Pulling up anchor

For as much fun as anchoring can be, there is a dark, smelly and dirty side.

To start with, the rule of thumb in how much scope to put out (scope is meant in this case chain or rope you set out) is 5-7 ft of chain for every one foot of depth. Our depth at the North Pungo River was 10-12 ft so the rule would imply that we deploy 70-84ft of chain plus the height from the water line to the anchor roller on the bow which adds an additional 8ft.

For us the chain acts as a safety measure. In the event the anchor breaks free the weight of the chain will pull down on the flukes and reset......We typically deploy about 110-120 ft of chain as an additional safety measure. As an aside we put out snubber lines. These are 2 ropes that attach with a connector to the chain on one end and then tie off to the boat through 2 hauser holes port & starboard. The reason to do this is to transfer the stress of the chain to the snubbers and off the anchor windlass. The windlass is not built to take the pressure of the chain snapping when the wind blows or when currents tug. Snubbers act then as load transfer shock absorbers. For completeness we have a large Rocna anchor, which is 121lbs. Our windlass is upgraded to vertical Maxwwell 4000 with a band brake, which is hydraulically powered.

So..the dark and dirty side you ask? Pulling it all up and hosing it off as it comes aboard after sitting in the muck. The north Pungo River has great holding, in that our anchor buries itself into the bottom and does not budge. But it is black, smelly, oozy mud.

We set up a hose on the bow and pull in 5-8 feet of chain at a time, hosing it off as we go and trying to stay out of the smelly spatter from the spray, while at the same time being aware of where the boat is and what the wind and current conditions are doing to the doing to the boat.

We control the windlass with a wired remote control and Jeannie and I wear wireless headsets. One of us is on the flybridge controlling the boat and the other is on the bow with the windlass controller in one hand and a hose in the other.
So how does this play out in real time?

He says: Ok I am going to start, you hear the sound of the windlass and hose
She says: ok do I need to do anything?
He says: damn this stuff stinks and is like black Elmer's glue, move the bow to the starboard a bit
She says okee dokee
He says: move the bow to the port....er I mean starboard, wow this stuff is a mess.
She says: nothing, being the smart lady she is
She says: you have 90 more feet to go and starts giving a 5 ft count down
He says: yuk this &^#(%@ stuff is &^^%$# awful

You get the picture.

The good Life at Coinjock NC

 Coinjock NC is just one of those places. It is ideally situated from Portsmouth Va by 50 statute miles. Given bridgeslocks and slow speeds, it is a very common first stop south along the ICW. It is really no more than a wide place in the water, but we do like it. Side ties, good service and a great restaurant, What more is there? Talking with the dock master, they have been full for several weeks and the day we were there was no different. We were sandwiched in between two 90 footers. The dock had all sorts of boats from the really large with multiple crew members to some you have to wonder if they will float for much longer. The mood is generally upbeat and friendly as folks mix it up in the dock, wash the boats  take on fuel and generally ruminate about worldly issues such as the weather, tides and each other. All in all my kinda of place.  We always see such an assortment of boats that leave Norfolk & Portsmouth that will soon spread out, but for the moment, all still scrunched together. We hailed this fellow on the marine radio to coordinate us passing them ( they are going 6 kts, we are going 8.5 kts, we are quite the speed demon). As we are going by Jeannie hails them to let them know we think their boat is pretty and would like to take a picture, the crusty captain calls back and says go ahead but let him pull his zipper up first. You really cannot make this stuff up.

We love fresh wild caught shrimp so it is always fun when we start seeing the shrimping fleet. This ole girl we saw last year.

 Our next destination is an anchorage at the end of the  Alligator-Pungo Canal, in the north Pungo River. A quiet and serene place with good holding and protection from the wind from all directions except maybe the south. We dropped our anchor in 12 feet of water and put out 110 ft of chain and deployed our snubbers. Then we had a great dinner, fine drinks and enjoyed  the solitude.

 There were 5 other boats in and around the area as you can see a few here. There are no lights from cities or homes, just marshes and woods.

This night we had a full moon which gave the place a special feel. Ahhhhh!!

And they are off

This is the boating snow bird season and, like in the past, this fall does not disappoint. Many many boats are headed south and the flock is certainly raring to go.

 This is the official start point. The ICW begins at red marker 36; mile zero. There are 5 bridges and one lock which, with the exception of one bridge, will open either on the hour or half hour. The typical start time is to be at the first bridge for the first opening: 8:30am (closed during rush hour) opening and plan on traveling in a group from bridge to bridge.  There were 6 motor boats and 6 sail boats in the group we traveled with. A group behind us had 18 boats.

 Norfolk and Portsmouth are quite industrial and support both large commercial shipping and the US Navy, quite the sight.

 Near our home on Indian Creek in Kilmarnock Va, there is a grain silo for shipping the local farming crops, mostly soy beans and field corn. It is a common sight to see tugs and barges coming in empty and leaving full. This is where they go. If you look closely you can see a Purdue logo and two barges

 The Great Bridge Lock is always so interesting. We have gone through it with commercial vessels but today it was all pleasure craft. Normally we like to tie up on the starboard side because it has rubber side rails, the port side is just  cement walls. With the crowd on this day the lock staff put us on the port/cement wall side. We put fenders out and went through without an issue.

 Here is the starboard view

 Here is a beautiful old wooden boat most likely a Trumpy. I think these are such classics and would love to own one but the upkeep is never ending.

 Here are a few shots of the demo of our  faithful, yet sadly, Old dock. Multiple pilings were rotted and the whole thing was in bad shape. 

It was an interesting process to watch and while an unplanned improvement we are thrilled with the new one.
















We headed out this am at first light. It was cloudy and overcast so we were a bit late departing. We had the current and tide in our favor so we made excellent time traveling on average 9.5kts. Tonight we are in Tidewater Yacht marina in Portsmouth Va ( http://www.tyamarina.com/ ). We are on the T-head of F dock so an easy departure tomorrow am. We will travel to Coinjock NC passing through many bridges and the Great Bridge Lock. You can check out this u-tube  video of the lock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRyu54m6qt4

Tomorrow our trip to bridges, locks and Coinjock NC

Where has the summer gone

Where has the summer gone, I mean really.

It was only yesterday we had arrived home in Kilmarnock Va with a big list of things that needed to be done. Now we are talking of heading south again next week. The summer days seemed to melt one day into the next. It was certainly hot enough, now it is pleasant and comfortable. It seemed we had no real hard deadlines and plenty of time to do things and now we are working to get things ready, while it is  great, it is mentally jarring!

Backing up and putting events into perspective we had a wonderful summer. It was H-O-T and humid, maybe I am getting older but it seemed to be worse than normal. Since Katie and Max announced their engagement and the wedding to be in our back yard, it was a call to action. So for 6 weeks early in the morning, Jeannie and I were out in the yard planting, hoeing and in general working to make things perfect. But boy what a drought, half the time was spent keeping plants alive. All in all we did ok but it was a lot of good healthy work.

We became member of the Virginia Yacht Club ( http://sites.google.com/site/vayachtclub/ ) which is a fun group in the Chesapeake Bay cruising club. We had a blast and met a lot of new friends and traveled a bit in the bay in-between home chores.

Our plans have changed a bit this year. We had originally planned to travel to the Bahamas but scaled that back  because of the wedding and our youngest son, Johnny is in his Sr year of college and is an acting major at Washington and Lee University. We wanted to be within reasonable striking distance for  performances and to work at home when needed on the house/yard. So we decided to winter in Charleston SC. Not terribly warm in the winter but not too bad and a way cool city. It is one of our favorites. 

Now the summer is over. We had thought we would head south in mid November after a number of family commitments were over and we voted in early November. Jeannie noticed that we have a brief 2 week calendar break starting next week and why not head out sooner get the boat to some place further down the waterway and travel in warmer weather. The Charleston City Marina ( http://www.charlestoncitymarina.com/  ) has a winter special with reduced rates and is in the center of town. We will be there for four months starting in December. We decided to travel to Isle of Palms for the month of November( http://www.iop.net/Community/IOPMarina.aspx )  To do this there is a bunch of things that needed to be sorted out.

Prior to leaving we went into hyper drive to complete a number of home projects. We have had erosion along part of our shore line so after many months of permitting approvals we rip rapped 154' along the south facing shore. Our big unplanned (ouch) project was to replace our dock. The old one was 23 yrs old and the pilings were so bad that it  was becoming dangerous. So out with the old and in with the new. This time we added tide slides ( http://www.tideslide.com/indexr.htm ) to help manage the tide surges with various storms.


So as the yard work completed we have departed south today on Tuesday October 19th and hope to arrive in Isle of Palms Sc on the 26th.
Pictures and notes to follow. Check out our track on the SPOT link