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.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The good Life at Coinjock NC
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.
Monday, October 25, 2010
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 is the starboard view
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Fernadina Beach to Charleston
Our arrival in Fernandina Beach from Daytona was uneventful. The USCG was broadcasting a warning about shoaling at the intersection of the ICW and Mantazas inlet with depths at low tide of 3.5'. If true then that was a real problem depending on our timing of the tides. We were fortunate that we arrived at this point at a few hrs before high tide and went through without an issue. In fact we had no less than 7' below our keel. There was a lot of chatter on the marine radio about the depths with boats who had gone through relaying information back to those who had yet to transit the inlet intersection. A sail boat by the name of Trinity gave us his advice which was helpful. Nice guy.
Our original plan was to stay for 2 days at the city marina in Fernandina Beach, rest, eat and catch up on chores. But we changed our mind when Jeannie found a diesel fuel company that would fill us up for about $.35/g less than anything else we had seen and would let us dock for a very modest charge. So we changed our plans and went to the fuel dock. Nice guy, helped a lot and ended up not charging us for the dockage. What a super deal this was. However, in this area the tides are a real issue, averaging 6.5-7'. These docks, unlike the city docks (which are floating), were fixed. The challenges were tieing the boat so as the tide changes, the lines were not too tight nor too loose. Getting off the boat at low or high tide was quite a challenge. In some ways it was easier to get off the boat deck. Jeannie was locked on the boat at certain times of the cycle.
Looking at the weather we felt we had a small window of opportunity to go offshore. The forecast was calling for 2-3' seas for the next 36 hrs and then a tropical low was forming and sea conditions would deteriorate significantly. With that information in hand we decided to make the run to Charleston SC., bypassing the Georgia ICW entirely. The issue with the Georgia ICW is several areas which are not passable at low tide. The biggest single problem is the Mud River which has a 7' tidal range and would be at low tide mid day & unpasseable. Ugh. Just would not work. So with a good short term forecast and complicated options for an inside run we made the call to go outside.
Our logistical issues were timing the passage to arrive in Charleston at a good arrival time. It is about a 20 hr run at our typical speed and 24hrs at a slightly slower but more fuel efficient speed. We wanted to arrive in Charleston in the early morning about 8-9pm. That means we would need to leave by lunch. There is always a but......lunch time departure would require us to leave at low tide. I mean a really low tide. From the side deck of the boat you were looking "up" 6' to the bottom of the dock. Just no way to get on and off safely to undo the lines and power cable. Leaving at 8ish was a more practical solution for an easy departure and that is what we opted to do. That meant slowing our speed over ground to time our arrival. If we went our typical speed we would arrive at 4am. We left and set our route and speed at 6.5-7kts. Slow but very fuel efficient.
The trip north went well. Our only complexities occurred about 25nm offshore in the early morning off the inlet near Savannah Ga. We encountered, around 2am, 5 cargo vessels all coming and going into or out of the port from different direction and a line of unpredicted thunderstorms were popping up all around us. We are fortunate and have an AIS system which picks up ships' name speed course and other data and displays it on our chart plotter. While the visibility at 2am had much to be desired, we could track each vessel's course and stay well away from them. All commercial ships over a certain size are required to have AIS capability and it is optional in pleasure craft. We opted for a system that transmits our information as well as receives; the cargo ships could track our course and speed and compared to these big ships we are just a tiny thing on the waters, so it is good to be seen on their chart plotters as well. We ended up zigging around dodging cargo ships and thunderstorms which added some distance and some time but it was the safest way to proceed.
We arrived in Charleston Harbor at 7:30am and worked our way up the Ashley River to the Mega Docks City Marina. These docks are better protected from waves than other marinas we have found and have really great support services for boaters. A bit more expensive than the other ones too.
Boy are the docks crowded. The weather has forced everyone in and sitting tight until the fronts pass in a few days. There are some really big boats here in the 120+ft range, all with crews running around in uniforms cleaning and polishing. Meanwhile I am in my ratty tee shirt, flip flops and ball cap....but what the heck I like my look and it has taken years to perfect it. I mean after all I have swatted lots of flies with my ball cap and it is quite comfortable & broken in.
We are here for 3 days unless the weather says otherwise and here is what we want to do;
Sleep and get caught up on our rest from the overnight run
Make a pass at some of the finer restaurants, we like to eat lunch out (cheaper) and a light dinner on board. Charleston has the best shrimp and grits by far! OMG
I have decided to switch our navigation software from Nobeltec to MaxSea. Lots of reasons but the nut of it is Nobeltec has been problematic since it was first installed a year ago and I have done just about everything to work out the bugs to no avail. It will crash on me at the most inopportune times more so if I use some of the common features such as tracking. So out of total frustration I am making the switch. MaxSea is a cool technology that has a lot of interesting features. I installed it yesterday and will work on it again today to become familiar with it and will start actively using it tomorrow. Should be fun.
We plan on heading out tomorrow am for Georgetown SC via the ICW, still too rough off shore.
We have a bit over 400sm miles to go until we are back in Kilmarnock and should visit some interesting places along the way.
Our original plan was to stay for 2 days at the city marina in Fernandina Beach, rest, eat and catch up on chores. But we changed our mind when Jeannie found a diesel fuel company that would fill us up for about $.35/g less than anything else we had seen and would let us dock for a very modest charge. So we changed our plans and went to the fuel dock. Nice guy, helped a lot and ended up not charging us for the dockage. What a super deal this was. However, in this area the tides are a real issue, averaging 6.5-7'. These docks, unlike the city docks (which are floating), were fixed. The challenges were tieing the boat so as the tide changes, the lines were not too tight nor too loose. Getting off the boat at low or high tide was quite a challenge. In some ways it was easier to get off the boat deck. Jeannie was locked on the boat at certain times of the cycle.
Looking at the weather we felt we had a small window of opportunity to go offshore. The forecast was calling for 2-3' seas for the next 36 hrs and then a tropical low was forming and sea conditions would deteriorate significantly. With that information in hand we decided to make the run to Charleston SC., bypassing the Georgia ICW entirely. The issue with the Georgia ICW is several areas which are not passable at low tide. The biggest single problem is the Mud River which has a 7' tidal range and would be at low tide mid day & unpasseable. Ugh. Just would not work. So with a good short term forecast and complicated options for an inside run we made the call to go outside.
Our logistical issues were timing the passage to arrive in Charleston at a good arrival time. It is about a 20 hr run at our typical speed and 24hrs at a slightly slower but more fuel efficient speed. We wanted to arrive in Charleston in the early morning about 8-9pm. That means we would need to leave by lunch. There is always a but......lunch time departure would require us to leave at low tide. I mean a really low tide. From the side deck of the boat you were looking "up" 6' to the bottom of the dock. Just no way to get on and off safely to undo the lines and power cable. Leaving at 8ish was a more practical solution for an easy departure and that is what we opted to do. That meant slowing our speed over ground to time our arrival. If we went our typical speed we would arrive at 4am. We left and set our route and speed at 6.5-7kts. Slow but very fuel efficient.
The trip north went well. Our only complexities occurred about 25nm offshore in the early morning off the inlet near Savannah Ga. We encountered, around 2am, 5 cargo vessels all coming and going into or out of the port from different direction and a line of unpredicted thunderstorms were popping up all around us. We are fortunate and have an AIS system which picks up ships' name speed course and other data and displays it on our chart plotter. While the visibility at 2am had much to be desired, we could track each vessel's course and stay well away from them. All commercial ships over a certain size are required to have AIS capability and it is optional in pleasure craft. We opted for a system that transmits our information as well as receives; the cargo ships could track our course and speed and compared to these big ships we are just a tiny thing on the waters, so it is good to be seen on their chart plotters as well. We ended up zigging around dodging cargo ships and thunderstorms which added some distance and some time but it was the safest way to proceed.
We arrived in Charleston Harbor at 7:30am and worked our way up the Ashley River to the Mega Docks City Marina. These docks are better protected from waves than other marinas we have found and have really great support services for boaters. A bit more expensive than the other ones too.
Boy are the docks crowded. The weather has forced everyone in and sitting tight until the fronts pass in a few days. There are some really big boats here in the 120+ft range, all with crews running around in uniforms cleaning and polishing. Meanwhile I am in my ratty tee shirt, flip flops and ball cap....but what the heck I like my look and it has taken years to perfect it. I mean after all I have swatted lots of flies with my ball cap and it is quite comfortable & broken in.
We are here for 3 days unless the weather says otherwise and here is what we want to do;
Sleep and get caught up on our rest from the overnight run
Make a pass at some of the finer restaurants, we like to eat lunch out (cheaper) and a light dinner on board. Charleston has the best shrimp and grits by far! OMG
I have decided to switch our navigation software from Nobeltec to MaxSea. Lots of reasons but the nut of it is Nobeltec has been problematic since it was first installed a year ago and I have done just about everything to work out the bugs to no avail. It will crash on me at the most inopportune times more so if I use some of the common features such as tracking. So out of total frustration I am making the switch. MaxSea is a cool technology that has a lot of interesting features. I installed it yesterday and will work on it again today to become familiar with it and will start actively using it tomorrow. Should be fun.
We plan on heading out tomorrow am for Georgetown SC via the ICW, still too rough off shore.
We have a bit over 400sm miles to go until we are back in Kilmarnock and should visit some interesting places along the way.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
St. Augustine
We arrived in the St Augustine area this afternoon. So far we have traveled 393 nautical miles or 452 statute miles. The weather has been spectacular with comfortable temps and reasonable humidity for Fla. It always amazes me that on the boat we think of travel in a different scale than by by car or plane. In boating we do short daily hops of 50-70nm for the most part with an occasional overnight offshore.
As we travel closer to northern Fla the tides and currents change and become more pronounced. This morning we heard a Coast Guard advisory regarding Ft Mantanzas inlet and shoaling. They recommended avoiding this area at low tide with water depths of 3-4 ft, holytamole!
We crossed the inlet 2 hours before high tide and found two things. First the USCG had moved the green markers further to the west and the most problematic area near green 81 we had over 10' of water. For the majority of the time we had greater than 14'. So, after some angsting, everything worked out just fine.
Our next task was fueling and we ( ok, actually Jeannie) found a place in Fernandina Beach Fla., where the cost is close to 33 cents less than other areas and they will let us tie up to the dock for a fraction of the cost of other areas. Tomorrow we will be at our last stop in Fla. Sunday appears to be a good weather window and we will do a brief offshore stopping in Brunswick Ga. Afterwards the weather deteriorates a bit so we will travel north via the ICW and hope to be in Charleston by Thursday?? Looking forward to some very good eats.
As an aside we have left the love bugs behind us, thankfully. A few here and there are one thing, but a swarm is quite another. Took me a few hours yesterday to clean up the mess.
As we travel closer to northern Fla the tides and currents change and become more pronounced. This morning we heard a Coast Guard advisory regarding Ft Mantanzas inlet and shoaling. They recommended avoiding this area at low tide with water depths of 3-4 ft, holytamole!
We crossed the inlet 2 hours before high tide and found two things. First the USCG had moved the green markers further to the west and the most problematic area near green 81 we had over 10' of water. For the majority of the time we had greater than 14'. So, after some angsting, everything worked out just fine.
Our next task was fueling and we ( ok, actually Jeannie) found a place in Fernandina Beach Fla., where the cost is close to 33 cents less than other areas and they will let us tie up to the dock for a fraction of the cost of other areas. Tomorrow we will be at our last stop in Fla. Sunday appears to be a good weather window and we will do a brief offshore stopping in Brunswick Ga. Afterwards the weather deteriorates a bit so we will travel north via the ICW and hope to be in Charleston by Thursday?? Looking forward to some very good eats.
As an aside we have left the love bugs behind us, thankfully. A few here and there are one thing, but a swarm is quite another. Took me a few hours yesterday to clean up the mess.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Cocco Fla
We left Stuart on Tuesday and, after an overnight in Vero Beach, we are comfortably in Cocoa Fla near Cape Canaveral. Shame we were not here for last weeks' shuttle launch. We did see it from the Lake Okeechobee Waterway but it was less dramatic than had we been this close. Our trip so far has been uneventful with the exception of swarms of Lovebugs.
Lovebugs live for a year as larvae and each year at this time they morph, grow wings and take flight. Their main purpose is to reproduce by attaching to each others abdomen . The male dies shortly thereafter and the female lays her eggs which hatch in about two weeks. She then dies. We have been the unfortunate (as were others) of thousands of the lusting bugs. It has been a real challenge. They were all over everything outside making quite a mess. Hopefully this will end soon and we can walk around with out as much trouble.
Tomorrow we are off again for Daytona. We had considered an outside run from Canaveral to locations north but the weather window is closing and the wind direction will change to the N/NE with increasing waves. It looks more likely that an inside run to Fernandina in the most likely and will reconsider an offshore run then.
Lovebugs live for a year as larvae and each year at this time they morph, grow wings and take flight. Their main purpose is to reproduce by attaching to each others abdomen . The male dies shortly thereafter and the female lays her eggs which hatch in about two weeks. She then dies. We have been the unfortunate (as were others) of thousands of the lusting bugs. It has been a real challenge. They were all over everything outside making quite a mess. Hopefully this will end soon and we can walk around with out as much trouble.
Tomorrow we are off again for Daytona. We had considered an outside run from Canaveral to locations north but the weather window is closing and the wind direction will change to the N/NE with increasing waves. It looks more likely that an inside run to Fernandina in the most likely and will reconsider an offshore run then.
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