Finally, a few days to just do it

[Godot]

This summer has been a complete bust for sailing.  Not once did I untie the dock lines during the official summer season, and only twice for short sails in the preceding spring.  I bought a house, you see.  Not just any house, a Fixer Upper!  This weekend I finally finished the bathroom, so now that I can shower (and marital bliss will hopefully be reestablished now that my wife can shower) I can relax for a little while before tackling the next of many projects.

So, this afternoon I made it to the marina and was relieved to find Godot still floating right side up and outside of being very dirty, appearing more or less ready to go.  Oh, there are a ton of half finished projects started before my days as a home owner; but I was able to clear away most of the clutter.  My VHF is non functional (I need to pull a new antenna wire); but I have a portable that will do.  My steaming light is also non-functional, so I guess no motoring after dark until I fix it.  Otherwise, she looks functional.

So, tomorrow morning, I'm going to make a quick trip to the grocery store, load up with five or six days worth of rations, and set off for, well, somewhere.  I have this week off from work, so I guess I'll go where the wind lets me.  That is, assuming there is wind.  Forecasts are for 5-10 knots all week.  I'm planning on returning Saturday with Sunday as a buffer day.  We'll see how it goes.

I'll chat with everyone when I make it back.

[Zen]

Fair winds to ya matey. I feel ya. I was just writing in me blog about how it is almost the end of sailing season ere and I'm just now getting a few projects done aboard.

I'm planning a weekend sail in a couple of weeks to a Islanders gathering down in the S.F. Bay. It is a all day journey for me. One day to kick back two days of travel. It worked out perfect that I will have off that Friday. It will also be the Mrs first overnight away from home port on the good ship Zen. Good luck to us both.
And by the way, take lots of pictures and let's be careful out there.  :D

[AdriftAtSea]

s/v godot-

Look forward to seeing you post about the sailing. :D  Boat still floating is always good.

[s/v Faith]

.....So, this afternoon I made it to the marina and was relieved to find Godot still floating right side up and outside of being very dirty, appearing more or less ready to go.  Oh, there are a ton of half finished projects started before my days as a home owner; but I was able to clear away most of the clutter......  We'll see how it goes.

I'll chat with everyone when I make it back.

Adam,

  I am glad you made it out, and know that even if there is no wind you will have a great week.  It might have been easy to just look at the stuff that needs fixing, and spend the week working on that.  Some would even say that you should have (' what, getting underway without....!')  The fact is many boats become deralict, because the owners just can't bear to fix any more.  I was talking to someone earlier today ab out an abandoned boat that very thing happend to.  It was a upper 20' something with a flush deck and looked like it might have been a good pocket cruiser. 

  Life is filled with choices, I hope yours is all the richer for the time you get on the water this week.

[Godot]

I got back last night and really wish I could have done the whole two weeks I had planned before the house purchase.  Ah, well.  Next year I get four weeks vacation.  I should be able to fit a good trip in there somewhere.

In the meantime, my short, but occasionally exciting, monologue.

Day one...

I slip on Rock Creek off of the Patapsco River just down a few miles from the Francis Scott Key Bridge and a few more from Baltimore, MD; so I spend most of time putzing about on the upper Chesapeake.  It doesn't feel like I've gone anyplace until after I get south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is just fine as the wind was forecast for 5-10 from the NW.  (We all know how spot on accurate NOAA always is, right?)

After a rushed trip through the grocery store I end up with enough food for a few days.  Not very well planned I'm afraid.  I get to the boat, which is very, very dirty, throw everything in a locker, cast off and away  I went around 1 pm or so.  I mentioned that I don't have a steaming light currently (it needs to be rewired) so the plan was to make it to the Magothy River, anchor for the night, and get an early start Wednesday and see how far I ended up. 

After sailing for a couple hours it occurs to me that I am tacking south which just shouldn't be with NW winds.  In fact, the winds are the typical SW.  Grrr, stupid NOAA. Ah, well.  Nothing for it but to keep going.  Then the first weather warning comes.  "Severe thunderstorm over the Francis Scott Key bridge, winds gusting to 40 knots, frequent cloud to ground lightning, mariners should seek safe harbor immediately until the storm passes."  Uh, huh.  I can still see the FSK bridge at this point, and see ... nothing but blue skies.  Nothing for it but to continue.

As the afternoon wears on I hear several more storm warnings but none affect my immediate area.  Until shortly after dark when I'm about five miles out of the Magothy, and I'm sailing along happily at three knots on what I hope is my second to last tack, when my radio crackles to life.

Severe Thunderstorm.  Magothy River.  Winds gusting 40.  High waves.  Frequent and dangerous cloud to ground lighting.  Storm is heading East at fifteen knots. Mariners seek safe harbor immediately until the storm passes.

And suddenly the sky lit up.  This time I could see the lightning.  Lots of it.  Mostly jumping cloud to cloud but occasionally hitting the water.  And I was aimed straight for it.  This time I HAD to react.  So I jump into my wet weather gear, snug up my inflatable pfd, drop the sails, start the engine, and prepare for an interesting experience. 

The way I figure it is that I can move at around 5 knots with the engine if the waves aren't too bad.  The closest harbor is five miles away and is exactly where the storm is.  I am miles away from shelter on the east shore.  Safe harbor ain't gonna happen.  I am pretty close to the west shoreline.  So I motor at full power west toward the shore (and the storm) and to heck with not having a steaming  light.  No one else is out here anyway.  My hope is that by being close to the shoreline the waves won't have a chance to build and I'll be able to keep under control under power.  If I can't keep under control I should be shallow enough to throw out the hook and ride the storm at anchor.  If I can't anchor for some reason, my backup backup plan was to raise a little sail and heave to.  If that didn't work my backup backup backup plan was just to run with the storm and hope that if it didn't blow past before I hit the opposite shore (several miles away), at least I'd run aground on a muddy bank.  My backup backup backup backup plan, I guess, would have been to shut myself in the cabin, crawl into a ball on the floor, and cry for my mommy.  Fortunately my original plan worked well, and though the wind picked up considerably, without wave action I was able to make progress toward my destination with only a mild amount of fear leaving my undergarments completely unsoiled.  I'm not sure what the wind was... twenty knots certainly, thirty just maybe, but I don't think I was hit anywhere near forty.  Lightning flashed cloud to cloud above me; but never struck within a mile or so of where I was.  The storm was long gone by the time I made it to the river.

End of story?  Nope.  As I was looking for a good, protected place to drop anchor another (lesser) storm hit completely messing up my anchoring drill.  Everyplace nearby that looked like it had decent protection from where the storms where coming had something wrong with it.  Docks, moored boats, something.  I finally get the anchor down in what I thought was a clear spot (it is very, very dark with the t-storm right overhead), and I start letting out rode, look behind me and, well, there is a line of docks with boats about twenty feet away.  Where did that come from?  The couple of lights that where on the dock was apparently blocked by a big fishing boat and I just didn't see it in the dark (I had accidentally ruined my night sight with my spot light a few minutes before).  The winds are really picking up now so I didn't want to pickup anchor that close to the dock without someone at the helm helping, so I use the motor to swing sideways on my rode about 90 degrees and throw out my little fortress FX-7 (the one I used to use on my sixteen foot, 500 lb Weekender) as a second anchor, let out some rode, crawl below, and hope for the best.

The best happened.  The storms blew themselves out by midnight or so, and I was able to pick up anchor and move to a more appropriate spot.

It seems to me that much of this excitement was due to poor planning on my part.  Perhaps spending a year without doing any sailing has roughed some of my seamanship skills?  Day two is full of anchor stories; but I've already gotten way too longwinded on my little adventure (you should see the stories I write on going to the dentist... ouch), so I'll sign off for now.

[AdriftAtSea]

I slip on Rock Creek off of the Patapsco River just down a few miles from the Francis Scott Key Bridge and a few more from Baltimore, MD; so I spend most of time putzing about on the upper Chesapeake.  It doesn't feel like I've gone anyplace until after I get south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is just fine as the wind was forecast for 5-10 from the NW.  (We all know how spot on accurate NOAA always is, right?)

What else is new... ;)

And suddenly the sky lit up.  This time I could see the lightning.  Lots of it.  Mostly jumping cloud to cloud but occasionally hitting the water.  And I was aimed straight for it.  This time I HAD to react.  So I jump into my wet weather gear, snug up my inflatable pfd, drop the sails, start the engine, and prepare for an interesting experience. 

That's one way to describe it... :)

The way I figure it is that I can move at around 5 knots with the engine if the waves aren't too bad.  The closest harbor is five miles away and is exactly where the storm is.  I am miles away from shelter on the east shore.  Safe harbor ain't gonna happen.  I am pretty close to the west shoreline.  So I motor at full power west toward the shore (and the storm) and to heck with not having a steaming  light.  No one else is out here anyway.  My hope is that by being close to the shoreline the waves won't have a chance to build and I'll be able to keep under control under power.  If I can't keep under control I should be shallow enough to throw out the hook and ride the storm at anchor.  If I can't anchor for some reason, my backup backup plan was to raise a little sail and heave to.  If that didn't work my backup backup backup plan was just to run with the storm and hope that if it didn't blow past before I hit the opposite shore (several miles away), at least I'd run aground on a muddy bank.  My backup backup backup backup plan, I guess, would have been to shut myself in the cabin, crawl into a ball on the floor, and cry for my mommy.  Fortunately my original plan worked well, and though the wind picked up considerably, without wave action I was able to make progress toward my destination with only a mild amount of fear leaving my undergarments completely unsoiled.  I'm not sure what the wind was... twenty knots certainly, thirty just maybe, but I don't think I was hit anywhere near forty.  Lightning flashed cloud to cloud above me; but never struck within a mile or so of where I was.  The storm was long gone by the time I made it to the river.

Love the plans... LOL...especially the backup backup backup backup one.. :D

It seems to me that much of this excitement was due to poor planning on my part. Perhaps spending a year without doing any sailing has roughed some of my seamanship skills?  Day two is full of anchor stories; but I've already gotten way too longwinded on my little adventure (you should see the stories I write on going to the dentist... ouch), so I'll sign off for now.

Very often the case... I know that I'm sometimes my own worst enemy. :D

[Captain Smollett]

Hi Adam,

Glad to hear you got out there.  It sounds like a good time over all.

Grog to ya, mate!