After two days, however, it was time to leave. I had an appointment with the folks at Ocean Marine Yacht Center for bottom paint. No, not for me, for the boat! I scheduled an 8:30 a.m. haul out so I left Waterside at around 7:45. This gave me plenty of time. When I got over there, however, I called and they told me I could tie up on the long face dock and wait because they were using the travel lift to move another boat in the yard. No problem. They had someone meet me out on the dock to help. It was pretty breezy and it would have been very cumbersome to try to dock this boat by myself, especially with the wind blowing me away from the dock and the river current working against me as well. I did not have to wait more than half an hour before they called me and told me to make my way over to the lift. Ocean Marine Yacht Center has the ability to lift boats in excess of 200 feet out of the water and place them in a huge warehouse. They do this on a special platform that drops down into the river more than 40 feet. Prior to lowering this platform, however, there are a series of small steel platforms that move on rails that are fitted with the makings of a wooden cradle on which the boat will be secured before being lifted out of the water. This process involves divers and a lot of pre-planning by both the yard and the boat’s owner. While I did not get to witness such a lift take place, it was interesting taking a look at the hardware involved and listening to Steve, the yard manager, describe the process.
To lift our little boat out of the water, however, all I had
to do was drive the boat into this narrow opening in the sea wall and into the
waiting slings. The operator was in the
crane watching and waiting until the boat was in the right spot, then he would
lift the front slings which basically stopped the boat where he wanted it. Then he could adjust the position of the rear
sling to where he wanted that one to be.
Ultimately, with a little nudging here and a little nudging there, the
boat was properly supported and was lifted up out of the water with me in it. The operator stops when the bow of the boat
is even with the yard, and another guy puts a ramp across to the front of my
boat so I could get off. Pretty slick
operation if I do say so myself.
Fortunately, I am no expert given I spend so little time in boat
yards. Then, they temporarily block the
boat on a concrete pad and pressure wash the bottom. Having sat in the Pasquatank River for a
year, Abreojos’s bottom was stained black.
There were no critters attached nor any obnoxious plant life
either. The prop, shaft and rudder all
looked to be in fine condition, al beit stained black. However, the nasty tanic blackness of the
Pasquatank River was no match for two yard hogs and a pressure washer. Within minutes, all that nasty stain was just
about completely removed and I could see the underlying paint my friends at
Anchors Way Boat Yard in Oxnard put on in January of 2010. I was very impressed with how well that paint
job held up over the last three and a half years and almost 10,000 miles in
everything from Atlantic ocean water to Mississippi River drainage canals, the
Great Lakes, and the Gulf. The paint had
really been tried and tested and held up wonderfully. I could have probably held off another year,
but given that the price was so reasonable in Virginia compared to California,
I decided to get it done. I’m sure it
will last a long time.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at
it, due to OSHA rules, OMYC would not let me stay on the boat while it was in
the yard. So, I took a room at the
Renaissance Hotel in downtown Portsmouth.
It was very nice and it was AIR CONDITIONED! It was hot the last three days in
Portsmouth. And it was humid. It takes some time to acclimate. This was not like “out in the country” hot
and humid. This was “in the
city/concrete jungle” hot and humid, which I can tell you is a whole different
kind of miserable. Brenda and I explored
Portsmouth the first time we passed through this neck of the woods so I was not
necessarily compelled to go running around trying to figure this place
out. I was content to merely remain in
my room where it was nice and cool and enjoy the pool. I managed to read a couple books and
otherwise relaxed.
Last year, Brenda and I spent three months working at a
marina in Deltaville. We made a lot of
great friends. I told you about my
friend Jerry who was kind enough to go out of his way to fetch me at Norfolk
Airport and deliver me to Abreojos.
Well, while in Portsmouth, my friend Robert visited. Robert and I worked together at the marina
and had many opportunities to fine tune what can only be described as a very
special friendship. Imagine landing in a
place and meeting someone with whom getting along is effortless and with whom
interesting and often intriguing conversation is so simple and readily
available. I figure the chances of
landing in a strange place and leaving a few months later with a lifelong
friend are not real strong. But it
happened. We met others in Deltaville
who will be lifelong friends and it’s a shame I did not get to see more of them
while passing through. But again, I am
just passing through. I’m sure some of our paths will cross again somewhere,
somehow, sometime.
So, this morning, just as the sun was starting to come up, I
fired up the engine and started heading north.
It was a great ride out of Norfolk.
I had an outgoing tide and saw speeds of 10.3 knots using very little
throttle. The sunrise was beautiful and
then, it’s always exciting to be heading out onto the Chesapeake Bay. Those wonderful and effortless speeds were
short-lived, however, and as soon as I turned left and started north on the
bay, I slowed down dramatically. I was
fighting the tide until almost 4:00 in the afternoon as I approached the mouth
of the Great Wicomico River. The wind
had picked up as well and was certainly blowing the better part of 15-20
knots. But, it was behind me so no big
deal. I’m anchored for the night at a
place called Sandy Point on the Great Wicomico River. This place provides great protection from the
southerly winds but is a bit “rolly” since the wind chop is blowing in around
the corner. The wind will settle down
with the sun, however, and I’m confident
I will be able to make myself a nice dinner and catch a movie and turn
in early. I am going to push another 70+
miles tomorrow in similar conditions to pick up my friend Brian who is flying
in from California to Baltimore and then to Annapolis, to make some of this
trip with me. Brian is an excellent
waterman so I’m sure he’ll fall right into the routine of east coast cruising
which I understand is something he is not familiar with. This will be especially true when we get up
onto the Hudson River and into the Erie Canal.
Call me strange, but every time I think of the Erie Canal,
it reminds me of a spooky/eerie joke my friend Dave posted the other day: What did the ghost say to the honey
bees? Booo Bees! Ah ha ha ha!
I’ll leave you with that and catch up some more soon.
Out
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