TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Cast off the lines and got underway… at promptly 1115.  We didn’t get to the boat until about 0930, but then we realized that we forgot the salad and chili that Laura had slaved over the night before, so we sent her back home to get it.  In the mean time, we got our propane tank filled-up and the galley sink unclogged.  Barnacles had grown over the thru-hull fitting.

Two hours after leaving NOB, we found ouselves passing under the James River Bridge.  It’s a lift bridge, but clears 60’ when down.  Not a problem for us.

As we left the marina, we found ourselves side-by-side with USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65), an old friend of mine.  She was being towed over to Newport News for overhaul at the speed of approx 4.5 knots.  Luckily we were making 5.0 under power, which after an hour along her starboard side, allowed us to cross her bow right in front of Newport News.  After that we raised the sails and enjoyed 12-15 knots of wind.  We even ran wing-and-wing for awhile, with Laura professionally tending to the jib sheet. 

The approach to Pagan Creek was directly upwind, so we had to lower the sails and motor in.

One of  Laura contingencies for this weekend was for me to allow for some triathlon training time.  So, just up the river from the marina we dropped the hook and watched Laura swim laps in her wetsuit for thirty minutes.  Only two boats went by, but I’m positive they thought we were nuts.  The water was a surprisingly warm 69 degrees, three degrees warmer than Hampton Roads.

The Google satellite photo is a little old, it doesn’t show the new dock where we tied-up.  We had a delicous boatmade dinner and then enjoyed some hand dipped ice cream in one of the marina’s many store fronts.

I thought the dockage fee was pretty steep at $2/ft, but the docks are new and nice, and the staff is very friendly.  They were understaffed and no one was there to help us tie-up, but Randy later came down to check on us while we were making dinner.  Just prior to his arrival we had discovered there was no cork screw to go with our two bottles of wine, and we asked him if there was somewhere to buy one.  He reappeared momentarily with a cork screw complimets of the marina, and rightfully admonised us for not having one on the boat.    

Got undwerway around 0730, much to the displeasure of the girls.  The is a part of Pagan Creek called "Bob Shoal" that looked like it might be tricky at low tide (1052), so I wanted to get past it with at least half tide.  We tried to anchor at the mouth of Pagan Creek but the wind was blowing 15-20 and I was uncomfortable with the ride.  So, we hauled it in and motored up into Jones Creek where we were sheltered from the SSW wind.  We scrambled some eggs and watched an egret wade around the mud by the marsh.

As we unfurled the sails at the mouth of Pagan Creek, the wind was 20-25 out of the west.  I only let the sails out halfway, but that was still too much.  We reefed in some more and beat downwind at 5.5 knots with only 1/3 of the canvas out!  After passing under the James RIver Bridge again, the wind was out of the SW 20-25 and blowing across a 2 mile fetch.  The water right in front of Newport News was a confused mess, and it was cruishing our boat speed.  I decided to bring in the sails and motor straight into the wind.

Motoring into the wind, we found Batten Bay and Chuckatuck creek right on the bow.  Laura consulted our cruising guide, and it basically said "don’t waste your time going up this creek unless you just like to explore."  Well… they turned out to be right.  Batten Bay is really pretty, but there isn’t a lot of deep water.  We just wanted to get out of the wind and make lunch!  No such luck.  The SW wind was HOWLING under the bridge, and there just wasn’t any place good to anchor.  So… Laura warmed-up some chili while I motored us back out towards the James.

Back in deeper water, we shut off the motor and locked down the helm to eat lunch.  Without any sails out we were making 3 knots downwind!

The cold front finally caught us, winds 25+ and blowing rain.  The girls were below working on a puzzle while we surfed downwind.  As we approached the Monitor-Merrimack Bridge Tunnel…

(ASIDE: Merrimack?  Really?  Would Monitor-Virginia Bridge Tunnel have been just too confusing for the folks of Hampton Roads?  Revisionist history.  I’ve never been one to say the south will rise again, but I do believe in naval tradition, and the commissioned name of that warship was CSS Virginia.)

 So at the place of the famous Ironclad battle there now lies a bridge-tunnel which creates a deep channel and water funnel over the tunnel.  Today it was 2 billion cubic feet of water moving at about 2 knots versus a 25 knot wind.  This made for 4-5 foot rollers and some slow going for us.  The boat plowed through with a little dutch roll, but you most certainly would not want to be below decks working on a puzzle.

The waypoint marks where Gwyneth lost her lunch.  She was fine after that though.