The Other Side

This past weekend (9-31-11 through 10-3-11) we finally took some time for ourselves and had a relaxing weekend.  We started out on Friday by going to the Annapolis Boat Show.  Jack and Sharon Malatich had been the brokers out of Gratitude Yachts when we bought our boat two years ago.  We had such a good time with them and they treated us so well that we've kept in touch ever since.  I sent them a note last Thursday saying we planned to go to the boat show and hoped we might run into them.  They wrote back with a couple of comped tickets and asked us to stop by the Southerly 44 they were working on.  When we left Friday morning we stopped by the bakery and picked up a buncha goodies because we knew they wouldn't have much time for getting anything to eat.  Once we got to the show we hunted them down right away, found them to be totally swamped so we only stayed for a few minutes and dropped off the goods.  We'll try to connect with them later in the season when things have slowed down for them.

Last year at the boat show we had a list of things we wanted to see, mostly stuff we wanted to add to the boat such as life raft, water maker, electronics, etc, etc, etc.  This year was different for us.  We've pretty much made up our minds about the gear we wanna get so we spent all our time looking at cool-man boats and eating good food.  The good food was at Pusser's Grill where Cheri had a crab cake and I gorged on a turkey wrap.  Mmm mmmm good.

We've been living aboard La Vida Dulce for over a year now and have become pretty well acquainted with her.  Despite all the good things about an Island Packet there are some design compromises.  With the aft cockpit, usable interior space is a major issue for us.  Cheri has been saying for a while now that she needs a bigger boat.  She's a gal with many interests and two of them in particular, sewing/quilting and gourmet cooking, have been severely restricted by living aboard the boat.  She also works at home which requires office space of some sort.  My interests, building hot rods and Japanese gardens, are also on hiatus due to a lack of space.  Duh.  On our Island Packet 420 the only "extra" space is a guest cabin that's tucked under the cockpit and is limited in headroom so it doesn't serve very well for much other than sleeping and storage.  The galley is "U" shaped and small with limited cabinet space and storage.  Cheri has had her eye on an Island Packet 485 which is 52' total length, has a nice galley and a third cabin set up as an office.  The 485 is a center cockpit layout, which provides more space down below but in my opinion is kinda tubby looking and is difficult for an old geezer like me to get from the deck into the cockpit.

At the show we looked at boats in the 50' range.  Needless to say we could never afford one but they sure were fun to browse through.  Of course, this was a very bad idea.  In the end I decided we really needed a Hylas 49.  Man-oh-man, what a sweet boat.  This one has everything we're looking for, answers all the things that have been bugging Cheri about our 420.  The galley is a major issue, as I've mentioned before.  The Hylas has what's called an in-line galley running fore and aft.  It has a 7.5' isleway with counters and cabinets on either side.  The fridge/freezer is both top and front loading.  The stove has a flip-up splash guard that doubles as more counter space.  There are slits cut into the countertop that hold the knives.  There are handholds built into the side of the cabin over top of the counter, just at the right level, so you have something to hold onto when the boat is dancing around.  In the main salon the table has a removable leaf and plenty of seating.  There's a nice cabin forward for guests with a second guest cabin just aft of that, both sharing a head/shower on the starboard side.  We think the smaller cabin with the single berths would be the perfect place for a shop/office.  The aft cabin is large with good access to three sides of the center-line bunk, 6.5' headroom and lots of storage and hanging space.  Access to the cockpit is easier than the 485.  Plus it's a cutter rig which is important to us.  Nice boat.  Right now it's a pipe-dream but ya never know what tomorrow may bring.  Of course, the Hylas still wouldn't have room to build hot rods or Japanese gardens.

On Saturday we finally broke away from our slip and went across the Bay to visit other worlds.  Note that I didn't mention anything about sailing.  The Bay was as smooth as glass all the way across.  We motored our way to the Choptank River and turned up into Broad Creek (click here for a chart of the area).  Since it was getting close to sunset we drove into the nearest anchorage, Balls Creek.  The entrance here is kinda interesting because it does a little dog-leg around the first coupla markers.  A little further down there are no markers at all and the deep water just kinda peters out.  I figured that one out all by myself.  We're still navigating the old fashioned way, with paper charts, a depth gauge, a compass and the good Lord watching over us (not in that particular order).  I cruised past the final marker real slow.  The chart showed deep water (8') extending a ways beyond so I just drifted on until my gauge suddenly went to 4.5' and we sorta stopped right there.  We hit so softly Cheri didn't even know we were aground.  I backed down hard and got us back into deep water, circled around to verify there was plenty of depth around, and dropped anchor.

For dinner that night we had a great Porterhouse steak, cooked on the grill to perfection, along with some kind of yellow veggie.  After dinner we sat out in the cockpit with a glass of Amoretto and a coupla Davidoff cigars.  This might just be where the expression "Holy Smoke" comes from.  The night was crystal clear with a 3/4 moon lighting up the creek, geese honking and ducks quacking in the distance and a big old Blue Heron making his own bizarre sound (there's just no good description).  It was perfection, I'm telling ya.

We slept in late, around 0930, and had blueberry pancakes for breakfast with a cup of cappuccino from our new cool-man coffee maker.  A little after noon we packed up and motored up to the far end of Broad Creek and turned into San Domingo Creek.  This is the back-door entrance to the town of St. Michaels.  We went in as close as we could and anchored in about 8' of water, along with five other boats.  At 45' LOA we were the smallest boat there.  One of them was a big custom built trawler, about 70'.  There were a few other sailboats and a big stinkin' power boat.  We recognized this one right away as being from I dock back at Herrington Harbour North.  It's named "Got Girls" and is about 60' LOA (length over-all) with a black hull and super swoopy contemporary lines.  We anchored way over on the other side of the creek.

Once we got settled in we decided to take Bella ashore for a chance to run around.  She hadn't been off the boat in a few days and she gets pretty wiggy after a while.  We all piled into our 10', 6 hp RIB (rubber inflatable boat) and were just getting underway when this 18' RIB came flying up beside us.  It was Phylyp from "Got Girls" with a friendly greeting and a request for us to join them later on.  This so-called dinghy of his was pretty cool with cushioned seats and a console with a wheel for driving instead of hanging onto the arm of the outboard.  I asked him what kind of power this thing had and he modestly replied "100hp, inboard/outboard, top speed of about 40 knots".  Yikes!  Not your average dinghy.

We took Bella into St. Michaels and let her run around the park for a while before heading back to the boat.  We dropped her off and mixed up a batch of Sour Apple Martini's before heading over to "Got Girls".  This is a pretty awesome boat, high tech everything, luxury at it's finest.  The salon has a round table with several track-mounted quarter-round seats.  The seats can be positioned anywhere around the table to give the best views.  Sweet!  There's a full barbecue and galley on the upper deck and another full galley below.  There are five flat screen TV's and a 1000 watt stereo system.  The walk-in engine room has twin 800hp diesel engines and a 21kw diesel generator.  This is one of those boats you read about in those large format coffee table books about the rich and famous.  Easily a gazillion dollar boat. Despite (or maybe because of?) the ostentatious, in-your-face display of wealth, we had a nice time and enjoyed getting to know Phylyp and JoAnne.  Phyl even called his buddy Chad, the owner of the Big Pickle Foodbar in St. Michaels and ensured us a table for dinner later that evening.

After the "Got Girls" experience we drove our puny, incredibly slow dinghy into the town dock and walked a few blocks down to the restaurant.  The atmosphere is pretty laid back but the food was truly excellent, probably the best crabcake I've had anywhere.  After dinner we wandered around town window shopping before heading back to the boat.

The next morning, after a late breakfast we spent a few more hours checking out the shops in St. Michaels before it was time to head back across the Bay.  We managed to get the sails up for a few hours on the Choptank before the wind died down to nothing and we motored back to our slip, getting in just as the sun set behind the trees.

This was such a nice weekend!  We were so relaxed we both felt like Jello.  Only coulda been better if we had some more wind.  You know, to actually sail that sailboat.  Still, we had a great time.  Broad Creek has a number of good anchorages to explore and it's a straight shot across the Bay for us.  St. Michaels is a fun place to hang out with lotsa nice shops and places to eat.  We'll be going back that way, fer sure. 

Remodeling Plans

We've been living aboard for about a year now and have gotten to know the boat and our needs pretty well.  Looking around we can see places where changes could be made that would add storage or convenience for our particular situation.  I enjoy doing this kind of work, it saves money doing it yourself, but the reality is that I don't have a woodshop or the tools to do cabinetry.  I used to but I gave that all up when we moved on board.  So the next best thing is to hire out the work and hope that we can afford to pay someone else to do it for us.  We've been kicking this around for a while now and had actually talked to a woodworker person last winter but that didn't pan out.  Recently we were taking to a friend of ours and he mentioned that his custom home remodeling business was struggling in this economy.  Lightbulb!  We have work that needs to be done, he needs work and he does beautiful stuff too.  Perfect.  Hey Anthony, take a look at this idea of ours and see what you think.  The only real drawback to the whole thing is that he lives almost an hour away but we're not in any hurry on this stuff, got about three years to get it done.  We're pretty flexible and he could work on it when it's convenient for him.

One of these projects is in the forward head.  Behind the toilet is a shelf that wraps around between the sink and the wall for the shower.  There's a large open space underneath here that could be divided up and used for storing extra towels or TP or almost anything.  It just seems like a good spot for another shelf.  Of course it would need to be removable for servicing the toilet but that's just a matter of design.

Another spot is in the forward stateroom where we have the home theater stuff (check it out) sitting on top of the hanging locker.  The top has a fiddle, about a 2" lip around it to keep things from sliding off but the whole pile of stuff just looks unfinished.  We have a DVD player, hard drive and controller as well as a power strip and a bundle of wires.  I had pictured building a cabinet on top of the hanging locker that would hold all this stuff.  Anthony had a better idea.  He suggested recessing the top of the hanging locker so all the gear would sit down inside with just the DVD player showing.  He'll also route out a piece of teak to hide the wires going to the flat screen on the bulkhead.  Muy beuno!

This next one is going to be our first project.  Back in the aft head is all the heater and A/C ductwork underneath the cabinet.  I was thinking about making a grill that would cover it up.  He went one further and suggested a teak bullnose with slits cut into it to let the heat out.  The teak will be backed with aluminum to keep the heat from damaging the wood.  The bullnose will have a nice curve to it and match the cabinetry, better than what I had planned.  This dude is good!

The aft stateroom really needs help and is going to be a major project.  The ductwork from the heater comes through the aft bulkhead and runs along under the shelf on the port side.  The area above the shelf is a great spot for some cabinets to give us extra storage.  I had actually seen this done on an Island Packet 320 (this picture is of theirs) and it came out really nice.  Anthony made some suggestions for making it tie in to the existing look and I think what he's got in mind is really gonna look nice.  Kinda difficult to explain here but I'll post a picture or something as soon as possible.  This is definitely gonna be a nice addition to the boat and have a factory look to it too.

Finally we have the galley.  This is a sticking point for Cheri and it's understandable considering the kitchen she designed for herself in the house on Franwall Avenue.  We're talking gourmet here folks, top of the line everything.  So, she understands the limitations of a galley on the boat but she wants to push the envelope a bit.  I'm all for it because she's an excellent cook and enjoys playing with food.  If she's happy then I'm happy.  So we're looking at a bigger sink, Corian countertops, more cabinets, better layout for the fridge and freezer and probably more counterspace.  I think it's all do-able.  At least, as long as it falls within the 3 year timetable.

Beyond all this we're saving our pennies to buy some electronics for the boat.  We have a plan to get the boat ready for extended cruising when we retire in 2014.  Hmmm, that's about three years from now.  A major part of the plan is to get out away from the Chesapeake Bay and do some offshore sailing with some over-nighters, watch standing, food planning, water conservation - the works.  We want to do the DelMarVa circumnavigation which is about a ten day sail going north on the Bay, out the C+D canal into the Atlantic and re-entering the Bay at the southern end.  We're hoping to do this in May of 2012 which is coming up pretty soon now.  After that we want to take three weeks and sail to Bermuda, one week over, one week there and one week back.  That one is planned for the Spring of 2013.

To do these trips we want to have our electronics up and running.  We've picked out some gear for a pretty good system and based our choices on ease of use, world-wide serviceability and cost.  Originally I was going to mix and match pieces from different companies based on cost but it was pointed out to me that if we had a problem then one manufacturer would end up blaming another manufacturer and we'd just have a headache.  So we're gonna stick with just one manufacturer, Furuno.  A real popular thing right now is having touch screen control but I was concerned about it being difficult to use on a sailboat with things moving around all the time.  You'd end up putting in extra way-points or changing the display by accident.  Furuno seems to have designed their display for real world use and they don't offer touch screen control.  Plus, when you change scale on the screen to zoom in on a spot it's seamless, totally smooth, compared to some other displays we've seen that have to rescale over and over making the display very jerky as it zooms in.  Furuno also has a 3D display mode that is really nice.

So we're planning to get a 12" multi-function-display (MSD) which will be the heart of the system and controls and displays everything.  It provides charts for any region of the world and can display them in multiple formats as well as overlay them with satellite photos.  It can also overlay or split-screen information from the other units.  To this we'll add:

GPS - this will provide us with accurate position info to within 10'.

Radar - this will be mounted half-way up the mast and will provide surface information out to about 30 miles.  I expect it'll mostly be used when approaching land or in areas with a lot of traffic.

AIS - this is an automated ID system that can provide info about who we are and our course and receive the same from other ships.  This gets displayed and provides alarms for intersecting courses.  It'll help let the big guys know we're out there even if they can't see us.

Sonar - right now we're planning to use a fish finder (click here) to provide bottom information when we get into shallow water.  Inexpensive sonar is progressing by leaps and bounds right now so by the time we leave in 3 years we may actually have a system that provides a clear, detailed, 3D display of bottom features.  Cool!

Weather - this provides weather information through a satellite link for a fee.  We will also be able to get weather info through our single sideband radio.

So, it looks like the upcoming year is going to be a busy one.  There's a ton of stuff we want to do and time is becoming a major factor.  Tick, tick, tick.  I think maybe it's time for a priority list.

Irene

This past weekend, 8/28/11, we had a bit of a storm work it's way up the east coast.  On Thursday morning, 8/25, it hadn't made landfall in North Carolina yet and the projected storm track showed it hugging the coastline but staying in the Atlantic after crossing part of North Carolina.  The winds were a steady 110 knots, gusting higher.  If it stayed on this course I felt like we'd be OK at our marina because we'd be far enough from the storm that the winds would be less than 65 knots and the wind direction wouldn't cause serious flooding.

At noon that day I checked the National Hurricane Center's website and the update now showed Hurricane Irene coming inside the Chesapeake Bay with 100 knot winds.  Double Yikes!  I'm not kidding, my hair stood on end.  This was a whole different game.  Storm surge would be a serious problem with water being pushed into our creek from the Bay.  In 2003 Hurricane Isabel brought a storm surge of over 7.5' to our creek.  Once I got my hair back under control I left work early and headed home.  When I got to the marina I put our boat on a list to have her hauled and stored on the hard.  This costs about $700 but insurance pays for half so it's not too bad.  I was told we had about 100 boats ahead of us and chances were pretty slim of us getting hauled.  OK, it's worth a shot.

I figured I had about 48 hours to get ready for the worst.  I hadn't been through this drill before so I didn't know how much time I needed to get ready.  I started that afternoon by removing the Bimini and Dodger canvas.  This gave me access to the solar panels.  I felt it was a good idea to get them down because it was a good chance that they'd catch that 110 knot wind and rip the Bimini frame right off the boat.  Once I had all that removed I tied down the frame.  We removed the Genoa and Staysail and rolled the Main up (furled) inside the mast as tight as she would go.  The idea here was to reduce the area exposed to the wind as much as possible

By Friday morning we got another update on the storm and now they were saying it would track out to the Atlantic, just as they had said originally.  In addition to that they thought the winds would be reduced to about 85 knots.  If it holds to that then we'd be OK.  We had already done more than was necessary but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.  We doubled up all our dock lines and prepared things down below as if we were going out sailing.

On Saturday the marina informed us they'd be shutting off the water at noon and the power at 1700.  OK, guess we won't even have to consider sticking around.  At this point the storm was working it's way across North Carolina.  The sky was overcast but we had no rain yet and just a light breeze.  My sister and brother-in-law, Ellen and Ed, offered us refuge at their place, which we gladly accepted.  Thanks guys, we really appreciate it.  We got to their place around 1500 and the rain was just starting.  We all hunkered down in front of the TV and watched the news reports.  This was a big mistake because those reporters are more interested in drama than giving the real story so they tend to exaggerate like crazy.  I'm sitting there listening to these goons and by 2300 I couldn't take it anymore.  The storm was supposed to peak in our area around 0200 Sunday morning and I just had to get down to the boat and see how she was doing.  I mean, the wind was blowing straight across the Bay and the water could be high at the dock requiring an adjustment of the dock lines.  Or the bilge pump coulda failed and I needed to be down there to bail.  That boat is our home, has everything we own aboard and I just couldn't sit there and listen to those idiots on TV anymore.

The three of us, Cheri, me and Bella, piled into our car and cruised on down.  The rain was coming down in sheets and the windshield wipers were on full blast and could hardly keep up.  The wind was blowing pretty good too.  Luckily we were just about the only car on the road so I felt pretty comfortable driving 45 MPH on the the Baltimore Beltway and then down Rte 97 into Annapolis.  We got on Rte 2 and headed south and as soon as we got out of Edgewater we saw flashing lights.  Trees were down across the road.  There was a cop there but as we drove up he cut around the tree and headed south at 35 MPH.  Well what else could we do but follow?  We had a police escort all the way down to Deale.  Cool!  Along the way we had to drive around several more downed trees but it wasn't really dangerous or anything.  Just kinda surreal.  We got to the marina around 0030, grabbed a flashlight and walked down to the boat.  As we walked down the dock we were relieved to see that the water level was pretty normal.  This was a big relief for me because I figured as the storm went further north the wind would veer around out of the north and drive the water out of the Bay, meaning less chance of flooding as the storm progressed.  So we were already pretty much out of danger from storm surge.  I think the wind was blowing about 65 knots steady at this point and the rain was now coming down even harder.  When we got to the boat she was sitting in the center of the slip, heeling over with the wind but in absolutely no danger.  I shined the light up and down her length, didn't see anything wrong and decided to head back.  Three hours of driving, up and back, for a two minute visual confirmation.  In that two minutes we were totally soaked to the skin.  It was worth it, let me tell you, just for the peace of mind.  We got back safely around 0230 and climbed into bed and slept like babies.

Looking back on things now I can see that I totally over-reacted and did way more than I had to.  We could have left the sails and canvas on as well as the solar panels.  It was right to have doubled up on the dock lines and securing for sea down below was definitely a good idea too.  I don't regret having done too much because if I hadn't then the storm woulda come right up the Bay and clobbered us.  I'm pretty sure that's how that works.

Living With Doctor Dolittle

Monday evening I got home from work around 1830.  It had been raining on and off all day and I could see some pretty dark clouds approaching from the south-west as I walked down the dock.  When I get aboard I find that the holding tank needs to be pumped out.  We have contracted with a service to do this every other week and that's worked out real nice but this time we need to take care of it ourselves.  No problem, we just need to beat that storm that's drifting our way.

In record time we get the boat underway and head over to "C" dock.  As we pull up alongside we notice a commotion on the dock.  There's a big old bird dancing around with his wings spread out.  As we tie up the bird backs away and falls off the dock into the water.  We race over to see what he's doing and it's obvious this guy is gonna drown if we don't do something.  Cheri grabs a net from our boat and angles it down towards the bird who grabs onto the rim and hangs on for dear life.  We pull him back up on the dock and set the net down and back away real slowly.  This bird is an adult Osprey with a wingspan of about 5' and talons as long as my fingers.  Yowza!  The bird is pretty freaked out and screams and dances around, eventually falling back in the water.  We fish him out again and this time he just stands there, screeching with his wings spread out.

So now what do we do?  His movements make me think that his right wing is injured because he keeps holding the one wing out and folding up the other.  Cheri goes down below and starts making phone calls to see if she can get a Vet to come out and help.  No luck there but she eventually gets hold of the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources and they direct her to a raptor rescue lady (chick?) down in Solomons Island, about 40 miles away.  She can't come up tonight and asks us to put the bird in a box and keep it for her.  What?  Put this monster with 4" claws in a box?  Yikes!

Cheri wanders off looking for a box and I go back and take care of the boat.  The bird is only about 15' away while I'm working on the boat so I move around very slowly so I don't frighten him.  I still hafta get the holding tank pumped out before this storm hits and it's now getting dark too.  I finish up just as Cheri returns with a big box which she sets down beside the Osprey.  By now there's another boater, an old English dude with lots of suggestions and no intentions of assistance, and Miguel, the 6'6" security guard who also has no intention of going near the bird.  Cheri picks up the net, which the Osprey is still hanging onto and sets him down in the box.  I throw a towel over his head and he instantly goes quiet and stops moving around.  This is good but his gigantic wings are still sticking out.  Cheri takes one and gently folds it into the box and I do the same with the other.  As I push his wing into the box I picture his big old beak ripping the flesh off my hand but the bird just quietly sits there under the towel.  This is much easier than I ever woulda imagined.

We can't put the bird on our boat because Bella would just go nuts and then the Osprey would probably eat her.  There's already been enough excitement for one night.  We pick up the box and put it in a cart.  Miguel offers to take the cart down by the office for us so we could get La Vida Dulce back to her slip.  Cheri writes up a note and pins it to the towel: "Injured Osprey in box".  Yeah, that's a good idea.  Can you imagine finding a box on your doorstep, lifting the towel and finding this gigantic bird of prey right in your face?  She also included some info about it being picked up in the morning.  Miguel found a good safe place for the cart under the stairs where it'd be protected from the storm and out of the way of critters.

I checked on the bird the next morning and he was doing fine.  The rescue chick picked him up at 0900.  Turns out she's related to one of the gals in the marina office.  Small world.  Actually, out here in the sticks, probably everybody is related in one way or another.

So, this isn't the first time Cheri has been involved with big birds and strange animals.  She has a way with critters and they really respond to her.  She's turned Bella into a circus dog.  Down in Mexico she inched her way up to a Pelican on the beach and got within about 6" of it before it decided she was a nuisance.  Throughout her life she's had all sorts of unusual pets, including a 6' Boa that got away from her when she was living in an apartment building and didn't show up for six months.  During that time there were numerous reports of missing pets and small children.  She's also had horses, Mynah Birds, Hermit Crabs and Koi as well as cats and dogs.  Probably a lot more that I just can't remember right now.

I guess I might as well get used to this.

The Endless Project List

Our boat, an Island Packet 420, has some beautiful exterior teak trim.  On the side of the cabin, over the top of the ports, is a thin half-round strip called the "eyebrow" which runs on both sides all the way back to the cockpit.  There's more to be found in the cockpit across the top of the coaming.  Just in case you don't already know, the coaming is the raised wall around the cockpit that forms the back for the seats.  It's real purpose is to keep water out of the cockpit but it also serves as an equipment platform (for winches), additional seating (for wenches), and a convenient, but hazardous, place to set your tools (for wrenches).  The coaming on our boat is topped with a piece of teak about 1" thick, 4.5" wide and full length on either side of the cockpit.  The majority of the exterior teak is in the toe-rail at the outer edge of the deck.  This runs from the bowsprit (also teak) down both sides and across the stern.  The toe-rail serves to keep things, such as tools and crew members, from sliding off the side of the boat.  Ours also serves as a mounting surface for cleats and safety rails, as well as sealing the joint between the deck and the hull.

When we bought the boat the teak had just been refinished and looked really nice.  Until now I've never had a boat that had teak with a varnish-like finish on it.  My parents had a Dickerson ketch that had loads of teak but it was kept unfinished and we just scrubbed it all the time.  In fact, back then we used a teak cleaner that was like Ajax or Comet cleanser and you just sprinkled some on and scrubbed it with a handbrush.  Probably not considered environmentally friendly these days.  Our last boat had some teak but it too was unprotected and we thought it looked just fine in it's weathered state.  A good protective finish for exterior teak will have at least 6 coats.  Our neighbors have 15 coats on their teak.  It looks like ours had two, maybe three coats, just enough to make it look nice.  Over this past winter it completely deteriorated and by the Spring it was looking really shabby with blotches of gray and black stains.  Now our beautiful boat looked ratty and neglected.

While we were on vacation last month I finally decided to do something about the teak.  That's right, this is how I spent my vacation.  I can only sit around and relax for so long before I get bored and then I have to find something to do.  Restoring the teak seemed like an excellent little project to take on.  Got hold of some really cool stuff called Captain John's Boat Brite Soy Stripper.  Put on a heavy coat of this stuff with a brush, let it sit for a few minutes and scape it off with a paint scraper.  The finish lifts right off the wood with very little effort.  Pretty amazing stuff.  You want to work only on what you can do in about 45 minutes because the stripper will start to dry out after that and it makes things really difficult.  I figured this one out the hard way, coated about 40' of toe rail and went back and started to scrape it off.  I got through about 25' before it began to harden.  After that I worked on sections, maybe 15' at a time, and that worked out much better.

So, I got one side and about half the bowsprit stripped and then the weather got really hot and muggy and stayed like that for the rest of our vacation.  I went back to work and another week flew by before I got back to it.  Even then I only got sections of teak stripped between doing more important stuff like laundry and grocery shopping and going out for day-sails.

Now, three weeks have gone by and I finally got all the finish stripped off the toe-rail.  I then went over it with a two stage cleaner to get the gray and black stains out.  I used a medium bristle hand brush like you might use for scrubbing grout between tiles.  Using the Stage 1 cleaner with just a light scrubbing lifted the stains and the teak looked like new wood again.  Cool!  I tried the second stage cleaner and couldn't see any difference so I just skipped that part.  Once I had all the teak cleaned I went back over it again, rinsing it off every ten feet or so as I cleaned it.  The wood looked really nice at this point but I had to stop progress because it was Sunday night and I had to go back to work.

By the time I got back to it another week had gone by.  Yikes!  The wood was already turning gray again!  Cheri and I talked it over and decided we didn't want to go through the struggle of putting on 15 coats of finish and then maintaining that.  We both like the look of the varnished wood with multiple coats of clear but neither of us can picture keeping it up once we sail off into the sunset.  Instead we decided to go the traditional route and try oiling the teak.  It looks really sweet when it's all cleaned up and with teak oil, if you let it go the wood will turn a nice even gray.  This is opposed to the hard finish that wears off in spots and looks awful if you don't stay on top of it.  So we decided to try the oil for a few years and see if that works for us.

First I spent another day cleaning it (again) and in the process found some more spots that needed stripping.  Now this stuff looks really good.  We then put on two coats of oil and the color and grain came right out, looking really nice.  The color is kind of a golden, reddish, browney, orange and has a rich, antiquey look to it.  Now all we have to do is maintain it.  That means a light coat of oil now and then, less than an hour's worth of work.  Probably have to clean and brighten it again in the Spring but that still seems better than having to sand and brush on a hard finish.  We'll see how it goes.

We set up a maintenance cycle on our computer using the calendar program.  We scheduled stuff like cleaning air and water filters as well as oiling the teak.  Things that are done periodically.  One of the air filters needs cleaning every week.  Up until now we've waited until the A/C system freezes up before we realize it's time to clean the air filters.  There are also traps in the raw water lines for the engine, deck wash-down pump, A/C water pump, and the shower sumps.  These get pretty grotty over time too.  So, now with our cool-man scheduling program I'll be able to stay on top of this stuff, take better care of our gear and keep the teak looking sweet for many years to come.

I've been working on a "preventer" for the mainsail and the staysail.  A preventer is a line that attaches to the end of the boom and pulls the boom forward to keep tension on it.  When you're sailing with the wind coming from behind the boat the boom is out to one side, usually the downwind side.  In light winds the rocking of the boat can cause the boom to swing around and if the wind gets in behind it you have a situation called an unintentional gybe where the boom swings from one side of the boat to the other.  This is super dangerous and people have been seriously injured, clonked on the head, even knocked overboard.  You can also have an intentional gybe where you control the motion of the boom by pulling it in to centerline with the sheet and then letting it out the other side.  What I'm doing is using a line to "prevent" the boom from swinging unintentionally.  The line is attached to the end of the boom and leads forward to a block (pulley) halfway down the side of the boat (midships) and then back to a winch in the cockpit.  I can control the tension on the boom from where I sit and make adjustments between the main sheet and the preventer.  Simple, huh?

Have you priced gold recently?  This past weekend it was $1500 an ounce!  We traded in some necklaces and broken jewelry that had been sitting around collecting dust and walked away with a check for $3000.  Yowsa!  This'll cover a good portion of the cost for new electronics on the boat.  Unbelievable!  Sure wish I'd stashed away a few Krugerrands back when I was a yout.  We coulda paid off the boat.

Quick note: anodes are used on a boat to deal with electrolysis.  This happens when you place different types of metal in water.  With our boat we have stainless steel in the propeller shaft, bronze in the prop and brass or bronze in all the through-hull fittings.  This difference in metals sets up a "battery" condition and electric current flows from one piece to another.  The piece that the current flows from is eaten away and this can get expensive when it's your propeller or create other problems if it's your through-hulls.  Zinc anodes are bolted to the propeller shaft and are eaten away ,"sacrificed", first before damage occurs to any other parts.  Anodes need to be replaced about every year.

This past Spring we had planned to have the boat hauled to clean the bottom and replace the anodes. We had originally planned to have it done while Cheri was out of town on business but because of one thing or another it never happened.  Now here we are coming up on August and I'm planning again to have the boat hauled for a week while Cheri is down visiting her Mom in Florida.  Good plan.  Yesterday I came home from work and saw a young lady in a bikini doing calisthenics on the dock near our boat.  As I got closer I realized she was wiggling into a wetsuit.   She's a scuba diver and she was getting ready to clean the bottom of the boat next to ours.  I talked to her and found out she'd be able to do our boat this week for $175 plus the cost of the anodes.  Cool!  Let's do it!  This is compared to $585 plus storage to have the yard haul the boat, powerwash it and block it so I could scrape of the barnacles, repaint and replace the anodes.  Yeah, this diver is definitely the way to go.  Plus we won't have to deal with living on the boat while it's up on the hard for a week.

We've gotten some stuff done around the boat and still managed to get out on the water now and then.  Getting the teak done was a big deal, not the small job I first thought.  Getting the bottom cleaned is also a big deal.  And do you mind if I bring up the jewelry thing again?  Yes, big deal.  This Fall we'll take that cash and invest it in a chartplotter, radar, GPS, AIS and sonar.  That'll keep me busy for a while!

We Did A Bad, Bad Thing

 Chris Isaak - Bad, Bad Thing

Last weekend, 7-16, we had plans to sail over to the Choptank River and meet up with the local sailing association for a raft-up with hor d'oeuvres and drinks.  Wow!  Hoighty Toighty!

We were supposed to meet up at 1730 on Trippe Creek which is a good four hour sail from Herring Bay.  We planned to leave by noon and figured that would give us plenty of time.  Fired up the engine and discovered an electrical problem right away.  By the time I fixed that it was 1430 and we were finished before we even started.

We sailed out from R2 in Herring Bay with the wind out of the South at about 18 knots.  Beautiful sailing conditions even if it did require that we tack our way down the Bay.  By the time we got to the entrance to the Tred Avon River it was already 1800.  We pulled up to the party at 1830 and were greeted by semi-cold shoulders.  We mingled with the crowd which was a good size coming from 12 boats altogether.  Encountered comments like "Jeez, too bad you're so late, ya missed all the good food" or "Maybe next time you can get here a little earlier".

After the party broke up we crawled back to our boat and decided to celebrate our anniversary with a couple of nice cigars and a glass of Amaretto.  We sat out in the cockpit and figured with the breeze blowing across our bow that it would draw the smoke right out the back of the boat.  We figured wrong.  The folks sitting in the boat next to us got very quiet shortly after we lit up and moved their party down below.  Bummer.  We just can't seem to fit in with this crowd.

In the morning we got up early and watched the sunrise, went for a swim (probably shoulda worn swim trunks, huh?) and had some coffee.  As people emerged around us they said not a word to us, had a very nice breakfast amongst themselves and then informed us they were ready for us to cast off.  Uhm, OK, see ya later.  "Have a day".

I really don't think this "rafting up with the cocktail crowd" is our kind of thing.  We've always been lone wolves so I'm not really sure why we wandered down this social path.  I think I had been reading about how cruisers band together and party a lot so I thought we should try it out.  OK, got that out of the way, let's move on.

When I installed the wind generator I had trouble finding a good spot to mount the control panel for it.  I wanted it located at the Nav Station but the previous owners had taken up most of the space with "stuff" to make it look official or complete or something.  I knew I had to re-organize this mess but that would have to be a project for later on, like next winter maybe.  We have two VHF radios, one mounted in the panel at the Nav Station and the other, which we use all the time, being a hand-held up in the cockpit.  Of course I removed the panel mounted one so I could put in the control for the wind generator.  Where, you might wonder, am I going with this?

Sailing out of the Choptank River the wind was blowing out of the SW at 12 - 15 knots.  We were tacking back and forth down the river when the Coast Guard came on the radio with a warning about an overturned boat and at about the same time we were passed by a CG riverboat hauling buns towards Tilghman Island.  On our next tack we spotted the boat floating upside down, white hull with blue stripes.  No bodies.  We called it in on our hand-held but the response from the CG was unintelligible.  We tried several times to communicate with them but it was useless.  Finally another boater came on and told us it had already been reported and they were just calling it a navigation hazard.  OK.  We circled around several times thinking that riverboat might come out but they never did so we eventually took off.  I think if we had the other radio we could have had better communications with the CG because it has more power and the antenna is mounted at the top of the mast.  I believe the correct thing to do would have been to stay on station until they arrived but without the communications I couldn't see sitting out there all day hoping they'd show up.  Shortly after we took off we heard another boater go through exactly the same routine with poor coms.  He probably also had a hand-held radio.

We tacked out of the Choptank under full sail, Main, Staysail and Genoa.  We've been sailing La Vida Dulce for about a year now and this is my first experience with the cutter rig.  I haven't been too happy with her ability to "point up" into the wind and had found that we could do better when we weren't flying the Genoa.  Of course in light winds you want the Genoa up.  About halfway out the river it dawned on me that maybe the Staysail was fouling the air for the Genoa when the sails were close hauled.  We tried running with just the Main and Genoa and were able to point up an extra 5 degrees on either tack.  Cool!  So maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.  That extra five degrees helped us work out the final tack so we just barely cleared GC9 off Tilghman Island and were able to turn up the Bay without another tack.  We ran all the way up to Herring Bay on a beam reach, course of 312 degrees magnetic.

Aside from my inability to play nicely with others, I had a great weekend of sailing.  The weather was better than nice, it was uncharacteristically wonderful for July, with good wind and temperatures in the low 80's.  This was our first time sailing on the Choptank with La Vida Dulce (remind me sometime to tell you about our visit here in our last boat, "Delirious").  It's a beautiful river with a ton of great anchorages, over three centuries of history, quaint old towns to visit and some of the best boat yards on the Bay.  The Choptank was also the main focus for James Michener's book "Chesapeake".  I know most of it was based on a conglomeration of ideas taken from around the area but it's easy to picture the island with the plantation or the settlement on the shore.  When I'm sailing down the river I think about what it was like for those guys back in the 1600 and 1700's, sailing on this river, living at that farm over there or in that town. Out on the water it's easy to time-travel because you're removed from the traffic and powerlines and all those things that say "modern day".  Out on the water there are occasions when it could very well be 1735.  And then you get slapped back to reality when you run hard aground and have to get on your hand-held VHF radio and call TowBoat US for help.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part II

Click here to see an EarthNC chart of The Great Wicomico River

Click here to see pictures from our vacation


For a recount of Part I click here.


So, this picks up on Saturday, June 4th, just outside the mouth of the Potomac River.  From Smith Point Light we continued south to the Great Wicomico River.  Entering the river from the north is complicated by a profusion of fish traps that are difficult to see until you're almost on top of them.  These things are found all over the planet and have been used since the beginning of time.  Fish traps or weirs, also described as a labyrinth fish fence, can be found in every part of the Chesapeake Bay.  There are many different designs but the ones we're trying to avoid here are made with long stakes driven into the muddy bottom.  Nets are strung from these stakes and form barriers and funnels that use the natural currents to guide fish into the trap.  As they go from one section to another they pass through funnel shaped nets that prevent them from getting out.  The last several sections of the trap have netting on all six sides so the fish have no where to go.  The fisherman just have to pull this part of the net up and haul in their catch.  Simple and effective.

(Chart for Mill Creek)  To enter The Great Wicomico River you need to first travel south (beyond the fish traps) until you're past the light and then turn west into the river.  Once past the light we had difficulty finding the entrance to Mill Creek because of heavy haze.  We ended up picking up R4 on the north side of the river and then heading south on a compass course until we could see the red marker at the entrance to the creek.  The area around the creek is low lying grassland/marsh and the marker just disappeared in the background.  We used the navigation software, EarthNC, on Cheri's laptop to help us find our way in.  The entrance to Mill Creek has some serious twists and turns and halfway in we had to stop and try to locate the next marker before continuing on.  I was up on deck with the binoculars when Cheri says "I think we just ran aground".  Oops.  The water's fairly shallow, 2', on either side of the channel and the wind gently blew us into the mud.  Some high revs in reverse corrected that and after finding our marker we wound our way back into Mill Creek.

We got about half way down the creek and found a nice cove to anchor in.  Tried three times but couldn't get the anchor to bite.  This creek is surrounded by tree covered hills and the bottom must be layered with 10' of packed leaves.  We moved to another spot and had the same problem using our Danforth anchor so I switched over to our Bruce anchor and that dug right in.   I've been using the Danforth exclusively because it works so well in the muddy bottom of almost every place we've been on the Bay.  Up until now.

Mill Creek is a nice spot and the cove we were in is fairly secluded.  There are houses along the shore but they're mostly set back in the trees and you have a feeling of privacy.  We stayed in this spot for three days, kicked back and relaxed.  Cheri has been intent on fishing during this trip so we made a point of getting her out in the dinghy on our second day here.  While she fished I worked on stripping the finish off the exterior teak.  I kept looking over to see how she was doing but she was far enough away that I couldn't tell what was going on.  After a few hours I called her on the cell phone and asked for an update.  She said she couldn't get the engine started and she was ready to come back.  As she rowed closer she held up a string of ten fish, eight spots and two croakers.  Wow!  We filleted them and had fresh fish for dinner.  Awesome!


(Chart for Cockrell Creek)  The third day was miserably hot with no breeze.  We decided this would be the perfect time to spend the night in a marina, get out to a restaurant and stretch our legs on land for a while.  Change of scenery.  The closest place is Reedville, across the river and back up Cockrell Creek.  When we looked it up in our guidebook we found a reference to Reedville Marina which sounded real nice.  We called ahead and reserved a transient slip, explaining we needed 2- 30 amp connections and pump-out services for the holding tank.  "No problem".


Cockrell Creek is almost straight across the river from Mill Creek.  The first half of the waterway is lined with heavy industry, especially the Menhaden fish processing plant.  Once you get past this the creek bends around an immense old brick chimney and opens up to a beautiful old town with nicely kept Victorian homes and estates lining the shores.  As we motored past the industrial section we became engulfed in the unbreathable stench from the processing plant.  I'm talking puke-up-a-bucket-of-guts stink.  I was hoping the stench would disappear when we got closer to the town but it just followed us in.  As we rounded the bend we tried to contact the marina by radio but got no response.  We tried calling on the phone but no one answered.  As we cruised down a side creek we quickly realized that the charts had a misprint and showed the marina in the wrong location.  We ran aground here but were able to back out with no problem.  We back-tracked and continued down the creek looking for the Reedville Marina, continuously trying to raise them on the radio and the phone.  Further up the creek (without a paddle) we again ran aground.  Grrrr.  As I'm backing down out of the mud the phone rings and it's the dude from the marina.  "Ya went right by it, how could ya miss it, it's the place with the red roof".  When we pull up to the place with the red roof we realize that the "marina" is actually just a dock for the restaurant.  The smallish sign for the "marina" was out of sight behind a gigantic fishing boat that was unloading it's catch at the processing plant next door.  We pulled up alongside the pier, put out our bumpers and tied up.  The 2-30 amp power connections were supplied by splitting a single 50.  OK, we can get by on that.  Pump-out is right there behind us as is the fuel dock.  Cute little facility.  The guy running the "marina" disappeared and we never saw him again.

So, it's 1600, the restaurant doesn't open until 1730 and this place stinks to high heaven.  We got the A/C fired up but it didn't really take away the odor so I talked Cheri into going for a walk, figuring that we could walk perpendicular to the wind and get away from the green cloud.  About two blocks down the road the air became a little better.  We're walking down the main drag and it's lined with all these beautiful Victorian homes.  A little further down we find this great little museum with some restored wooden workboats out back.  The museum is closed but we have definitely found a real gem here.  We've blown enough time that the restaurant will be open by the time we get back so we head in that direction.  After dinner at the Crazy Crab, which was pretty good, we go back to the boat and call it a night.

The next morning we're anxious to get going.  It still stinks and we need to get the tank pumped out so we can spend the rest of our vacation on the hook.  Plus we need to pay our bill.  We need plenty of time to sail north and across the Bay to the Eastern Shore where we planned to check out the Honga and Nanticoke Rivers.  There's nobody around at the "marina" and no one answers the phone.  We wait three hours, 1000, and finally get a call from the marina dude.  He's not interested in coming around so we should just stick our payment in the box by the door.  What about pumping out, we ask.  "Oh, well, you'll hafta wait until someone comes into the restaurant.  Should be there around 1100 and they can give you a token".  Thanks for all your help.  We walk down to the museum to blow time and have a wonderful time there.  Walking through town we meet and talk with several of the locals and everyone is just as nice as can be.  At 1100 we wander back to the "marina" and there's still nobody there.  Grrrrrrrr.  Finally at 1300 I give up and make new plans.  It's too late to sail across the Bay but we can cruise up the river a little further where there's another marina and we can pump out there, then anchor out in a great little creek called Horn Harbor.  That's the plan.


(Chart for Horn Harbor)  We motored up the river since there's zero wind and it's already about 300 degrees F.  As we near the next marina we contact them by cell phone and find out that the dude who does the pump-outs just had an operation and the service isn't available.  Jeeze, I just can't get a break around here.  "Uhm, gee",says I.  "I hope he's gonna be OK.  Ya think he might be in tomorrow?"  "Not likely" says she.  We decided to anchor in Horn Harbor which was  just downstream from the marina.  I'd read about this spot and heard it was really sweet.  We headed in between these sticks in the water that served as channel markers.  Just when you think you're gonna run up on shore you turn to port and run along the shore and slide between two sandbars that form the entrance to this creek.  The entrance is just wide enough for one boat to get through, pretty narrow.  Just as we thought we were in safe we bumped across the sandbar and skidded into 12' of water.  That was fun!

This anchorage is written up as being deep all the way to the shoreline.  It's surrounded by steep tree-covered hills and I suspect there's plenty of water in there just from the looks of it.  This is probably the perfect "Hurricane Hole".  We ran back towards the end of the creek and ran aground, again.  I'm getting really good at this.  Got out no problem but we decided to turn around and anchor close to the entrance.  There are several homes along the western shore so we kept closer to the other side, up near the entrance.  This is a beautiful spot and it would have been the perfect anchorage if it wasn't 180 degrees out with no wind.  We could still smell the fish up here too.  Great.  We set in for the night, played dominoes and drank Bloody Marys.  Had a hot and steamy night, didn't sleep well at all.

We got up early the next morning, pulled anchor by 0730 and decided to head for home.  We were truly miserable and we still needed to pump out our holding tank and had no prospects of getting that accomplished on this river.  We decided just to call it quits and go home early.  The weather won this one.

So we head back out to the Bay and turn north.  There's a little bit of a breeze out of the SE now and then so we try out the new trolling gear.  We start out at about 2.5 knots but as we get farther north and the day wears on the wind starts to pick up.  We sailed past the Potomac River and by the time we get up near the Navy target area (listed as "Prohibited Area" on the charts) we're trying to hold the boat back to 6 knots so we can keep our line in the water.  We never did catch anything but we had a good time trying.


This is Thursday, 6/9, with 3 more days of vacation left and it strikes me that I'm being kind of a defeatist by calling it quits just because we're miserable.  I mean, I'm an American, proud and brave.  John Wayne wouldn't call it quits just because he was miserable.  George Washington stuck it out at Valley Forge and I'm pretty sure he was miserable.  Those Marines climbed that hill to raise the flag at Iwo Jima and I'm pretty sure they were miserable.  So who am I to darken the shining reputation of my fellow citizens by being a weenie and calling it quits?  I just can't do that, it's not in my nature.  I grit my teeth, take a deep breath and pick up the cell phone.  I call Spring Cove Marina in Solomons Island and reserve a transient slip for two nights.  I mean, DUH!  Let's do this right or not at all!

(Chart for Solomons Island)  The sailing was so nice out on the Bay that I just had to stretch it out for a few more hours.  We finally arrived at Spring Cove Marina around 1700.  Now this is a real marina!  It's got more than one dock and a swimming pool and fresh air and everything!  Woohoooo!  Staying here was definitely the way to end our trip on a high note.  Solomons Island is Disneyland for boaters.  You cruise in here and there's like 10,000 boats of every description, 8'dinghys to 80' yachts, all around you.  You weave your way into various creeks and every one is just packed with boats.  It's amazing!  It's like driving into the parking lot for the mall on Christmas Eve.  We stayed on Back Creek just past the Calvert Marine Museum (check it out).  The museum is very cool with some really excellent exhibits about the history of the area, a restored bugeye and the Drum Point screwpile lighthouse.  That alone would make a visit to Solomons Island worthwhile but there's also a bunch of excellent restaurants and nice shops too.  This is an interesting place.  If you drive your car in in for a visit you might be inclined to wonder what the attraction is.  Coming in from the river reveals a whole different character.  Solomons Island is a very cool place.

We stayed at Spring Cove marina for two nights and cleared out Saturday morning bound for home.  We had good wind, 12 to 15 knots out of the SE and sailed on a broad reach from inside the river up to RN2 outside the Little Choptank River.  It was very hazy out and difficult to see either shore.  As we sailed along enjoying the quiet we heard canon fire coming from the western shore.  A lot of it.  We looked over to see the source but could only see haze.  The canon fire continued at a rapid rate and while we listened my eyes drifted high up into the sky.  Above the haze was a humongous Cumulonimbus cloud, the source of the canon fire.  We got on the radio and heard that DC was getting pounded with rain, hail and 70 knot winds.  Trees were down everywhere and things were a mess.  There was a string of storms coming up from Virginia and we were seeing the northern end of them.  We secured the sails and ran under power, preparing ahead for the worst.  Joining us out in the middle of the Bay were 26 other boats, mostly power, just sitting and waiting to see what this storm was going to do.  We sat there for two hours while it stalled out over land but a second storm came up from the south and both of them pushed out into the Bay, headed directly for our little flotilla.  Boats scattered at high speed in all directions, leaving us behind cruising along at 8 knots.  As I watched the storms approaching I realized there was a small break between them so I headed directly for it.  As the two storms swept towards the NE we passed right between them with lightning and rain to either side and only high winds where we were.  Once the storms passed we continued north to Herring Bay and home, back in our slip by 1900.

My Summer Vacation was fun.  I got to see lotsa things and go lotsa places.  I ate fish and other stuff too.  I went swimming a lot and got a sunburn.  Best of all, I went sailing.  I can't wait to go again next year.