The service was quite a production. That night we joined some friends from college who even put together some stockings for us so we could join in with their family! Thanks Matt and Shannon!
Opening Stockings
Christmas day we enjoyed a nice walk along the waterfront before joining James and Robin and friends aboard S/V Sarita Sea for homemade gumbo and New Orleans boudin.
Celebrating Christmas with FriendsTrying Boudin
A very nice Christmas here in Florida. Without the snow it didn’t really feel like Christmas until the day’s festivities. But still I’m thankful for the season and to celebrate Christ’s birth.
Sara and I returned from our trip to the Great White North. (More on that later.) We were relieved to find that Hiraerth had survived Hurricane Irma without a single scratch inside or out. The next two weeks were a whirlwind as we recommissioned systems, addressed an issue with our head, reconnected with old friends and met new people on the docks.
Slow Sail toward the Skyway Bridge
We departed on a cold, cloudy day with a light north wind. We weren’t in a hurry so we pulled out only the jib and sailed down to the Manatee River where we anchored with some of our new friends Chasseur and Luf-fin Place. That night we enjoyed games and each others company as we got to know each other.
Chasseur
The next day we all dinghied to shore and walked to the lookout tower in Emerson Point Preserve. It was a fun walk and a great view. Then we all turned our bows to Longboat. On the bay we had pretty light winds and were again sailing downwind. I poled out the jib and was making 3 knots wing-on-wing. Finally we turned into the ICW and motored the rest of the way.
That night we went to the beach and enjoyed twilight. It was beautiful.
Twilight at Longboat BeachLuf-fin Place
Saturday we parted ways. Luf-fin Place headed back to the Marina, Chasseur stayed at anchor and explored Longboat. Sara and I headed out to the Gulf and sailed up to the mouth of Tampa Bay. Then we motored the rest of the way up to Pinellas Point for our last night at anchor.
Sailing Up the Gulf
The next day with wind and swell on the nose we trudged back up to the Marina ourselves. Next up, working and more boat projects!
We got into Beaufort on Tuesday the 8th of November. We were pretty tired but excited to see some new friends we made on the way down. Santa Mojo and her crew is another Alberg 30 from Canada. We first saw them in Portsmouth and were really excited because they have the same boat. Soon we were anchoring together and sharing meals. Santa Mojo’s captain is Sabastien with crew Gabrielle and Philippe. They are preparing to go coastal from Beaufort to Charleston and we are trying to decide whether we’ll go out ourselves. The ICW has proved to be more taxing than we anticipated on account of the channels shoaling and choppy sailing in the inland rivers and sounds.
We started from Portsmouth, VA on the 3rd of November. Our destination was Blackwater Creek and on this stretch we went through our first lock. Great Bridge Lock was very easy, I think we only locked down about a foot. Very easy and Sara even threw some Halloween candy at the lock tender!
Great Bridge Lock
That night on Blackwater Creek after dinner with the Canadians we woke up at 4:00 am to our anchor alarm. Sure enough we were dragging. I attempted to reset the anchor with no success so we started the engine, lifted the anchor and before we could escape the shore we were blown into the bank bow first! In the chaos we ended up driving ourselves further ashore by trying to motor off. I ended up rowing out a kedge anchor and trying to pull ourselves out to no avail. By this time it was closer to 5:00 am and we decided to let it be until sunrise. When we could finally see we heeled the boat over by putting Sara in the dinghy, attaching the main halyard to the dinghy, and hoisting her up a bit. That wasn’t enough heel so our Sabastien and Philippe came over and hung on my boom. That did the trick! I was on the winch hauling the anchor rode in and as they were on the boom we popped free and I pulled us off the bank! It felt pretty hairy in the middle of the night but it was so satisfying to have pulled ourselves off without calling anyone for assistance. After that adventure we rafted up with Santa Mojo and enjoyed a pancake breakfast with them before heading out for the day. Thank you Santa Mojo and crew!
Now that we’ve been in Beaufort I’ve changed our oil and the fuel filter. I’ve filled up our water tank, refilled our diesel and outboard fuel. We’ve been burning some oil over the last week so I need to figure out where I’ve leaking but for now we’re in good shape!
We’re finally starting the trip down the coast. We left the Magothy on the 20th of October and today we pulled into Hampton River, just a hop skip and a jump from the start of the ICW.
We’ve had quite the adventure getting here already, I can’t imagine what’s in store for us the rest of the way down. I look at the distance we’ve covered and it seems pretty remarkable, this little boat has taken us all this way. It was really neat south of the Potomac to realize that we’d crossed into Virginia, the first time we’d crossed a state line in Hiraeth.
We’re already missing our friends from the Annapolis area, but we know that we’ll be back some day. We got to visit my sister while in the Newport News area. She joined us for the trip from Chisman Creek to Hampton River. It was great to see her and to have her aboard!
We’ve just returned from the Alberg 30 Fall Cruise. We had some amazing weather and were able to sail most of the cruise. When we started we had twelve boats on Hopkins Creek. I think eight of them were Albergs. Here’s a map of our cruise, By the time we finished the GPS started overlapping with the start of the log so I don’t have our first day and part of the second but you’ll get the idea.
Since the wind was so cooperative we got to do a lot of sailing. Here’s Sara at the helm on a tack up the Bay. She look comfortable in her slippers!
Sara tacking north up the Chesapeake Bay
Here’s one of me as we’re going down to Knapps Narrows.
Down to Knapps Narrows
One of the exciting things about this trip was a race from the mouth of the down to Knapps Narrows. It was so exciting to participate in a race on Hiraeth for the first time! We has a great start but about half an hour into the race I heard a ping, looked behind me and sure enough our dinghy had slipped off the painter carabiner again! Well I didn’t want to be disqualified from the race so we contacted the “race committee” and informed them of our issue. Loretta and Cabot of Gendarme who were coming up behind us managed to snag the dinghy with a boat hook as we were turning around to go back. They met us and released the dinghy allowing us to practice our man overboard maneuver. We finally managed to get the dinghy and tie it back up, this time with a line rather than the carabiner. We started back on our way and somehow still managed to come in fourth out of five boats!
This weekend we went out for the 2016 Commodore’s Cruise. Sara wasn’t here so I soloed to Eagles Cove behind Gibson Island here on the Magothy following Mike and Trish on Gilleleje. It was about an hour and a half of motoring with 5 knots of wind right on my nose. Really the hardest part is still getting into and out of the slip.
When we got to Eagles Cove three other boats already there and rafted up. Mike and Trish went in first and tied up on the right side of the group and then I cam in after them. Mike helped me tie up and explained the importance of the spring lines. By then other boats were coming in and I went over to help them tie up as well.
Once we were all situated the socializing started. Our Commodore broke out the champagne, gave a toast and officially started happy hour! Dinner was light and late on account of all the snacks consumed but was delicious and I’d say the company and ambiance made it even sweeter.
Masts and FlagsDinner on Gilleleje
The next morning I woke, made some coffee and enjoyed the peaceful morning before breakfast.
Morning Coffee
At about 1000 one of the guys brought out a television and managed to get the Olympics! I kept chatting with others and finally around noon Mike, Trish and I untied from the raft and headed back to Mill Creek.
Last Saturday we went to Bay Ridge and enjoyed an afternoon with the rest of the Albergers. There was a flea market with some interesting gear, we picked up a set of signal flags and books. Good deals to be had!
The guys on the grill made some excellent chicken and hotdogs.
Cooking the Chicken
Rene is training a service dog. Looks like rough work to me!
Service Dog Training
Next we finally finished scraping the bottom of the boat. It’s taken forever partly because of the rain which has been limiting the work we’ve been able to accomplish.
Kicking Back and Looking Cute
We’ve started the sanding now. Getting down to the gelcoat is exciting and the boat is looking naked!
After Sanding
We did find an issue with our rudder and we’re still trying to figure out how to deal with it. The leading edge has a crack that runs most of the way down.
This weekend we crewed for Jonathan Adams on Laughing Gull (hull #197) in the Annapolis NOOD Regatta. It was exciting for Sara and I as it was the first time we got to sail an Alberg 30. There were three days of sailing with light winds on Friday and Saturday. The wind picked up on Sunday but came with rain so the whole weekend was a bit challenging.
Preparing to race!
We learned to put up a spinnaker under pressure and then fly it. Then to jibe with a spinnaker, I still need to think through that procedure. In addition to the frequent and multiple tacks it was fantastic to get used to sailing heeled hard over.
Overall Laughing Gull came in third out of six boats. Congrats to the winners and to all the competitors involved!
We hosted some people for the first time this weekend. We got to see Terri of TS Photo Creations (and co-worker from Nxtbook.) Also Steve and Fletch who helped us install shelves in the v-berth.
It was good to see friends, share our new home and explore the boat yard with them. Thanks for coming!
So many important things have been happening this season. First we’ve become more involved in the Chesapeake Bay Alberg 30 Association which is a group made up of current and former owners of the Alberg 30. They’re a very active association cruising together on the weekends and participating in the Wednesday night races during the summer. In the winter there is the Annual Dinner and seminars on the weekends of February.
Sara and I joined the Association in October soon after we purchased Rose Anne. We didn’t really know what to expect but decided to attend the Annual Dinner in January at the Historic Kent Manor Inn. We arrived on the beautiful property and found the event being held in a large glass enclosed garden house behind the inn.
We felt a bit under dressed but the rest of the members made us feel very welcome and as the dinner and meeting progressed it became obvious that the people there were caring and fun loving people. After dinner the Commodore initiated the meeting starting with various business items for the coming year. The new officers for 2016 were introduced and then awards were given out.
We sat at a table with three other families, one of them is also starting a blog to document maintenance and repairs that he’s doing on his Alberg, Laughing Gull (hull #197.)
We attended the Cruising and Maintenance seminars in February. There was lots of planning for the upcoming summer and even an idea to float a couple Albergs down the ICW in a bid to get to the Bahamas or Cuba! During the maintenance seminar we learned about insulating the ice box and a couple other neat ideas like a deck wash down system made with a bilge pump. After each of these seminars we joined the group at a local house for an after party. This gave us so much opportunity to continue meeting members, learn about their lives and also get more ideas about how to handle our own adventure going forward.
Speaking of our adventure, I officially gave my notice at work. My last day will be the 1st of April (poor timing I know, but it’s not a joke!) One of the things Sara and I have been realizing is that our life is short. It would be easy to stay in our comfortable house with a steady job and few risks but what would I accomplish in a comfortable life? Nxtbook Media has been good to us for the past eight years and it will be sad to move on. But by putting a new challenge in front of us it’ll give us the opportunity to live life more fully, experience new people and places and to test ourselves.
Let’s talk about diesel training! In early March I attended Diesel Basics and Diesel Level II at Annapolis School of Seamanship. I learned tons and got my hands very dirty! It’s pretty difficult to get that diesel smell out of your hands and cloths! I learned the basic theory of diesel combustion, we went over troubleshooting failure to turn over and start. Common problems in the cooling system and the fuel system. I got to work on a Yanmar 3GM30, which is great because it’s the big brother to our little 2GM20. I also got some advise about our fuel and tank which has been sitting for about five years. I’m going to have to get it cleaned out, anybody know a good tank cleaning service near the upper bay area?
