Ad Astra has been delivered! She now floats beautifully in her new slip at Solomon's Harbor Marina in Solomon's Maryland.
During the trip Chris sent out updates that included most of the technical details of what we did and encountered. However, some of you requested a little less sailing jargon and a little more of the nitty gritty of how the trip played out. So here it is, non-engineer style. :-)
Day 1: (4/29/11) The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a road trip to New Jersey. We met our delivery captain Jeremy for the first time, packed his bags in the trunk of our rental car and started out on our five hour drive up to the boat. Crossing over the the Bay Bridge reality sunk in as we realized in just a few days we would be sailing/motoring underneath it.
We drove into Lockwoods Marina around 1:30 that afternoon and saw Ad Astra in the water for the first time. Oddly enough, she looked bigger in the water than on the hard (on land). Chris and I glanced over at each other with a smile - is this really happening? Are we nuts???
Before we knew it we were knee deep in boat work. Everything that needed to be done took twice the amount of time estimated (this seems to be the norm when it comes to boat work for us). Additional unplanned repairs, including the broken head (the toilet), added to our already mounting list of "To Dos." Our delivery captain Jeremy really dug in his heels, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and honest to goodness, helped us out more than we could have ever asked for. I learned all sorts of neat things including but not limited to: replacing the fuel filter, checking the oil, and bleeding air out of the fuel lines. I'm finding out rather quickly that sailors learn to do most boat work by themselves. There are good reasons for this. Reason #1, it can be quite expensive to have work done on your boat by the boat yard, and #2, it is quite vital to know the ins and outs of one's boat in case something were to break underway (while sailing). It's important to know how to fix these things because help can be a far cry away.
It was nearly midnight before all was mostly said and done and we fell in to our sleeping bags exhausted from almost 12 hours of work on the boat.
They say you should get adequate rest before heading out onto open water to help stave off seasickness.....
Day 2: (4/30/11) The alarms ring early at 5:30 and we slowly crawl out of our warm cocoons and venture off to complete the last items on our checklist. Chris drops off the rental car, I take a quick shower at the marina and by 8:00 we are slowly motoring out of our transient slip. As we glide silently through the water, we hold our breath as Ad Astra comes close to running aground - the water depth is nearly the draft of the boat (6 1/2 ft). I call out depths from below deck as we slowly motor to two draw bridges we must pass under on our way out to the Atlantic. The soft muddy bottom of the creek eventually comes into contact with our keel and we run aground! No worries however, a fishing boat serendipitously motors by and his wake helps us maneuver Ad Astra off the bottom. After all of the excitement of running aground we must now wait 40 minutes till the top of the hour when the bridges will open their gates for us. Captain Jeremy carefully takes Ad Astra in circles as we wait.
Finally the draw bridges open and we are on our way! Out into the Raritan Bay, we follow a shipping channel that leads to the Atlantic. We have our first encounter with a gigantic shipping vessel coming up from astern (behind the boat). We give ample room by motoring outside of the channel as a signal to the large vessel that we are aware of its presence and they can safely pass us.
On the port side (left side facing forward) of the boat we see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and in the distance the Manhattan skyline. What a spectacular sight!
Another hour goes by and we are in the Atlantic. Not much traffic to worry about here in the open waters but the swells are getting bigger and I'm feeling it. Trying to use the head (which had the most foul odor already) in the big swells was challenging and going below deck for even a few minutes put me close to the edge of loosing my cookies. I would immediately venture back to the cockpit, take deep breaths of the fresh air and try to regain some composure. Keeping well hydrated, eating small bits of food here and there helped, but the best remedy for my nausea were the ginger chews. Those spicy little candies surely saved me and by evening I was feeling much better - so much better that I no longer felt the need to jump off the boat and swim to shore. This adventure was starting to be much more promising.
All the while I was feeling lousy, Chris was handling the ocean movements like a seasoned sailor! Captain Jeremy had Chris working on plotting GPS coordinates and planning routes that kept him busy for hours. I was so proud of him...and a little jealous of his tough stomach.
At dusk we talked about taking watch overnight and I drew the first straw. I would be on watch from 9 till 11pm, Chris 11-1, and Jeremy 1- 3. Jeremy slept in the cockpit and was close at hand in case we had any immediate issues. The biggest task was making sure the boat stayed on course (we had the autopilot on) and to be on the lookout for traffic. During my shift Atlantic City, NJ was off starboard (right side of the boat facing forward) and lit up the night sky. The vibrant colors and flashing lights of the city kept me company for my two hours on watch while my tired eyes tried to remain alert for any signs of traffic in the distance. At 11:00 I gladly woke Chris for his turn at the helm. I was still unable to stay down below without feeling queasy and decided to bring up my sleeping bag and pillow and camp out on the bench on deck while Chris took watch. It was finally at that moment where my tired body accepted the motion of the seas and I quickly fell off to sleep. The next thing I recall is waking up to very calm waters while Chris and Jeremy navigated a narrow channel in search of a place to practice anchoring the boat. It was close to 3:00 a.m. at this point and we were all a bit exhausted. The navigation lights and the lights from a nearby coast guard vessel cast a calming reflection off the still water and I crossed my fingers that the boys would want to take a short siesta after the anchoring lesson. The anchoring took no time at all - Chris was a pro at it - and soon we were all below deck in our gently rocking boat. We all agreed that a nice 3 hours of sleep would do us good. Jeremy took the forward berth while Chris and I took that aft port berth and we all slept like babies until the wake from early rising fishing boats bounced off the hull of Ad Astra, pounding her sides and sounding like Tyrannosaurus Rex. OK - we're awake now!
Day 3: (05/01/11) We're heading out of our sleepy hollow and motoring toward the Delaware Bay. Jeremy has decided that today I will learn some navigation skills and so we head down below and have a lesson in charting GPS coordinates at the settee. Parallel rulers, dividers, and charts of the Bay and I felt like I was back in school once again. By the way, this charting business did not come naturally to me at all and I accidently referred to the charts as maps - oops! I've entered a world of foreign nomenclature and it's taking a while to sink in. The water is calm in the Delaware Bay and I'm able to finally spend as much time as I like down below without feeling ill! This is progress!
While I'm working on plotting coordinates, Chris is manning the helm and trying to talk Jeremy into raising the sails, even if the wind is light and not entirely blowing from a decent direction. It's day two and Chris is itching to finally do some sailing. (We did raise the sails in the Raritan Bay to test them out, and we raised the jib in the Atlantic while checking on the engine) . It takes a little persuasion but Jeremy yields to Chris' persistence and the mainsail and jib are raised. We sail for a whopping 10 or so minutes and then need to turn the engine back on because the winds were indeed very light as well as on the nose of the boat. It didn't matter though, Chris was thrilled to have sailed, if ever so briefly. As luck would have it, the winds picked up a little and the motor sailing payed off by adding 1 knot to our speed. This was a big help as we were fighting an ebbing tide (draining current).
After motoring for hours through the bay and watching large commercial shipping vessels pass we finally enter the C&D Canal. The canal is approximately 12 miles in length and we determine it would be wise to top off Ad Astra's fuel tanks at Summit North Marina located 7 miles into the canal. This is great timing as the need to use a "real" restroom is becoming apparent. I didn't mention this earlier, but the head never did become properly functioning, and somewhere out in the Atlantic we made the decision to go the "bucket" route. As painful and awkward as that sounds when you're traveling with someone you just met, the need to go to the bathroom trumps the embarrassment and one quickly gets over it when there really are no other alternatives. Fortunately we were able to hit the the restrooms at the marina and take care of some important business! This is also our first time stepping foot on land in 36 hours. Now we realize this is peanuts to seasoned cruisers, but to us (well me) this was a huge accomplishment. After filling Ad Astra's fuel tank and pumping out the holding tank, we hop back on the boat as the sky begins to spit rain on us and we all wonder if we are in for a wet evening of motoring.
The rain holds off and Jeremy and I take over the helm while Chris heads below to catch a few winks while the motoring is smooth in the calm water of the canal. It is dusk and the twinkling lights on the shore of the canal cast a romantic reflection as we navigate our way towards the Chesapeake Bay. During my shift at the helm I notice an odd configuration in the water ahead of us - not knowing what we're about to motor into, I shout to Jeremy to have a look ahead. He immediately tells me to steer the boat 15 degrees to port as we are about to encounter a large debris field of flotsam. To the right and left of us scattered all over are small tree trunks and branches. We manage to avoid most of them, but at night it is just too difficult to navigate totally around them. Chris wakes from his slumber to sounds of solid wood clunking against Ad Astra's hull. There was no damage from this debris, but it was nonetheless alarming to encounter spooky floating objects in the water on a starless, moonless night.
At this point sleep deprivation is beginning to set in. My eyes are crossing and the whole world is a blur. Jeremy finally takes a brake and gets a few winks of shut eye while Chris mans the helm. My job - and this is all I can muster at this point - is consulting the chart as to the location of where we are and calling out to Chris the type of navigation lights we are about to encounter. "The next light will be two flashing green or four flashing red," and so on. Chris does a superb job of navigating through the channel of lights - as from a distance it is difficult to differentiate which one is approaching next. Finally we were are out of the river and into the Chesapeake Bay. In the distance looms a dark and menacing object. It takes a moment for our fatigued minds to figure out that this is a large bridge - the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - the same bridge we drove over on our way to New Jersey two days prior! It was nice to see a familiar sight albeit in the blackness of night. The winds begin to pick up and the Bay is becoming choppy and uncomfortable. Ad Astra's bow would slam into every third or so wave and a cold spray of water would cover the teak deck of the boat. With the auto pilot on, we all hunkered underneath the dodger to keep dry. When I could, I would slide into my sleeping bag and lay down on the bench on deck with my pillow to get a few more precious moments of sleep. Even with the drizzle and the pounding waves, I was able to fall into sleep quickly. Again, the turbulent movements of the boat prevented me from trying to sleep down below.
In the Bay we had to be sharp on the lookout for commercial shipping vessels - though we stayed well away from the designated shipping lanes. We passed giant container vessels at anchor, all lit up like Star Wars space craft, so magnificent in size we felt like little ants slowly meandering by.
Dawn broke to yet more overcast skies but it felt good to finally have at least a little light on the subject. The wind remained strong on the nose and Ad Astra continued to pound away at the relentless waves. This part of the ride was all about endurance. Every once in awhile Chris and I would look at each other and ask, "Did you say something?," and the other would just shake their head no. We were hearing voices. A bit unsettling, but we new we had to press on.
We were all worn out, but the feeling that we were so close to home helped to keep our spirits up. At around 11:00 on Monday morning, we were finally at Cove Point. Visions of a hot shower and a nice, cozy bed were dancing in my head. But this was not going to happen any time soon. As we were about to round Cove Point, the sun broke free of the clouds, the winds became favorable, and Jeremy decided we should raise the sails and commence a sailing lesson. I should have been excited and thrilled to finally be able to sail this beautiful boat we just purchased and take advantage of why we hired Jeremy for our delivery, but I was tired. Worn out. Ka-put. I didn't think I had anything left in me to tack on a few extra hours for sailing. I'm not sure where it came from - maybe the recharging warmth of the sun - but we were able to find a bit more energy to spend a few extra hours learning how to sail Ad Astra.
We peeled off our layers of foul weather gear, soaked up the welcoming rays of the sun, and headed into our familiar waters of the Patuxent River. We were getting our second wind (no pun intended)! For the next hour or so, Jeremy helped us sail our new boat. We practiced tacking and jibing. We talked about wind direction and broad reaches, beam reaches, and close hauled lingo. He filled our heads with all kinds of practical sailing information. His best advice however was to get out there and practice. One can read all sorts of sailing literature, but to truly become a proficient and safe sailor, one just has to do it!
And so we sailed for awhile and it was simply a dream. Ad Astra glided through the water and all around smiles were smeared on every one's faces. This is what it is all about - Mother Nature doing most of the work while we adjust a few things here and there to help her out. It really is glorious.
After our lesson we sailed up Back Creek and finally saw Ad Astra's new home at Solomon's Harbor Marina. After a few attempts to place Ad Astra astern in the slip, we finally made it in. We secured the dock lines, set out the fenders and tidied things up. Stomachs grumbling, I threw together a few turkey and avocado sandwiches and we all sat down for a nice little lunch. We mustered up even a bit more energy for a quick session on docking the boat and handling her in close quarters. Both Chris and I took turns with Jeremy close at hand for instruction and assistance if needed. Chris docked her one last time for the trip and we called it a day. The final hurrah was an initiation toast of a cold and refreshing Sam Adams welcoming us into the world of sailing and sailboats.
So there it is. Our three day tour of the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. We are glad to be home!
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| Ad Astra at Solomon's Harbor Marina |
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