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.
Start with the back-story, Painful Head-ectomy.
And Week 1: Stowage and More Stowage.
Some Details: Horrifying Failure — Averted and Scout's at the Dinghy Doctor. Also, Southbound Day 28-29 Offshore Passage, specifically the "Wed10 — Noon Watch (Noon-16:00; CA)" entry.
Also, see Second (and Final) Head-Ectomy for a non Nature's Head …
Some great questions. And some answers.
I think the sailor (and writer) Beth Leonard said "Cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places."
The ocean is demanding, and mere human ingenuity isn't up to creating a vessel …
I think our sailing season has slipped away from us.
We would need to haul out before June to avoid Hurricane Season.
Because of some other travel, we have less than two months open to us.
If all the work was completed tomorrow, we might try to get launched and …
We've got a ton of stuff to do before we even get splashed.
Indeed, we don't even know where we're going.
We're looking all around the Gulf Coast for -- perhaps -- a marina that's got slips and doesn't cost as much as buying a house in Los Angeles or Washington, DC …
This seems to be the list of waypoints....
| Location | Lat Lon | Distance | Time | Notes | Timestamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herrington Harbour | 38°46.276′N 076°33.843′W | ||||
| Mill Creek | 38°19.788′N 076°27.080′W | Distance: 26.9nm | Time: 5h 0m | Engine: 5h 0m Maintenance: 65.0gal. |
2021-10-14 |
| Piankatank River … |
We're (still) moored on ball K-9 (at 24°42.250′N 081°05.550′W) in Boot Key Harbor.
Today is prep-to-go day.
This means laundry, top off the water, take on any final galley stores, and final weather check.
This now means checking the …
We're (still) moored on ball K-9 (at 24°42.250′N 081°05.550′W) in Boot Key Harbor.
It's time for a brief recap of the past few months and (about) 1,000 miles of cruising.
Let's roll the clock back to October 13 …
That wasn't so bad. While we plan for a lot of things to go wrong, we try to make sure nothing happens. And in this case, almost nothing happened. Almost. It's about 100 miles. At 6 knots, that's just 16 hours. That means we can't really leave until 15:00 …
Getting from New Smyrna Beach to Jensen Beach was a job and a half.
While the passage had its share of challenges, let's begin at the beginning.
This was not a lot of fun. It was about 90 minutes of dangerous, heavy labor. And the root cause wasn't …
The George Musson/Coronado Beach (SR 44) bridge, mile 845 is broken. CA found out today when walking back from the grocery store.
That changes our plans.
We'll wait here until the bridge is fixed and we have a suitable weather window.
Here's Red Ranger waiting. If you squint, you …
New Smyrna is nice. We'd like to see the keys, though, so we're waiting on weather.
Here's the far distant forecast.
FRIDAY...South winds 5 to 10 knots becoming southeast in the afternoon. Seas 3 to 4 feet with occasional seas to 5 feet.
FRIDAY NIGHT...South winds 5 to …
Been there. Know a lot of people who've been there.
Engine doesn't work.
Not us. Two fisherman who drifted through the anchorage.
We heard the faint beep-beep from a 75HP, electric start outboard that wasn't starting. They were prepared. Had an anchor. Seemed to know what they were …
We had some problems. Some we solved, some we didn't solve. We had some disputes; they're resolved now. I think.
In the morning, I found that when the dinghy's fuel tank is COLD, it doesn't leak. So we started the day by going ashore. We do love Cumberland Island.
We're heading South to visit — if we can — a bunch of birding sites, looking for bird sightings.
The overall, vague outline is to get to St. Mary's, GA, during the weather window on Tuesday. (We'd like to go Monday, but we won't quite be ready; stay tuned for complications.) The …
We're planners. CA and I can't do much without a detailed plan. We worked for a company that liked to have an MBM (Minute-by-Minute) for software deployments.
It's cold at Mom's. It's pretty cold in Charleston. It's not so cold in Key Biscayne. So. That's our objective.
Not so fast …
We're starting to plan our southward trip while wintering at mom's. It's right cold around here.
This means helping clean out her closets. She's not a nomad, but she'll be moving sometime later this year. It seems like she's got bunches of old stuff that no …
Let's not get too excited. We're staying in Charleston until Feb 15 more-or-less. But. What's next?
What's next is to get further South. It's right cold in Charleston.
While the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia call to us, it's winter. So we aren't listening to their call.
We're …
Going to sea requires a bit of humility. If things go wrong, a problem rapidly escalates to absolute catastrophe. Of course, Murphy's Law applies here — anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Did Murphy describe Poseidon's essential cruelty and get all the credit by having a law named after …
Here's our general strategy for getting to Charleston, SC. This has three phases to it. Phase I is to get to Norfolk. Phase II is to get to Beaufort. There are a lot of moving parts.
We'll see if we do none, some, or all of it.
For example, there …
Read this: https://mariners.coastguard.blog/2020/10/19/performing-a-vhf-marine-radio-check/.
Read this https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/MSIB/2020/MSIB-20-20.pdf.
Print a copy or two, put them in your standard operating procedures.
Also see the Rescue 21 for Boaters list …
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