13 Apr 2002, Waiting for a weather window, 38 28.530 N/ 076 17.240 W
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Our original plan was to leave Herrington Harbour
and head for the Little Choptank River in the middle
Chesapeake Bay. We were going to leave Monday (8 Apr)
but we hadn't completed the dog ramp in time. On
Tuesday, the wind was blowing a bit too much and
from the wrong direction (15-30 kts from the South). Bob
logged on the computer and did 'real' work. Ann took
a much needed shower. The 'kids' took a long morning
hike.
Didn't leave Wednesday either. Had some last
minute provisioning to do and make final preparations on
doggy ramp. We weren't sure how they would take to
the ramp. We carpeted it and tested it out in the marina.
Finally left at 1200 on Thursday. Winds were from the NE
at 5 knots. This gave us time to adjust all our sails and play
with the new mizzen staysail. At about 1430, the wind
veered to the E at 12-20 knots. Sail was near perfect until
we approached the Little Choptank (except Gina got a little
seasick). We had to go east.
We dropped sails and motored the rest of the way to
Hudson Creek. Set anchor at 1900 with winds 15-20kts E.
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We had less than an hour
to prepare the dinghy,
set the ramp, and 'drive' the kids to shore. We had one foot
waves in the anchorage which made the doggy disembarking quite difficult.
Gina wanted to get out; Levi wanted to drink the salt water. With much
anxiety, we got the dogs to shore and back. This was not much fun, but the
babies loved it. They took to the ramp like it was nothing special. Can we
do this over 300 times during Voyage 2002?
That night, Bob started the diesel heater to
break the chill out of the cabin. Something went terribly
wrong! The stove reached over 900 degrees and started
glowing red! Bob quickly released all of the pressure from
the tank and turned off the fuel. It took nearly an hour for
the heater to cool down. Pretty scary. Not sure what
happened. Maybe too much pressure in the tank or maybe
too much fuel in the heater.
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It rained last night (Thursday). It was not
predicted and all our cushions got wet. That will teach us
not to secure them. At 0800 we loaded the dogs onto the
dinghy. The wind was nearly calm so loading and unloading
the dogs was much easier. The 'kids' really enjoyed the beach. They saw
their first swans (also dead birds, funny looking fish) and lots of new
smells.
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At 1500, we weighed anchor (and plank) and headed
for Slaughter Creek to meet some friends. We heard a
strange noise from the engine, then a pop, then everything
was OK (or so we thought) The channel to the marina is narrow which
reminded us of the ICW. No real problem but we were transiting at high
tide. We stayed at Taylor Island Marina, a quaint boat yard intended mainly
for waterman. We met Kenny Smith, the owner, who gave us some history on
the local marinas (including our own). We plan to spend Saturday here and
head back on Sunday. They are calling for sloppy weather through next
Wednesday (fair weather sailors?).
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Met Ren and Barb from Magic. They are
re-commissioning their boat for the new season. We plan
to sail with them down to Florida this Fall. They may cross
over to Bahamas with us after the Holidays. They have a 38'
Calibre which they have owned for many seasons. They keep their boat here
as they live less than 5 miles away. Didn't do much in the morning.
Cleaned the boat, fixed a ventilator, reset the recording barograph, and
walked the kids.
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Remember that noise yesterday? Well, it turns
out that our starter exploded. The noise we heard was the
starter spinning with the engine. We took it apart and found
commutators everywhere! Not a good day! We called
Conlyn Marine on the cell phone to order a new one. We
hope to rent a car, go back to work for a couple of days
then install the new starter. Who said sailing wasn't fun.
On a happier note, we talked to Chatauqua (Don and
Pricilla) on the SSB. They are still in Vero Beach fighting
with their engine. They plan to head for Bermuda if the
engine thing works out.
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That's all for now
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16 Apr 2002, Finish of Re-commissioning Voyage, 38 43.529 N/ 076 32.599 W
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We left Taylor's Island Marina at 0850
with 0-5 kts of wind out of the South. Gee, no wind.
How surprising. The channel didn't get any wider.
Also, the watermen were busy with their nets and pots.
We made it with a full foot to spare. The trip back up
the bay took a little over four hours (mostly motoring).
As we approached Herrington Harbour, the wind veered and
increased to 10-15 SW. Didn't do us much good though.
We tied up at 1325. Pretty exciting first voyage of the
season. Hopefully, we got rid of our bad luck for the
year!
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Aboard the Jule III (http://www.Jule-III.com)
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