Away at Last

We left Maine with both relief and dismay. We had not done the sailing we so wanted to and Maine is such a wonderful place that we were upset that we may never have the opportunity again. We also were become very attached to the people we had met and it felt almost like leaving home. Everyone had been so friendly and the guys at Lyman Morse especially so.

We had a really great journey down to the Cape Cod canal (other than the fact we were freezing at night and sat with 6 layers of clothing and under a blanket!) arriving there so early that we took advantage of the fair tide to travel on to Block Island. After a good nights sleep, we headed on down Long Island Sound. Unfortunately, the wind turned against us and after a day of banging into waves and making only slow headway we decided to find an anchorage for the night and continue in the morning. The following day still hadn't a good wind but it had lessened and the waves weren't so bad. We continued on down the Sound and were looking at our entry into the East River when we realised that we couldn't make any sense of the instructions in the pilot book. It was badly written on that particular point so we couldn't work out the necessary time for our decent down the river which we needed to do with the tide. After phoning a few friends, one was able to give us good advice (Thanks, Bill) and we went down the river perfectly. It was really interesting going down past big houses before passing the airport and moving into industrial areas before getting to Manhattan. At that point, we were just 2 more tourists pointing out the more notable sights like the Empire State and Chrysler Building. At the mouth of the river, we were presented with a great view of the Statue of Liberty before turning up the Hudson toward the anchorage. About an hour later we were secure and able to relax and plan out what we were going to do.

As we were pretty tired, we had the next day off so just stayed on the boat and relaxed. The following morning, we dropped the dingy and fixed the engine only to find the Chapter Two jinx had struck again! Our fuel was full of water and this stopped the engine as we headed to the landing place. Given the 2 -3 knots of current, we had to row to direct our dingy into the landing with just one chance to get it right. Once there, efforts to sort out the motor failed and as we had to wait for a turn in the tide, we decided to head on into New York. We strolled across Central Park and eventually to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had a nice time there before heading off to meet some friends, Mark and Liesbet, met in the Caribbean who also happened to be in New York. We had a lovely time catching up with them but had to call a halt too early as we had to catch the tide to get back to the boat. As it was, we left it almost too late and by the time we had rowed the mile or so back, the current had started to turn so we were very glad to make it onto the boat.

We then had to decide what to do. New York wasn't the easiest place to try to get the motor fixed but without it, getting to and from shore was a big effort with a risk that we might not get to the place we wanted too. Having listened to the weather forecast, it was clear that southerly winds from Hurricane Igor would make sailing south impossible for a week. So, we decided to leave next day and hurry down to the Delaware.

We caught a fair tide down the Hudson and had a wonderful passage past the lady with the torch. Once past the Narrows, we had a bit of negative tide as far as Sandy Hook but having turned south, we seemed to have a favourable current which stayed with us all the way to the Delaware. As seems to be common, there was little wind and we motored through the night arriving at the Delaware in the early morning as the sun rose. It was a calm day so we opted for the inside passage round Cape May that cut some miles off our trip. We had a long hot trip up the Delaware and arrived at our overnight anchorage just as the sun set. As the entry was narrow, about 20 feet, and the current strong, it was a challenging end to the trip. Still, we snuggled the boat down and went to sleep ourselves.

The morning was grey and the wind blowing hard. This gave us some nasty wind against tide waves and again, the exit was as challenging as the previous day's entry. Once out we headed for the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, about 3 miles away. Once inside that, it was a calm and easy trip to the Chesapeake. We anchored in the Sassafras River in what is one of the most peaceful and beautiful spots we have reached in the voyage so far. A very relaxing evening with a modest amount of alcohol sent us to bed very happy!!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay another day as we would have liked as the wind was forecast to change to a bad direction for our trip so we reluctantly set sail again. We headed to Annapolis, and picked up a mooring buoy in the harbour. We stayed there a few days and sorted out some sail repair issues and tried to get the outboard motor fixed. We also had a pleasant wander around the town although we did not visit the naval college. After getting the motor back - working but still not quite right - we headed down South river to stay with OCC port officer Westbook Murphy at whose dock we currently are. Thanks to his help we have had a couple of interesting and tiring days in Washington.

The first day we visited the Air and Space museum where we saw everything from space shuttles to Lindbergs 'Spirit of St Louis'. Then we walked around the major monuments, Linclon, Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt, and the 2nd WW memorial. The second day we spent the morning at the Arlington cemetery, had a lovely lunch in the national gallery and then walked around the gallery until our legs gave way.

When we got back to the boat we had a lovely meal of fresh shrimp with Westbrook and his wife Cindy and fellow OCC members Wolfgang and Gemma. Tonight Westbrook is cooking crab for us which Mike is really looking forward to and then tomorrow we continue our trip to Deltaville where we are leaving the boat for our trip home.

Stuck in Maine

We finished the planned repairs in 2 weeks. This included having 2 of the sails repaired, getting the generator working and having the rigging checked. We also replaced the house battery bank. Just before we planned to leave the black water holding tank was pumped out which was the first time it has been pumped. A few days later we noticed a leak in the bottom of the bilge and had to wait for it to be checked.

It was the Rockland boat show over the weekend so we went and had a look around the lovely wooden boats. They were mostly motor boats but there were a few nice sailing boats.

When the holding tank was checked it was found to have a leak in the bottom and a lot of corrosion. The only way to get to the tank was to cut the floor open and remove it. So we moved off the boat into one of the yard cottages and emptied our cabin. The boat was lifted, the wooden floor was cut up and then the grp. The tank had to be cut out as it was partly under the bed. It had 4 different holes in it and was also corroded around one of the hoses connections. It has been replaced with a much smaller plastic tank to avoid having to cut our bed and to keep costs down. Unfortunately, changing the tank has also meant having to replace all the hoses and the connectors.

While the work was being done we hired a car to see Maine from the land as we will not get to see much of it by sea now. Our first day out to Portsmouth the rain was torrential all day. When we got back the dinghy had filled with water and the weight had bent the pushpit and the davits. We have had to remove the davits and have them straightened and strengthened and the pushit has been cut and replaced. More cost and time!

The GRP part of the floor was replaced Friday and will hopefully be completed next week. We should also have the davits put back Tuesday before Bill who is doing the work leaves to go sailing for 6 months!

Everyone at the yard has been very friendly. Drew the manager and owners son took us sailing last weekend on his boat which was lovely as Maine has been having a heat wave. Temperatures have been in the 90's all week and we have actually taken the blankets off the bed!

We have been watching hurricane Earl all week which has been threatening the east coast. We removed everything off the boat, sails, spray hood, bimini, etc and have been tied down with boulders with a lorry parked at the side of us for protection. Fortunately the storm has gone off shore and we have had nothing more than heavy rain over night.

We are hoping to leave Thomaston in the next week and will be heading directly to NY and then the Cheseapeake. We are running out of time as we have to be in Deltaville by 1 October to sort out a few projects before we fly home from Washington on 6 October.

PS Still here as the work has taken longer than expected and it looks like we will not leave until 12th September