Freilassen

The title of this book published in 1900, "Sailing Alone Around the World", doesn't apply to us. Joshua Slocum launched a small boat from Fairhaven, MA and became the first person to ever sail around the world single handed (BTW he couldn't swim!). I found a small marker commemorating his adventure and where he launched his boat in Fairhaven, MA while we were visiting this past summer. The only passenger he ever had was a goat that began to eat everything on the boat and he had to get rid of the goat. Sailing has a lot of romanticism associated with it and this usually involves escaping the hustle and bustle of modern life to a quiet place somewhere out on the water.
Surprisingly, since leaving Nov. 1, we have spent time with an amazing array of family, friends, and new acquaintances. Other than Thanksgiving day, we haven't been alone much. We spent the week of the boat show with good friends Mike and Ivy. We buddy boated for about the first week with Bob and Gail (MV Friendship). Great dinners and memories in Coinjock and Bellhaven. Dinner in Southport with John and Pam (MV Compass Rose). Four days with friends and former coworker, Jim and his wife Alice (plus Dudley the dog) in Wilmington. Thanks to them for driving us all over the place and showing us Wilmington (what a cool southern town). It was good to catch up after 11 years. And we'll be back in time for the Azalea festival to see Jim's finished trawler! We visited our daughter Liz for a day at Duke University. Visited with our neighbors daughter Michelle in Myrtle Beach and had a great time. We all enjoyed dinner and a James Bond movie on board. Brandon dived our boat and confirmed we hadn't damaged our boat when we went aground (that's another blog story). Thank you Brandon! And now we are about to eat our way across Charleston with my college roommate Mike and his wife Mary Lee for a week.
And this doesn't begin to describe the many new friends we made on the way. Why would anyone want to sail alone anyway!?!?!?!?

How do you know when you are really in the south? Its when you can get real southern cooking. You can suddenly buy the best peanuts in the country, hush puppies are mandatory, there are whole dried hams in the stores, black eyed peas and collard greens are side dishes with a hamburger, and shrimp n' grits are on many menus. We left Winn Bay to spend two days in Bellhaven, NC to rest. Not knowing what to expect we came to a town with one stop light and one of the best restaurants we have ever encountered. The restaurant Spoon River came out of nowhere and is in the most remote place I could imagine. We hadn't seen a house for about 100 miles of the ICW till we reached Bellhaven. We had no cell service. Doesn't matter, you need to find a way to go to Spoon!

Successfully transited the much feared Albemarle Sound from Coinjock without any issues. Used a triple reefed main to control the boat in high winds. Great run but very cold. The picture is sunset in our anchorage in Winn Bay. Perfect end to a perfect day.

The importance of our coastlines to the military and defense of our country is evident in the history of the intracoastal waterway. In 1763, a young George Washington first proposed connecting the Chesapeake Bay to the Albemarle Sound via a canal subsequently to be known as the Dismal Swamp Canal. The fact that we won the revolutionary war against the largest naval empire in the world at the time left a profound impression on Washington and the Congress. So in 1805 federal money was put forward to support a system of waterways down the coast. The bill read in part: "The map of the United States will show that they possess a tide water inland navigation, secure from storms and enemies, and which, from Massachusetts to the southern extremity of Georgia, is principally, if not solely, interrupted by four necks of land. These are the Isthmus of Barnstable, that part of New Jersey which extends from the Raritan to the Delaware, the peninsula between the Delaware and the Chesapeake, and that low and marshy tract which divides the Chesapeake from Albemarle Sound."
We had a very uneventul 40 mile passage from Portsmouth, VA and rafted up with M/V Friendship in Coinjock, NC. The picture is of Ann celebrating our first successful lock passage in the canal.

Another beautiful run of 57 miles. In fact Ann and I took turns taking naps. While underway we heard an announcement by the Navy that they were commencing "A Live Fire Exercise". That got our attention and we made sure we weren't near their location. We are headed to Hampton Roads home of Norfolk and one of the busiest Naval bases in the world. This proved true as I slowed my approach around Thimble Shoal light house to let a huge nuclear powered submarine go by to enter the harbor escorted by patrol boats with 50 caliber machine guns. They meant business. You don't screw around with this stuff. We watched as a sailboat ignored the calls to stay 500 yards away. The patrol boats descended on the ignorant sailors and proceeded to push the boat out of the way. Look at the right side of the picture and you can see the patrol boat racing to the sailboat.
As we progressed to our marina we passed numerous aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships in dry dock for repairs. Jets, helicopters and AWACS frequently passed overhead.
We stayed at Tidewater marina in Portsmouth and took an extra day of rest to let some bad weather pass by before proceeding.
We are thoroughly enjoying the trip, just tired and a little too cold.

We have never been this far south on our boat before. We arrived in Deltaville, VA after 53 miles in 80 F temperatures. We left Solomons into a beautiful sunrise and turned south. Great day, no complications. Doziers marina in Deltaville was fantastic and they had a captains lounge that was perfect for watching the Cubs win the world series! In reality I passed out about 11 and Ann at midnight when they were tied 6-6. We woke up to baseball history.