As phase one of this summer's trip to the Chesapeake we went to the boat
on Thursday to finish installing the AC (which worked thank god since it
was 103 in the shade) and the radar. The radar is a special case.Despite
being a simple installation it took 3 weeks.After installing the first
one it did not work. All the voltages on the DC bus to which it was
connected checked out perfectly and all the diagnostic tests I could run
showed no problems. (My wife who is not a physicist kept telling me to
connect it straight to the battery to which the bus is connected.I,of
course, ignored such "uninformed" advice.) Anyway, I consulted with the
company going over with them every detail and they agreed that it was
defective and sent me a new one, which I installed and,of course, it did
not work either. Kay, meanwhile persisted with her earlier advice and
finally to show her the futility of such action I connected it directly
to the battery. And then the worst possible thing happened: the damn
thing worked!

We leave tomorrow for the Chesapeake.

A humbler Carl


[peake2]
Our first day saw us motoring into a 20+ knot head wind and steep seas on the Albemarle, very unpleasant but a great test of a marriage. We stopped at the Yeopim River.On the second day we reached Goat Island on the upper Pasquotank, and on the third day we stopped at the docks at the NC visitor center on the dismal swamp canal.The next day we where headed to Salt Ponds in Hampton VA.That would necessitate us transiting the canal, then Deep Creek (which ain't), and then the dreaded Norfolk Harbour with all its Navy and commercial traffic. We were "delighted" to hear on the morning news that all five Norfolk based aircraft carriers would be arriving that day.The trip up the canal was...what's the word...oh yes...DISMAL. For one thing it was raining hard and for another we fouled our prop and I had to go over board and clear it.(Fortunately I am not afraid of snakes, because I had plenty of company.) Failing to heed the maxim, "Be careful what you wish for you might get it", we wished that the rain would go away. It did and [pause] the vicious green headed yellow flies came out in formation. Nothing at all would repel them and we had, no choice,but to suffer but NOT in silence! Entering the Chesapeake from Norfolk harbour we encountered very high head seas which made our first day on the Albemarle look placid.It is the first time we have ever seen our 12,000 pound boat literally thrown into the air so that the propeller (2 1/2 feet below) drew air.("What ever does not kill you when sailing is by definition fun.") On the bright side, for the first time we did not run aground in Deep Creek and we did not meet any aircraft carriers. We did, however, set a personal best in nuclear submarines, three at one time. We are now in Salt Ponds, an ersatz Key West-East, one of our favorite locations. Will leave in a day or two for Deltaville, Grog Island and Crisfield MD.

Carl


[peake3]
We are now in Crisfield MD at Somers Cove Marina. We left Salt Ponds
four days ago. Before we left I discovered "oyster shooters", absolutely
wonderful.The perfectly balanced meal: 1/3 oyster, 1/3 Tobassco,and 1/3
Beer. All three food groups!
The trip was adventuresome. Unfortunately we hate adventure. Boring is
in. The main problem involved huge floating islands of sea "grass". I am
not sure whether this is do to a revitalized Bay (more about that later)
or a "new" form of crabbing known as bottom scraping. In any case, in
leaving Salt Ponds, we ran through one of these "delectable", which our
engine water intake eagerly ingested and immediately developed
indigestion, and we had nothing but trouble for the next two days. We
had started out for Detaville but pulled into Mobjack Bay for repairs.
(We last visited Mobjack six or seven years ago when I was still
department chair. I recall, because I received a call from the
department there.My one and still only marine radio telephone call.) I
had to go into the water again, which would have been fine except for
the jellyfish, and that to no avail, regrettably.It took two days to find
the problem, but find it we did and on we went.

Six year ago we saw little "marine" life and even last year we only saw
dolphins and pelicans near Norfolk.In fact, when we visited Smith Island
on our first trip we were told that the last pelican was seem there in
the 1920s. So far we have seen them everywhere including the Smith
Island environs. We have also seen dolphins as far north as the
Rappahannock River. The most surprising sight was Storm Petrels, they
are little birds who dance over the surface of the water. They are also
pelagic and I have only previously seen then over the open ocean.

To pass the time I have been rereading Jimmy Buffett's book. (In one of
which, I now discover, he has a character who drinks oyster shooters).
Buffett is enormously talented and popular.Many of my students, this
summer, went up to his recent concert at Walnut Creek. They all seemed
amused that I too was a fan. I declined to mention to them that we are
the same age and he has little more hair than I. Buffett did not bring
out his usual album this summer presumably because he is working on a
Broadway play with Herman Wouk. What an unlikely combination!

Like most boaters Kay and I enjoy collecting boat names.
The most appropo: "Half Way Retired"
The worst: "Fat Broad"
The best: "Sea Ya"
Carl


[peake4]
We are on our boat at Solomons Island MD (about 45 miles south of
Annapolis). Quite a beautiful place.This is the furthest north we have
been in our boat.We crossed over from Crisfield yesterday. Fairly strong
southerly winds allowed for a fun but too long day of sailing. When we
entered the main part of the Bay from Tangier Sound we found major
rollers on our stern quarter which made steering too difficult for our
autohealm and really aggravating for us for that matter.

On our trip so far we have passed two boats from the Edenton (our home
port) Yacht Club.One was "Sea Esta" returning from Philadelphia, and
"Wolf" which is owned by a friend from Edenton who loaned/gave/sold(?)
us the portable air conditioner which has made this trip so pleasant
especially at night.It is a little box that sits under the table and
when we get somewhere with electricity all I do is throw two hoses out a
hatch (one with a small pump on the end) and zap the boat is cold. Cool.

Last night we had our first thunderstorms. I have been waiting for one
to occur so I could see how the radar worked. It was very interesting.
We sat there and watched the storms move around.You can even tell how
intense the storms are. We watched a particularly intense one bear down
directly on us, to which Kay said "Great we spend $2000 to watch
something come to destroy us."

Speaking of Kay saying something, I mentioned earlier that we had to
pull into Mobjack Bay because of engine overheating problem. I didn't
mention that we had no sooner anchored so that I could work on the motor
that Kay reported that the head (toilet) no longer worked. Great, no
motor no toilet. But not to worry I knew what was wrong, the c-clip
which holds the piston to the pump handle had failed and with
forethought I had purchased a rebuilding kit for the head.At that point
Kay uttered the dreaded words "what more can go wrong?" We both
shuddered when we realized what she had said but plunged (no pun)
ahead.I opened the $70 repair kit and found "all" the parts one would
need plus a note "If your c-clip has failed contact Jabsco Lmt. in Great
Britain for a replacement." Ah yes! the creek and the paddle again.

One final note for some reason the Ospreys up here have apparently not
heard of the rule that "Ospreys only nest on the green markers."

Carl
--

[peake5]
We are anchored in Dun Cove off Harris Creek on The Choptank River (of
Michner's Chesapeake fame). Tomorrow we will head for The Magothy River
which is the first river north of The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (or located
between Annapolis and Baltimore). Upon said river my first cousin
William Adler lives and god willing we shall visit him. I was born on
Oct 3 and he the preceding Sept 3.His arrival signalled the beginning of
WWII.

We had an uneventful trip from the Solomons.No sailing just motoring in
calm sears. Kay insists that I include the following, though I find it
uninteresting at best.Let me start out by saying that I have never
fallen off a boat or dock in my life. Well as in turns out I was looking
over the stern of the boat and rested my hand on the folding ladder and
it did. Kay watching me from the companionway says that I did a perfect
one and a half gainer with a twist, at least a 9.2! Watching, she stood
their like a little girl who threw penny down a well waiting for the
splash., when done came she went to the back of the boat to discover
yours truly relaxing in the inflatable dinghy (which we tow behind our
boat). As I explained to her I was just experimenting with new and more
graceful ways to enter the dink. She did not believe me, but I am sure
you do.See I told you it wasn't interesting.

We have seen numerous rays on the Cpeake this trip, mostly stingrays but
at least one which appeared to be a small Manta Ray.We saw none in our
two previous trips.A pleasant addition. I am really appreciating the
radar and have it set up next to the gmap GPS.I can set them up to the
same scale and view both.The one showing what should be there and the
other what is there.It is a great way to learn how to read the radar.

In the words of that American philosopher. We shall keep on
Changing Latitudes
and
Changing Attitudes!

Carl
--

[peake6]
We made it to the Magothy and were greeted by a three cannon salute from
my cousin, Bill. Much appreciated, no matter that the first blast nearly
caused me to make another unscheduled visit to the dinghy. The number of
boats on the upper bay staggers my imagination. When we entered The
Choptank I counted 33 sailboats.When we passed Annapolis I simply could
not believe my eyes. The number of boats was truly uncountable. Of
course it was a Sunday and I am sure that makes a difference.But still
what a zoo! The amount of radio traffic on the weekends up here is
wacky. I thought the Pamlico was bad. Also the mayhem visited by boaters
on other boaters is impressive. We heard one report after another of
crashes, flips, and other unintentional gymnastics.The two calls for
help that were the most interesting:

A Hunter 33 who had lost her rudder and reported to the Coast Guard that
she was anchored at 810 Ocean Drive.(I can see the CG looking for a
street map to replace their nautical charts.)

A motor yacht called the Coast Guard to report a small empty boat
afloat. The CG responded by saying "are their any other objects floating
around such as bodies?" (Gee we did not think you would be interested in
bodies)

The further north we get the more aggressive become the
interchanges,both physical and verbal, between the
boaters. Probably due to a smaller bay and exponentially increasing
number of users.

And finally the most interesting radio calls,
First Place:"Naughty Lady, Naughty Lady this is Mother Superior calling"
Second Place:"Shoein, Shoein this is If The Shoe Fits"

Carl

[peake7]
I guess I have to admit it. We ran aground near Tilghman Island (between
red marker 4 and green 5). Right in the middle of the channel, 18 feet
of water suddenly became 4.5 feet.Boom. Kay, being no dummy when it
comes to Archimedes Principle, knew we had to get rid of some dead
weight. It took me only a short time to realize what, or should I say
who, the "dead weight", was. So I am in the dinghy again, and Kay blasts
out of the shoal water into deeper water. Apparently Kay can't hear me
shouting at her to slow down so that I can pull the dink back to the
boat to reboard our trusty craft. It must have been a funny sight. A
woman and sailboat charging along at 7 knots over the sea, pulling on a
long line a orange dinghy bouncing over the waves with a little fat guy
in a red shirt madly waving his arms. Actually I could have sworn that I
heard chortling mixed in with the sound of the diesel.

Some time later, back aboard Spindrift, motoring on the open bay, we see
three large white birds in the distance. At first we thought they were
White Pelicans, though that seemed unlikely since the Brown Pelican does
not share these waters with its much larger white cousin.When we got
closer we realized that we had come upon three swans. Now that is a real
first for us. I believe these were Mute Swans,European emigrants which
have now become well established in the colonies. Peterson's guide say
they favor among other locations "salt water bays", so that fits. But as
I said "a real first".

We are back in the Solomons, staying at Spring Cove Marina, a little
pricey at $1.45 a foot plus $4 for electric hookup.Chesapeake Bay
magazine picked Spring Cove as the best marina on the bay to visit and
indeed it is very very nice.The large swimming pool is especially
appreciated, but the private bathrooms and shaded picnic areas are also
nice.

We will leave on Saturday (today is Thursday), heading back south down
the bay. We both hate to travel on the weekends up here for reasons
stated earlier.We entered the Magothy on last Sunday and the very narrow
entrance was packed with dozens of boats going every which way,
including one mentally challenged sailor trying to tack out the narrow
entrance amongst the chaotic traffic.The trip down from the Magothy was
uneventful with the exception of "running into" a fellow ECUer.I heard
someone calling the vessel "Narnia" and I took the chance and also
called Narnia and yes, indeed, it was Jo Roberts (ECU Med School
retired). She at first thought I was "John" (I hope no friend of mine
named John has a boat named Spindrift since we had the name first-hmm),
but once we got that straightened out we had a nice chat. She has been
up here since May 1, must be nice!

In the category of "surely not", heard on the radio:
"Monkey Business, Monkey Business, come back Gary Hart"
"This is the vessel 'Undertow' requesting a tow"
and nice sailboat names:
"Eagle Wings" (a little high on the seriousity scale for me)
"Trivial Pursuits" (more my taste)

Carl


[peake8]
Kay decided that if I was going to keep sending these things, she had better read what I had written. I was not sure that was a good idea, but then again I wasn't part of the deliberation. Fortunately, she had only one correction: the boats name was "Eagle's Wings" not "Eagle Wings", but I am sure everyone guessed as much.

We left the Solomons this morning. Danny doing his little Irish jig down in the Gulf was making us nervous. So we headed for the tidewater area. In order to turn a three day trip into a two day trip (for safety's sake) we covered 50 miles today in just over 7 hours. We are anchored at "Grog Island" in "Dymer Creek" just north of the Rappahannock. One of the prettiest places on the Chesapeake. The trip was uneventful in all ways but one. That fell under the category of "One should never tempt fate in choosing the name of your boat." The Coast Guard spent the day searching for a missing boat. The boats name was "Our Grand Finale", and, I guess, it was. While on the subject of boat names I guess that most of you know that "Spindrift" was a second choice for both of us. Owing to the stellar afterwards qualities of our vessel, Kay would have called it "The Back Porch", and I "Calipygeous". But then again they both mean essentially the same thing, 'harmless' nuances aside.

We own several guides to cruising the C-peake, but the one we now use almost exclusively is "19xx Guide to Cruising Chesapeake Bay" ($34.50 and worth every nickel). Also the chart book put out by ADC (The Map People) for $39.95 is our constant source for nautical 'roadways'.

The Solomons have numerous restaurants and other things to do in a very compact space. Within a quarter mile of Spring Grove their where five eating establishments, ranging from a Holiday Inn to a Pizza Place and (to Kay's delight) a Chinese eatery .
In the same area, also to be found, are a supermarket, full service drug store and (shh) a great liquor store. Strangely, though, (in our experience) the food on the west shore of the Chesapeake is much different than that to be found on the eastern shore. Both feature seafood, but on the western shore the food is much fancier and conservative (stuffed this and stuffed that), the eastern shore has more the informal fare. One thing I can say about the resort marina we were at is that it features lots of exotic (is that the right word, well something like that anyway) swim ware. And that is not a gender specific comment. One young gentleman caused quite a bit of tittering at the pool when he entered with a suit which turned transparent upon immersion. Kay, of course, never noticed.

(next morning)
Well the dreaded 'something' happened last night. What, it was or is, I am not sure, but at about 4:30 this AM it started blowing a "storm" out of nowhere (it is 9:30 and the weather radio stations still have not picked up on it). Winds gusted to 40+ and the anchor alarm started to squawk, and yes indeed we were dragging anchor. Kay got the engine started while I worked on the anchor. We did get it set again and if and when we decide to move I am sure it will be a struggle to release it. As I write this I am listening to the weather radio and they are talking about light southeast winds when it is factually blowing 20-25 from the northeast. I think we will stay here for while.

(yet another morning)
We waited for the northeast blowing "southeast winds" to end and will leave for Salt Ponds shortly. We dragged again last night. I think I will recommend this place only to special friends.

Overheard (Honest) on the radio between two, presumably, nearby boats:
"I am headed to the Potomac, am I going in the right direction?"
"No. The Potomac is the other direction."
(note: the Potomac is a rather large river off the Chesapeake and difficult to miss ;) )

Oops just bumped, gotta run!

Carl

[peake9]
We made it to Salt Ponds, covering 50 miles by motor because of an almost total lack of wind. With only a couple exceptions, that has been the common situation.Much different than the other two times we were here.Similarly there has been very little thunderstorm activity.Again, quite a difference.

When I pulled up the anchor at Grog Island, it was heavily fouled by tree roots which explains the difficulty I had with holding.I, of course, should have checked the anchor when I dragged the first time, but at 4:30 AM (it is a well known rule that anchors only drag at night) in a howling wind, "any port in a storm".It also explains why we bumped in otherwise deep water,tree stumps! There is a large area of deep water behind the island, the northern part of which, is marked on the chart as an anchoring area.That is where we had previously anchored (we anchored south of there this time) and will certainly do so in the future.

After arriving at Salt Ponds we monitored a rather spectacular rescue on the VHF. It lasted for about an hour and a quarter and in the end involved two Coast Guard stations (Hampton Roads and Little River), a Coast Guard RIF, an army tug,a navy helicopter, and a Virginia Beach Police Boat.Everyone was very excited, they were stepping on each other on the radio, and, apparently, randomly switching back and forth between channel 16 (the calling channel) and channel 22 (the Coast Guard working frequency) so it is difficult to report on the events accurately, but I will give it a try.

Evidently there is a commercial organization operating out of Lynnhaven Inlet in Va. Beach, which uses a Cigarette boat to pull riders in a paraglider. (I wonder if the marketing whizzes at the boat company regret there choice of name). Anyway what happened was that an intense local wind came up (probably the same one previously hiding at Grog Island) and the paraglider with two people aboard was pulling the boat backwards which, in turn and consequently, was taking on water. Total confusion! Everyone got there but no one knew what to do. They all reported that they were standing by to help but, alas, they knew not what they could do.The situation really got desperate when (what turned out to be) a horrendous thunderstorm bore down on the armada. One can only guess what the people in the paraglider were thinking, and you don't know the whole story about them yet.It was difficult to track what was happening, but at one point I heard someone shout "cut the line, cut the line", I think it was from the police boat, but am not sure.Next everyone was asking what happened."Two people were in the water". "One was in the water one in the boat". "Both were in the boat".Eventually, the police boat came on line and said that they had both on board and that one had a broken leg.He than made the mistake of saying "this is a reportable accident because there was an injury".This really turned the Coast Guard on, suddenly there interest turned to the Cigarette boat, which no one could find in the storm.This lead to memorable exchanges like:
Coast Guard:"Police boat do you have the Cigarette boat in site"
Police Boat: "No sir, I do not"
Coast Guard: "Well bring it in with you"
Some time later the police boat came on and said that his earlier report was incorrect, the guy had a broken leg BEFORE he went up in the paraglider.Amazing! Still later the police boat came back on and with a panicky voice said that he was"in serious trouble" in the storm.He was "lost in a fog" and storm. His loran and radar had failed.He was lost and in trouble.Yes, indeed, this was the boat carrying our 'fearless' paragliders, including, of course, the one with a broken leg.Still sometime later the army tug (I think) said he thought he had the police boat in sight and that he was going right.The police boat was meanwhile talking to another boat (maybe the missing Cigarette) and I heard him say "well I don't want to be out here in this damn place either".Finally the army tug came back on and said "don't worry the storm has almost past, you will be in the clear soon". Shortly then, the police boat said he was in the clear and heading in. No one knew what happened to the Cigarette. I am sure our paragliders got the thrill of their life.

Coming into Salt Ponds there are two boats "next" to each other.
One:"Alimony" (cute)
The other: "Litigator" (hmm)

We leave tomorrow for NC

Carl

[Depeaked]
Well we are back, sort of. Kay, Carl and Danny arrived in Elizabeth City
at 1:00 yesterday afternoon., Not being ones desiring to face adversity
with courage (or anything else for that matter) we opted to leave the
boat and "get the hell out of Dodge". If only it had been that
simple.Leaving the South Mill lock of the Dismal Swamp Canal at 10:00
AM we headed down the upper Pasquotank towards EC, 18 miles away.The
weather got progressively worse as we headed down river and not wanting
to face the long run up the Albemarle in bad weather we called ahead to
a marina for a berth and called a friend in Edenton to move our car to
Elizabeth City. No problem. Right!

Another friend in Elizabeth City overheard our marina call and said he
would standby in case we needed help. (Little did I know at the time.)
As we got closer and the river widened, the wind also freshened and
things started to get "hairy". Our friend meanwhile called us from the
marina, we had selected, and told us that it was getting too rough in
there for us to safely enter and suggested a new small marina just past
the bridge that we could safely enter.He would move there. By now the
wind had really built and we were getting horizontal rain. OK, through
the bridge and duck into the marina. We call the bridge and are told
that it is broken. The operator had done all he could do in attempting
to fix it and was unable to get in touch with the person who probably
could fix it. "It may be hours." By now we were beginning to feel that
we were about to enter a hurricane (and, of course, we were to find out
that we were not far wrong). Our friend who was monitoring our
conversation with the bridge suggested that we go into the Pasquotank
Yacht Club which was nearby and on our side of the bridge. The transient
slips there had "poor communication with the docks" (meaning if you are
over 30 or overweight it was going to take a miracle to get off the
boat), but, this certainly was the case of any port in a storm. Well,
our trusty friend now heads over to the Yacht Club to help us dock in
winds now gusting towards 50 mph (meanwhile the second friend with our
car is driving all around trying to find out what happened to us). We
manage to get into a slip and, with little help from two discombobulated
sailors, our friend gets us secured and off the boat. Eventually our
friend with the car decides to look for our other friend and in doing so
reunites us with the car. Happy Ending!

We had left Salt Ponds the previous day early, in order, to make the
11:00 lock opening at the north end of the canal. We had our usual
problem getting into Norfolk Harbour with trying to dodge large fast
moving ships in a slow moving sailboat. We wasted about an half of an
hour trying to figure out what one large ship was doing. It appeared to
have a full head of steam (smoke from stacks) but was moving slowly and
apparently randomly. We would go one way and so would it, etc. You
guessed it, the ship was at anchor swinging on the hook.

You need to go through five bridges to get to the canal, two highway
bridges (Jordan and Gimberton) and three railroad bridges. The highway
bridges open on demand and are usually very cooperative. The railroad
bridges are normally open. We reached the first railroad and it was
closed. Worse yet, we could not raise the operator on the radio. With
the help of the operator of the second bridge (Jordan) we determined
that maintenance was being done on the railroad bridge and we would have
to wait. Eventually, it opened as did the Jordan and the next bridge, a
railroad bridge, was open. We were running a little late but were close
to the lock and had only two bridges to go, the Gimberton and the
adjacent (open) railroad bridge. We are making good time and I call the
Gimberton. He says to move on up and he will open. I do, he does, and
the railroad bridge closes as I hear a train in the distance. Damn, so
much for the 11:00 opening.

We reach the lock at 12:00 and proceed to do "donuts" waiting for the
1:30 opening, which never comes. Nor can I raise the lock on the radio.
Eventually, someone overhears my plaintive queries, and lets me know that
the Dismal Swamp locks had been put on restriction because Lake Drummond
(in the swamp) was low.The only openings would be at 9 and 3. More
Donuts. Nuts!

Random thoughts:

Radar, which we thought of as, at best, a frivolity is really very
useful.Would not want to be with out it.

I have spoken often of Salt Ponds. It is presently being bought out by a
ECU alum. Originally there were 49 owners and this guy is trying to buy
them all out. I don't remember him, but he was a ECU football player in
the 80s who made it in the Pros (Eagles, I think). His name is Jody
Schulz(?). Any of you hear of him? His boat is parked out in front. It
has a large picture of a female in a swimsuit on both sides and the name
"Bump and Grind". This guy is obviously not PC!

Speaking of PC, there are many biting flies on the C-peake. There are
little black ones which do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex or
national origin. The ones with a yellow body and green heads definitely
prefer those of a Celtic background, brown bodied flies with green eyes
prefer a Mediterranean flavor.

Carl

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