Getting Caught Up
After trying to post the previous entry using our Iridium satellite phone and having the email application repeatedly die, it wasn't clear that we had sent anything at all. As it turns out, the email did get sent, and my trustworthy son, Erik, posted the entry. We didn't know that, though, until we next had internet access, 4 days later, so we didn't post any more updates from our longest passage to date.
Strange that nobody seemed to care that we were underway from Palm Beach, posted one update, and then went silent for a week. For all anybody knew we could have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle!
Anyway, picking up where we left off, we continued our very uneventful sail up the coast from West Palm Beach toward North Carolina. Things were so uneventful and the weather so benign we continued sailing and motor-sailing Sunday and Monday, right around Cape Hatteras (the ship graveyard of the Atlantic) and into the Chesapeake Bay. We finally dropped the anchor Monday evening off Sandy Point in the Great Wicomico River, where we'd anchored 2 years previously on our way south through the Chesapeake. We managed to travel 763 miles non-stop over 4 days and 5 hours. More importantly, nothing broke!
About 5 minutes after we anchored, we had a thunderstorm wallop us! Winds gusting to 40 knots and torrential rain, with lightning and thunder to match. But we were well-anchored and felt quite safe and serene, other than some nervousness about how close the lightning was getting. The storm passed and we slept well that evening, after standing 4 hours on, 4 hours off watches for 4 days.
Tuesday we motored to Solomons, MD for the Hylas owners get-together. We had 3 lovely days meeting new friends and decompressing from our long passage. We toured 2 other Hylas 46's, a Hylas 54, and a Hylas 70. Interesting to see other folks' boats, particularly boats that aren't lived aboard 24 hours a day, boats that probably have professional cleaning regularly. Amazing how much more room there is in a 54, only 8 feet longer than our boat, and absolutely astounding how much room there is in a 70! The 70 even had a full-time captain and cook.
Friday we left Solomons and motored (not much wind on the Chesapeake and what there is has been contrary - as usual, right on our nose!) to Annapolis. We'll investigate getting our genoa refurbished here, as well as possibly get the bottom paint re-done and some dings in the bow attended to. We also need to get a handhold on the dinghy repaired that we severed when leaving the dock in Nassau.
Just one other tidbit. We met some other cruisers in a Hylas 49 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and learned that they were fearsome fish killers. They gave all credit to a magic lure purchased at a boat show. Given our lousy record fishing (several strikes, but only managed to pull in 2 barracuda, both of whom were released), I was willing to try anything. I ordered one of these magic lures and it was delivered while we were in Lake Worth. I put it out right after leaving Lake Worth and damned if we didn't get a strike about an hour later! We landed a very nice 5 lb. Little Tunny. Now if you take what I've spent on fishing gear and divide by the 3 or so lbs of meat we ended up with, you'll find that fish cost way more than the most expensive Bluefin Tuna in the Tokyo fish market. Still, it was reassuring to finally land something! We didn't do any more fishing on the passage north, but have great hopes for the future.
Strange that nobody seemed to care that we were underway from Palm Beach, posted one update, and then went silent for a week. For all anybody knew we could have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle!
Anyway, picking up where we left off, we continued our very uneventful sail up the coast from West Palm Beach toward North Carolina. Things were so uneventful and the weather so benign we continued sailing and motor-sailing Sunday and Monday, right around Cape Hatteras (the ship graveyard of the Atlantic) and into the Chesapeake Bay. We finally dropped the anchor Monday evening off Sandy Point in the Great Wicomico River, where we'd anchored 2 years previously on our way south through the Chesapeake. We managed to travel 763 miles non-stop over 4 days and 5 hours. More importantly, nothing broke!
About 5 minutes after we anchored, we had a thunderstorm wallop us! Winds gusting to 40 knots and torrential rain, with lightning and thunder to match. But we were well-anchored and felt quite safe and serene, other than some nervousness about how close the lightning was getting. The storm passed and we slept well that evening, after standing 4 hours on, 4 hours off watches for 4 days.
Tuesday we motored to Solomons, MD for the Hylas owners get-together. We had 3 lovely days meeting new friends and decompressing from our long passage. We toured 2 other Hylas 46's, a Hylas 54, and a Hylas 70. Interesting to see other folks' boats, particularly boats that aren't lived aboard 24 hours a day, boats that probably have professional cleaning regularly. Amazing how much more room there is in a 54, only 8 feet longer than our boat, and absolutely astounding how much room there is in a 70! The 70 even had a full-time captain and cook.
Friday we left Solomons and motored (not much wind on the Chesapeake and what there is has been contrary - as usual, right on our nose!) to Annapolis. We'll investigate getting our genoa refurbished here, as well as possibly get the bottom paint re-done and some dings in the bow attended to. We also need to get a handhold on the dinghy repaired that we severed when leaving the dock in Nassau.
Just one other tidbit. We met some other cruisers in a Hylas 49 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and learned that they were fearsome fish killers. They gave all credit to a magic lure purchased at a boat show. Given our lousy record fishing (several strikes, but only managed to pull in 2 barracuda, both of whom were released), I was willing to try anything. I ordered one of these magic lures and it was delivered while we were in Lake Worth. I put it out right after leaving Lake Worth and damned if we didn't get a strike about an hour later! We landed a very nice 5 lb. Little Tunny. Now if you take what I've spent on fishing gear and divide by the 3 or so lbs of meat we ended up with, you'll find that fish cost way more than the most expensive Bluefin Tuna in the Tokyo fish market. Still, it was reassuring to finally land something! We didn't do any more fishing on the passage north, but have great hopes for the future.
posted by Ken at
1:13 PM |
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