December 15, 2019
Our friends have arrived! And they brought me chocolate!
Unfortunately our welcome party was to continue putting the boat back together – welcome to the boat yard.
December 15, 2019
We’re doing the final projects before we can put the boat back in the water, soon!
December 16, 2019
Up to the last second, we were wrapping up projects just as the travel lift came to pick us up. Now we’re finally back in the water!
December 17, 2019
Floating, but still so much to do before the boat is sea worthy again. Today was a team building exercise with electrical wiring in the ceiling. The boat is still a mess.
December 18, 2019
We ran our last errands before leaving the boatyard. I baked brownies, finally dialed in using our oven. Excitement is up, things are getting festive.
December 19, 2019
Today’s the day! We started the journey early, fighting against the wind to get off the dock. After we pulled away and struggled to turn, I reminded Eric to check the rudder, and sure enough it was turned hard over and preventing him from steering properly.
Here we go. We left the boat yard and made our way past Stingray Point. Large waves, short chop, and salt water sprayed over the deck. The dodger I spent weeks sewing protected us from the water, and we watched ice form on the clear plastic panels as the wind blew hard and cold.
The Chesapeake coated our deck with a sheet of ice, even Eric wasn’t willing to attempt moving forward, and so we opted to not raise the mainsail at the mast but sailed the strong winds with just our jib and jiblet (storm jib). Even without our mainsail, we were fast. Our speed would increase by a knot or so as we rode the waves.
Three out of four of us chucked up breakfast, and all of us struggled to keep food down throughout the day. It was a horrible introduction to sailing on our boat. The plastic windshield I made kept us well-protected at least.
We made it in record time to Portsmouth, Virginia and tied up to a dock just before the marina closed for the night. To stretch our legs we went for a short walk around downtown Portsmouth and enjoyed a dinner at The Bier Garden, which had delicious sausages, pork, and sauerkraut.
This is boat life in a nutshell. Our friends are in for an authentic experience.
December 20, 2019
We made it 30 miles, anchored and immediately started the diesel heater and the oven for baking. The heater warmed up our bedroom cabins while the oven kept the main cabin warm-ish. This is so much better than last year’s winter cruise down the ICW.
December 21, 2019
Today we left Virginia and motor-sailed across the Albemarle Sound.
My phone died, so I have no pictures.
Who knows when I’ll be able to replace my bricked phone, this is despair.
Ripples and Leaves 