Friday, August 23, 2019

Day 2 - Long 12 hour run from Manteo to Solomons

It was cool enough out that we kept the generator off last night and slept with fresh air. I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 9:00 and was up and ready to go this morning at 5:00 a.m. Eating breakfast on the flybridge, I saw several fishing boats leave our marina for their early morning ocean trips. At around 5:45, I saw Jim get up, and we decided to get ready for an early departure. We cranked up the engines, removed the lines and headed out of Pirates Cove in Manteo, NC at exactly 6:05 a.m., just as dusk was breaking.
Manteo at dusk
It took us about 30 minutes to get through the narrow channel leading out to the Albemarle Sound. The channel curves around and gets really narrow in spots, and after my recent experience on the way to Charleston (which we shall not discuss) I was as vigilant and careful as can be, if not a little anxious.
Channel markers leading to the Albemarle Sound
We hit the Sound around 6:30, and it was pretty rough. Waves were at least 3 feet and hitting us almost directly on the nose, and the winds were head on and strong. Made for a bumpy ride. At one point, Jim noticed that our flag had gotten loose and was almost breaking off, and I stopped the boat to retrieve it. Well, when you are in rough 3+ waves (possibly more like 4), it's not a good idea to stop the boat. We started rolling pretty intensely, and everything on the boat flew from side to side. Once I got up some speed again, things straightened out, but it was still an unpleasant ride.

Happily, in less than an hour, the sun was up, and we were out of the Sound and into the river that makes up the ICW. Much more peaceful and relaxing. We were able to go full speed (today around 26-27 knots) in many portions, but anytime we saw houses, another boat, or marinas, we were required to slow to no wake speed, or 6 knots. The boat is running much better since the repair. My engines are synched perfectly, and I'm getting faster speeds at 90% load. I guess there's a silver lining to my mishap.
Cruising past Coinjock on the ICW
Beautiful Intercoast Waterway views
We were mostly alone in the portions of the ICW that winds around. However at one point, I was cruising at about 26 knots and caught up to a large sailboat doing 6 knots. There's a protocol for passing a slower boat, and I radioed to the sailboat. The name "Obsession" was written in large letters on the side of the boat, and Obsession and I executed the pass starboard to port, with him slowing down, me passing, and then him turning straight into my wake. It's a pleasure when someone actually knows what they're doing, and he gave me a friendly wave and a thumbs up. We sped back up and left Obsession way behind.

We were running great, and the boat was fantastic, but our timing was really off. We got to the first bridge and radioed for an open and were told it would be 16 minutes to open. So we sat and waited.
We went as quickly as possible to the next bridge but had to wait 20 minutes for that one. Once we cleared that bridge, we arrived at Great Bridge bridge (not a typo) at 15 after the hour, and that bridge only opens on the hour. So, we fueled up at the fuel dock with the best possible captive customer base in the world. I assume everyone who arrives early would rather fuel up than sit around waiting for the bridge to open. (I almost suspect the previous bridges timed their openings so that we'd have to wait and buy fuel and then the fuel dock pays a kickback. Never mind, getting off topic.)

Finally, we were ready to go through Great Bridge bridge and into Great Bridge lock. As we were waiting, a sailboat pulled up behind us, and we were shocked to hear them announce themselves to the bridge as Obsession. Seriousy?!? We passed them almost 90 minutes earlier at 26 knots, and now they caught up to us? They must have timed every bridge perfectly. While we wasted fuel running at 25 knots and then waiting for each bridge to open. Talk about the tortoise and the hare.

Jim and I tended the lines in the lock
Leaving the Great Bridge lock - Obsession is in the back
We took off out of the lock at full cruising speed, and pretty soon we were making good time again. Only a couple of bridges left, and after that, our pace was under our own control. We had booked a slip in Norfolk at Tidewater, and I was looking forward to eating in one of the restaurants I like in town there.

The ICW is full of all kinds of boats. Here we saw a tug boat pulling some very long cables, and I had to speak to the driver over the radio to make sure I was staying out of his way.
After losing a bunch of time on all the bridges, we were unfortunate to arrive at a railroad bridge that was closing. Strangely, there was no train. We radioed and tried calling, but nobody answered us. We sat there frustrated, waiting for the railroad bridge to open. After a while, a sailboat approached. You have got to be kidding. It was Obsession. Seriously, was there no way to shake these guys? As soon as Obsession radioed to the bridge to open, they opened it, and still no train every came. I had to test my radio to make sure it worked. Was this antisemitism? Anti-powerboatism? We will never know.
Railway bridge is closed - Ugh
Jim and I pulled through the bridge determined to leave Obsession behind once and for all. Ironically, I was becoming obsessed with this sailboat and its ability to catch up with us going 6 knots. I was starting to understand the boat's name.

After we made it through this bridge, I knew there were two more railroad bridges left. One of them was bridge #5, the one that was closed for 3 days of maintenance the day that Tony and I and the girls were trying to get to Charleston and ended up having to turn around and take the ocean. If that happened today, we'd be up the creek (were actually were up the creek) without a paddle. No turning to the ocean. We would really be stuck there with no options. Fortunately, both bridges were open, and we made it to Norfolk!
Yippee! The bridge was open

Downtown Norfolk
Well, we had arrived at Norfolk full of fuel from having filled up at the Great Bridge bridge waiting area. And it wasn't even 1:30 pm yet. It was a long day from 6 a.m., but hey, we decided to motor on. I wanted to get to Solomons, which would take about 4 hours, and then leave us only 3.5 hours tomorrow to get home. Jim was game, although probably a little less enthusiastic than I was.

We checked the weather, and it was questionable. There were thunderstorms in Solomons, but looking at the radar, we were pretty sure they'd be gone by the time we got there. Just North of Solomons, it was really bad, but those storms were not going to come South (we thought). Thunderstorms were projected for Norfolk, but not until evening. It looked very likely that we could squeeze in between weather patters and get to Solomons without too much risk of getting hammered. And after all, as the pillow my mom made me says:
So, we passed Norfolk and set the chartplotter route to Solomons. As I was leaving Norfolk Harbor and got passed the no wake buoy, I pulled up on plane to 24 knots. I saw that a huge, massive cargo ship was in the channel, and those things make me nervous, so I pulled parallel to the channel to run alongside the ship until I passed it. As I was trying to figure out how to get through this very busy harbor area at speed, I saw a police/military boat with a machine gun on the bow flashing its lights and blasting a siren coming towards me very fast. It went past me, and I turned to look and saw it turn quickly and head towards me from behind. That indicated to me that I was the subject of their interest, and I quickly stopped my boat.

The policeman admonished me on the radio that in front of the military base, I was required to stay inside the channel at all times. I explained that I was trying to avoid the massive ship, but he would have none of it. I apologized an assured him I would stay in the channel. And I did.

Once I passed the harbor area and entered the Chesapeake Bay, I set course due North and pointed Sababa towards Solomons. We had 3.5 hours left. The weather forecast was a little scary, but Jim and I were convinced that we could avoid the worst of it. I was learning a lot about dealing with and navigating in weather from Jim. For the first 90 minutes, the seas were flat, and we were going about 25 knots. I was loving life. I'd like to see Obsession catch us now!

About 30 minutes later, I noticed the air temperature drop about 20 degrees. I was actually feeling a bit cold all of a sudden. I figured this cannot be good. But, the weather still looked okay. Behind us, Jim and I noticed some serious rain was going on. But we were well past that. Ahead, the sky was getting dark. Uh oh. But, we were in the middle of the Bay, and with bad weather behind us and unknown not so great weather ahead, we really had no choice but to move on. Still, the radar indicated that we would be okay.
Raining behind us

We decided to drive from inside instead of on the flybridge because it was starting to rain, and the sky was looking ever more ominous. The waves were now getting bigger and hitting us straight on the bow. I slowed the boat to 18 knots to match the period of the wave and we stopped slamming into the water, except occasionally.

It then started raining very hard. I had learned how to make good use of the radar in low visibility in my Radar and Electronics course at the Annapolis School of Seamanship, and this came in handy, as I was going to rely on my radar and chart plotter now to supplement my dim view of what was going on outside that I was getting through the windshield.

Our biggest fear was that we would arrive in Solomon with a massive storm with 40-50 knot winds and thunderstorms. Radar did not indicate that was likely, but that did not stop that from being my biggest fear. As we approached the river towards Solomons, the rain got more intense, and visibility was lower, and for the first time today I wasn't entirely happy. I decided that if conditions were too intense to dock, I would pull into the harbor at Solomons and anchor. We would ride out the storm on the hook until it passed and then pull up to the fuel dock to tie up. That was our backup plan.

The turn towards Solomons was very good. The waves were much smaller inside the river, and they were hitting us on the beam instead of head on, since we had changed direction. I was worried about crab pots, since we had no visibility there, and I know that area is full of them, but we could only worry about so many things, and we hoped we wouldn't get unlucky. Furthermore, I was back up over 20 knots, and I think hitting a pot at that speed would probably just snap the crab pot line rather than wrap around the prop. Luckily, we never found out.

Amazingly, as we pulled into Solomons Island, the rain let up and practically stopped. Jim secured our lines, and I docked in very light to nonexistent wind. As soon as we were tied up, it started raining again, but not too badly. We needed fuel, and I expect us to leave tomorrow morning before the fuel dock opens. So, I used an umbrella to protect the tank as I filled it with diesel. You do not want water in your diesel. Bad combination.
Fueling in the rain after a 12 hour run
As I was fueling, I looked at my watch, and it was a bit after 6pm. We had run for 12 full hours. What a day.

Our reward was a great dinner in town followed by my favorite dessert: key lime pie from the island's specialty:

So that's it. Tomorrow, we'll head home, and Jim has a flight home from BWI in the afternoon. We are looking forward to an awesome dinner with great friends, and I'll be thrilled to have Sababa back home in Baltimore!

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Day 1 is in the books

What a crazy day yesterday. First it looked like I had nobody to travel with, then I met Jim at the marina with his wife Denise, and he jumped at the opportunity to travel with me with about 12 hours notice. See full story here.
Avi and his new crew mate Jim getting ready to depart Wrightsville Beach
Jim and I arranged to meet at 6:30 a.m. at Sababa. He owns a similar Prestige flybridge boat, and I was happy to have someone aboard who knows the boat and is very experienced at traveling up and down the coast.

I went to bed after 11:00 pm last night after straightening out the boat, cleaning up, writing my blog, of course, and unpacking. I could't sleep because since the shore power on the boat is not working, I had the generator on, and it was really loud. Finally around midnight, I got up and turned off the generator and quickly fell asleep. I woke up around 4:00 all covered in sweat because without the generator, there's no air conditioning, and it got very warm on the boat. Not a great start for what I knew would be a very long and at times challenging day. By 5:00, I gave up lying in bed and took a shower and got the boat ready for the voyage. Turned on all the instruments, fired up the generator again, turned on the nav lights since we'd be traveling at dusk, had something to eat, and then sat around waiting for 6:30.

Jim showed up with Denise right on time, and we were on our way.

As we pulled out of Wrightsville Beach and headed to the ocean, I had some concerns about how rough the seas would be. The forecast was good, although it called for possible thunderstorms in the afternoon at Manteo. We had decided to go to Manteo rather than push all the way to Coinjock. As it was, this would be our longest and most difficult travel day, covering 183 nautical miles.
Driving in the open ocean is exhilarating. As long as the waves remain calm, you are there alone with nothing but the sky, the water and the boat. It's one of my favorite most peaceful places to be. Of course you know that at any time a squall can pop out of nowhere and ruin your day or worse. More on that later.

The waves actually got slightly big as we approached 2/3 of our way towards the Beaufort inlet. They were around 3.5 feet high, and some quite a bit higher. However, they were SouthWesterly waves, meaning they were going in the same direction as us, so we were basically surfing on them. The winds were about 15 knots also from the SW, so it made for a mostly pleasant ride. A little rough at the end, but nothing too crazy.

The inlet was a bit of an adventure as a very strong wind on our port side beam intensified. However besides taking off our hats so they wouldn't blow away, Jim and I had no real concerns. As we pulled into Beaufort and the canal of the northbound ICW, we saw several dolphins, which made my day.

We decided to stop for fuel despite Dennis's advice that we could easily make it to Manteo on one tank. I don't like to cut it close, and besides it was pretty calm in the ditch (slang for ICW).
Our fuel stop in the ICW

After fueling, we headed up towards the Neuse River and from there into Pamlico Sound. The sound can be very intimidating and quite nasty. We dealt with that head on (literally) on our way South a month ago. However, today, we were going with the waves and the wind in our favor, and so it wasn't too bad. At least most of the way.

As we turned left and headed North to the final stretch where Pamlico meets the Croatan sound, I suddenly noticed a sharp bolt of lightning in the distance. There was a clear outline of a bad storm to our NorthWest, and it was moving East, as we were moving North. We were going 24 knots on a collision course with this storm.
On the rader, we could see that this was an isolated storm, but it was headed exactly to the same place we were. Jim had the very clever suggestion, which seems obvious but actually did not occur to me, that we slow down and let the storm pass. To me it was counterintuitive to see a lightning storm while out on a boat and to do nothing. I wanted to run for cover, but there was nowhere to go that made sense. Slowing down worked great. We could actually see the storm moving from left to right, and when it passed us, we made our way. Meanwhile, another storm developed to the West, and we saw it coming. We decided that we could beat that one, so we worked our way between the two storms (I kid you not) and got the Pirates Cove marina with no harm done.
Pirates Cover marina - lots of big charter fishing boats that I did not want to crash into
Docking was quite intimidating as it was extremely windy in the marina, and I felt myself drifting into the large fishing boats that line the marina due to a strong current. The marina was not picking up on the radio, and I had left my phone down below, so I had no way to reach them. Luckily, someone saw us coming in, and a dockhand was waiting for us. Using every ounce I had of experience, guts, and mostly a complete lack of any choice, I managed to pull off one of the scarier dockings I've done without a hitch. Jim was extremely helpful in talking me through it as I backed up, and the dockhand jumped aboard to help with the lines. Jim is a real pro and got us tied up expertly. We set the fenders, and I felt really good and relieved. I fueled up the boat for tomorrow's run.
Sababa tied up safe and sound in Manteo
Jim and I rewarded ourselves for a great first day with pizza and beer at Nags Head Pizza Company, the same place that the girls and Tony and I had planned on visiting but did not end up going to because of the bridge that was closed on our way down and our reroute down the ocean.

Here was the view from our table at this great pizza place.
With no shore power, we've decided to try to sleep without the generator tonight. I found the screens that go in each window and set them up for the evening. It's cool outside, so we'll open the windows with the screens in and turn off the generator, and thus the A/C. We'll use the inverter to power the 110 on the boat to charge our devices off the house batteries. And in the morning, we'll go back on generator power. If this proves to be uncomfortable, then tomorrow night we'll try to sleep with the generator. Basically the choice is noise, uncomfortable temperature, lack of darkness (shades can't close with windows open), or some combination of these. Without shore power those are our choices.
The small window in the master bedroom with a screen (not my most interesting photo ever)
I'm very excited about tomorrow's run. We're going to stay inside the ICW. It is just a gorgeous trip, and we'll have several bridges and a lock to deal with, but the trip is pretty laid back with lots of no wake areas to just take in the sites and relax. I expect us to leave at first light at 6:30 am and to arrive no later than 2pm, depending on our luck with the drawbridges.

It's calling for 35% chance of rain and scattered thunderstorms in Norfolk tomorrow around 4pm, but otherwise, our weather outlook for the rest of the trip all the way to Baltimore on Saturday looks very good. We'll try to time it so that we are in Norfolk well before the potential storms. Today, I learned how to be patient and let the storm pass you by. A very valuable lesson.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Crew change

You can't make this stuff up. It seems that every boat trip is just nuts.

So, I land in Wilmington and Uber to the marina. Dennis meets me at the boat and generously offers to drive me to the grocery store so I can buy provisions for my upcoming 3 day boat trip. Dan had said he ate everything, so I just bought enough food for breakfasts and lunches for a few people for two days. Lots of fruit, lunch meats, peanut butter and jelly, yogurt, snacks and tons of water bottles.

Meanwhile, I get a text from a guy named Jim who says he has a Prestige boat too, and that he was walking by mine today and got my number from Dennis, and he'd love to meet me. Sounds great, but I know I have a ton of work to do.

I say goodbye to Dennis and start unpacking on the boat. I realize that it's several hours of work ahead of me, and the boat is not in the shape or condition I need to go out on the ocean. There is stuff everywhere. I need to fill the water tanks. Unpack the food, and start putting things away. As I begin working, I realize I'm starving, so I write the guy Jim and suggest having dinner at the marina restaurant if he's up for it. He and his wife Denise come over, and I get a nice break from my work.

As we're eating and getting to know each other, I get a text form Dan. His flight is delayed, and he can't make his connection. UGH!!!! All the work I did to get here, and I only have a very tight time window to get home. Not just that it's a good weather window, but we have plans with close friends Saturday night that I'd like to get back for, and I'm hosting a big poker tournament at my house on Sunday. Also, next week, I can't possibly make the trip due to work commitments. And I'm already here! This really messes things up.

Sitting in the marina restaurant, I look up at Jim and Denise my new Prestige friends, and half jokingly say to Jim, "do you want to come with me on the boat trip tomorrow morning?" Denise jumps in and says that he should. He says, sure, why not? And so after a couple of minutes of planning, we decide that Jim will come with me tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. and then he'll fly back to Raleigh on Saturday, and Denise will pick him up. Just like that. If only all my problems could be solved that way.

The boat seems in very good condition physically except it's pretty dirty, and there's no shore power. I filled the water tanks, put all the cushions back on, took the covers off, and put a million things away into storage that were scattered around the boat. I'll have to run the generator for 3 straight days, but it's designed for that.

Jim and I discussed different options for tomorrow. We'll run outside to Beaufort and then the Pamlico sound to Manteo. Then, we'll probably run inside to Norfolk the next day, and then to Baltimore on Saturday.

Crazy day.

Bringing Sababa home

Tomorrow morning, exactly a month to the day I lost my pods and ran aground, I'll be leaving North Carolina on Sababa for a 3 day adventure home. This is not the way I expected to return, but given how much I've missed the boat and the hassle I've had to deal with managing the repair remotely, I have to say I'm very excited and happy to have this chapter over and to start the new adventure.

I'm sitting in the airport at BWI. I did not know until this morning if we were a go because the boat had to have a sea trial today to test that the repair worked, and that there was nothing wrong that couldn't be tested on land. Dennis Smith, perhaps the nicest person in the world, the same person who met me in Hampstead, NC the first day of our problem after reading my blog, once again came to the rescue. He came to the boatyard this morning and captained the sea trial. Once Sababa passed, he took her down to Wrightsville Beach where he docked the boat at a marina. Unfortunately, the shore power does not seem to work. I was struggling with that quite a bit on my trip down, and so Dennis called an electrician who will check things out and hopefully fix this problem once and for all. Shore power is nice but not a deal breaker. Will run either way.

I land in Wilmington at 5:35 pm, after a connection in Charlotte, and then I'll Uber to the boat. I have a lot to take care of. Moving all my gear from the deck back to the crew quarters, checking all the systems. Affixing cushions and removing covers. Plotting my final route for the morning, and checking the weather again. Uber to grocery store and shop for provisions, and then Uber back to boat. Need food for 3 days for 2 people, and plenty of drinks. Have to fill the water tanks. Thankfully the last thing I did on Sababa before leaving was pump out the holding tanks, so those should be good for our entire trip. Dennis is taking care of fueling her up.

Joining me for this trip is my great friend Dan. Dan owns a marina and has owned boats and is experienced in the boating world, so I'm sure he'll be a great crew. Dan is also my business mentor, and so I'm looking forward to lots of great advice under way, and I'm sure we'll have a great time, as he is one of the most fun people around.

Right now, the weather looks good for our first leg to Beaufort tomorrow at first light. It will be an ocean leg. Waves are supposed to be 3 feet from the SouthWest with a 4-5 second period with Winds 10-13 also from SouthWest. Since we're running Northeast, I'm not that concerned about the waves and expect a relatively smooth ride. It'll probably be rougher in Pamlico sound later in the day. My plan is to get to Manteo and dock at Pirate's Cove. However, if I decide to run outside the next day, I may stop at Wenchese marina near Oregon Inlet, because that's closer to our ocean entry, saving me about 45 minutes each day. One issue is that Wenchese only has dockhands until 5pm whereas Pirate's Cove has them until 7pm. Also at Pirate's Cove we can fuel in the slip, and at Wenchese we'd need to fuel first and then dock, meaning we really need to be there by 4pm to get help docking, which I'm sure we'll need.

My flight is boarding soon, so I'm signing off for now. Hope I'll have time to blog on this adventure and that it will all be good news!