Mike
07/27/2008, Deltaville, VA

July 25... Deltaville Marina, Deltaville VA

At about 8 a.m. I wandered up to the Boatyard office to find when we were scheduled to be hauled and was told "around noon." I killed some time walking around until I our neighbors on the dock were awake and then pulled the dinghy up on to one end of the dock. After flipping it over I began scrubbing with toilet bowl cleaner and in no time had it cleaned up as much as it was going to be. Then we retied the boat to position the bow against the dock and lifted the dinghy over the life line to its position on the foredeck.

Kathy worked on cleaning while we waited for our turn. I spent most of the time watching the guys run the lift, eventually striking up a conversation with the operator. He explained that at the time we were third on his list and at some point we has going to take a break before then for lunch. His best guess was 1:30. On my way back to the boat I stopped at the marina office to get permission to stay on the fuel dock for awhile before our haul out.

Back at the boat we had lunch and then I had to chase down one of our fenders that was floating away. At about 12:30 we moved over to the fuel dock, topped off our tank and pumped out the waste tank. We slid Sapphire to the far end of the dock and waited.

I was watching from the dock and when it was our turn got ready to cast off, but Mike the lift operator came out to apologetically say that he had to pull another boat before us. It was what they call a quick haul. The boat is hauled out and the bottom is power washed, barnacles are scraped and then it's relaunched. So we waited some more...we really had nothing our agenda so it wasn't a problem in the least that someone had pulled some strings with the management to cut in line.

Finally it was our turn. We left the fuel dock for the haul out well. I had to back our boat in and had been scoping out the area all morning to come up with a plan. From a little up stream, we headed straight for the well slowly and then at last second turned hard to the port and shifting into reverse to stop our momentum. Then by shifting from reverse to forward a couple times put the stern in the center of the well where Mike and his side kick pulled us in.

The lift was perfect. Mike ask us how long we were staying and how much time we were spending aboard before moving Sapphire to the best location in the yard. We are actually on the opposite side of the parking lot in a two acre clearing surrounded on all sides by large pine trees. It is one of three spots here that is shaded most of the time.

We are parked behind a boat from London and when the folks returned we struck up a conversation which led to an invitation to come over for a beer. As we were cleaning up a bit, the Fawkes people came over to invite us to dinne, but since we already had hamburger thawing, made a date to grill together tomorrow.

Bill and Val, our new London friends, were very nice, offering the use of their rental car if we needed anything. We also made plans to go to dinner with them on Sunday evening before they return to England.

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Mike and Kathy
07/27/2008, Deltaville, VA

July 23... Deltaville, VA

We wasted time in the morning and I made Spanish rice for lunch...and lunch tomorrow and probably a third day. Then, we took the dinghy to the Deltaville Marina / Boatyard to check out the area and hopefully rent a slip for tomorrow. I checked in at the boatyard just to say that we were here and are ready for a haul out on Saturday . Then we stopped in at the marina office to arrange for a slip for tomorrow. We wandered around the boat yard and found a few boats that were familiar. We checked out Tilt, who we knew was going to be here but we also found Star Shadow and Fawkes, families that we knew from the Bahamas and Annapolis.

After returning to Sapphire I read for a while but felt guilty doing nothing all day so I made a paper pattern for our rear cockpit seats and then transferred the pattern to a piece of plywood that I picked from the trash in the Solomons. Since I knew that we were going to have lots of water tomorrow, I cut out and sanded the bottoms of our new seats making a sawdust mess over everything.

I threw some chicken breasts in the oven with chicken broth, onions, and artichoke hearts, covered pan with tin foil an let them cook slowly for a couple of hours. It was easy and tasted better than expected.

July 24th... Deltaville, VA

After coffee I began to prepare the boat for tying up at a dock. Getting out dock lines, that have seen very little use in the last year, and fenders and getting the things put away that are fine when at anchor but tend to look a little cluttered when folks are wandering down the dock

We moved from our anchorage to the Marina in about 8 minutes. Actually, we were there before I was done cleaning up the anchor and rode and Kathy was a little nervous at the helm on Jackson Creek where there are shoals at every corner. I radioed in and we had some help tying up at the end of one of the docks.

After getting situated, we jumped into the project of cleaning our dodger and bimini. We took the bimini off and scrubbed it on the dock but the dodger had to stay in place to be cleaned. The material was saturated, left to sit for 20 minutes and then scrubbed with a soft bristled brush on both sides. Then we rinsed for about 10 minutes before rehanging the Sunbrella in place to dry.

It was a bigger job than it sounds here but one that really needed to be done. We had some Spanish rice for lunch and then went to work again. Kathy worked on stainless while I scrubbed the decks. Finally at around 3pm Sapphire was cleaner that she's been in months. We showered and headed to the office to see if their courtesy car was available for a run to West Marine for a $30 bottle of 303 to waterproof the canvas that we had just cleaned and dried.

We had a nice chat with Fawkes who has been here on the hard for 6 weeks while having a new bow pulpit built, and with Larry from Star Shadow who we've know since Annapolis last fall.

After applying the waterproofing I put on some burgers, onions, and mushrooms in tin foil and stuck them on the grill. Kathy made a salad and before we knew it.... the burgers were over cooked and our meal was way less appetizing than normal. I did eat everything on my plate... but with some effort.

Kathy has also been cleaning inside the boat, taking everything off the shelves, washing and straightening. She is also trying to get rid of things we haven't used in a year and are just taking up space.

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Mike
07/25/2008, Deltaville, VA

July 22... Solomons, MD to Deltaville, VA

We left or anchorage shortly after 7am heading for either for Reedville or Deltaville. The Bay was flat calm so we motored to the south watching a cloud bank form to the northwest. At about 10:30 NOAA began broadcasting severe thunderstorm warnings. With a quick look at the map we could tell that the storm in question was the one we had been watching for the last two hours.

There was no escaping. By my calculations we could make the first safe harbor about 40 minutes after the line of thunderstorms passed us. Radar indicated hail and winds of 60 knots so we double checked to insure that everything on the boat was tied down and continued motoring south.

Just about noon with a roll cloud bearing down on us, the leading edge hit us with gusts of about 40kts I turned Sapphire around to head into the wind. We reduced speed but quickly had to increase to hold the our nose into the wind. In about 5 minutes the seas went from flat calm to 6 feet. Before the rain hit the winds backed off a little and since pounding into the surf was uncomfortable we decided to run with the wind. I waited to time our turn to avoid taking a wave broadside and swung the wheel. The ride was better immediately...and we were flying at 8.5 knots.

After being hot for the last week the cool wind felt nice and when the rain hit if felt even better. We had some thunder and lightening and some horizontal rain but for the most part it wasn't as bad as forecast. From the looks of the sky, I think that the stronger section of the storm past to our north.

The sun was back in an hour of so but the seas were still running about 5 feet. Turning into an anchorage near Reedville would have been an uncomfortable (rolley) ride even with some sail so we continued on to Deltaville which was another three or four hours to the south.

The entrance to Jackson Creek in Deltaville is a little scary. It's well marked, but very narrow. We followed the channel until our bow was almost on shore then made a hard turn to the port into an even narrower channel that led us into the Creek. Although small, we found a place to anchor and with more storms forecast for the next few days as a front moves through the area, anchored west to east even though the breeze was from the south. The anchor quickly dug into the mud and we were there. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon which was remarkably good time for a 60 mile ride.

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