Left DC on a chilly breezy Sunday morning after driving TULLY and the Tahoe we were using back to Wilmington and hopping a quick flight back. (Note: DC to Wilmington: 6 hrs by car, 1.25 via plane and 6 days by boat!)
I knew the weather called for NW winds but did not expect the 30 mph gusts within the first hour back on the water! We ended up basically sleigh riding before a strong northerly all the way out the Potomac day one and day two. Then the third morning was motoring calm around Smith Point Light and out into the Chesapeake.
After an overnight stop in Deltaville, Va we pulled in for fuel the day before Thanksgiving as we were headed for the Dismal Swamp Canal and there is no fuel for a day or two. It’s nice to be full in those conditions. But plans change.
We were waiting at the last bridge coming out of Norfolk for a tug and barge to allow us through during restricted hours. (Some of these bridges will not open at all during the two hours of morning and afternoon rush hour.)
As we were going round in circles waiting, we heard the all too familiar sound of the damper plate springs being thrown around by the flywheel. Uh-oh.
It was not too hard to baby Yume through the bridge and a just a mile further to a marina dock just after dark. We decided to splurge on dinner at the nice restaurant, and in the morning verified that the damper plate had indeed failed for the third time in two years. I am getting very good at fixing these.
Of course it had to happen on Thanksgiving weekend right?
Short version is I found something locally on Friday but it did not work and we had to stay (and pay) on the dock until Monday. So we rented a car and drove up to visit Williamsburg on Saturday and the movies Sunday. Got the part Mon morning, installed it by noon and we were off and running.
The first day in the rain and cold saw us only just past the Great Bridge lock and bridge as it was already too late to make the next anchorage before dark.
Up and underway at 530 after walking Goose, it took me an hour to realize I had screwed up and not looked ahead to the next bridge which was restricted (no openings) between 630 and 830. We pulled up to the bridge at 635 had to anchor right there for two hours! That messed up the whole days planning!
Next day we made it past Coinjock Va and at anchorage in a wide open area in the North River in calm weather. Next morning we left at 445 praying not to pick up a crab float in the prop as visibility was 0, and motored down Albemarle Sound, into and down the Alligator River, and through the canal to the Pungo River and on into Bellhaven NC. 12 long hours – 75 miles!
Bellhaven is a really small old lumber town that we like a lot. During the night, an anticipated cold front blew in hard and we bounced, rattled and rolled but felt safe with the new anchor from last year.
In the morning the wind was blowing fairly hard but Goose and I got the dinghy down and went in for morning business. The dinghy was back on board and sails set leaving the harbor as the sun peeked up on a cold windy ride to to Bock Marina in Beaufort NC. Emphasize cold and windy.
We will hang out there a day or two then move onto Beaufort Sc by next week. There is much to do in a short time in preparation for the May 16 p4p golf fundraiser…
Then we rush down to Savannah, leave the boat for a week and drive up to Asheville for Christmas with the boys and Grammy. Ian is coming back with us for a week of sailing before he has to be back in loadmaster school in Albuquerque.
We seem to be breaking all the rules of sailing which is promise to be somewhere or meet on a certain day but never ever do both at the same time! And paying for it by having to hurry and worry. The antithesis of boat life.
Looking forward to some sun and slow time in the keys.
We will try to get a post up before the 25th but if not from our family to yours we wish you a very happy Christmas season!
As the first frost lies on the docks, and the cold, foggy rains shut down DC traffic to a two hour 13 mile ride, and after almost 40 events in DC and MD representing paws4vets, all of us (and especially Goose) are ready to turn in the car, untie the lines and blow this Popsicle stand!
Our target departure is a week Sunday and it approaches quickly. We are looking at last orders from Amazon, stocking up the larder for cruising, checking fuel for condensation, running engine and generator, and generally getting the stuff done that is so much easier in a dock. We won’t be back on a dock for a while.
All in all, we have had a very good three months or so here. It seems many people remembered us (mostly Goose actually) from last year. When we do show up and word gets around we are in the building, whether it is the Pentagon or EPA or any other three letter office, people come into see us and ask about travels and paws4vets. Let’s just hope this activity turns into lots of donations for veterans and dogs!
Yume is looking very nice. The decks have nice fresh paint, the varnish glows, new cabinets in the salon and much more was fit in between events. We did not travel and tourist this year like last for some reason.
Some highlights…
I won’t tell you the amount of money and labor went into these two winch bases but they do look nice and are angled properly to allow a nice lead for the genoa sheets.
Another project was Shelly’s wish to have cabinets above the starboard settee. Here is a before and after…
First Shelly strips the old varnish from the bulkheads (walls for you landlubbers) while I start cutting and fitting.
And three days later voila!
Painting the deck was fun. It all had to be sanded, taped and coated twice. The tricky part was keeping two very active 60 pound dogs off it long enough to dry. We are very pleased with result. Not only does the boat look great, we think the lighter paint will drop the temperature 10 degrees inside in the summer!
There’s more but you get the idea. Just don’t think we are just sitting up here at the dock drinking piña coladas all day!
On the 21st Tully and I will drive the Tahoe back to Wilmington, NC and I’ll fly back alone same day. We plan to leave Sunday morning weather permitting. It has been interesting to have a one year old Labrador with us for three months but he definately makes the boat seem about 10 feet smaller. For the first month he would give us heart attacks anytime day or night as he would suddenly bark (very loudly) at anything that he was not sure of. Like Ryan getting up for water at 2am. But he has been a lot of fun.
For instance he actually pulls me 2 miles every day on the bicycle. I have to brake to slow him down at times. Here is a fun little video we made showing them pulling us…
He is a muscle man in a dog suit! But it is time for him to go pick a client to help for the rest of his working life and get trained how to do that. We sort of think Goose will be glad for some peace and quiet too.
Here Tully is waiting patiently for me to call him at an event at the department of Justice. He will pick up his leash and come to me.
Ryan has gone to live with ‘Grammy’ in Marion until Christmas as he wanted unlimited internet access. We hear he is taking full advantage of the grandmother grandson relationship.
Ian will fly in from Air Force loadmaster training (HC-130J) in Albuquerque for Christmas while we rent a car and drive from somewhere along the coast in North or South Carolina. We plan to meet up with our great friends the Everett’s to visit the Bilmore in Asheville on 12/26. Fun!
Then we all will head back for some sailing until Ian flies back to work, and we head on down to Marathon, Fl.
The plan now is to turn around in March and come back up to Beaufort,SC where we have an awful lot of work to do to get this golf fundraiser going. See what we are doing at http://paws4people.org/golf
If you know anyone in that area, or any company who would think about sponsoring veterans and their service dogs please let us know!
So next post will find us underway again at long last. Hard to believe we have been here since August and hot weather since now it is cold and no leaves!
Who stole September? Sheesh. All of a sudden the shorts are put away, the bag with the sweaters has to be found, and I even got some gloves out this morning for our bike ride with the dogs.
That might be a bit overboard, but I hate being cold, and have very thin blood or something. After the northeaster storm that ended yesterday, and four days of 50 degree rainy days I am so ready for the Florida Keys!
We do feel for our friends further down the coast who seem to be swimming everywhere, and catching fish on the sidewalks! We are all thankful Joaquin decided to stay away. Things could have been much much worse had that storm come ashore (or even close) on Sunday or Monday in the Carolinas…
On other topics, I had a chat with a friend after the last post about the refrigerator. He said I had without a doubt convinced him owning a boat and living aboard was something he would never do after following our posts. He said he could never fix everything like I did.
I have been thinking about that and want to point out to anyone else who might be having the same thoughts. If you have a dream, go do it.
If you think about how you will make it happen, or whether you can ‘afford’ it, or whether you will fail, or a thousand other things that will stop you – then you will be like the vast majority of people and never get your dream.
I have found that if I (definitely we) direct our energy toward something, no matter how impossible it might seem, and we really invest ourselves into it, almost always there seems to be another force that is working to help us.
I heard it said like this: the Universe (God) has to help you. When you take steps towards the thing you really want, then God and the Universe will take steps toward you to make it happen. And the thing is, that God and the Universe take much bigger steps than you!
Many of the things we have done on the boat have been failures – at first. But we learn and try again. The refrigerator was one. Sure learned a lot of lessons there! Remember the leaking fuel tanks? More awesome (and painful) lessons.
You might remember when we refinished the top of the salon table as the teak veneer had been sanded through? Well, the construction adhesive was not applied correctly and parts of the table started lifting over the last year.
Finally having enough of plates and glasses not sitting level, I ripped the top off the table a couple of weeks ago.
We came up with a great idea of laminating a world map to the top. It would look great, and we would have a map to use for history and travel plans – cool right?
Except that after waiting a week for the map, and buying a quart of polyurethane, we carefully laid the map on the poly while wet, and watched as the map soaked right through and shredded like wet paper as we tried to make it flat. Duh.
Then it was a frantic hour to get the mess off the wood before it hardened. And back to the old drawing board.
We ended up cutting a piece of birch plywood, staining it, and gluing it down. Then we polyurethaned that! Much better. Moral of the story? We learn as we go along and always have. We make lots of mistakes.
From our first boat, to the horse business, to coaching, to raising kids. You just do it. Sometimes over and over and over…
Now that all the hard stuff is hopefully done, we are spending some time making Yume pretty. The decks are getting a paint job. We pulled everything off the stern and put five coats of varnish on the wood, and rebed all the deck hardware, then put everything back.
Here we have removed the dodger, all the winches and cleats, and are putting down new nonskid and paint. It look awesome!
All while Ryan hangs out behind his computer and creates animations. He is excited to go spend time with his Grammy in western NC and her unlimited internet!
Shelly has almost finished a beautiful hand made quilt. This has been a summer long project and truly is a work of art. It will go on top of our bed for those cold nights that are coming all too soon.
We are fairly busy with our p4p Combined Federal Campaign events here in DC and Md. This week we have five events with an additional Saturday showing at an air show in Virginia.
I have to admit to counting the days before we can leave. I do not like sitting at the dock. Nor the traffic. Nor the crowds. Nor the cold.
But this too will pass.
Next week the Williams family is coming to vacation in DC and we look forward to seeing them. Maybe we can take them for a sail downriver to Mt Vernon!
We haven’t wrecked or drowned or gotten lost. Probably just a tad lazy. (Be sure to read all the way through – or skip to the video!)
Sitting at the dock in Ft Washington, and already driving in DC traffic (officially the worst in the nation) and knowing I have to be here for at least another two months has put me into a funk hard to drag myself out of. Still not there now that I think about it!
I have realized it is very important for me to have a project, a goal to get to, a finish line to cross. Sitting on the boat tied to a dock, waiting for the next event ain’t doing it for me.
But we are making an income.
Let’s catch up…
Solomon’s Islands are on the west side of the Chesapeake and just 20 miles or so north of the entrance to the Potomac River. We enjoyed a beautiful sail down the bay, and into a small river on the north shore of the river about ten miles in.
We anchored in a very small cove with the cutest little white sandy beach and decided to hang around a day or two to enjoy the peace and quiet.
While walking this little beach, we discovered it held a veritable treasure chest of sea glass, which is one of Shelly’s passions. Between this and other beaches we found a lot of cool pieces. Enough in fact to make a very attractive mobile that is merrily tinkling as I write.
Goose had a blast in the shallow waters herding all the minnows.
From there we hopped across the river about 20 more miles (half day) to Colonial Beach on the Va shore and stayed there two days waiting for US mail forwarding that never came.
The second morning a familiar looking aluminum sailboat came in that turned out to be a boat I had been reading about for months on the Attainable Adventure Cruising site. Cool.
From there it was a long 12 hour slog to windward up the river to another anchorage just 15 miles shy of Ft Washington and almost across from Quantico Marine Base.
The next day we motored up past Mt Vernon and into the little weed filled creek to Tantallon Marina and our home until the November ice reminds us to head south again.
The day after we got here it was off to the airport in a borrowed car to pick up Ryan from his mini vacation in Atlanta. Then a few days later I hopped on a plane to Wilmington to pick up an older Tahoe p4p is kind enough to let us use for the next few months.
Which puts us back on the snarling, angry, backed up and congested traffic they call DC!
Big Announcements! (Well – for me anyway!)
The refrigeration soap opera is over! After almost two years of battling issues the refrigeration works like it is supposed to. I replaced the evaporator (again) and fired it up only to almost cry when it would not get cold. But, being the professional refrigeration troubleshooter I now am, it didn’t take long to figure out some moron (ahem) had soldered in the suction and discharge backwards.
Once this was corrected we heard the wonderful sound of freon hissing (professional terminology) through the plate, frost forming where it was supposed to , and now voila! Everything frozen that is supposed to be frozen and nice cold milk for cereal. What more could a capt ask?
Maybe a little big bigger space in which to work?
So now we are in a routine. The events are coming in. We have already been to Office of Personnel Management, in the atrium of the Ronald Reagan Bldg downtown and Defense Intelligence Agency down in VA. Goose is in his working mode and reading about himself in Bob Drury’s latest best seller.
And we have a temporary companion for Goose. TULLY is a chocolate lab, 11 months old, full of himself and full of energy. He makes the boat seem a lot smaller. He is fun though.
We ride the bikes for the walk in the mornings and whoever gets TULLY does not have to pedal!
And lastly, if you haven’t seen it, is our video trailer. We had fun making this and are working on the full length release. Coming soon to a YouTube near you!
We send our best and hope things are right in the world for you!
