Our problems weather wise were relentless. They ranged from strong cold fronts crossing, snow, rain, gale force winds, pea-soup fog and of course, the cold. Daily highs were in the 40s - 50s F., lows in the 30s - 40s F. (Note photo this post of Barry rowing the dinghy to shore in the fog in search of new batteries as the engine wouldn't start due to the cold. He took a GPS reading on Sea Star for his return. He did thankfully find his way back, batteries in hand thanks to a nearby marina and their offer of a loner car).
We had a great passage from Deltaville south through the bay in a N/W 10-15 knot breeze with the sea running with us. On route we had a visit from 4 beautiful large dolphins who rode alongside our cock-pit. They truly were magnificent. By time we reached the Thimble Shoal mark (about 3 miles north of Norfolk), the wind had picked up to 20-25 knots, gusting 30 and backed to the west. We experienced difficulty getting the head sail to furl and ended up running with a wrap in it. We had considerable difficulty motoring into the fetch to reach our destination of Hampton, VA, so much so we were often dead in the water making no headway. The Coast Guard kindly came and rode just behind us for a spell. We wonder if they shook their heads when they read "Toronto" on the transom.
We eventually changed course to head in to the shoreline to the north of us thereby cutting down on the fetch. We rode it along as far as possible and made Hampton by 4 p.m. Safe but exhausted!
No comments:
Post a Comment