Wednesday 24 Nov, re-launch 2021, HHN day 56: 110v fridges removed to land storage. Dive compressor brought on board. New cockpit sprayhood installed. Channel depth survey in dinghy. Final shopping. Farewell dinner with Ray. Decisions on departure timing and weather.
Our days now begin with a look at the weather forecast and tide levels. Currently it looks like we can get out of the marina tomorrow evening, if we can get everything done by then, which right now looks impossible. On the foredeck, despite having the forecabin over heated last night and an insulated box on top of the newly installed windlass base, the epoxy is still tacky. So progress there will have to wait.
Inside the boat, Oana is coming to terms with the parting of her 110v fridge and freezer which we had on the boat for yard time. Now in the water, the boat’s fridges and freezer are running just fine (Psss not too loud please) but her front opening 110v fridge and freezer are hugely more convenient than the deep box boat fridges, which she has never quite made friends with. In fact, quite the opposite! With the food finally transferred she pleads with me: “next boat, promise me, promise promise me we will have normal fridges, or at least draw fridges.” We’ll see how that goes, but I do like to hear her say “… next boat” 😊
As I pull take the units off the boat, Oana is helping me, but I have the sense she is actually trying to pull them back onboard rather than helping … if you can visualize that! Haha.
On the jetty they are defrosted and put on a marina cart to the car. Thanks to Liz and Free State Yachts for offering to store them for us until next spring, along with our 110v dehumidifier. None of which we have the capability to power once away from the marina.
And on the way back I bring the new Nardi Atlantic P100 dive compressor onto the boat. This one is not a simple manhandled lift. A halyard is needed to get it onboard, and then down the main companionway into the saloon. Once inside, Oana and I manage to jointly lift the 46kgs to the engine room. Which will be its new home, away from salt and corrosive environment, and in the good company of all the other motors, pumps and mechanical devices. I’m looking forward to plug it in and test it. But with some trepidation, considering the knocking-around it got during shipment from Europe via FedEx. Or FedupEx as we have renamed them!
Next job is a pleasurable one. We bring out the new cockpit sprayhood (dodger) that has been stowed for the last 2 years. The old one now owes us nothing. Its seams are falling apart, the material leaks, and its inner surface is covered in ugly mildew stains. Not up to Cloudy Bay standards by any stretch of imagination! With an application of SailKote in the windscreen slot the sprayhood easily slides in and is soon in place and tensioned-up. Boy! What a difference. It looks wonderful and seems to brighten up the whole cockpit. So much so that cockpit tent behind it, which had seemed like new, now looks a bit dull and tatty in comparison. But lots of life left in that one yet.
Next job is to test the outboard on the dinghy, and go do a depth survey of the channel out of the marina. Normally the 2 of us are very slick to get the dinghy into the water and outboard on. But we must admit we seem to suddenly be very rusty of all nautical routines! Once in the water I try to connect the fuel hose … which doesn’t connect. I push as hard as I can, to the point that I seem to break the fitting ☹. That’s odd. The rubber seems to have hardened. But out comes the spare hose and all is good. Another job for the cruising jobs list.
For the first time I get to see Cloudy Bay in the water in her full glory. She does look good. Hull and blue strips gleaming, mast, boom and rigging all glistening, new sails all furled up, and the cherry on top – the new spray hood. You would not know that she hadn’t just been launched from the Swedish HR factory. All that work suddenly seems very worthwhile.
Now to the survey. Normally we go straight up the middle of the channel, then at the breakwaters where the shallow section is, we stick close to the red-buoy side. But someone messaged us a few days ago saying the opposite. With their 7ft draft (we draw 8ft or 2.5m) they not only had to go over to the green side but actually ended up finding the channel outside the greens.
With my hand-held depth sounder, I run up the center channel taking measurements every 50m, then the red side then the green side. Sure enough, red side is definitely a no-go for us. Green side it must be. Even so, there are many places where the maximum depth is 2.4m. So back at Cloudy Bay I mark where the boat is against the fixed pontoon and note that the boat will need to be at least 10cm higher than now, for us to squeeze out through the channel to deeper waters.
Next it’s off to Edgewater to pick up the very last of the provisioning. This time to the liquor store for wine, beer and cider. It still feels very odd to us that we cannot simply buy alcohol from any supermarket as we do in Europe. And even more odd that spirits still have to be put into plain brown paper bags so no one outside the store can see them. We thought prohibition ended over 90 years ago!
On the other hand, while USA does have a severe drugs problem, it doesn’t seem to have the culturally excessive alcohol drinking that plagues Europe – especially the northern countries and definitely UK!
In the evening we have a farewell dinner with Ray, just in case we actually do manage to get away tomorrow. Ray, as usual has been a wonderful support to us, helping on project, always there to lend a hand when needed, and to watch over Cloudy when we are back in Europe. The only thing we can fault him for, is allowing lighting to strike the boat over the summer!
After dinner, I again look at the forecast. There are 3 factors. Firstly, when can we get out of the marina (water depth). Secondly, when can we get a nice-ish wind down the Chesapeake, and thirdly when is the next ideal time to get around the Hatteras. For rounding the notorious Hatteras, we need either calm or NW wind so we can be on a broad reach down the Virgina coast, then gybe at Hatteras and beam reach down the coast to Beaufort. Any NE component in the wind, we will have wind against gulf stream, which is a definite no-no. And any SW component we will have head winds from Hatteras to Beaufort. Tricky. Especially this time of year when the low-pressure systems are rolling off this coast towards the Atlantic every 3-4 days.
And, if there is no foreseeable wind to round the Hatteras, then there is no good reason to depart Herrington in the first place. On the other hand, we can only depart the marina at a precise water level.
The study of the weather shows that we can leave tomorrow on the high tide and sail ~48 hours directly to Beaufort. But a rushed departure followed by night sailing is not appealing. Nor a recipe for safety. Now we can still depart tomorrow (if I complete the windlass repairs) and simply anchor in the Herring Bay, 1 mile away. Then wait the weekend for the coming cold front winds to pass.
Pffff. Decisions decisions! Maintenance suddenly seems so much easier than sailing!
So we go to bed and decide to decide in the morning 😊