Norfolk to Yorktown

Dinner in Willoughby

FlyWhisper — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:19:00 +0200

After a quick stop at Old Point Comfort Marina (The Army’s MWR marina) to pump-out and get gas, we anchored in Willoughby Bay for dinner: some of Laura’s Famous Chicken Pie. The wind was blowing 15-18 by now, and we had to motor straight into it across Hampton Roads. We decided to call it a trip, tucked the boat away and went home. The weather Sunday is supposed to be pooh, and I guess that makes us fair weather sailors. But… we got our money’s worth, it was an awesome adventure!

Perfect Sailing

FlyWhisper — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:11:00 +0200

Close hauled in a 12-15 knot wind out of the south, the boat was really humming. We sustained 6+ knots of groundspeed for about an hour.

The wind died

FlyWhisper — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:04:00 +0200

As we reached the mouth of the York, the wind quit. We motored out into the Chesapeake in search of a breeze. Along the way we passed the Marshes of Tue, and anyone that would like post a phonetic of "Tue", please feel free. I’m assuming it’s French due to the proximity of Yorktown. Louis are you reading this?

Fly the Spinnaker

FlyWhisper — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:15:00 +0200

We left our anchorage at the crack of 1015, just as the morning breeze began to die down. Motoring due east down the York River we had about 5-6 knots of tailwind, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity for us to fly the spinnaker for the first time. This is not a true spinnaker because it isn’t symmetrical and we’re not using a pole to hold it out. This sail is commonly referred to as an assymetric spinnaker aka cruising spinnaker aka gennaker aka spanker. Gwyneth calls it the pretty sail, and I agree.

Done for the night

FlyWhisper — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:55:00 +0200

The girls were ready for dinner by the time I secured the anchor detail. We had a delicious dinner in the cockpit while the sun set and the moon rose above the trees. I don’t know how far south we will get tommorow, Laura hasn’t been feeling all that great, so we might just head back to Norfolk.

Yorktown at last

FlyWhisper — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:15:00 +0200

Due to the delay caused by the short-cut, we arrived at Yorktown much later than planned. Riverwalk Landing is a very neat place, lots to see and do, we just didn’t have the time. The dockmaster, Dennis, is the kind of guy that makes boating/sailing such a neat community. He was super helpful and very personable. It kinda made us want to overnight there, but at $1.75/ft anchoring-out in Sarah Creek was even more inviting. So, we just grabbed some Ben & Jerry’s to go, and Laura made dinner while we motored across the York.

Not a short-cut.

FlyWhisper — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:30:00 +0200

After motoring for about two hours, we finally raised the sails and ran wing-in-wing up the entrance to Back Creek and the Goodwin Thorofare. By the look of it, this should have been a short cut. We hugged the one fathom curve around the Poquoson Flats and headed up the river. Lots of water, well marked channel… all is well. Well, until we got to the last 300yds of the channel. Lil’ Henley draws just under five feet of water, and there wasn’t enough for us at low tide. Luckily we arrived at dead low tide. So, we put the anchor out and waited for the tide to come in…

At anchor in Salt Ponds

FlyWhisper — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:55:00 +0200

Salt Ponds is a great little harbour. The only problem is that it’s full of Marinas and private docks. There are only a couple of good places to anchor, but luckily we were the only ones looking to ride the anchor tonight.