fetchinketch

Time: 11:00 local
Lat: 32 53.2’N
Log: 79 01.5 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 384 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 102 NM

If the wind holds steady as it is forecast to do, we’ll be arriving at the entrance to Calaboge Sound at about 01:00 tomorrow morning. We should have the anchor down by 3 or 4. For those of you who will be in the local area, we’ll most likely be anchoring just north of Daufuskie Island.

Caliboge Sound has a very tricky entrance. Many shoals, not well marked, fairly strong currents, and not at all a straight and obvious way through. Normally not at all a place I’d try to go into at night, especially for the first time.

What will give us a large cushion in the wee, dark hours of tomorrow morning is the the tide will be high. With a height of tide of over 5 feet, even Harmonie’s draft of 6′ 7″ won’t be too scary. Add to that a flooding current to help keep the waves down, and it should be pretty straightforward. Once inside the Sound, the water is deep and navigation is pretty straightforward.

As always though, there is a “Plan B.” If for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all, I decide that the entrance to Caliboge is making me nervous, we can go into Port Royal Sound on the north side of Hilton Head which has a deeper and more easily negotiated channel.

Time: 11:30 local
Lat: 34 23.9’N
Log: 76 18.6 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 274 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 265 NM

After a slow and difficult night rounding Cape Hatteras, much of it motoring straight into the wind and a sloppy sea, the weather front that was predicted has passed. The wind is now behind us, and it has picked up a lot, running 25 to 30 knots. The waves are larger and further apart, and it is pouring rain.

Last night we listened on the radio as the Coast Guard sent out a helicopter to rescue three people off a sailboat who had run aground and was taking on water.

But… in our enclosed cockpit it is warm and dry, the autopilot is doing the tedious work, we are sailing fast, 7.5 to 8 knots, and as I write this we are surrounded by a pod of spotted dolphin who are putting on quite the show. Darting around the boat having a grand time, and several times now six of them kept out of the water together at least 8 feet into the air right in front of the boat.

So, windy and rough–but all is good.

Time: 09:30 local
Lat: 35 38.6’N
Log: 75 05.1 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 210 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 356 NM

We are threading our way between the ship-eating shoals off Cape Hatteras, and the north-flowing Gulf Stream. Here the very deep water of ocean is very close to shore, and the powerful Gulf Stream follows that steep drop off. While we were on our way north the Gulf Stream was our best friend, frequently adding 3 knots to our speed north. Now, heading South, it is something to be avoided if at all possible.

Since leaving the Chesapeake we have been close hauled following the wind. The wind has been unusually cooperative, holding a steady speed of about 12 knots while clocking around from South to West in a way that let us sail the perfect course. The weather models predict more of the same.

Along with a huge and varied collection of shipping traffic at the entrance to the bay we saw several pods of harbor porpoises. Since then the ocean hasn’t presented us with anything exciting except a display of phosphorescence in our wake overnight.

Time: 09:20 Local
Lat: 37º 18.1′ N
Long: 76º 11.4′ W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 102 NM
Distance from Caliboge Sound, SC: 385 NM

Thomas Point Light, an icon of the central Chesapeake Bay just south of Annapolis.

All day yesterday we sailed close hauled in 12 to 17 knots of wind, tacking back and forth across some of the wider parts of the Chesapeake Bay.  A delightful and smooth start to our trip.  As night came on, the wind lightened, and turned to straight on our nose so we elected to motor sail over night.  In addition to keeping us moving at a faster rate, this let us navigate narrower parts of the bay without short-tacking at night, and by staying on the edges of the shipping lanes we could avoid the fields of crab pots that crop up unpredictably around the bay.

Bloody Point Bar Light

So far, sailing and motoring we have not had any problems with mechanical issues.  All the things we fixed are working fine. The only exception is the boat’s sensor that measures speed through the water.  An older model, but very sophisticated. Maybe too much so.  It uses time-of-flight of sound waves to measure the boat’s speed.  Very sensitive and stable, but it has proven very sensitive to electrical interference. It has always been a bit fussy, but now it seems to be working union hours, at best.

Right now we are approaching Hampton Roads, VA, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and the open ocean. The local channels are crowded with Navy and Coast Guard traffic–vessels both very large, and quite small.  You need to pay constant attention to the ASI, RADAR, radio, and your eyeballs to keep out of everybody’s way.

One thing obvious about the Chesapeake, you could explore it for a lifetime and not see all of it. There are hundreds of recognized, and many unnoticed, anchorages scattered around the bay. Places to go are varied and (mostly) beautiful. There are services everywhere for the casual and professional boater. If it wasn’t for the summertime bugs and jellyfish it would be perfect!

Wolf Trap Light

In the old days before cellphones when a ship was getting ready to leave harbor it needed to recall its crew from shore leave. This was done with a flag signal.  For some reason the signal flag representing the letter “P” was used to tell crew and passengers that the ship was ready to leave, and you had best make all haste to get aboard. The flag became colloquially know as the “Blue Peter.”

So today we “hoist the Blue Peter.”  We have full water tanks, full fuel tanks.  Laundry is done.  Provisions are set in.  All repairs are complete, and major preventative maintenance projects wrapped up.  The dust, dirt, and bird droppings from a stay next to land have been washed off.  The boat and we are ready for sea. We will be underway first thing tomorrow morning.

We expect our next landfall to be near Hilton Head, South Carolina.  The passage should take 4 to 5 days.  The weather forecast  predicts light and contrary winds for the first part of our trip, the 120 miles down the Chesapeake Bay.  Once through that, the ocean trip looks easy and fast.

While we have been having fun, we have also been rushing to get a large pile of boat projects done before we head south.  A few we need to do (like the final repairs on the jib furler which failed on the way up the Chesapeake), a few we wanted to do (like upgrading the autopilot system) and some major routine maintenance (like rebuilding the anchor windlass).

Well, finally, all those projects are coming to completion–and none too soon!  If we stay here much longer we be caught by–shiver!–Winter!

Hopefully no later than the middle of next week we will be on our way south.  The plan, subject to change (always!) is to sail down the coast to Hilton Head in South Carolina.  The marina we had planned to stay at there is going to be closed as they patch up after Hurricane Matthew, but we’ll be able to anchor and visit family and get a taste of some of the great fishing around there.  Then, off to Florida where we’ll be taking Harmonie out of the water to put a fresh coat of bottom paint on. Once our favorite girl has a new bottom, we are off to the the Bahamas, and points further south.

The previous owner’s of Harmonie wrote at one point that their plans were “written in sand at low tide.” It is a great thing to remember.  We have found that the more complex and specific the plan, the more likely it is to come apart at the seams.

The plan WAS to sail to Harbortown Marina on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina for early November.  There we would host my brother and his wife on the boat while the rest of the family rented land based places on the island. Sounds great.  Except for Hurricane Matthew.  Remember him?  I know, last week’s news…  Well it turns out one of the relatively few places on the island to suffer significant damage was the marina which is “closed indefinitely.”  They said on the phone they would be happy to host us “next year.”

Now our plan is a bit murkier.  We will be here in Annapolis until October 25th, then head south with the next weather window. Maybe stopping and anchoring in the Hilton Head area, maybe continuing to Florida where our plan is to haul the boat and renew the bottom paint.  Stay tuned…

In other news, I have added a new page to the website called “Boat Projects” (see the menu bar at the top of the page) where I’ll document, more or less, the various things we are doing to keep Harmonie the best fitted yacht and home afloat.  Probably only of interest to boat nerds, but it is a useful tool for me to keep track of what is to-do and what has been-done.

Boat thoughts…

Monday, the last day of the boat show, is the slowest day. It is actually a pretty short day if you are here to see everything, because many of the vendors are packing up by 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  But the small crowds mean a chance to see boats that are too crowded the other days.

One of the trends I notice is that many new boats are going to an interior style that I call “Euro-cheap.”  Boat interiors that look like they were sourced from Ikea. You know the look I am talking about.  All sharp, square corners.  No solid wood, all veneer or laminate. That might be ok on an inexpensive boat built for the mass market, but on a near custom boat with a $2.5 million dollar price tag?  Really?

Very few boats at any price point in the show impressed us–which says an awful lot about our very special 20 year old boat!  One builder who did seem to be building “proper” cruising boats that we liked was Passport.

Boat Jail

You see some new and interesting things at the boat show.  Admiralty Law is a very strange and specialized beast, even to lawyers.  One of the things it allows is for vessels to be “arrested” if they are the subject of a lawsuit.  I had never seen it before, but a boat at the show was “arrested” by US Marshals. There were several different versions of the story about the who, what and why of this event. But anytime the US Marshals office and lawyers are involved, I am sure things are not pretty!

The Show at the End of the Show

What are all these people gathered for?  What exciting event is about ready to occur? Why it is the end of the boat show!

It takes about a week to assemble the in-water part of the show.  Boats have to be moved into place, and docks built around them. The breakdown of this complex web of boats and docks goes much quicker.  The show ends promptly at 5PM on Monday afternoon.  The start of the breakdown is announced by a cannon shot in the harbor, and the race is on!  Every boat has to be out of the harbor by Tuesday morning because they need the time to assemble the powerboat show which begins in the same place on Thursday morning. I made a short time lapse video of the festivities.  Enjoy!

This morning’s hurricane forecast is worse for Florida, but better for us.  So much better for us, that it looks like it is going to be a non-event here.

Here are the choices that we have as a storm approaches.  We can head out to sea and run away from the storm.  We can find a marina and tie down.  We can find a “hurricane hole” and anchor.  We could also have the boat taken out of the water, and stored ashore. There is no one choice good for all situations.

Running away is typically what larger, faster boat and ships do.  In the open ocean it is about the only choice you have. Forecasts these days are good enough to make it a valid choice in many cases.  On the east coast of North America, it often is not a great idea for slower boats (like us!).  The problem is, you can’t go west, there is land in the way!  Your only option is to head east, crossing in front of the storm.  Most storms at some point in their lives, as the meteorologists say, “recurve”.  That is to say they head off to the east.  Predicting if, when, and how much, storms curve back to the east is not the most refined art.  It is quite possible that just as you head out to the east to avoid the storm, it tacks off in the same direction, and you are worse off than when you started.  An even worse idea is to count on the curve to the east, and run down the coast.  if the storm tracks farther west than expected, suddenly you are pinched between the coast and the storm.  A bad place to be, and one that has cost several large vessels and many lives.

Marinas can be a good place if they are well protected, well built, the storm isn’t too bad, and they let you stay.  The Annapolis Yacht Basin, where we are now, meets those requirements. They told us we could stay in anything up to a forecast direct hit by a Category 4 hurricane.  The superyachts have been told they have to clear out if winds of 70 knots are forecast.  The pilings and docks aren’t up to the load they put on them.

Other than a good marina, if you find a small enclosed bay with a firm, but not hard bottom, that is the best place to hide.  With suitable anchor and other attachments, the biggest hazards are other boats, and flying debris. I think the debris is the most under-appreciated hazard in a major storm.  Imagine someone shooting coconuts at your boat at 100 mph.  If you are out of the waves, it’s a lot easier to keep an anchor stuck to the bottom.  Some of the most valuable hurricane holes have “soft edges.”  So if, in a worst case scenario, you were driven ashore there is soft and flexible brush to land on, not hard rocks or tree trunks.

Taking the boat out of the water is generally more of a long term solution if you were leaving a boat alone in a storm prone area.  If the boat can be stored high enough that it is about a storm surge of water, and it well tied down, it is likely to be as safe as it can be.