Tom / Blue sky, light SSE breeze
Friday, 24 April 2009, San Domingo Creek

She sails so smooth.
That's not at all unexpected, but it is reassuring. She's easy. Oliver, the wind vane, takes care of the helm in any wind over 4 knots or so, Oscar, the solar stik, takes care of the batteries and doesn't even notice the 25 knot gusts. Sourdough Charley has recovered from his mysterious illness and provides lunch on the water. Tad, our dink, rides on the foredeck very comfortably and is a real asset to sail handling, providing a solid working platform with handholds. We have started leaving the flotation tubes inflated while he's on deck and they don't get in the way at all. He launches over the rail in about a minute with all gear inside except the mast and sails, which stow inside the chain plates on the side of the fore cabin.
Emma rides to her anchor as well as she sails, calmly, smoothly. We dropped the hook the other night in Crab Alley Bay, on our way to Oxford but without wind. It was wide open to the south, the western shore about half a mile away and the eastern about a quarter. We went about as far north as we could. Had some fun dousing the spinnaker when the wind piped up to five or six knots after we dropped the main in the dead calm. Anyway, cocktails were duly served up with peanuts and I started dinner. We sat in the cockpit watching the black bar that covered the entire eastern horizon slowly approach. I was glad the spinnaker was down as I put the snubber line on and let out another 25 ft of chain. It was pretty intense when it hit, 30 knots or so, 2 ft. waves with spray blown off the tops. One hour later, we were out in the cockpit again, with our wine, flat calm, like the squall was just a dream, and we talked about what we will have to do when we are under sail and a line squall comes through. The 35 pound CQR sets easily and is large enough to hold her, especially in the mud of the Bay, and small enough to handle with ease.
The wild variations in wind and weather on the Bay are a constant source of wonder to me. The day we left Crab Alley Bay, we started out in force 1 winds out of the SE, ghosting down the bay in light rain and fog. By the time we motored into Knapps Narrows, the little engine was hard pressed to make headway with 25 knot gusts and 3 foot waves right on the beam. Oliver steered us down Poplar Island Narrows with the wind and waves dead astern and increasing without the least bit of problem. The navigator was not so smooth, mistaking the line of sticks in the middle of the channel with some sort of survey lines for the new island and we ended up bumping the keel a few times before I got sorted out. Apparently Poplar Island Narrows is closed, such is the arrogance of the Army Corps that they think the own Bay. The bridge operator on Knapps Narrows was very obliging and opened the bridge without hesitation, good thing as we were being set down on it by the following wind. On the other side of the narrows, it was a different world. One foot waves and the wind shielded by the shore. The sun came out as we ran toward Choptank river light and by the time we rounded the point to reach up towards Oxford, the wind had all but deserted us.
Oliver, our tireless helmsman, is a joy to use. We are only just beginning to get to know each other, but the ease with which he keeps the boat at 40 degrees off the apparent wind has already won my respect. Yesterday we were close hauled on the 12 to 15 knot WNW breeze, double reefed main, staysail and yankee, back and forth across the Choptank river. Sunshine and spray coming across the deck. We were able to sail 60 degrees off the true wind, but with leeway, we sailed 15 miles with the rail just out of the water to get about 3 ½ miles to windward.
This morning I am going to finish the bracket that secures the kedge to the stern rail and start work on some teak blocks to protect the gunwales where Tad the dink comes on board. We are headed into St. Micheals after lunch to find the wine and food that they speak so highly of and celebrate my 39th year. Living on Emma, traveling with my lover is celebration indeed.

Comments [2]

Posted by: Annie / Today it's rainy and windy
Monday, 20 April 2009

We've decided to have a new suit of sails made for Emma. This photo - you can see her sails are lovely but very well worn. My stitching them just isn't enough to make them seaworthy, they are worn thin in many areas and need stitching in the thickest parts of the sails that my machine just can't do. They'll do fine sailing around the bay here but neither of us feel comfortable going offshore with them. So, we've got Glen Hously making a mainsail, staysail, and yankee jib. We were a little sentimental about the tan bark sails but finally decided on white after much consideration. The tan bark was more expensive (both material and labor) but it was also of a lesser quality material. Getting new sails also means we'll be sticking around the Chesapeake Bay longer than originally thought - yay! More time to learn to sail, time to enjoy the bay during the summer, and time to visit friends and family before we leave the U.S. And what a great way to start our voyage -- taking our time. Oh, and I started a new blog for kids, meant to be educational and fun for them. My grandson Blake visited last week and I thought of this idea when we were watching a jellyfish in wonderment. The blog is an outlet for me, I miss my grandbabies so much. And what fun it is thinking about and observing the bay through the eyes of a child! There's a link to it on the sidebar -->

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Tom, Warm sunny and calm
Saturday, 18 April 2009, St. Micheals

We ended up motoring the last three hours into port here, after the spinnaker would no longer stand. We dropped the hook at 20:00, a little late for cocktail hour but they tasted that much better for the wait. Too late to meet up with my sister and family as we intended but we spent yesterday wandering around St. Micheals and the maritime museum here with the kids showing us all the boats. Cesar, my nephew, spent the night with us last night, Rosa, his sister, will be with us tonight. If the wind blows today, we will take them out sailing. The maritime museum here is really interesting, the Harbour Inn has free wireless, and today is supposed to be in the 70's. Must be living right.

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Tom, cool clear 15 to 25 knots on the Bay
Wednesday, 08 April 2009, Bert Jabin's

I need to be out there, finding out how she reacts to 25 knot gusts with the 2 to 3 foot waves. Which sails and in what combination for various headings. I need to swing the compass. I need to practice anchoring. Or maybe i just need to relax, have some patience. I was telling Annie the other night that the true essence of seamanship is to approach the daily catastrophes calmly, asses the options and act upon the course that you feel is best with confidence and deliberation. My goal is to become a seaman, the best i can, and i feel confident that given some experience i will be good. I wouldn't consider taking my lover and my little ship out to sea if i wasn't confident in my ability to get her safely to her destination. Of course, only one thing makes a seaman, you have to go to sea. So until the fuel tank comes (maybe next Wed) i will practice seamanship. I will resist the urge to sail out of a slip that i'm not confident that i can either leave or return to successfully without an engine. I will watch the sky and the barometer to try to understand the signs that show a sailor what weather to look out for. We'll ride our little bikes all over town and try to avoid getting run over. And we'll meet more people and make new friends around the yard as the people that mess with boats seem to be invariably friendly. I've got my whole life ahead to sail the oceans, no need to hurry.

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Tom, fog and dead calm
Thursday, 02 April 2009, Bert Jabin's C dock

The day before yesterday, maybe a Tuesday. Sean came over as promised and finished installing the running backstays. We got the reefing lines installed on the main and we were all set to sail. I pulled open the engine access hatch and found diesel in the bilge. The culprit was the aluminum fuel tank that had previously shown no signs of leaking or corrosion. I never liked the design with the outlets above the bottom of the tank. Water and gunk collect down below the outlets and caused the corrosion from inside, plus any time the boat starts pitching in the sea, all the crap at the bottom of the tank comes up to mix with the previously clean fuel. I tried to put epoxy putty on it like gum under a desk, as i suspected, epoxy doesn't stick to diesel. So i said what the hell, if the engine craps out, we've got Tad on deck and we went out sailing. Light and fluky winds all day, sunshine and blue sky. We started out with main, staysail and working jib, moved on to the genoa jib and wound up flying the asymmetrical spinnaker. It was our first spinnaker experience, we've never seen one used before, and it was great. From a close reach to a run, she stayed full of air with only a couple knots of wind, and moved the boat effortlessly through the water. We doused it by heading into the wind and letting it come down on the side deck. The whole day was just perfect. Not that we did everything perfect, or even close, but the calm, sunny, uncrowded Bay is the perfect place to start to get a feel for jib hanks, self-steering gears, sail stowage and line leads. I didn't get the Navik wind vane to work properly, no surprise, i'll probably dedicate whole blogs to it's complexity.
Wednesday, my back is pretty damn sore from tank removal still, but i won. It took all damn day but eventually i pulled that leaky piece of shit out along with a fairly sizable portion of the boat that used to be a locker for the inflatable raft. I hope i can find a fairly cheap and generic plastic tank to fit somewhere back there and hope i can get it inside a week. It's so tempting to pull the diesel out right behind the tank and have a kick ass tool locker. Not yet Tom, maybe someday.

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Tom, light rain, mid 40's
Thursday, 26 March 2009, Annapolis

We remain tied to the dock at Bert Jabin's waiting for the rig to be installed. Last night Brian from Southbound Cruising, my rigger, showed me how to splice eyes in double braid rope, I managed 2 pretty decent splices. Sean is installing the lower shrouds on the mast right now and we are anxiously awaiting five new Sta-lock ends for the upper shrouds and fore and backstays. The bronze turnbuckles are beautiful, can't wait to see them installed.
The boat is certainly less cheery without a cabin heater and that is where we are. I installed a clean burner on Taylor the other day to allow me to clean the one we had been using. Fired it up, no problems. That evening, (maybe Friday?) I fired it up and went out for a smoke. When i came back in, 20 minutes later, i noticed the reflection of a yellow flame coming from under the heater. There was a small leak at the base of the burner and i assumed the nut needed tightened up a fuzz. I shut off the fuel at the tank and left the burner run while i looked for my wrenches. Within about 45 seconds as i rummaged in the locker, the leak grew until all of the remaining pressurized Kerosene in the short line from the tank to the stove blew out the bottom of the burner causing flames to pour out of the stove and up the walls and woodwork. Annie very thoughtfully pulled the cushion out of the way. I just sat back and monitored the fire to make sure it didn't get out of control. It was over quickly as i had already cut off the fuel and left only a few blisters on the varnish under our table. I don't know what failed and let so much liquid kerosene out. Maybe the aluminum gasket in the line, maybe something else. I don't care. I'm totally done with the idea that i can safely vaporize kerosene and burn it in order to heat the cabin. I can't imagine being able to sleep at night with it running after the troubles it has given me. I don't think i have ever managed to get it to run consistently for more than a few hours. I think it's very likely that Sea Sure fucked up the delicate balance of the original Primus burner in order to save on the cost of the brass casting but i don't really know. I can't imagine how anyone could be successful using this heater, yet they are. I hate giving up. I am going to look into installing a propane burner in the taylors housing because a boat without vented heat just doesn't seem comfortable to me.
Enough bitching about the heater, we stay pretty warm curled up in our little berth at night and have plenty of wool long johns.
I installed the life-lines the other day and though they aren't very stiff, as i complained about before, once the the stanchions are all tied together, they seem adequately strong. They also are completely outside the rails and so don't confine our movements down the side decks as the old ones did.
Annie finished Tad's tubes and they work beautifully. I can stand right on the gunwales without falling into the drink.

Comments [3]

Posted by: Annie
Wednesday, 25 March 2009, Chesapeake Bay, Jabin's Yacht Yard

We're living on the water in the boatyard.... waiting for some new rigging for Emma and her mast hopefully this week yet; getting to know the boat in the water and just living, simply, on the boat. Taylor the heater is not living up to expectations, but we've been plenty warm anyway, the cook (Tom) making sure we get plenty of hot sauce and the baker (me) put cayenne pepper and cinnamon in the brownies today. Oooh, yum. Went for a sail in the dink (Tad) and it's lots of fun and great rowing too when not sailing. I just finished making some flotation tubes for Tad although not shown in this picture and maybe I'll blog about that later if they work out well. We went for a sail on the bay Monday afternoon with a new friend in his boat, actually a friend of a friend of a friend - a seaman - who is graciously sharing his local knowledge and his experience with us, he's a natural teacher as well as a seaman. Quizzed me on "what's a topping lift?" and whatnot. Awesome.

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Posted by: Annie
Thursday, 19 March 2009, Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard, Annapolis, MD

Emma was safely delivered to Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard in Annapolis, MD by Mark of Christine's Transport; Tom and I and everything we own delivered safely too thanks to Tom's buddies Travis and Mike. We spent one night on the hard and then she went into the water. The Captain doused her with Moet & Chandon and called on the favor of Poseidon. She's happy to be home again, you can just feel her spirit.

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Annie
Monday, 16 March 2009, Newcomerstown, Ohio

We're on our way. First destination - Chesapeake Bay.

Comments [5]

Tom, overcast and calm
Saturday, 14 March 2009, The driveway

Just as my arm was starting to ache from congratulatory pats on my own back, i was put soundly in my place again. The Optimus burner that is the heart of Taylor, the faithful heater, no longer holds much mystery for me. I can almost always light it with the minimum of fuss and yellowish flames, no sooty smoke, no embarrassing spills of flaming kerosene. I use MAPP gas to preheat (don't ask me what it stands for) as it burns much hotter than propane, it's what i've used for years to solder copper pipe fittings. It only takes 20 seconds of playing the flame over the right parts of the burner now. Luke, from Seasure told me to remove the inner jet and throw it in the bin and what a difference it makes. Now i'm able to achieve consistently high burner settings with no fading or tearing apart the burner every other day to clean the inner jet. As night fell on Wednesday we snuggled up in our warm cabin, a full tank of Kerosene and no worries about the mid 20's and wind surrounding our home. As i came back in from the shop after my last smoke of the day, i noticed the atmosphere inside was a little thick and made my eyes water, probably just this shitty cold. but the CO sensor noticed the same thing and kicked us out at 1 am to go play in the shop until the air cleared up. We plugged in the electric heater again and shivered through the rest of the night after the cabin had been thoroughly aired. My first hypothesis was a chimney full of soot but it didn't stand the scrutiny of the scientific method, it's clean as a whistle. Second hypothesis, the chimney doesn't protrude through the cabin-top far enough to provide a good consistent draw. I fired Taylor back up again just now and it's easy to tell the level at which flue gases start venting into the cabin, about half way to full fire. I think we can run it safely at this level, but of course it will plug the main jet with carbon sooner and won't really heat the boat on the hard below about 30 degrees. I'm going to run it all day and see what the CO thingy thinks about it. When we get out east i'll try to test my second hypothesis by having a small section of chimney made to raise it off the deck a bit. Should help with the discoloration of the paint due to heat and carbon so close to the cabin-top too.
We've been reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, or rather i've been reading it out load to Annie in the evenings. It's always been a favorite of mine though i've never managed to slog all the way through it. The early parts are a nice mixture of traveling and theory and Annie usually starts out disagreeing with some of the wilder flights of theory but is soon lulled asleep by the dense prose. (and maybe my sonorous voice, or soothing delivery) Soon we will start talking philosophy and start the ascent of the mountains of intellect and she will once again disagree with Hume, maybe tonight. Maybe this time we'll make it through.
The crane comes Monday at 8 am, a different crane since the one i had set up had a schedule conflict. Good thing i found that out on Thursday instead of Monday. Maybe my next post will be in Annapolis, probably something about where the hell do all these ropes go?

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