Chesapeake Bay

 

A calm May morning at York River Yacht Haven Marina 

Being back in Virginia meant visiting friends, fixing some stuff at my house, working on the boat and endless other chores. To get it all done I decided I would stay at my old marina, York River Yacht Haven for a month and some change, basically through May. 

They gave me a slip on a new floating dock where I met some new neighbors. Steve, on his 50 foot DeFever, knew some of the people we met at Sisters Creek in Florida and was quick to lend a hand or any tools I needed to borrow, thanks Steve. James has a beautiful Hylas 49 that he is getting ready to sail to the Caribbean in the fall, and had plenty of good advise on my myriad projects. I also met another Steve that also had a Passport 40, and not just any Passport 40, but the last one made, a very nice looking boat. 

There were also old friends to catch up with. My first Tuesday back was Cinco de Mayo so I hit up Taco Tuesday at Plaza Azteca to catch up with some JLab folks. All was well with The Lab. I didn't get to see Peter since he was still on baby leave, good for him! My friend Jeff from the marina was still in Georgia when I arrived but soon made it back to Gloucester Point, Virginia. Day one we launched right into guitar lessons that I was thirty years behind on, thanks for being so patient, Jeff! And, of course, I made a trek to the Farmers Market to see my friends and arranged a lunch with Ellen and Dave, it was great catching up.

A few days after my arrival, Marcia came down from Annapolis to see me for a quick visit. We made plans to meet in again in a week in Annapolis for the US Naval Academy Graduation Blue Angles show and practice. So I went and got my car out of storage at my house and headed up for a few days, we had a great time! The Blue Angels always put on a good show and we got to see their practice from Marcia's brother's boat on Wednesday and then the full show from the Naval Academy Boat yard on Thursday, fantastic!

After my visit to Annapolis it was back to work on the boat, the list of repairs was lengthy and I wont bore you with the list but the highlight was definitely the installation of a new anchor chain. The old one looked like it had been salvaged from a 17th century Spanish galleon. Marcia especially enjoyed helping with this chore. It was so rusted that the seldom used end came out in rusty chunks!

New Point Comfort Light, Mobjack Bay

 In no time my month at York River Yacht Haven was over, the weather warmed and it was time to sail again. On 30 May, Marcia and I sailed out of the York River heading for Mobjack Bay, the first stop on our planned week long trip to Annapolis. We promptly broke the boat when we hit steep waves in the bay, just out of the York river. I went below and found water on the floor, like four inches of water under the navigation table, the starboard water tank emptied itself! The bilge pump took care of the water, but the boat was listing a bit. We would need repairs. Luckily Kismet has two water tanks so drinking water was not a problem for this trip. 

On day two we found ourselves in Deltaville, the boating capital of the Chesapeake, and a good thing too, I broke the boat again... This time it was the drain on the kitchen sink, which doesn't sound critical, but with a sink that drains straight overboard a leak can sink the boat, jeesh! Luckily we just needed a quick trip to the hardware store, two trips actually, but who's counting. The sink was fixed, the boat was listing and we were ready to go. Note the full moon above shining through out anchorage and neighbor's rigging, a beautiful night.

Sunset from Point Lookout

 As often happens, plans do not define a trip but rather, reality, and harsh, as reality can be. We got word that Marcia's 91 year old mother went to the ER and ended up admitted to the hospital for tests and observation. Our sightseeing trip turned into a slow-motion rush to the hospital. From Deltaville we tried to sail straight north in to north winds, this makes for slow going but we managed to sail half the trip and made it to Point Lookout and had a pleasant evening anchored among hundreds of crab-pots. 

I went swimming for all the wrong reasons; Kismet was making poor progress under motor power and I was worried that the prop was fouled; it was not and managed to slice open my finger on a small barnacle on the hull. I did manage to avoid getting stung by any jellyfish. Lesson of the day, look before you leap! We were surrounded, but as they say sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. 

Point Lookout was not a planned stop, it just got us close enough to get to Annapolis the next day. So off we went, motoring north in a dead calm. 

 

 Motoring is the reality of having a schedule, on the bright side, it's better to motor in a dead calm than beat into a steep sea. Thursday, 4 June, we motored 57 miles and and after about ten hours we tied to a mooring ball in Spa Creek, we made it to Annapolis in good time.

 

Not my boat, LOL

 

A lot has happened since sailing to Maryland; Marcia's Mom got out of the hospital and is under home hospice care, I broke the boat a couple more times (and fixed it), the water tank has been removed and a replacement is being fabricated (it will take a few weeks). We went to a tall ship festival in Baltimore and later flew to Florida to check on Marcia's condo there and the new a/c unit; and also visited my sailing friend Tim in Jensen Beach. 

 

Work continues on Kismet and should wrap up in a few weeks. In the meantime I have plans to sail with another friend, Doug from Florida, in lake Erie for a week. My other friend Tim from Key West may have a delivery or two for me to make some money on as well; there are a lot of irons in the fire. I'm also trying to figure out what to do when Kismet is ship shape, I'd still like to make it to at least Boston before summer is over, I'm itching to sail! I'll keep planning and it will work itself out, it always does.

 

Until next time dear readers,