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.
Red Ranger is a documented vessel; she's mostly set for international travel. According to Skipper Bob's Bahamas Bound, we need a bunch of paperwork before we can sail foreign.
US Customs Decal https://dtops.cbp.dhs.gov/ Be sure to order after September 1st for the coming year. Insurance …
Jen, Silcox and CA in the cockpit. Yes, it was chilly on the water. Of course, we had a great time.
Sailed Saturday. Not far. Not fast. But it was still spectacular.
Had a good-bye party on Liquid Therapy. They're headed south for the winter. Here's one of Brooke's blog …
Hurricanes are dangerous. Video.
In 2010, we had a "near miss" from Hurricane Earl. It weakened before arriving, and we had a rainy night.
This year, we had Irene. It plowed right through Hampton Roads and could have charged right up the Bay. Lucky for us, it drifted off shore …
Dave and Karin and Kyle are visiting the Hampton Roads area.
Of course, we took them for a day sail on Red Ranger.
And they brought their friends Hans and Ruth. So we had seven on board, and things worked out perfectly.
Winds were from the SE at 5 to …
Do it again? Absolutely. It is a great trip.
Changes?
No schedule for a rendezvous with the family.
No attempt to meet folks at an anchorage (like Lewes). Only meet folks at dockside.
More time to wait for fair winds and tides.
11 days on the boat.
72 hours …
Where do we stand on August 12th?
The engine (or transmission or something) is throbbing. A lot.
As the crow flies we're 94 nm from home. If we go back the way we came, it's 223 nm and four more days of travel. We have three days of vacation.
If …
Tuesday, the 16th, was an important objective of the trip. A rendezvous with the family. Everyone else had driven up from Rehoboth to have dinner with us in Lewes. Dinner included five nieces and nephews, plus a bonus friend of a nephew; Mother; three sisters plus husband and permanent …
Things we did on August 10th:
Motored out into the Delaware Bay with moderate confidence. The tranny was still throbbing or pulsing. But we were tired of being stuck in Greenwich, NJ, so we were willing to take a chance.
Sailed for about three hours. This was our first sailing …
One of the locals drove me all the way to the nearest West Marine. Really.
What an amazing gift.
We were graced and blessed by the kindness of strangers. Again.
Put in the new shifter cable. We're ready to move.
Technically, the boatyard and/or marina was closed on Monday. But. The mechanic was gracious enough to help me by watching over my shoulder while I took apart the linkage between binnacle and transmission.
The shifter on the tranny didn't feel like it was going all the way into Forward …
Sunday, a day of rest.
Apparently, looking at my log, we did nothing. Really.
Mistakes were made.
Looking back, I count doing nothing on Sunday as a mistake.
All was not lost, however.
The kindness of random strangers started to rain down on us. Ernie gave us the grand tour …
Mistakes we made on August 6th:
Pulling into Nantuxent Cove. It was small, shallow and not very sheltered. Port Mahon, Delaware, might have been better.
Anchoring anywhere near crab pots. Our keel and rudder protect our propellor from just about all assaults. Apparently, however, if you switch gears right over …
Stuff we saw on August 5th:
Bridges. The William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge, known as the "Chesapeake Bay Bridge" (or sometimes the Kent Island bridge,) is right there outside Whitehall Bay. Dual-span bridges are painful to line up against, since there is all that structural steel at varying distances …
New for August 4th:
Watching closely for container ships. In the Southern Bay, the shipping channel is close to the Eastern Shore. We barely see the ships. Up here, however, they're right in the middle of the bay! An AIS tracking app on the iPhone (like Marine Traffic) helps. Proper …
Here's the key conversation.
CA: "Tell me when we get past Smith Point."
Me: "Why?"
CA: "From the point, the entire rest of the trip is new territory."
Things we did on August 3rd:
Getting past Smith Point. Last time we tried to go that far north ("Gang aft agley …
We're bound for Lewes Delaware, just inside Cape Henlopen, via the C&D canal.
The float plan assumes that (1) wind and weather are with us and (2) we have no mechanical problems along the way. It's about 200nm, which is about 40 hrs of travel time. Life is full …
At some point, we'll need to return to Deltaville. If everything works out, we'll depart Lewes Delaware and return to Deltaville via the C&D canal.
The float plan assumes (1) we get to Lewes, (2) that wind and weather are with us and (3) we have no mechanical problems …
Winds out of the north east (040) at 10 kn. We beat to weather as well as we could making 5-6 kn under single-reefed main, yankee and staysail. A course of 100 magnetic took us 12nm across the bay to where we could see the Eastern Shore. Okay, from this …
We took Bill, Diane, Sara, Madeline and Ian out for a sail on Red Ranger. Biggest crowd ever; seven folks really packs the cockpit full. But send some of the kids out to be rail meat and there's room in the cockpit. The hard part is reminding them of the …
We took (Father) Bill and (Aunt) Diane out for a sail on Red Ranger.
15-20 kn of wind, 2-3' seas. A bouncy, but enjoyable ride.
When beating or reaching in wind over 15kn, it feels like we need one reef in the main and only the staysail. Running at under …