Sunday, April 13, 2003

We got about 4.5 miles from the lighthouse, about halving our previous closest approach; round trip sailing was about 6 hours. Although we woke up at 6:30 we still only arrived at the boat about 10:30. It was a nice try anyway. We had no trouble at all setting up to go, had a smooth departure, terrific sail, easy return, docked without so much as one real awkward moment. We were exhausted afterward.

We could see the lighthouse pretty well when we got out there, but as we approached it the wind veered to a southeast headwind that we fought for about an hour. We could have made it but finally turned around after judging that we needed to start back in time for work tomorrow. The trip back was quite pleasant. All day the wind was mostly from the east, tides were pretty much with us both ways, temperatures around 60, water calm; it was a perfect day for sailing. We saw very few other sailboats out there all day, which was suspicious, but other than that and the hundreds of crab pots it was almost too perfect. You’re probably falling asleep reading this, there’s no story here, so here’s just some items of note for future reference.

• The VHF handheld was getting some distinct interference from the depth finder. (The depth finder is also showing some moisture inside the screen, which is another worry.) This should be a consideration when installing the new radio. I was thinking about putting the antenna on the transom, but the literature in the box the radio came in says that people are not to be within three feet of the antenna while transmitting, another important consideration, so I am being led irresistibly up the mast for a likely place to continue reinventing this particular wheel. Our masthead is not suitable for this. Maybe the spreaders.
• I was using a little GPS device for all of my navigation, which is how I came to know distances to and from things like the lighthouse. It was really slick, but I am fairly comfortable with using a compass and think that I would have done pretty well with just that. Finding the entrance to the North river while coming back would have been the only tricky part, and that seems to be just a matter of heading northwest in the bay until you have to turn either north or west, and the marker is right there at the entrance. With practice I think I could even navigate Mobjack bay without a compass. In conclusion, I think I want a fancier GPS.
• While bringing down the sails, I needed to abandon the tiller for a while to untangle some lines. (Rhonda was below, doing something.) After turning a lazy little circle in very light wind I remembered to free the jib while sheeting in the main for this task. In light wind it heads up just as in heavy wind. Once I was ready, the jib came down neatly and then the main was easy enough in its turn, and she went sideways to the wind just as in heavy weather. I still need to leave the cockpit to gather in the mainsail, but I have some ideas about making that easier, too.
• Tides, where we are located, are high around noon and midnight, and low about six AM and PM, three days after both full moon and new moon days. On the third day after the first and last quarter days, high and low tides are reversed. These cycles occur about fifty minutes earlier each day. This is a good rule of thumb, but it appears that the moon is trailing behind its own gravitational influence by 2.5 hours, which makes it difficult to remember.
• The wind is stronger and steadier out in the bay, starting about four miles from our berth. We have been shy about going very far when the wind is iffy, we could have been a little bolder in our explorations. We could also have figured this out if we’d thought about it.

On our way back to the truck to leave we stopped and talked to another denizen of the marina. Tom talked to us about Stormy Weather, the "derelict" boat I was tempted to buy, about its previous owner, about his boat, about our boat, about other boats and other boaters. (We at first introduced our boat but not ourselves, correcting that oversight later.) While talking about boats for sale, he pointed out a 24 footer that he knew about, saying it was free to a good home. It had a racy looking hull, a bulbous-streamlined kind of look to the cabin, and the mast was lying on the ground, oh, over there somewhere. We went and took a look at it. Hmmmm. Then we went on to dinner and home.

back to 6. Mobjack Bay, 2003

forward toSailing with ma & pa