Historic references
09 May 2011 | Sarah Creek, York River
John and Cheryl
Cheryl's Notes:
Early Friday morning we hauled anchor and headed north. We took advantage of low tide to move down the Hampton River and hit the rising tide at Hampton Road. The combination of wind and tide blew us up to the York River. By the time we entered the York River, we had gusts up to 34 knots. We motored into Sarah Creek, which is right across the river from Yorktown and very protected. There are a couple of wide spots perfect for anchoring across from the York River Yacht Haven.
We met Martin who was on the only other boat in the basin. After checking the wind conditions, we made plans to cross the York by dinghy on Saturday morning. (We would never have made it safely across on Friday in the high winds.) We crossed together at about 9 am. The harbor area was dead at that time of the morning, so we walked to the Yorktown Historic Battlefield area. This was where Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington, signaling the decline of the Revolutionary War. We then took a shuttle bus to the Jamestown area. This historic area included a Powhatan village, a replica of James Fort and replicas of the sailing ships Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. We ended our day by taking a shuttle back to the Yorktown Victory Center. This site had a replica of the Continental Army encampment, a 1780's farm and a timeline of the American Revolution. Martin lived the first half of his life in England and then moved to Australia. It was interesting to see our history from his perspective. He asked a very interesting question. "If the kind of England had loosened the reins on the colonists, would we all still be part of the British Empire?" He was fascinated by the whole experience.
Yesterday we went back across the York and we were on a quest to see Williamsburg and get to the huge outlet mall. For us, they had the perfect trifecta. They had Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean and Columbia Sportswear. The rest of the stores were for shore dwellers. We were very disappointed and only scored in the Columbia store. John found shoes and I got shorts and a t-shirt. We ended our day by walking around Colonial Williamsburg. I should mention that the day included six bus rides from the time we left Yorktown. People take their cars for granted. If you need to go somewhere, you hop in and go. When you are cruising and don't have one, you have to rely on public transportation. It is great to visit areas like this that have such an extensive network.
John's Notes:
To say that the sail up the York River was spirited would be an understatement. We had constant winds between 16-25kts with much higher gusts. We were running with reefed sails. We shipped lots of the York over our decks. The boat was covered with sail on the port side by the time we arrived in Gloucester Point. The entire day was spent between a broad reach and close hauled. We never tacked once.
Over the weekend, we must have walked 8-10 miles. Whew. And you think the bus rides were long. It's good for us though.
I noticed that the strataglas on one of the new panels on our cockpit enclosure has an abrasion on it. Drives me nuts. This is one of the panels we just had to remake because we raised the dodger to the height of the bimini. We haven't had it 4 months yet. I like to keep everything looking as new as possible as long as possible. This stuff is expensive and we can't afford to replace it every year or so. With that said, Cheryl reminds me that every 30-45 days we put as much wear on our boat and systems as the "active" Bayfield sailor does in an entire season. Probably more. When we are not at a dock, we are working the boat every day. Stuff happens. Secretly, I think there is a special rubbing compound that I can get from Sailrite that will cure most of the problem.
Today is a lay about day. We got up with the intension of doing nothing and so far the plan is working perfectly. I think I will quit while I'm ahead and not ruin a good thing. We will probably move in a couple of days, unless the restaurant at the nearby marina opens this week. In that case, we will have to stay at least through Wednesday because according to their menu, Wednesday night is Jimmy Buffet night with $5 cheeseburgers and $2 margaritas. If this holds up, I'm in for $11.