Norfolk, VA
To see as much of the world as we can,
Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.
Went sailing with a bunch of guests from work. Did I take pictures? No.
That's sort of awkward, isn't it?
I did take this picture.
It's a cleat that attaches to a shroud. We use these for our various flag halyards.
It broke. So I took a picture …
We had two "events" on the way North.
The chain looks really cruddy. Flakes of metal are coming off. Not a good look for chain. The question is "Exactly what kind of chain is it?" The difference in measurements between ⅜" HT, ⅜" BBB and 10mm chain is tiny. And …
Once we finished fixing the various things that needed fixing, we could do what we planned to do in Norfolk. Nothing. The trip back was eventful and a bit more delightful than the trip down.
The fix list from the trip down was reviewed in "Running down to Norfolk." Here's …
The trip down wasn't a "delight." It was eventful, but we pulled if off without a major problem. Except for the panhandlers.
We made the dock by 19:00 more-or-less. The wind was almost non-existent. We were out of the creek on a rising tide during the last hour of …
We'd like to leave July 2, Thursday night, and do an overnighter down the bay to Hospital Point. It's 36 miles. Rate×time=distance, right? How hard to can it be?
The basis for all of the planning is to work out the departure time. We don't want to arrive …
We met folks finishing their circumnavigation of the planet.
On Red Ranger, we did some jobs. CA fixed our red sail covers. I played with Epifanes. CA broke a needle. There it is — shattered needle from serious stitching.
Safety note. D-rings must be stainless. The non-stainless D-ring was …
Tall Ships. Fellow Sailors. Beer. Food.
There's nothing quite so good.
Defeating the Arch-Enemy. Even better.
Video: Red Ranger in the Chesapeake.
It's about 25 miles from Deltaville to Cape Charles. With a fair wind, it can be done in 4-5 hours.
With a contrary wind, it can …
Today, we rejiggered the deck wash down system. And solved two mysteries. One was a mystery that could have sunk Red Ranger. The other was just mysterious.
The bilge system involves a secondary use case for deck wash down. The deep bilge pump normally pumps bilge water overboard. We can …
On Red Ranger, we use the 5F's of safety.
Flooding
Falling Overboard
Fire
First Aid
Fatigue and Famine
These help us separate what's safety critical from what's merely a good idea.
Which leads us to pumps. Hull integrity, hose integrity, and hose clamps are important preventative measures. A dripless shaft …
We've find a new location for our mascot. You can see him peeking out of the bottom instrument window.
He's sitting where some former instrument used to be. No idea which instrument it was. But there he is.
We found him inside the aft hatch sliding …
With the water tanks a mess, we can still host guests and sail around in the Piankatank River. Outside party time, we do have some new water problems to solve.
We set up some gallon jugs of dock water in each head and five gallons of grocery …
We're limited in what we can do on the weekends. Partly it's the time. Partly it's CA recovering from surgery. She still can't lift much or bend over. Activities must be balanced against rest time.
Smart helps. Sometimes, we're smart. Sometimes not.
We bent on the two head sails. We're …
Our two most recent zinc anodes haven't lasted 6 months.
They used to.
What changed?
(1) Solar panels. (2) GFCI outlets. (3) A few small things.
The solar panels mean that we now generate power constantly. Constantly.
I added a Camp zinc grouper. This is 6 pounds of …
Our insurance requires a survey every five years. We contacted John L. Schnoering. Traditional Yacht Surveyors, in Deltaville, and got a detailed list of what's right and what's wrong with Red Ranger.
The "red flag" item on Red Ranger? What's the single most dangerous thing that must be fixed? We'll …
Some things we did during the winter.
That was it.
We didn't …
Took some of the family — Niece Hjördis, CA, Sis Nancy, Mom Judy — to see Red Ranger on the hard at the boat yard.
Not shown in the picture are Bro-in-Law Andy, Nephew Sumner, and Nephew Winsor.
Red Ranger weathered the winter without too many problems.
The bilge froze …
I shouldn't be surprised there's such a thing as competitive rock climbing. As a sailor I know that if there are two sailboats going approximately the same way, it's a race, pure and simple. Maybe not so cutthroat competitive as America's Cup or Volvo Ocean Race, but… All it takes …
After a lot of winter — more than we would have expected for city that's in "The South" — we were happy to take a good long walk along the James today.
Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nghV4SdxgPM. This is what the James River looks like when it's …
Since it takes two to climb, how did we get these pictures? Glad you asked. Rock climbing is all about puzzle solving. And that's your little puzzler.
Top rope climbing is a two-player team sport — one person actually does the vertical ascent part — the other person belays them. The …
It appears that they do this on purpose: they shoot under the railroad bridge, then — somehow — raise the bow up and drop their heads into the water before hitting the next waterfall.
The railroad bridge is after some flat water in the middle of the sequence of rapids.
I …