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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.

Like every other person on the water along the east coast, we have been watching the forecasts for Hurricane Matthew. This mornings forecast looks like it was designed by an evil genius to cause as much trouble for as many people as possible.  Every one of the islands in the Bahamas, the coast of Florida, South and North Carolina…  Ouch.  Hopefully the forecasts are wrong!

Here, we don’t have too much to worry about.  We checked with the marina, and they allow boats to stay unless there is a direct hit forecast for a Category 4 storm or stronger, which doesn’t look like it’s in the cards for this storm.  I have great empathy for the management of this huge boat show.  Even a distant passing of a storm could be a real problem.  The downtown area of Annapolis is regularly subject to minor flooding.  The day we arrived, the wind had been blowing from the “wrong” direction for several days, combined with a high tide left the streets that where the boat show tents were being set up under a lot of water.

Looking across the road, then a parking lot (where the tent is), then across the harbor. Saltwater everywhere!

In a few days, this is where the main tent for the boat show will be. Hopefully drier by then!

We get to see all kinds of boats out on the water.  Here is one from the other day, a small (90 feet) US Navy boat called “Stiletto”.  It is a new stealth ship used for coastal patrols.  It has been a test platform for the last several years, and is supposed to be coming into full service soon.  Supposedly capable of “over 60 knots”, here she is doing “only” about 30…

The US Navy’s “Stiletto”.

A rainy day’s sail has us in downtown Annapolis.  We’ll be here for about two weeks while we explore the local area, next week’s big boat show, and get some repairs and upgrades done to Harmonie.  Hopefully the next couple of days will have me reporting some progress on those projects!

We certainly feel like the poor kids on the dock here… sandwiched in between 130 foot superyachts that literally tower over us.  The slip they put us in is 160 feet long, they are going to put a 70 footer behind us!

It’s nice to have showers, laundry, restaurants, and shopping just a short hop from the dock.  We also have some people to see!

Time: 11:30 local
Lat: 38º 54.7’N
Log: 76º 30.6 W
Selby Cove, Mayo, Maryland

We thought we were far back and out of the way.  It was a small bay with room for a few boats to anchor, no marked channel.  When we first arrived, there was one boat there, and we tucked in, feeling like the two of us pretty much filled the space.

Tuesday evening a large catamaran comes in and drops anchor in between the two of us–way closer than I figured was prudent.  If the wind changed, there wasn’t room to swing without hitting other boats.  Since the general run is “First in–Last out”  I figured that if things threatened to get too close at 2AM it would be on them to haul up and move.  Fortunately, nobody bumped anybody else and it was a quiet night.  Until we got our wake up call in the morning…

“HONK!”  A big boat horn very close by jumps us out of bed.  A look out the window shows the bow of a tug boat right THERE.  The crew was polite, explaining that they needed to move a barge out of the back of the harbor, and we needed to up anchor and get out of the way.  As quickly as I can move in the morning BC (Before Coffee) we had the boat out of their way.

Since our plans were to more further north, and we were already under way, our first thought was to just keep going.  We poked our nose out in the bay, where the wind was blowing 20 knots and I realized that we really weren’t really ready to go yet, so turned around and went bay in the harbor and anchored to take the time we needed to really get the boat ready.  While we prepped, the skies opened and and a biblical class downpour deposited about 3 inches of rain in the next 90 minutes.

We eventually had a delightful sail up the bay almost the whole way on a beam reach at speeds of 8 to 9 knots.  We anchored by the last light in Selby Cove.  An anchorage recommended in the cruising guide.  It was windy and stormy, but we got the anchor set, went to bed, and quickly to sleep.

“What’s that noise?”  It’s the anchor alarm, the app on my phone that lets us know if we have drifted from where we are supposed to be.  It’s midnight, and raining, and blowing like stink.  For the first time ever using this type of anchor, we actually have dragged.  Not too far, but we obviously are not in the same place we were before.  Getting the anchor up and reset in the dark with the wind blowing hard isn’t quite as easy as it is in the middle of a peaceful afternoon, but we managed.  We motored back and reset the anchor, this time with a scope of 10:1, just to be sure.  It’s morning, and we are still here in the same spot, so that worked!  Now we are going to move to a more protected spot since the weather is supposed to be rough for the next couple of days.

We are now just around the corner from Annapolis.  We have reservations at a downtown marina in a few days.  We haven’t been at a dock since we left New Jersey.  We are looking forward to showers with unlimited water, and a hose where we can wash 6 weeks worth of dirt off the boat!

Time: 18:45 local
Lat: 38º 20.2’N
Log: 76º 27.6 W
Solomons Island, Maryland

Everybody who has a boat in or near saltwater has at one time or another done battle with seagulls. Seagulls like nothing better than to sit on boats.  Seagulls also consider all the world a bathroom, and boats are no exception.

Boatowners will try ANYTHING to chase the evil white devils away.  I have not seen anything that works all the time–until now!

What you need to chase away seagulls is: a pet bald eagle.  Hey, I didn’t say I had an EASY solution!  When the local eagles soar over the harbor, the seagulls go into a panic and scatter to the four winds.  I guess at least once in a while the eagles consider gulls a tasty lunchtime snack.

Our anchorage for today is quite different than yesterday.  Yesterday we were in an undeveloped cove, quiet and away from almost all signs of civilization.  Today we are in a busy recreational harbor with the shoreline completely ringed by marinas, hotels, and condos.  It’s nice, just in a very different way.

We came in well after dark, feeling our way slowly through the crowded harbor with radar, and searchlight.  More than a bit nerve-racking.   But we got the anchor down in a good comfortable spot.

While Karen took advantage of our civilized location to hike to the grocery store to replenish our stores, I did some routine maintenance on the boat.  Exciting things, like changing oil and zincs in the genset, and cleaning the seachest.

Time: 21:30 local
Lat: 38º 7.4’N
Log: 76º 24.1 W
St. Inigoes, Maryland

Another day, another beautiful anchorage.  Just up the Potomac River from where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay, we are in a tiny tributary called Smith Creek.  Bald eagle nests, wooded shorelines, protected and secure, it is another delightful place. It is hard to believe that we are just few dozen miles from Washington, D.C.

One of the great things about traveling here by boat is that it is a very, very “boat oriented” place.  In the tiny town of Reedville where we were yesterday, there are at least three restaurants that have their own docks you can pull up to. I think that about equals the total number of places like that in all of San Francisco Bay.  This is repeated in every town on the water here.  Eating lunch at one of them we discovered that when the Cruising Guide Book describes an eatery as one that “should not be missed,” he might not be be referring to the quality of the food…

The Crazy Crab, one of three water front restaurants in Reedville, VA with dockside access for dinning. 

Speaking of food… while exploring in the dinghy we came across this delightful family scene of mom sharing a lunch with her offspring.  Black vultures, and a long dead fish…

An adult Black Vulture with a dead fish…

Mom shares with Junior…

Finally, here is a contrast between two businesses that couldn’t be more different in scale, even though they sell the basically same product.

First, is Omega Protein, Inc.  This is the reason that Reedville lands more pounds of fish that any other port on the east coast.  Over a dozen ocean going boats over 150 feet long harvest menhaden by the hundreds of TONS.

Omega Protein, fishing fleet and processing plant.

On the other end, is this local business who’s name I don’t know.  Local watermen would pull up in their 20 foot skiffs loaded literally knee deep with menhaden caught in the bay.  A vacuum system sucks the fish into the plant, where they are boxed, and frozen as bait for the local crab fleet.

Sucking up the day’s catch. In the door on the right you can see the fish landing in the boxes headed for the freezer.

Time: 18:20 local
Lat: 37 50N
Log: 76 16 W
Reedville, VA

Two short hops have brought us further up the Chesapeake Bay to the delightful anchorage in the town of Reedville, VA on Cockrell Creek.  Karen’s description of a town that looks like a movie set is exactly right.  A very strange mix of industrial and just plain pretty, with everything just exactly as it should be.

Reedville is the home to one of the largest menhaden fishing fleets on the east coast, and to the processing plant that takes in the catch.  (To my father: Yes, it smells as bad as you remember when you are downwind!)

For those of you who may not be familiar, the menhaden is a large herring that swims in schools by the millions in this part of the Atlantic Ocean. In various localities it goes by other names, mossbunker, pogy, or bunker.   It is processed into fish oil, dried fish meal for animal feed, and various other industrial products.  It is not considered edible by any human I have met.  Makes great bait to catch better tasting fish and crabs, however!

At least from the water, the town looks just beautiful.  Bald eagles, ospreys, kingfishers, terns, and (of course) seagulls all fly along the water front.  It’s pretty enough that we are going to spend tomorrow here and walk around a bit.

We had a minor issue with the boat yesterday while sailing.  A key part in the electric furler for the jib sail shattered, preventing the electric motor from turning the foil to roll up the sail.  Fortunately, Amel thought of something like this when they built the boat, and installed a system so the sail can be furled manually.  It’s not convenient, but it works.  The broken piece is a very simple part, easy to have fabricated locally.  Something to do when we get to Annapolis!

The world of nature is strange…  by way of example is bioluminescent plankton.  If you aren’t familiar, many types of small (tiny) critters that live in the ocean glow with a green light when they are disturbed.  It is a very dim light, dim enough that it can be overwhelmed even by the light of a full moon, and far too dim to show up on any normal photography.  But in very dark conditions, it can be spectacular to see.  The wake behind a boat can be a glowing green trail, truly an amazing experience the first time you see it.  As far as I know, there is no good, generally accepted scientific explanation for WHY this happens, although the chemistry of HOW it happens is understood.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay, the water is rich with nutrients, and the amount of plankton is large, so the amount of green glow can be dramatic.

In the last few days Karen has discovered some new ways to experience this phenomenon. In a light rain shower, she noticed that every time a raindrop hit the water, a glowing green spot resulted.  This was interspaced by the trails left by the fish swimming around the boat.  Fun to watch.  The second discovery, was a bit more surprising.

Our toilets flush with salt water.  Imagine for a moment, you arise in the middle of the night to use the toilet.  Of course you are considerate of your sleeping boat mates, so you do not turn on a light.  As you go to flush the toilet, the incoming water fills the bowl with brilliant glowing green streaks and swirls.  What would YOU think if you hadn’t expected such  a strange sight?  I wonder what she will think the first time she flushes and a small fish is sucked into the bowl?

Today we took the opportunity to up anchor for a bit, drive over to the local marina and fill our water and fuel tanks, and empty our holding tank.  We took on about 150 gallons of diesel fuel, the first time we have filled the tank since we were in South Florida in March.  Our total tank capacity is 268 gallons.  We’ll be heading further up the bay tomorrow, forecasts are for a nice day with a good sailing breeze.