Jan 4, 2011

I didn't say much about the trip from Gibson Island to Norfolk in the Nov update because I was running out of time. We left the boatyard about noon and immediately found out that my depth sounder wasn't working. It was on the boat when I bought it and has given me no problems so I was surprised to find no depth data when we left. It didn't take too long to figure out what the problem was, or at least what I thought the problem was. The depth sounder was connected to the old autopilot through a Raytheon interface and when I removed the old Raytheon autopilot, I lost the power supply for the depth sounder. Not a big problem, I just had to find a source of 12 v power for it and get it connected. Since we were leaving sort of late in the day and our first anchorage was about 26 miles south, I didn't want to stop and fix it so we sailed the first day with no depth data. I've never sailed without knowing how deep the water is and it is not pleasant, especially in the Chesapeake which is pretty shallow.

The other reason I didn't want to stop was because I still needed to calibrate the new autopilot compass. It's an electronic compass and you need to sail around in a circle a couple of time so it can figure out where North is. We did that out in the Magothy River. I guess it probably looked like we were lost but the AP finally said OK, it knows which direction is North.

The first stop was in the Rhode River a little bit south of Annapolis. The Rhode is a nice, well protected anchorage, but like most of the good anchorages in the Chesapeake, it is several miles off the main channel so you spend over an hour getting to it when you're on a sailboat. We got back to the main anchorage and dropped anchor. One nice thing about being late was that most of the southbound boats are already gone and there is lots of room in the anchorages and marinas. I think there were only one or two other boats in there.

I got the 12 v hooked up to the depth sounder and it started working again so I felt much better about that. We got under way about 7:00 the next morning and headed back out to the main channel and south. We were motor sailing to charge the batteries and to be sure we got to a reasonable anchorage that night. We had Solomons as a destination and wanted to get in there in time to fuel up. I had not bought fuel since Morehead City, NC, on the trip north and knew I was running low but still had about 16 gallons in jerry cans. I didn't realize how low we were until the engine quit. There was enough wind that we were able to keep going under sail while I dumped the jerry cans into the tank and primed the engine. We were soon underway and making better time as we motorsailed. As we got closer to Solomons, I started calling the fuel stops and found one that we might be able to get to before they closed. The winds remained light all afternoon so we motor-sailed all the way to Solomons and made it to the fuel dock in time to fill up. It was getting a little dark by the time we anchored in Mill Creek but we found a nice spot and were anchored in time for dinner.

During the day the drain for the galley sink had broken and there was water coming in as the boat rocked. The drain outlet is just slightly above the water line and if I'm on a port tack, water will come in and actually fill and overflow the sink. This time we had water coming in whenever the boat rocked to the starboard side. I shut off the drain cock until I could get around to fixing it. Our anchorage in Solomons was really calm and it seemed like a good place to try and fix it. After I got into it I was able to see that there was no fixing it without a trip to a plumbing supply store. I have new sink baskets for both sinks but the drains need to be redone to really fix the problem. So I got out a tube of silicon rubber and started smearing it around the broken areas. After it dried I applied another coat and it seemed to be holding. There's not any real pressure on it and it looked like it would hold until we got to St John and it did. I still need to replace it but will do that before I head north.

We were underway a little before 7 the next morning motorsailing south. Our destination for the day was Mill Creek off Ingram Bay at the Great Wicomico River. It was only about 42 miles but this time of year the days are getting short so it was a bit of long trip for the day. The winds picked up somewhat and we were able to sail most of the way making from 4 to 6 knots most of the day. We got into Mill Creek in plenty of time to anchor and had the whole river to ourselves although a couple of other boats came in later. This is one of my favorite anchorages on the Chesapeake although the entrance is not fun. There is a narrow channel for over a mile through so very shallow water. It is marked but I would not like to go in without a chart plotter.

We had a nice night there and were underway about 6:45 the next morning with a destination of Little Creek Marina in Norfolk. This is a very convenient marina located just inside the Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Provisioning is pretty good although it is a walk of about a mile to carry all your stuff back to the boat. I had provisioned while back at GI so I just needed to pick up a few thing before we headed off-shore. I picked up an adapter for the Autopilot that allowed it to get route data from my chartplotter. Simrad, Garmin and Raytheon all use different versions of what is basically the same communication protocol so you have to buy adaptors to get them to talk to each other. By getting the route data to the autopilot and can set it follow a route that I set up on my PC and then download to the chartplotter/GPS unit. The autopilot will keep the boat on the route within a few feet and will even automatically make the turns between the legs on the route. This is not a big deal for this trip since there is one leg from the mouth of the Chesapeake to the Virgin Island, about 1250 NM. I got it hooked up before we left and it seemed to working.

We did some provisioning while in Little Creek and picked up a couple of things for the boat. The autopilot adaptor was found at the local marine electronics supplier but the fuel filters were a little tougher. I had tried to get a couple of fuel filters before we left Gibson Island but the local suppliers didn't have any and I didn't want to make a trip into Annapolis. I asked at West Marine, only about a mile from the boat but they didn't have any. They said the Advanced Auto would have them and that they were only about half a mile away. So we decided to walk down and get some. After what had to at least two miles we found Advance Auto but they didn't have them either. But they said Napa would definitly have them and they were just a little ways further down the road, probably about a half mile. After another two, or maybe more, miles we found them and they did have the filters, sort of. I use a very fine filter on the engine, a 2 micron one, and all they had were 10 micron filters. After walking four or five miles, I was going to get a filter so I ended up buying one of them.

After two days of working and walking in Norfolk we decided to leave on Nov 14th. The weather looked pretty good for the next few days so we left about noon. We motor sailed out past the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and turned south-east toward St John. After about eight hours, the wind shifted to the south and we tacked and ended up going more easterly then I had planned. The winds were supposed to pick up in a couple of days so we motorsailed in 5-10 K winds. About 5 Pm on the 15th we entered the Gulf Stream and the wind shifted to the SE so our course shifted again much more to the east.

We did have a problem with the new AIS system. The AIS in the radio seemed to be working fine but it would not display on the chartplotter even though it seemed to be getting the data. You can use the radio display for the AIS but the screen is very small and it's hard to see ships real well. I turned off the AIS function in the chartplotter and when I switched it back on it was OK. Possibly the AIS memory in the chartplotter was full. It was quite a relief to have it working again.

The winds stayed from the SE and picked up about midnight on the 15th to about 10-15 K so we were able to stop the engine and sail. They kept building until they reached about 25 K, sometimes a little higher, around midnight on the 16th. By early afternoon on the 16th it was noticeably warmer and it was comfortable in shirtsleeves if out of the wind. It doesn't take too long after crossing the Gulf Stream for things to get warm. The weather forecast was for strong E winds to start in a few days so we were trying to get in as much easting as possible before then. We still had about 8 degrees of longitude, about 380 NM, to go before we wanted to turn south so that sounded like it should work out well.

The seas built slowly getting to about 8-10 feet on the 17th. Tom got seasick in the rough seas and actually didn't feel well until we got to St John and he could get off the boat. That is a terrible feeling and I couldn't find much on board that seemed to help. He was able to keep watches but certainly did not enjoy the trip. The winds moderated by about noon on the 17th and the seas slowly dropped after that. The nice part was that we were able to sail, without the motor, for about 2.5 days. I started the engine on the 18th to charge the batteries and motorsail for a while. The winds had shifted around to the W-NW by then. I had a ship, the Horizon Navigator, show up on the AIS late on the 17th. I could see him on the radar and sometimes see his lights when we were on top of a wave. The AIS was showing a CPA (Closest Point of Approach) of about 300 feet. That is was too close and I called him on the VHF to make sure he knew I was there. He hadn't seen me at that point, (We were still about 7 KM apart.) but said he could see me on the radar after I called. He turned off a few degrees and went well astern of me. AIS is a wonderful thing!

The winds dropped to less than ten K on the 17th and shifted around to mostly westerlies for the next couple of days. We sailed until the afternoon of the 18th and then motorsailed for several hours to charge the batteries and cover some more distance. By early on the 19th the winds had gone around to the N and built to about 10-15 K. This was nice and we were able to sail most of the time except to charge the batteries now and then. Another ship was picked up on the AIS at 6 NM with a CPA of 23 ft! I called him and he changed course by 15 degrees to go well astern. I always wonder after I call a ship if they would have seen me in time to turn away and miss me. I guess I don't want to know bad enough to wait and see.

We had been using the Aries wind vane to steer almost exclusively since we crossed the Gulf Stream but it got to where it wasn't steering well as we got close to Bermuda. Part of the problem was that the wind had dropped and it works much better it higher winds but I think the bearings have worn to the point that there is too much lost motion in the mechanism. I bought new bearings for it but I got them the same day I got the new autopilot and didn't get around to installing them before we left. Actually I think I have lost them and will have to buy another set. We use the autopilot a lot and it works great. It is so quiet that you can't hear if even from inside the boat right under the drive motor and it has enough power to steer in most any conditions I expect to see. It was expensive but is a great addition to the boat.

The weather forecast was reasonably close and on the 21st the wind went around to the NE and built to about 15 K. We were at 64.5 degrees at that point and we turned south for the Virgin Islands. We had been able to make some southing and were actually over 400 NM south of Bermuda when we turned south. The winds stayed pretty much from the NE for the next couple of days but did drop of to under 10 K. The 24th and 25th we had light and variable winds and motorsailed a bit. Late on the 25th the winds picked up to about 15 K and stayed there until we got to St John. We were making good time on a beam reach and had one 138 NM day and one 140 NM day. We went just to the west of Anagada (British Virgin Islands), at daybreak, and Virgin Gourda (BVI) and them down the Sir Francis Drake Channel. At 11:45 we were on a mooring in Gr Lameshur Bay on St John after a trip of 1533 NM in 14 days, 10 minutes. One of the better trips I've had. The first offshore trip down was a couple of days faster but more uncomfortable.

We went to work at VIERS a day or two later. Tom was able to volunteer and stayed until the first week of Jan. I have been working on the scale model of the Tektite underwater habitat most of the time since I've been here. It's coming along but there is still a lot to do. I hope to have it done by the time I leave but then Randy wants another one built, a cutaway that shows the inside of the habitat. Not sure I'll get that one done this trip.

I did some work on the inflatable dinghy also. My old folding dinghy is pretty much shot so I use the VIERS inflatable to get to and from my boat. It needed some work since it wouldn't hold air in one of the three chambers. We had some sealer that had been sitting here for a couple of years that I wanted to try. It had semi solidified in the bottle and I couldn't even get it out of the bottle let alone get it into the dinghy. After mixing it up with a powered paint mixer for an hour or so it was a mostly liquid but somewhat lumpy mess. Adding water and mixing eventually made it into something that I thought might spread itself inside the pontoons. I dumped it in and rolled the boat several times to spread it around and it started oozing out of a chafed area. Repeating this a few times finally sealed the leak and it has been holding air pretty well since then. I also needed to fix a hole in the fiberglass bottom and put on a coat of bottom paint and then painted the rest of the boat. It works well and looked good until the gray paint started rubbing off the yellow fabric.

I have spent a little time hiking and snorkeling too. I have more underwater pictures and videos to upload one of these days. I think I have over a hundred underwater pictures now. It takes a long time to get them formatted and uploaded but I'll try to do so before I head north.