well, there was one joke that didn’t get much of a rise out of them.   I’ll live.

Our story of Cuba is one that I never tire of giving and to present to such a nice group of sailors that will very likely go there themselves was particularly rewarding.

Just for fun, this is a link to an article that I wrote in the current issue of Blue Water Sailing about our trip.  I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Actually, writing it was a blast and I doubt that you will rank it quite that high.  If so, great.  Let me know what you think.

Well, Pandora made it here safely with a minimum of fuss and I am eager to enjoy the next few days of fun and then off to Beaufort NC.  BTW, that’s pronounced “Beaufort” as opposed to “Beeufort”, pronounced as it’s spelled, in South Carolina.

I should note that it was plenty chilly when we left Deep River on Tuesday morning with frost on the deck when we arrived to shove off.   I can’t say that I like cold even a little and the first 24 hours of our trip was particularly unpleasant.  Happily, I have a diesel heater aboard so at least we were warm down below.

By the second day of our run the temperatures had moderated a bit so it wasn’t quite as cold on deck.  It was also a lot calmer with winds that all but went away for a bit so things calmed down a bit and I could catch up on my sleep.

As we passed the Chesapeake Bay bridge on our way toward Hampton and Norfolk we were treated to a beautiful sunrise and you know how much I love sunrises.  Beautiful view from the stern. And, in case you are inclined to forget that the biggest employer in these parts is none other than “Uncle Sam”, one of the advanced “stealth” cruisers passed us on her way into Norfolk.  Stealthy or not, she showed up just fine on radar.  Stealth?  Hmm…  Perhaps someone forgot to flip the ‘stealth switch”.   Never the less, I was impressed.Ok, enough for now.  I had better sign off for now as there is a session to go to now.  Besides, it’s happy hour after that and that’s not something I want to miss.

Fun time am I am so excited about my own “migration” south for the winter.  Me and the birds, on our way.

So far, so good. Stay tuned for more…