Small Craft Warning in Effect

Serena, honey, when they say small craft warning in effect, they are talking about us right? No dear, I think they mean canoes and kayaks, small fishing boats, stuff like that. (I hope!!)

Well, so much for the perfect weather window to move from Portsmouth to New York. It looked good on paper before we left, but it shut down rather abruptly, and left us with a pretty rough ride for about 35 hours. At one point we heard a Mayday on the radio, a man in a much larger ketch had rolled, dis-masted and was apparently taking on water. By the time I figured it out, the Coast Guard was on their way to pick him up. We were 7 miles off the New Jersey coast, and about ½ a mile away from the boat in distress. The good news is that the man and his cat were saved. The bad news is that NOAA was recommending that all small vessels seek shelter immediately. Definitely not a Christelle Day, and not really a Rob and Serena kind of day either. However, my buddy Larry would be in seventh heaven! Below is the link to the Coast Guard article. The man did contact them on the VHF, because I heard the conversation. Whether or not he called them on a cell phone, I don't know. Its good to see that they saved the boat though. 

http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-assists-man-cat-from-disabled-sailboat-off-toms-river-nj/2014/04/11/

Wow, its been so long. There wasn't really much going on, and then all of a sudden there was so much that I wasn't sure I would be able to get it into one blog entry.

We left off in Elizabeth City, NC. We love this place. The people here are so friendly. But its not just here, its all of North Carolina. They just seem to be so welcoming. Free docks, rides, and a conscious effort to improve the experience for transient boaters. It’s a hard place to leave. While we were at the visitors center in the Dismal Swamp, I asked the lady how long we were allowed to stay on the free dock. The one lady said there wasn't any official time limit, and the other lady said, “until your dead”. So apparently as long as there is one living person on the boat, you can stay. Now that's welcoming, wouldn't you say?

We stayed three days in Elizabeth City. Officially we’re only allowed to stay two days, but Gus said we could stay much longer. A sentiment echoed by the Mayor when I talked to him Friday night. This time of year the water front isn't that busy, so they weren't all that concerned. I like common sense rules, enforced only when it makes sense. Staying that extra day meant we got to go on the first Art Walk of the year. We had an absolute blast the last time we did the art walk in November, with our friends from, Anthyllide, Sea Angel, and Northstar. This time we were alone, but the locals embraced us all the more. It was great, free food, free beer and wine, good conversations, good people, and great art. It was somewhat lacking in the antique furniture this time, but we came across a bed and breakfast that we missed last time. They were showing the works of a couple of local artists, but they were beyond friendly, welcoming, and generally interested in us as Canadians and boaters, it was great. By the time we left there we had offers to use peoples docks, stay with people, and there were hugs all around. I felt like I was leaving after a family thanksgiving. I almost felt guilty for leaving too early.

Art Walk over, loaded with food and water, we said our goodbyes to Gus, (the local self appointed boater host), and headed out the next morning. 

It was a warm spring day up the river to the Dismal Swamp, and the locals were all out enjoying the sunshine.

We are starting to see a lot of Canadian Geese. Maybe they know something we don't?

Nature, always Awwhhh.

Even when man cuts a canal through it, it remains beautiful.

Our first lock of the season. We were only the third boat to arrive in Elizabeth City this year, the first Canadian. The first Canadian through the lock and the first Canadian at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center. I wonder if we get some sort of prize for that, or just strange looks, of, why aren't you still in the Islands?

The locks only open 4 times per day, so if your early, you wait.

The Dismal Swamp Visitors center has bikes you can borrow to ride down the nice trail into town. It was a blast. 

We stopped at the lock during our ride, and the lockmaster showed us how the bridge worked as he locked through another sailor headed north. We enjoyed sundowners that evening with him on Vita. But this bridge was circa "old", with the backup still running under a small gas engine from like 1923. Really neat.

Vita at the Dismal Visitors dock. We love this almost as much as Elizabeth City, maybe more, its just so quiet, peaceful, and welcoming.

We took a little walk through the park while we were there. Nice area, but it was wet and raining. We did get a real kick out of the signs. This is a policy that we will strictly adhere to, hopefully. We are not big tick fans.

Tuesday morning I woke up, check the internet for news, with the free wifi, provided by the Visitors Center, see, welcoming. Anyway, I noticed that the weather man had changed his tune and there was a nice weather window opening up for us to get to New York. So we said our good byes to the wonderful ladies working at the center, untied Vita, and headed for Portsmouth. It was a nice quick trip up to the Portsmouth free dock. We got a pump out, and had plenty of time to get to the Commodore for dinner and a movie. Awesome.

How do you know you are in Norfolk Virginia, the skyline changes to this.

We love the Commodore. The food isn't particularly good, and the movie selection is so-so, but the experience makes it worth it. We watched Noah with Russel Crowe this time. Much better than Captain Phillips from our October experience.

The following day we topped up the diesel. Serena made up some food so we wouldn't have to cook too much on the passage. And, we took the afternoon off to nap, as we intended to leave at midnight, ensuring that we would arrive in Nyack, New Jersey before dark on the 3rd day. Well, by 6:00 everything was ready, so said what the hey, just means we'll have to go through New York Harbor in the dark. Piece of cake.

Leaving the channel, this container ship followed us out until it passed us. These things are really big when they are running next to you in the channel. Really, really big.

Bye bye Norfolk.

So, blow by blow. We ended up with no wind at all for the first 20 hours, then we motor sailed for 4 hours before there was enough wind to shut off the engine. Serena was feeling ill by then, so I let her stay in her bunk while Ray(the autopilot) and I sailed the boat for 12 hours in some pretty nasty stuff. But we were making good time. When the sun came up, I reefed down the sails a bit and turned the motor on. It was too windy for Ray to be able to handle the boat with a good sail set, and with a aft wind the boat was not balancing well. More importantly though, Serena wasn't in any shape to hand steer for a few hours while I got some sleep. She was quite the trooper for holding a watch at all, so I just made the boat easier for her to handle.

I had intended to wake her at 6:00 am, because I was starting to have a problem staying awake, but I decided to let her sleep until the sun came up. At 6:02 a hole about 10 feet deep opened up behind Vita, and the stern dropped into it like falling off a cliff, only to be instantly launched straight up in the air on the biggest wave I have ever seen in my life. She was pointed straight down into the hole she just fell into, and start to slide sideways along the face of the wave. I just had enough time to disengage the friction lock on the autopilot and drive the helm the other direction steering into the skid. The wave slipped underneath us, followed by two more very large waves before things settled back to normal. It was the most intense moment I have ever had sailing. If I hadn't of got a hold of the helm as quickly as I did, the boat may have broached, likely rolled, and probably took the mast off. It took awhile for my nerves to calm down before I went and woke Serena. The whole incident was just a little too spooky for my poor heart. I was loath to leave her in her condition, alone in the cockpit while I went below, but I couldn't stay awake forever. Besides that, from everything I've read, a wave like that comes along very seldom. 

In the afternoon I managed to get the alternator belt tensioned, which didn't do anything. The alternator stopped working after the first few hours of the trip. Thank god for solar panels to charge the batteries. I topped up the fuel tank from our jerry jugs, and got a few more hours of sailing in before I needed to take another nap. I knew it was going to be a long night, finishing up the New Jersey coast, and transiting New York harbor. So I set the boat up for easy handling again, so that Serena wouldn't have to work too hard. Bad enough that she was still feeding the fishes every 30 minutes or so. But she hadn't eaten in 2 days because nothing would stay down.

When I woke up and took over again, the winds had died a little, but the sea state again was treacherous. I left the boat set up the way it was and it remained that way until I dropped the sails in New York. But shortly after 5:00 I heard a distress call on the radio, as I mentioned at the start of the blog. I could see the boat from where I was, and it was getting beat to crap pounding into the waves and wind. After the rescue by the coast guard I listened to NOAA weather radio, and they were calling for outrageous winds and waves for the area we were in. So, the weather is deteriorating, a much larger boat just got wrecked next to us, and we had nowhere to go except New York, still 7 hours away. Not to mention that the wave direction could have made the entrance to the harbor impassible. To say we were a little concerned would be an understatement, but over the next 5 hours the winds abated completely, and the waves started to lay down. When we entered New York Harbor at 2:00 am, the weather was calm, and the skies were clear. A near perfect ending to a rather exhausting trip.

This was the sunrise after the first night. We were about 12 nautical miles off the Virginia coast, and the next piece of land in that direction, is Europe. What amazing colours!!

I again went to bed after sunup, and Serena made the run up the Hudson River to Terry Town, New York, where we stopped in and filled up on diesel. Upon leaving to cross the river to the Nyack Boat Club, we were pulled over by the local police. We have been stopped twice in our entire lives, both in the same spot, Nyack, New Jersey. Customs pays the local police to do their work here, and I get the impression that they get paid for every boat they pull over. So if your travelling through here, and you have a foreign flag, you'll get to meet them. They are very friendly, and Serena got pictures of them this time for the blog.

Man cops get nice boats.

So now we are in the Nyack Boat Club. They aren't even open for the season yet, but one of the members allowed us the use of his mooring ball, as his boat wasn't ready for the water yet. Another member took us to get propane, and everyone here has been so damn friendly that we are feeling guilty for staying. Unfortunately the weather has gone from bad to horrible, and we are stuck here for a couple more days to wait out another front. I just hope we do not overstay our welcome. This place is awesome. It reminds us a lot of our own self-help club back in Trenton.

So we'll sit here a little longer, then make our way to Casleton Boat Club where we will take our mast down. I called yesterday, and one of the members, said yeah, come on up, you can help me put mine up, and I'll help you take yours down. Must be the spring weather. Everyone we've met recently has just been so damn happy; gotta love it. Then on to Waterford, NY to wait for the Erie canal to open. Home is only 10 travel days away, but it'll take about three weeks, if all goes well.

Vita back to one six.