{"id":843,"date":"2012-10-11T13:30:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T13:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=843"},"modified":"2012-10-11T15:30:18","modified_gmt":"2012-10-11T15:30:18","slug":"hampton-va-another-milestone-of-sorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=843","title":{"rendered":"Hampton VA, and more milestones of sorts."},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Thursday morning, the sun is out and we are in Hampton Virginia. \u00a0 Yesterday we sailed, did I say SAILED?, all the way from the\u00a0Potomac\u00a0to Hampton, after sailing nearly all of the way THERE from Annapolis. \u00a0That’s over \u00a0100 miles under sail in two days. \u00a0And, we did it in daylight hours. \u00a0Not bad, not bad at all.<\/p>\n

When we arrived at the little harbor off of the Potomac River, “The Gleeb” it was too dark to take any photos. \u00a0I snapped this one early yesterday as we were leaving. \u00a0I was struck that the trees are different here, mostly pine. \u00a0It was a very rural and stark place, especially in the early morning haze.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At one point we were sailing on a broad reach and passed a sailboat that was motoring along on the same course. \u00a0Not sure why he was motoring, but he was. \u00a0It’s indeed a nice thing to have a boat that passes most other boats under sail. \u00a0It’s still novel for me and will probably always be. \u00a0Frankly, it\u00a0bugs\u00a0the hell out of me if I see a boat and can’t catch them.<\/p>\n

Tuesday was sailing with the wind but yesterday was on the wind the entire time. It was a bit of a push, I’ll admit, but I really wanted to get there in two days (most make it a three day trip) \u00a0so that we would have a day in Hampton to see the sights prior to heading up to our friends Harris and Barbara’s home in\u00a0Williamsburg\u00a0for the weekend.<\/p>\n

I suppose that pushing so hard with Brenda on board was one of those “career limiting moves” that our older son Rob talks about. \u00a0By the time we got here yesterday, after 11 hours of sailing on our ear, Brenda was a bit peevish. \u00a0Happily, an “adult beverage” as my friend Rodney says, softened her a bit. \u00a0 That combined with roasted potatoes and thick cut lamb chops with one of Brenda’s special sauces, did the trick.<\/p>\n

While Tuesday was totally overcast, yesterday began to show signs of life with the sun peaking out more and more as the day progressed. \u00a0Today dawned without a cloud to be seen. \u00a0 Brisk yes, but not as chilly as the past few days have been.<\/p>\n

So, what about those “milestones of sorts” y0u say? \u00a0Yesterday marked our being further south on Pandora than we have ever been. \u00a0It was also marked by our first sighting of pelicans (actually, that was on Tuesday) and our first sea turtle sighting. \u00a0The turtle was a big one, perhaps 3′ in diameter and he spotted us too as we raced by under sail, picking his head up to get a good look. \u00a0 Sadly, I wasn’t quick enough with the camera so you will have to take my word for it.<\/p>\n

Interesting, the water temperature is a lot cooler here than in the upper bay as I spied it aS nowthe low 70s. \u00a0It was also a lot cooler than we had in Long Island Sound when we left home a monthago.<\/p>\n

As there wasn’t much to take pictures of when we were underway yesterday save the occasional 850′ freighter coming by. \u00a0“No more pictures of freighters Bob, enough already”. \u00a0Perhaps, but I will not be deterred as I haven’t posted any photos of menhaden fishing boats yet. \u00a0So here’s one we saw yesterday near Reedville<\/a> the home of a fish meal processing plant. \u00a0 I just love ships.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In particular, these ships are purse-seiners\u00a0as they use the smaller boats on davits to run a large net around a school of menhaden, sometimes called bunker. \u00a0After the school is encircled, they pull a rope that closes the bottom of the net, like a purse. \u00a0When the net is fully tightened, and the fish are concentrated in a small space, they stick in a big hose and pump them out. \u00a0Hmm… \u00a0It sucks to be a fish. \u00a0Pun intended. \u00a0 After being unceremoniously sucked into the ship, they are taken ashore to a factory, boiled down to a slurry and separated into fish meal and omega oil. \u00a0 Yes, it smells plenty good too. \u00a0Try visiting Reedville sometime. Think of those little fishies when you next reach for the omega oil pills in Walmart. \u00a0Still want to learn more? \u00a0I did and found this link that tells the history<\/a> of the company, Omega Protein, that owns the ships.<\/p>\n

I also enjoy watching the water go by the hull when we are under sail, particularly when we are on the wind and pushing hard. \u00a0 Did I mention that Brenda’s not happy when we are doing that? \u00a0Thought so. \u00a0 Anyway, here’s a few shots of Pandora romping to windward. \u00a0 \u00a0Later in the day we were really healing over (way more than in this picture) as I was pushing to be sure we arrived before dark. \u00a0 Just in time actually, as the sun set (18:30) just as we entered the harbor. \u00a0 The last two days provided another milestone as I have never sailed for two days straight, in this case over 100 miles, without using the engine except to enter and leave the harbors. \u00a0 It was great! \u00a0Oh yeah. \u00a0Now we have been away for a month and have gone over 600 miles on our trip.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>I am endlessly fascinated by the look of the water coming out from under the transom. \u00a0 It’s sort of the nautical\u00a0equivalent of a dog with his head out of the car window on the highway. \u00a0I\u00a0guess you had to be there. \u00a0Trust me, it was fun to watch. \u00a0Simple pleasures for simple people.\"\"<\/a>Hampton should be fun as this is home to the Virginia air and space museum<\/a>\u00a0as well as a Jacques Cousteau society museum<\/a> and I hope to take them both in. \u00a0 Here’s the view that greeted me this morning when I came up on deck. \u00a0What a pretty place. \u00a0 \u00a0This is the air and space museum just up the harbor.\"\"<\/a>Here’s a lovely clock tower that chimes on the hour just off of our beam.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There is a park just off of our beam. \u00a0Very scenic.\"\"<\/a>There is a terrific person, Kate, here in Hampton who runs a cruising station for the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) and she has been just terrific in helping us get a feel for the place. \u00a0Recall that I established a new cruising station for SSCA in Essex CT. \u00a0Our plans include putting on a gam for SSCA next June in Essex next summer. \u00a0That should coincide with the northern migration of the SSCA snowbirds as they head for Maine.<\/p>\n

So, lots of milestones. \u00a0Furthest south, pelicans and a turtle. \u00a0That and sailing further than EVER in two days. \u00a0 We are on our way, totally.<\/p>\n

And, lots to do here in Hampton. \u00a0Time to get going. \u00a0Yikes, it’s already 09:30. \u00a0The day’s a wasting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Thursday morning, the sun is out and we are in Hampton Virginia. \u00a0 Yesterday we sailed, did I say SAILED?, all the way from the\u00a0Potomac\u00a0to Hampton, after sailing nearly all of the way THERE from Annapolis. \u00a0That’s over \u00a0100 miles under sail in two days. \u00a0And, we did it in daylight hours. \u00a0Not bad, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}