Our first Lobster

Finally!!!!!!!!!!  We have caught up with our cruising friends and are in New England.  Wednesday, June 26th we left Port Washington, NY and cruised north to meet up with our friends.  On the way we made a short stop in South Norwalk, CT to pick up our dinghy, which we had dropped off several weeks ago for work (see previous post).

Here they are dropping the dinghy back into the water

And then bringing it out to to us.

After that we cruised up the remainder of Long Island Sound and eventually out into Block Island Sound.  There was no space at the docks for us in Falmouth, MA where our friends were staying that night; so Keith and I went into a small harbor on the island of Cuttyhunk.  This is just south and west of Martha's Vineyard, MA.  It was quite busy there with several dozen boats on mooring balls.  We simply dropped the anchor and spent a quiet night on the hook.

The morning started with "you guessed it" FOG.  I hate fog, but this is New England, and I knew we would have to deal with this weather phenomenon.  We waited about an hour and when we got a little break in the density of the fog, made a run for it.  This was about 7:30 AM.  Coming out the channel at Cuttyhunk went fine, but it sure was foggy.  Once we exited the channel the fog got even denser and stayed thick all morning and into the noon hour.  Thank goodness for radar and our horn.  The larger boats were easy to see with the radar, but there was an amazing number of small boats out running around which the radar did not pick up.  I was glad when it started to lift around noon.

So how does all this fog form in New England?  Most coastal fog is the result of advection.  This is when relatively warm, moist air passes over a cool surface like the cold waters of this area.  The cooled air at the water surface begins cooling the warmer air just above until the moisture in this air condenses.  It becomes so heavy that the air and condensed moisture settle to the surface of the surrounding land and water as fog.  Coastal fog in New England and Maine is most common in the spring and summer when the water is cold but the air has begun to warm.

Pengi hates fog also.  Here he is trying to help keep a sharp lookout, wishing he had two good eyes instead of one.

As we got close to Nantucket Island, we began seeing seals in the water which was way cool.  They would just barely stick their noses out of the water as they swam along.  Not good for picture taking but still cool.  One seal did give us a good look at himself as he munched on a fish he had caught; but I did not have the camera handy and he and his fish were gone quickly.

We arrived in Nantucket about 1:30 PM and picked up our mooring ball.  Our friends Pete and Lyn Walton on Kiwi III with Mike and Mary McLean aboard, and Bruce and Darlene Rouser on Miss Darlin II arrived just after us.  TOGETHER FINALLY!!!  We dropped the dinghy and went over to KIWI III to catch up and visit.  How wonderful to see everyone again.  After catching up we all went to dinner in town at a small restaurant and got ice cream afterwords.  A good nights rest and we were rejuvenated and ready to go exploring.

Brandt Point Light at the Nantucket harbor inlet

Kiwi III arriving and picking up their mooring ball.

Miss Darlin II arriving

There were several very large boats in Nantucket 

Many of the homes here are great examples of the New England style of cottage.  They have clapboard or other wooden siding.  The flowers in the gardens and along the fences are beautiful here also.

An example of the New England Cottage

Nantucket is a small island about 3-4 mile wide and 13-14 miles long.  The whaling industry in America began on the island of Nantucket in the late 1600's.  In 1694 Nantucket had her first whaling sloop.  There were 28 whaling vessels here by 1727 and Nantucket whalers began building their own boats on island by 1730.  The fleet continued to grow and dominate the whaling industry.  Of the 250 whaling ships engaged in whaling in 1774, 150 of them were in Nantucket.   The famous whale ship “Essex” and her crew were from Nantucket.  The Essex was attacked and sunk by a whale in the south Pacific in 1820.  8 of her 20 man crew survived after 3 months in a small whaleboat.  Their story was the origin for Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.   Around the mid 1800's several factors contributed to the decline in Nantucket’s whaling industry.  A large fire in 1846 burned the town’s wharves and commercial district, the 1849 California Gold Rush lured several hundred men away from whaling in hopes of striking gold, and sand bars began to format the island’s inlet making it impossible for heavier whaling ships to access the town docks.  The historic district is still a great example of a 17-18^th century New England seaport town.  Keith and I visited the Whaling Museum on Friday.

The Nantucket Whaling Museum

The museum has a real sperm whale skeleton on display.  This whale died just off the beach of Nantucket and washed ashore on the  south beach in 1998.  The historical society was granted permission to keep the skeleton for display in the museum.  Here it is above a whaleboat used to get close to the whales so they could be harpooned.

Sperm Whale skeleton

The museum's scrimshaw collection is one of the finest in the world.  Scrimshaw is the intricate carving of designs on bone or ivory.  Most often it is associated with the bones or teeth from whales.  Sailors would pass the time carving designs on whale teeth and give them as gifts or sell them once back home.  

Scrimshaw on a whale tooth

We visited the oldest house on the island built in 1686 as a wedding gift for Jethro Coffin and Mary Gardner.  Both the Coffins and Gardners were wealthy families and the house is very large for one of this time period.

It even had glass windows which was almost unheard of at the time.

The Old Gaol (Old Jail) was built in 1805 and used until 1933.  Pengi is sitting on the bench just outside of the jail.  You can just barely see him.

After the whaling Museum and walking around town to some of the historical spots Keith and I stopped to have a lobster roll at The Lobster Trap.

I thought this beer tap was appropriate for the restaurant

Lobster roll for lunch.

Then it was on to a bus tour of the rest of the island.  This took us all the way to the far end of the island.  We saw one of the other light houses at the eastern shore, Sankaty Light.

Sankaty Light

We passed the Old Mill.  This is the oldest continuously operating windmill in the country.  It was built in 1746 and when conditions are right the mill is fitted with sails and grinds corn for demonstration to visitors several times each week.

The Old Mill

After all our adventures of the day, we came back to Southern Style and had everyone over for snacks and a cocktail before dinner.

Friends arriving by dinghy

The Bad JuJu Continues: The Other Shoe Drops

It's Keith writing this blog entry for a change.  I think Gail might be out house shopping as she has had just about enough of the boat demons and ridiculous string of bad luck.  I can't blame her.  I'm just lucky she is not out consulting with an attorney to see if you can divorce your husband due to bad boat JuJu.

So to continue our story, we arrived in Port Washington, NY on Sunday night.  Monday morning we were hoping to run 20 miles to South Norwalk, CT to pick up our dinghy that was being repaired.  When we went to start the boat on Monday, we had dead batteries.  Not surprising since we had to get Towboat US to jump start us on Sunday.  Now it was time to troubleshoot the issue and fix the problem.

Calls to Capt Dave Hawley, Capt Pete Walton and James Taylor at Atlantic Yacht Basin, got me going to start to track down potential problems with the batteries.  Recall that these Port side starting batteries are brand new.  They were just placed into the boat on June 10th.  After talking with my support team I got out the multi-meter and started to check voltage across terminals and battery connections.  We finally discovered that the two brand new starting batteries on the Port Engine were not reading any voltage.  After a series of tests, we determined that the jumper cable that connects the two 12-volt batteries together to make 24 volts did not have continuity.  Meaning that the wire was bad.

I pulled the wire off the batteries and headed up to the local boatyard hoping to find a replacement.  The yard service manager took a look at the cable and was able pull one of the terminal ends off.  The terminal had never been crimped onto the wire.  Five minutes later, the yard manager crimps the terminal onto the wire, tests for continuity and now we should be good to go.  Finally an easy fix.

I get back to the boat and reinstall the jumper wire.  I check voltage across the terminals and PRESTO, we have a good battery reading 26.5 volts.  A fully charged set of batteries.  Hallelujah!

I put the boat back together and tell Gail to get ready to shove off.  I go to start the Starboard engine and NOTHING.  Dead battery.  Crap!  Again, not surprising since we had basically been paralleling the good battery on the Starboard side to the Port battery to get the engines started.  The continuous use of the Starboard battery drained it to the point that it was no longer serviceable.  So that ends the day.  We need two new starting batteries for the Starboard engine now.

I decided to go ahead and try to start the Port engine just to make sure that the newly crimped cable is working as we expect.  I hit the key and the Port engine fires off perfectly.  GREAT!  Finally something goes right, or so we think.  I turn off the Port engine.  Gail says, "Hey, the engine is still running."  I am at the helm and know the engine is off.  She tells me to come back into the salon and listen.

Sure enough, the engine is off, but I can hear the starting motor on the engine is engaged.  I run down to the engine room and cut power off to the port batteries which stops the starting motor.  I am hoping the starter just got stuck for a second and try to start the motor again from down in the engine room this time.  I turn the battery switch back on and crank the motor.  The motor fires off perfectly, but I can hear the starting motor is staying engaged.  I turn the key off and then run to the battery switch and cut the power to stop the motor.  Crap, we have a bad starter or a bad solenoid.  At this point a new string of curse words is heard across the marina.

So, we fix one problem, the Port batteries, and create two more problems, 1) Batteries for the Starboard Engine and 2) Stuck solenoid on the Port starting motor.

I head back up to the boatyard office and talk to the service manager.  I ask him to order me two new starting batteries and to see if he can help with the starter.  He says no problem, he will get someone down to the boat.  Of course, no one shows up.  By 3PM I decided that if we are ever going to get out of here I will need to take matters into my own hands and fix these problems.

I start to research new starting motors.  I call my contact at Caterpillar for the price and availability of a new starter.  It's only $1,400.  Crap.  The CAT parts manager tells me I can get a remanufactured starter for $880.  That is still a lot of money.  I start to cross reference the part number on the Internet and find a compatible starter in RTP, NC on Amazon for $234.  BINGO.  I call the shop in NC and they have one in stock and can ship it to me overnight.  Perfect.

Now I go about getting the bad starter off of the Port engine.  Really not too bad of a job.  Fortunately, I had the right sockets and tools to remove the starter.  It took about an hour or so, but I got it off with only a couple of busted knuckles and some sweat.  Now I am just waiting for the new starter to arrive to bolt it back onto the engine and reconnect all the wires.

Next I move onto the batteries.  I start researching those on the internet.  Problem with the batteries is that no one can send them overnight.  They weight 170 lbs each and I need two of them.  They will only ship them ground freight which will take 3 to 5 days.  That is not going to work.

I decide to find the local Lifeline Battery dealer.  I figure I can get a taxi to go get them if they are in stock.  Guess what?  The local Lifeline Battery dealer is the marina where I am staying.  I walk back up to the boatyard office and ask the receptionist if they had ordered the batteries I asked them to order at 10:00 in the morning. She said no, she places all the orders and Tim, the yard manager, had not told her to order them.  I tell her that I need to have those batteries tomorrow.  She placed the order while I am standing there and tells me that they will definitely have them tomorrow.

Based on the lack of help I am receiving from the boatyard, I figure even if the batteries come in tomorrow, I might not be able to get anyone to help me remove the old batteries and install the new ones.  Remember, these are not car batteries.  These batteries are huge and weigh 170 lbs each.  They cannot be moved by one person and two guys struggle to do it.

Now the fun part, how do I get the old batteries out of the cabinet in the engine room?  Gail and I brainstorm.  I call Capt Dave and send him pictures of the layout and we talk through some options.  Gail and I continue to discuss bouncing ideas off of each other.  We come up with several possibilities, but they all have down side potential of dropping the batteries on our air conditioning system.  With our luck, we will break our A/C and really be screwed.  We finally decide that we really need to build a ramp to move the batteries.  It is really the safest and only option.

We keep looking around the boat to find anything that might serve this purpose.  We try Gail's sewing table, too big.  We try a folding cocktail table we have stowed in the engine room, too small.  Just as we are about to give up, I stumble across the fiberglass bench seat to our dinghy.  I removed it and stowed it when we took the dinghy in for repair a few weeks back.

This bench seat is absolutely perfect.  It is sturdy, long enough, and will support the weight of the batteries.  In ten minutes we were able to slide both batteries out of the cabinet, over the air conditioning units onto our Yeti cooler that was acting as a step down to get the batteries out of the cabinet.  All I can say is that there is a special place in heaven for Gail.  She hung in there with me and we worked through the problems.  I was going to move the battery myself off of the cooler to the floor, but she would have none of it.  She wanted to grab one end of the battery and help me move it to the floor.  She said if she could wrestle 100 lbs dogs that were trying to bite her as a Veterinarian, that a stupid battery was not going to be too much for her.  So she grabbed one end and me the other and down to the floor the old batteries went; easy peazy.  This country girl had muscles from bailing hay and picking up dogs.  She is some kind of tough and I thank God for her!

The new batteries arrived as promised on Tuesday morning around 10:30 am, June 25th.  We got the old batteries out of the engine room and lowered the new batteries down in.  We just reversed the process and picked the battery up from the floor of the engine room onto the cooler, then onto the "ramp" (dinghy seat), and slide it over the air conditioning system and onto the battery shelf.  It only took us about 20 minutes. Then with another 15 minutes to hook up all the cables, we were ready to see if the starboard engine would start unassisted.  Turn the key and.... it fired right off.  No problem.  Yeah!  One problem solved, one more to go.

The new starter arrived from FedEx at 2:04 pm.  I got over to the boatyard office as fast as I could.  I paid for the new starting batteries ($2,143) and picked up my new starter. (The bank account is definitely getting lighter)  Then it was back to the boat and I was in the engine by 2:30 starting to install the new starter motor with Gail's help.

The new starter was not set up exactly like the old one so it required a bit of tweaking before it could be bolted back on.  Once we had it configured correctly, we set off to get it bolted in and all the wires connected.  By 3:45 PM, the moment of truth had arrived.  Everything was in, wires connected and it "looked" good.  I was about to start the engine and see if I passed remedial mechanic school.  Gail and I both said a little prayer and crossed our fingers.

The key was turned on and the motor fired off.  Wait for it... no whining from the starter.  It was fixed!  Our luck had to change.  We finally caught a break.  We now have a fully functional boat with two working engines ready to take us to distant places and more FUN adventures.

Gail and I are looking forward to the best night of sleep we have had in a month.  Tomorrow we go to pick up our dinghy across Long Island Sound and then we head north to rendezvous with our friends on our way to Maine.  Lobster, here we come!

Finally made it to New York

     Well things continue to be interesting to say the least.  Keith and I had a good overnight in Hampton, VA on Friday June 21st.  Saturday morning June 22nd we left Hampton, VA and cruised all the way up the Chesapeake Bay and through the C&D Canal into the Delaware River.  Saturday night was spent in Delaware City Marina.  We did not get into the marina until 6;30 PM.  The boat got a quick wash down and we grabbed dinner at Crabby Dicks.  The crab cakes were really good.  So we were optimistic that things were looking up.

Wrong, wrong, wrong............We got up at 5;00 AM Sunday for a planned 5:30 AM departure to run from Delaware City to New York.  When we tried to start the engines, the both starting batteries were dead and the engines would not start.  We felt like the port batteries (there are two) were the underlying offending batteries.  The Starboard battery had been drained trying to help start the Port.  So there we were on a Sunday morning at 5:30 AM with no way to start the engines.  At this point Keith goes into full on "Melt Down Mode".  He absolutely loses it.  But there is nothing I can do.

Keith finally calmed down and collected himself.  He decided to call Towboat US since we are members (the AAA of the water).  They said they could be there to jump us at 7:00 AM.  The Towwboat US guy first had to stop and purchase the two biggest car batteries he could find along with some jumper cables.  It was a long shot, but the only shot we had to move today.  Otherwise, we were going to be sitting in a little marina with very little chance of getting any service help.

The Towboat US Captain was "Johnny on the spot" and arrived at 7:00 AM sharp.  He was able to get our engines started.  Thank goodness.  We were off the dock around 7:30 AM and heading down the Delaware River towards Cape May and then into the Atlantic Ocean for our run to New York.

The weather and current were certainly on our side at least.  The seas were calm and the tide was running out as we went down the Delaware River.  We were flying at 27 MPH coming down the river.  By around 3 PM we were at the north tip of Sandy Hook, NJ and could see downtown NYC in the distance as we cruised along at 22 MPH.  All of a sudden a whale (yes everyone, a WHALE) surfaced right in front of our bow.  When I say right in front, I mean "RIGHT" in front.  I yelled to Keith to turn as he saw the whale the same time I did.  He grabbed the throttles and pulled them back while turning way from the whale.  We just missed hitting it.  The whale was so close, had we been driving the boat from the lower helm station; we might not have been able to see it and would have run into it.  I think the whale, Keith and I all had poo-poo moment. 

We learned later that there are several species of whales in the waters along the north Atlantic Ocean.  The Minke whale, Finback, Pilot, Humpback and Right whale are all possible species we may have seen.  I am not sure which it was, but the New York City news reported Humpbacks being seen in the waters off Long Island that night on the TV.  Thank heavens we did not hit it.

The rest of the trip into New York and up the East River into Long Island Sound was uneventful.

Lower Manhattan as we begin to head into the East River

Passing under the Brooklyn Bridge

Construction on the bridge was started in 1869 but not completed until 1883.  It is 133 feet above mean high water and extends 1,595 long across the East River.  It connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.  It is one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States and the world's first steel-wire suspension bridge.  Originally carrying horse drawn carriages and elevated railways, it now is used by automobiles, bicycles, and pedestrians.  Commercial traffic is banned from the bridge.  It is a popular tourist attraction in New York City.

East River behind us

We arrived at Brewer's Capri Marina in Port Washington, NY about 6:00 PM.  It is a very nice marina with new floating docks and well kept facilities.  We still needed to deal with the battery problem, so Monday morning Keith started trouble shooting.  I investigated information about the area.

Port Washington, NY was a fishing and farming community back in the 1700-1800s.  Being close to New York City, much of what they produced was transported to the city for sale.  Soon after the Civil War, NYC began growing ever faster.  It was discovered that the sand in the Port Washington area was great for making concrete.  Some calculations estimate that 90% of the concrete used to build sidewalks, skyscrapers, subway tunnels, and the foundations of NYC came from Port Washington sand.  More than 100 million tons of sand were shipped by barge to NYC by hard working individuals.  They were mostly immigrants from places like Italy, Germany, Russia, Nova Scotia, Poland, Ireland, and the Netherlands.  A monument stands in Port Washington commemorating these hardy workers.

Long Island, the Hudson River Valley, and New England were also popular with the elite of NYC.  They had homes or mansions that they could come to and escape the city and relax.  In Port Washington there were several wealthy families with mansions.  Financier Howard Gould built two mansions and the Guggenheim family also had several estates here.  Sands Point Preserve has 4 of these mansions and 216 acres of gardens and park trails.  Sands Point was the "East Egg" of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.

Add Fire to the List

     So most of you have become aware of our recent run of bad luck (if not, see previous post).   We thought we had to be done with all the craziness.  Back at Atlantic Yacht Basin, they pulled us back out of the water Monday, June 17th in the morning and started working AGAIN on the stabilizers.  Keith was looking over their shoulders every minute and they seemed to be making decent progress fixing the botched installation on Friday.

The hole where one of our stabilizers is supposed to go

Closer view( that is a big hole and there is one on the other side also).

Stabilizer finally back on

     We got back into the water on Tuesday afternoon June 18th around 4 PM.  They still had a few things to do on board, but these could be done with us in the water.  This was nice since we could stay on the boat and not have to be back in a hotel room.  The weather has been very hot and humid with temps around 95, and the boat was also very hot once it went back in the water Tuesday.

     We hooked up to shore power from our stern and started the air conditioner and some fans.  After several hours the inside temperature had come down from 91 to about 82, but was still uncomfortable and pretty hot in our master cabin.  As it was a bit cooler up in the salon than the stateroom, Keith was going to sack out on the couch.  I thought I might try laying on the bed, so around 10:00 PM I went downstairs to brush my teeth and give it a try.  As I did this, the air conditioner stopped running in our cabin.  I went upstairs to ask Keith if he had done something to it.  He was already laying on the couch and said no, he hadn't touched the A/C.  He thought there might be a problem at the power pedestal when he noticed the amps on our fuse panel jumping around.  He turned off the air conditioner and went out to check the power pedestal.  Suddenly he shouted back into the boat in a very loud and excited tone for me to grab a fire extinguisher.  Whaaaaaaaaatttttttt!!!!!!!!! 

  I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and ran it out to him.  As I turned the corner of the boat, all I see is the power pedestal in FLAMES.  I handed the extinguisher to Keith.  He immediately emptied our little extinguisher onto the pedestal but it was not enough.  He started to run down the dock to get the dock master (luckily there is someone in the office 24 hours).  I ran back inside to get a second extinguisher.  About the time I got back outside, Keith was coming down the dock with a larger fire extinguisher from the fuel dock followed by the dock master who also was carrying one.  The larger extinguisher did the job, but "Holy Smokes" (no pun intended). 

  The stern power cord to our air conditioning was completely melted as was the power pedestal.  Luckily the other power cord (we use 2, 50 amp cords) to all the rest of the power in the boat was okay, so we switched that cord to another pedestal.  We decided out of an abundance of concern not to plug in the air conditioner from our bow cord to a new pedestal and instead ran the generator all night for the AC.  It did cool the boat down, but I certainly did not sleep.  There was no way I was going downstairs.  I spent the night on the kitchen bench seat and Keith stayed on the couch.  I consider myself a reasonable boat wife, but I had reached my limit this night.  I was beside myself.

  The next morning with little sleep, we had the guys continuing the stabilizer work.  We made arrangements to have an electrician come on board to check all our systems after the fire incident and an A/C guy to go over our units to make sure there was no damage.  Both were to come on Thursday.  We felt like the bad luck vortex of Atlantic Yacht Basin had just sucked us in and was never going to let us go.

The offending power pedestal, the next morning  

Melted AC power cord

Pengi says, "you're gonna need a bigger fire extinguisher for the future".

   
  By now, we are looking for a priest, witch doctor, or any palm reader to perform an exorcism.  Whatever it takes... chicken bones, cow blood, a virgin, anything.  HELP! 

  On Wednesday afternoon, our good friends Rich and Maggie Selo arrived.  These are boater friends we have known for some time, and it was wonderful to see friendly faces.  All four of us had cocktails on their boat before dinner, went to dinner and had cocktails, and came back from dinner and had cocktails.  Keith and I really needed this break.

     Thursday the AC guy came and we got the unit checked and a few minor things fixed.  The electrician, his nick name is "Sparky" (not sure if that is a good sign or bad) came and fixed our melted AC cord and made sure everything else on the boat was OK.  The guys also finished with the stabilizers and we did a short sea trial.  All seemed to be in order as best as could be determined.  But, we have been here before.

  We debated starting north again in the afternoon just going the 3 hours and 26 miles up to Hampton, VA.  We needed to get away.  There was  predicted to be strong storms in the area late afternoon, and with our luck lately I said to Keith I was glad to drive to Hampton and meet him.  I was not excited about getting caught in an electrical storm if we could not get into Hampton by 4 PM.  You know we are prime candidates for a lightening strike at this point. 

  Then the decision got made for us.  Just before 1:00 PM we found out that a barge with a crane had hit a power line going across the Intracoastal Waterway just north of us.  The power line had fallen into and across the ICW.  The Coast Guard had closed the waterway to all boat traffic until further notice.  So we were not going anywhere Thursday, storms or not.  Worst of all we don't know how long the ICW will be closed and even if we can get out of Atlantic Yacht Basin.  God help us!

This swallow landed on our bow rail Thursday morning.

Hello little friend.  I hope you bring some good luck with you.

So we rode out the crazy storms and very strong winds Thursday late afternoon.  It did finally clear up just before sunset.  Thankfully we had a quiet night and a good night's sleep.

Keith called the Hampton Roads Coast Guard Station at 6:00 AM to find out the status of the ICW.  Would it be open or closed another day??  Hooray!!!!  They had the Intracoastal Waterway open Friday morning June 21st, and we were on our way again; passing through Great Bridge and into the lock with friends Rich and Maggie on their boat, "Prime Meridian".  We finally got out of Atlantic Yacht Basin and made it to Hampton, VA.  Hoping to head up the Chesapeake Bay Saturday.  

By the way, we had the best she crab soup "EVER" at Surf Rider in Hampton, VA tonight.

Passing through Great Bridge.  Rich and Maggie right behind us

Prime Meridian in Great Bridge Lock

Passing the navy ships in Norfolk, VA

Our new flag.  Hopefully this will help our luck (take no prisoners)

Fingers crossed that the rest of our trip goes MUCH smoother.  We have had enough bad luck to last us for years.  You have all heard the expression: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger".  Well this series of events almost killed us.  Onward!

Into Every Life A Little Rain Must Fall

     Just in case those of you that follow our blog were thinking living aboard and travelling was all warm and fuzzy; let me enlighten you with our most recent calamities.  We brought Southern Style to Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB), in Chesapeake, VA on May 8th.  The trip to the boatyard was a planned stop for us to soda blast the bottom, get new bottom paint and fix a few odds and ends.  We called AYB in January to set up the repairs and they assured us there would be no problems meeting our timeline.  Our timeline was to have all the repairs completed no later than May 31st so we could leave on June 1st to head to NYC to meet up friends for our trip to Maine.  They assured us that 3 weeks was plenty of time to do everything and our timetable was no problem.

We finally left Atlantic Yacht Basin last Tuesday June 11th after an almost 2 week delay.  We told them that it was more important to "get it right" than to rush the bottom paint and other jobs, so they worked to make all the repairs "top notch".   So on June 11th we made a short, 3 hour cruise to Hampton, VA.  This put us in position to pop out the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean.  We hoped to run from the Bay all the way up to Atlantic City, NJ on Wednesday June 12th.  The weather off shore has not been good with winds and fairly big seas; and Wednesday was predicted to be about the best day for the foreseeable future.  The forecast was for 3-foot waves and east winds at 15kts.  A forecast that is very manageable for a boat our size.
   
So Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn, Southern Style and multiple other boats with the same idea, all flooded out of the inlet heading north.  The waves were originally as projected at about 3 feet and we were doing fine making our way with another boat that decided to ride behind us so we could break the waves a bit for him.  It was about two hours after leaving that things began going sideways.

First we started getting a faulty oil pressure sensor alert and then a low oil pressure message on our port engine.  Keith was almost certain it was just a bad sensor or short in a wire, but we had a slight concern that it could be truly low oil pressure to the engine.  After just a few minutes, the oil reading went from 55 psi to 0 psi and the computer automatically de-rated the engine for it to stop since it thought it had no oil pressure.  With only one engine, the stabilizers went out.  The stabilizers only work if both engine are in gear and the boat is traveling forward at more than 4 mph.

Now without the stabilizers working, the waves really began to toss us around pretty badly.  Additionally, the waves began to increase from 3 feet to 6 to 8 feet.  We told the other boat behind us about our trouble and he decided to keep pressing on north.  Keith had an old, leaky oil sensor he kept on the boat from a previous repair.  He thought it was worth a shot to try and repair and decided to put that one on the port engine to see how it would do.  It took a solid 45  minutes of work in the hot engine room with me trying to pilot the pitching boat on one engine for Keith to get the sensor replaced.  Just as he was finishing the job, the starboard engine stopped.  Now we were dead in the water with no control of the boat, and the waves just pitched us sideways.  It was only a matter of minutes until Keith figured out he had just gotten against a lever that caused the starboard engine to stop and it was fixed quickly, but in that time (and during the preceding 30-40 minutes) drawers had come open and the floor was covered with anything not permanently attached to the boat.  It looked like a disaster.  At least we had both engines back up and running now.  But those few minutes without propulsion had wreaked havoc on the boat and its occupants.
   
Our good fortune only lasted about 2 minutes until the sound of the high water alarm went off.  This is the absolute worst sound any boater can hear.  It means you have a lot of water inside your boat somewhere.  Since Keith was just from the engine room, he knew the high water was not coming from there.  He needed to go down the companion way to see if he could find the water source .  As Keith ran down to look, he found sea water running down the hall from the forward stateroom.  There was high water in the forward bilge and the bilge pump was trying to pump out the water.  What the heck!!!! 

One on the forward hatches had come open in the rough seas and was allowing water that was coming across the bow of the boat to run right down into the cabin.  He got the hatch closed and came back upstairs.  At this point he is understandably feeling terrible from doing all this in rolling seas and I am about to have a heart attack.  We talked about whether to try to forge ahead to Ocean City, MD and bail out at that inlet or turn around.  We were 70 miles from Ocean City and 40 miles back to Hampton, VA.  We voted to turn around.  It was closer to get back to Hampton and maybe the ride would be better if we put the waves to our stern than to keep plowing into a head sea.  The decision was the right one as it did help to make things a little better once we got turned around.  The following seas were much more stable and allowed us to catch our breath.

 The oil sensor Keith replaced was still bouncing all over with its readings.  After about 2 hours running back towards Hampton, the oil sensor reading went to 0 psi again.  CRAP!  We had no choice but to shut down the port engine as we did not need to burn up an $80k engine.  So we limped home the last 25 miles on one engine and without stabilizers again.

After leaving at Hampton at 5:45 AM and making a round trip of about 120 miles, we arrived back in Hampton around 2 PM to lick our wounds and regroup.  Keith had called Caterpillar while we were running back to Hampton.  We were fortunate that he was able to get a technician to come first thing Thursday morning and put a new oil sensor on the port engine.  We will need to run the boat a bit to see if this suggests just a bad sensor, a loose wire or a true oil problem (the tech thinks the sensor was bad and we should be fine now).  I spent the morning cleaning and laundering everything in the forward stateroom since it was drenched in saltwater.  Once back in Hampton, we also found that the stabilizers we just had worked on at Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) for the 3rd time in two years were leaking again.  Will this never end?

     We called AYB and they said to come back and they would make things right.  So Thursday afternoon after the Caterpillar tech completed his work, we returned to AYB in Chesapeake, VA.  They pulled Southern Style out of the water on Friday (4th time) to redo the port stabilizer.  They worked all day and had us back in the water Friday at the end of their work day.  Saturday we had planned to leave to make our way north, but no.  Checking the stabilizer Saturday morning Keith realized they had a bolt too long and it was hitting the ram arm of the stabilizer as well as material used to seal the bolts on the ram arm resulting in damage to the seal and more leaking.  Both stabilizers showed the same problem.  So we did not leave and instead called the manager at the yard.  To say that Keith was pissed off is the understatement of the year.  Without going into the sailor vocabulary that was used, the manager at AYB apologized and said they would make things right (again).  AYB plan to haul the boat out of the water Monday (5th time) and work on the stabilizers again.  I do not know how long this may take or what all they may be redoing at this point.  Hopefully no more than 3-5 days.

Keith and I have had several days to clean up the mess in the forward stateroom and clean Southern Style inside and out.  We at least feel like we have a handle on the rest of the boat minus the stabilizers.  Despite the disaster of last Wednesday, nothing actually was damaged or broke due to the bad seas and it looks like we were able to get everything cleaned to satisfaction which is amazing.  So as I said; it is not always all fun.  I hope we can eventually make our way north to New England this summer and meet up with our friends.  That lobster is going to taste mighty good once we get there.  I will keep everyone up to date.

Where's Waldo? Or rather where are Gail and Keith?

So, just to bring everyone up to date.  Southern Style has been getting some bottom paint and stabilizer work done in Virginia.  During that time I went to visit family while Keith was overseeing the yard work on the boat.  Southern Style finally went back in the water this past Thursday June 6th.  I drove from PA back to VA and got on board Southern Style on Friday.  I had a great visit with family.  In addition to some of the things I have already posted, we also enjoyed fresh local strawberries.

Here are my two nieces and nephew picking away

They picked 30 lbs.  My sister makes jelly with them (the strawberries, not the children).

Emily, Ethan, and Alison

We also enjoyed some adult whoopie pies from a local bakery called the Sweet Spot.

Our samplings

Whoopie pies are a thing in the PA Dutch region.  It also turns out they are popular in New England and Maine where we are headed next (kind of appropriate).  The whoopie pie is actually the official state treat of Maine.  These tasty deserts are made of two soft cookies with fluffy icing in between for filling.  Traditional Amish whoopie pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter in the batter.  They were originally made from left over cake batter.  Legend has it that when children would find them in their lunch bags, they would shout "whoopie",  hence the name.  Usually, here in Lancaster, they are chocolate with white icing for filling, but as you can see above; I found some that had a bit of a spin on the usual.

My last big adventure before leaving PA was a ride on the Strasburg Railroad.  This is a short line railroad of just 4 1/2 miles.  It is also the oldest continuously operating railroad in the western hemisphere.  It was chartered in 1832 as a means to connect the town of Strasburg to the main line Philadelphia/Columbia Railroad.  First operated as a horse drawn railroad, it purchased a Norris steam locomotive in 1851.  It is now a heritage site with numerous restored vintage train cars and several locomotives from the late 1800s and early 1900s.  These run passengers over the original 4 1/2 mile route through PA Dutch country from Strasburg to Paradise, PA.  Across the street from the railroad is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Here is the steam locomotive pulling our train.

Engineer uncoupling to move around to the other side of the train.

Here she comes to hook back up.

Passenger/coach seating

View out the back

After getting back on board Southern Style on Friday, I thought we might have a quiet weekend before leaving to continue our adventure.  This was not exactly how things panned out.   Our dinghy had developed some leaks around the seams in two places and was under warranty.  We needed to have it worked on in  Norwalk, CT and planned to stop there while in the area this summer to have it fixed.  But........................since the weather forecast for the next several days was not good, and we were going to wait for good weather before leaving anyway; we hatched a wild hair idea (why sit around waiting for the weather?).  Why not rent a pick-up truck and drive the dinghy to CT.  We could leave it with them to fix and pick it up once we got up there with the big boat.  

So that is what we did.  Here we are driving to CT.  Road trip!!!!!!!

Passing lower Manhattan

Crossing the George Washington Bridge

Having a burrito the size of a football for dinner that night in CT.

And dropping the dinghy at Rex's Marine Center the next morning before driving back to VA.

Come on, you all know we are a little crazy.  So that has been the last several days since I left PA and got back to Southern Style.  We hope to wait for a weather window and run outside/ in the ocean to Atlantic City and then on to New York City during the week.  We just need two good days of weather.  Stay tuned.