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We have been settled here into Annapolis getting maintenance, repair, and upgrade projects checked off the list as fast as we can, and also making time for browsing the Annapolis Sailboat show which is the big event in town this weekend.  This is where most of the “big boats” are shown. It is interesting how few of them would represent an upgrade to the boat we have–at least in our eyes. There are a few accessories that are interesting to see, but overall we have to say that there isn’t much we are lured into. Of all the boats here, there were really only two that I saw as suitable for our interests. (If you have to know, the interesting ones were a Gozzard 44 and a Boreal 52)

All the newest and shiniest!

One of the more humorous things we saw at the first day of the show was the booth for the local Alfa Romeo car dealer.  Let’s see…  Umbrellas, Check.  Salesman, Check.  Signs, Check.  Booth babe, Check.  Fancy mat to park car on, Check.  Did we forget something?

Literally overlooking the boat show was the 160 foot long motoryacht Evviva. It is owned by the founder of the company that makes Bayliner boats.  I guess if you make enough small and cheap boats, you can buy yourself something neither small, nor cheap…

Today I finished installing our new battery charger/inverter, which significantly upgrades the “behind the scenes” part of our electrical system bringing it into the 21st century.  It was a complex two day project, with quite a bit of new wiring on both the AC and DC sides of the boat, but very satisfying to have everything work exactly as it should when the switches were thrown.

We are still waiting for delivery of our new batteries.  They are practically here, he says.  Hopefully this week!

Cleaning and painting the gearboxes for the mainsail furling system is just about done, so with new seals they can go back together. Lots of other smaller and less interesting things happening too, but all needed to keep Harmonie at her best.

Karen has had fun connecting in Real Life with many of her Facebook friends from the Women Who Sail group.

One of the things that always is interesting is the number of Amel boats that gather in the world’s cruising grounds.  These are obviously boats that do not spend their lives tied to a single marina.  Within 100 yards of us right now there are two other Super Maramus.  One registered in Australia, the other from Sweden.  We have had the chance to meet and socialize with both and, like all sailors, they are delightful people.  Two other Amels homeported in the Chesapeake have been by in the time we have been here.

Our plans for leaving here are still a bit up in the air–other than heading south before winter arrives.  Decisions will be made as needed.

I have slowly been working at implementing an improved way of presenting our travels using Google Earth.  Stay tuned for some awesome coolness, if I ever get it finished!

The destructive power of this season’s hurricanes brings to mind the choices that many sailors have to make when a major storm is forecast to come their way.  Do you run to get away from the destructive power of the storm?  Or do you find the safest place you can, hunker down and hope for the best? There is no simple answer, and there is no answer that is right for every boat, in every situation, in every place.

How fast is your boat?

In our Amel 53 even in no wind at all, if we need to, we can keep up a speed of 7 knots under engine.  With a full tank we can do that for about 500 miles at a rate of almost 170 miles a day.  In three days we can be at least 500 miles away.

Where are you relative to the storm and the shore?

The winds around a hurricane rotate counter clockwise, and here in the northern hemisphere, the storms tend to move to the west, north, or the northeast.  If you are to the south, or the west of the storm the winds are blowing you away from the center of the storm, into calmer waters.  If you are to the northeast of the storm center, you are being sucked straight into the center of the worst of the weather.

Anywhere along the east coast of the USA your options to run are very unattractive. Almost anything you can do puts you at risk of being in the direct path of the storm. Trying to go south puts you between the storm and the shoreline.  A very dangerous place to be if the storm track varies even a little to the west of expected.  Trying to run north has you running against the winds of the approaching weather. Since there is always a chance the storm can turn to the east, running east is also risky.  Best bet?  Find the best place you can to hide from the worst of the weather and hope for the best.

From any of the islands in the Caribbean, running south or southwest is a more viable strategy. The chances of the storm moving to the south are very small, and you are on the side of the storm where the winds are pushing you out of the way.

How important is the boat?

Is the boat your primary home? Or just a seasonal retreat?  Is it insured?  How much financial–and emotional–damage will you suffer if she is lost?  Nobody can second-guess the answers to these questions for any individual situation.  The lowest risk for the boat might be to run away from the storm, but the lowest risk to life of the crew might be to tie her up and stay ashore.

What happened this year?

We know of boats that tried to hide in harbors in Puerto Rico and Saint Martin.  They were all severely damaged or totally destroyed.  The boats we know of that ran away to the south all survived.  That does not mean that any of those owners made the wrong decision for them, or that the outcome would not have been very different in slightly different circumstances.

After many months without touching land, Harmonie is in a dock in Back Creek in Annapolis. I don’t need to tell anyone on the East Coast these days that the weather is hot and humid as the offshore hurricanes keep a steady flow of warm and humid air flowing in. It gives us a chance to exercise our cabin air conditioning.  Karen has been draining the hot water tank that feeds the marina’s shower’s everyday, a luxury she can’t afford while we are at anchor.

For us this is a great place to stop because we have access to so many services and suppliers that are otherwise hard to come by.  The only place we have been that is better for yacht maintenance and repair logistics is Fort Lauderdale.

We have been busy working on both repair and maintenance projects.  Boat things being what they are, some projects  that we thought we simple maintenance tasks turned into complex repairs projects.  So here is our status update:

• 24v alternator on drive engine not charging batteries.
  • Fixed.  Actually, this turned out to not be a real problem, but just our solar panels and alternator interacting in ways we did not expect.  I’ll take the easy check off on this one.
• Autopilot linear drive making unusual noise.
  • We have identified a local shop who can hopefully help with this… stay tuned. It is not as critical issue as it might sound.  We have a second autopilot rudder drive of a different type installed, and a back up of the one that is making strange noises ready to drop in to place.
• Broken shackle on mizzen outhaul car.
  • Waiting to find the part.
• Jib turning block bungee worn.
  • An easy fix, we just have not gotten to yet.
• Move lifesling forward to avoid interference with staysail sheet.
  • Done
• Replace broken shackle on mizzen topping lift.
  • Pending
• Work out best way to sheet mizzen staysail to mizzen boom.
  • Pending
• Batteries need replacement.
  • New batteries ordered.  There will be some upgrades needed to the charging system as well.  I am working on a write up of this project as a separate page.
• Repair mainmast deck light.
  • Part ordered.  Pending delivery from Europe.
• Conductivity sensor on watermaker failed.
  • Part ordered.  Pending delivery from Europe. (Isn’t owning a French boat fun?)
• Lost prop from bow thruster.
  • Repair completed! Bow thruster fully functional again.
• Replace masthead wind sensor.
  • Pending.  Repair part in hand.  Waiting for a good day to go to the mast head, calm winds and not too hot!
• Retrieve skied ballooned halyard.
  • Pending, as above.
• Freezer “buzzes”, a new noise that needs checking into.
  • Fixed.  Karen noticed the fan had fallen out of place.
• Broken cleat on mainmast.
  • Pending. This might take a bit to find the right part.
• Ripped seam on Yankee jib.
  • All sails delivered to the local sail loft for inspection and repair.
• Ripped seam on mainsail.
  • See above.
• Broken zipper on dodger side panel.
  • Parts ordered.
• Connection to anchor windlass remote control need to be replaced
  • Done!

And the additions to the list:

• Replace seals and o-rings in main sail furling and outhaul gearboxes.  Paint external surface of gearboxes. Extract broken bolts.
  • Seals and o-rings ordered. After looking at the complexity of proper surface prep needed to paint aluminum, we will contact local powder-coat vendors to see if that might be the better way to go. Hopefully the local machine shop can help with the broken bolts.  Amel owners who might be interested in this, I’ll have a write up and pictures posted when I have everything done.
• Repair water damaged wood in port and starboard bow lockers.
  • We had a preliminary estimate for the repair from the local expert, about 3X what I expected.  We might do this in house!
• Replace leaking water maker pre-filter housing.
  • Parts ordered.  Water maker membranes chemically cleaned, and pickled for storage while we are in the bay where the water is a bit too turbid to feed to the RO membranes.

I think we have gotten more done than we have added to the list.  Overall, we are happy with progress.

We stopped here at Solomons Island last year, and again this time. One of the larger boating centers in the central part of the bay.  It is an appealing place to stop because it is one of the few places we can easily get to that has a supermarket AND a West Marine within walking distance of the dinghy dock.

Solomons Island is right across the river from the Patuxent Naval Air Station, and around the bend from the Naval Mine Warfare Center, so there are frequently “interesting” things floating or flying by. Not the least of which are the numerous bald eagles and ospreys that call this stretch of the Chesapeake home.

Osprey are very common birds here on the Chesapeake Bay

Yesterday’s “entertainment” was excursions to West Marine and the Grocery store.  Today was a bit more interesting, we took the dinghy over to the Calvert Marine Museum. An excellent small museum.  A lot about the natural history of the area, including a good selection of aquaria, an outstanding fossil collection, an excellent selection of historic boats, and even a light house. All with expository material that was aimed more at educated adults than attention deficient 10 year olds.  Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

The docks and lighthouse at the Calvert Marine Museum

The small boat shed.

The weight driven mechanism for striking the fog bell in the lighthouse

The lighthouse lens

Gathering oysters in a traditional working boat. Hard, lonely work.

Tomorrow we will be heading further north, about 40 miles to the general neighborhood of Annapolis.  We are forecast to get some rain and modest winds as Jose meanders past offshore, but nothing to worry about.

We arrived within the hour of predicted at the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay… which is pretty impressive for three days of uncertainties with weather and currents.  The wind forecasts were quite accurate as far as direction and time go. For some reason I find that the models very consistently underestimate the wind strength.  Not in a huge way, usually 5 to 7 knots or so, but it is just odd that it is a consistent error.

We found a quiet sheltered creek last night to anchor, and over the next couple of days we will be moving north the 100 miles or so toward Annapolis.

The One that Got Away

As we approached the coast and the rise up to the continental shelf, we had comfortable easy sailing, so we set out our fishing lines.  Shortly after that we found ourselves in the middle of the recreational tuna fishing fleet out of Ocean City that had made the weekend run out to “The Canyons.”

We saw a large pod of dolphins moving in a purposeful direction, and that usually means yellowfin tuna are nearby. We caught nothing, and saw none caught.  Some time after we crossed the continental shelf, I laid down for a short nap… when one of the reels screamed as a fish speed off with our lure.  It took us a few minutes to get the boat stopped, all the while the fish was running fast.  Just about the time the fish ran out of gas on his first (long!) run, the line went slack.

Whenever that happens, I wonder, what did I do wrong?  Did a knot slip?  Did a sharp tooth cut the line?  Did I apply too much pressure and break something?  When the end of the line came into sight, here it what we saw:

No, the hook did NOT start out that shape!  Those of you with a fishing interest who have been following our stories, might recognize that this is by far and away out most productive lure–and the cheapest.  The venerable cedar plug.  This fish, most likely a medium sized wahoo, picked this drab simple lure from an assortment of much flashier offerings.  If only I had rigged it with a heavier hook!

Hurricane Thoughts

So far, the people we have heard from who were in Irma’s path survived in good health, even if some suffered serious loss of other kinds.  Good luck to Alexis, Libby and Alexandre.  If we know you and you have been in the path of the storm, drop us a line (when it’s easy for you) and let us know how you are doing.

Time 0900 local
Lat N 38° 12.9
Lon W 73° 26.7′
135 miles Northeast of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay

The weather forecasts and sailing models all agreed: Hold your course, stay offshore, it will change. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. On schedule even.

Since we left Buzzards Bay the wind had been pretty steady out of the southwest. We have stayed close hauled for two days. This has taken us on a course more or less due south. While this is generally the direction we want to go, we were on a course the would have us over 200 miles off shore by the time we got to the latitude of Newport News, VA.

Last night exactly as predicted, the wind clocked to the west, and then the northwest, leaving us on a fast easy beam reach for the final approach to the bay.

We plan to head up the bay to Annapolis. As a major yachting hub, we can find supplies and services gathered together there that we either need, or might need as we tackle various maintenance projects. We called ahead to a sailmaker for an appointment to have their loft go over our sails, restitching seams, and fixing a few minor problems. A chance to have them looked over in detail. So… under the caption of “that figures” just as we are setting sail we get a small tear in the mainsail. We sailed down with just the jib and mizzen, which actually works quite well.

As I was writing the above paragraph, a shackle broke on the mizzen outhaul car leaving us without the use of the mizzen sail too! Fortunately, on this point of sail we can use the mizzen staysail and keep our speed up. I think I have the part to make this repair onboard.

Yesterday we encountered a large containership sailing out of New York. As we maneuvered to stay out of his way, I found my planned course change wasn’t working as I expected. Then I realized he had stopped. Very strange to see a 1200 foot long commercial ship hove to. Then Karen asked the critical question: Where is he headed? As soon as we noted the answer (Charleston) we knew what was up. He made his scheduled departure from NY, but didn’t want to be in Charleston as Hurricane Irma threatened.

Today we see the first signs of the distant storm on the water as a very long period swell from the south passes under us. A subtle, but powerful reminder of what’s happening a thousand miles to the south.

Time 0900 local
Lat N 39° 29.6′
Lon W 71° 43.3′

Yesterday morning we weighed anchor as the wind shifted toward the west, and we have been heading south since then. So far an uneventful trip. No exciting wildlife sightings, weather has been tracking very much as predicted, only one or two places we had to play “dodge-em” with members of the commercial fishing fleet. About the biggest event was a distant sighting of the QEII’s lights in the wee hours as she sailed toward New York.

Our destination is the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay where we plan to spend the next month or so exploring and working on the boat.

As we were getting ready to leave the first news and first person reports were coming in of the trail of human and economic disaster that Irma left behind in the Caribbean. Some of the places we visited last winter are, quite literally, no longer there. We know of at least one boat like ours destroyed at its dock in Saint Martin.

As Irma damages places with better news coverage, it will be hard not to forget those people who had less to start with and now have nothing.