Starry Night

1975 Tayana 37

Vessel Name: Starry Night
Vessel Make/Model: 1975 Tayana 37 (CT37)
Hailing Port: South Freeport, Maine
Crew: Bob, Jamey, Amanda and Alyssa
About: Bob and Jamey Myron, Amanda Myron (age 9) and Alyssa Myron (age 7)
Extra: Sailing from Durham, Maine to the BVI fall/winter of 2010
04 November 2010 | Norfolk, VA
03 November 2010 | Same
29 October 2010 | Cape Charles, VA
28 October 2010 | Cape Charles, VA
27 October 2010 | Somers Cove, MD
24 October 2010 | Somers Cove, MD
21 October 2010 | Mason Neck, VA
13 October 2010 | Washington, DC
12 October 2010 | Westmoreland Park, VA
07 October 2010 | Outside of Baltimore, MD
05 October 2010 | New Jersey Shore, prior to Cape May
03 October 2010 | Delaware Bay
29 September 2010 | NJ
29 September 2010 | NJ
29 September 2010 | Atlantic Highlands
26 September 2010 | Atlantic Highlands, Sandy Hook, NJ
23 September 2010 | nyc
23 September 2010 | Hudson River, NYC
20 September 2010 | 79th street boat basin, NYC
19 September 2010 | Long Island Sound
Recent Blog Posts
16 July 2011 | Branford, CT

The gift of time

As we get closer to home, people are starting to ask what the best and worst part of the trip has been.

02 July 2011

Updates

The last 3 blogs were posted after the fact as the sailblogs website was down. I posted them on facebook and was just able to repost here. I also downloaded some photos on facebook which I will copy here when I am able. If you'd like to see the photos on facebook, just search for jamey myron. They're on my site in photos/albums. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read about our adventures and keep in touch with us. It's good to have a touchstone when drifting around!

02 July 2011 | Solomon's Island, Chesapeake Bay

An Uneventful Day

No big stories today. No water in the boat, lost ground tackle or storms. The boat stayed clean, the kids got along and the weather was beautiful. Not much to write about, but it was amazing to experience. It was perfection. I'm not sure if it's because of or in spite of our recent adventures, but we [...]

02 July 2011 | Norfolk, VA

It takes about 20 seconds

We left Norfolk early this morning in beautiful weather. The seas were flat, winds were calm and almost no traffic in the harbor (which is rare in itself). Things were so calm that Bob had let me sleep. He got up around 6 to get us going. Just outside the harbor, he passed across the channel to head [...]

02 July 2011

Georgetown, SC

We arrived in Georgetown SC today around lunchtime. The scenery here along Winyah Bay is stunning, though we haven’t adjusted to the water color in the states yet. It seems so murky compared to the Bahamas and Caribbean.

30 May 2011 | Charleston, South Carolina

Getting older

Now that we are back in the US, one of the girls' favorite thing to do is call and talk to friends. Being away from friends has been one of the hardest part of this trip for them.

The gift of time

16 July 2011 | Branford, CT
Jamey
As we get closer to home, people are starting to ask what the best and worst part of the trip has been.

For the worst, I can think of a few moments that have been among the most frightening of my life.

The best, though is more difficult to explain. If I close my eyes, I can easily relive the joy of coming into St George's Harbor/Bermuda, the first sight of land after 10 days at sea or the colors in the Caribbean. These are among the best memories of my life.

The best part of the trip, though, isn't a memory, it has just been the gift of time. I have had endless days to spend with Bob and the girls. We've had time to argue and make up, time for family games, time to laugh together, get sick together, walk 2 miles with groceries. We've also had time to just hang out at the library or on a park bench - just because we could. I've also had time to watch the girls grow over the past year.

Time has been the single most enjoyable thing about this trip. I want to thank Bob, the girls and every friend we've met along the way for sharing this gift with us. I hope to always treasure it and pass it on, and I hope I always have enough sense to truely appreciate it.

Updates

02 July 2011
Jamey
The last 3 blogs were posted after the fact as the sailblogs website was down. I posted them on facebook and was just able to repost here. I also downloaded some photos on facebook which I will copy here when I am able. If you'd like to see the photos on facebook, just search for jamey myron. They're on my site in photos/albums. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read about our adventures and keep in touch with us. It's good to have a touchstone when drifting around!

An Uneventful Day

02 July 2011 | Solomon's Island, Chesapeake Bay
Jamey
No big stories today. No water in the boat, lost ground tackle or storms. The boat stayed clean, the kids got along and the weather was beautiful. Not much to write about, but it was amazing to experience. It was perfection. I'm not sure if it's because of or in spite of our recent adventures, but we were able to totally enjoy life today, the beauty of the world and the beauty of being able to spend this time together. Today is why we came on this trip, and if we have to have a lot of adventures to have more days like today, then it's worth it. The adventures make good stories and days like today make good memories. Life is good!!!

It takes about 20 seconds

02 July 2011 | Norfolk, VA
Jamey
We left Norfolk early this morning in beautiful weather. The seas were flat, winds were calm and almost no traffic in the harbor (which is rare in itself). Things were so calm that Bob had let me sleep. He got up around 6 to get us going. Just outside the harbor, he passed across the channel to head north, passing behind a container ship. He noticed a wake and called below, as we always do when the boat movement might increase.

Alyssa and I, of course knew nothing about all this as we were blissfully asleep in the V-berth. I was quick to pick up on the facts, though, as huge amounts of water came pouring in the hatches on top of us. The first wave soaked us, water pouring up my nose, and rushing into the cabin. The second wave left us in a pool of water, everything in the V-berth and the front of the boat totally soaked. The whole episode took about 20 seconds.

After realizing that the boat was not sinking, we started the process of cleaning up while underway. We had to totally strip the V-berth of cushions, books, clothes. Our charts that we store under the cushions were soaked, our bedding, pillows, everything was dripping wet. The floors in the cabin were soaked and there was a trail of debris left from the wave of water that had run through the boat (thank goodness for bilge pumps).

Everything was taken up on deck or hung up below to dry out. I wish I had a picture of the whole boat, as I'm sure we looked like a band of gypsies or the Beverly Hillbillies traveling up Chesapeake Bay.

But again, it only takes about 20 seconds to go from uneventful to OMG! Luckily, it was a beautiful day, everything dried out beautifully and it is all just a memory. Can't wait to find out what happens tomorrow.

Georgetown, SC

02 July 2011
Jamey
We arrived in Georgetown SC today around lunchtime. The scenery here along Winyah Bay is stunning, though we haven’t adjusted to the water color in the states yet. It seems so murky compared to the Bahamas and Caribbean.

Leaving Charleston was bittersweet – what a beautiful town. We had planned a crossing of around 75 miles to take advantage of a good weather window and the plan was to leave Charleston Wed morning and arrive in Georgetown by 9am Thurs. Weather was calling for light and variable winds at first, which is a bummer because it means motoring, but Wed afternoon and night was to give us a beautiful tail wind and calm seas.

Of course nothing goes as planned. Our lovely tail winds didn’t happen all day Wed. We ended up with 15 knots on the nose and a hard beat to windward all day. We also kept hearing thunder. Though we saw no lightening, it was a bit unnerving.

Sometime around 9pm, life became sweet again. Our tailwinds appeared and we had very comfortable sleeping conditions for a while. Bob took the 8p-12a shift. I came up at midnight to a beautiful full moon with the wind gently pushing us along at 4 – 5 knots. By 2:30am, we had arrived outside our inlet, pretty much as planned. The weather was still good and the channel was lit up like a runway, but there was now lightening on shore at the inlet. I wasn’t sure what the conditions were there, but I didn’t want to sail into a thunderstorm. If we stayed out a little while, it should pass south of us. We were only in 35 feet of water, so we anchored just outside the inlet thinking we’d hang out for an hour or so until the lightening threat was over.

Unfortunately, a rather unexpected bit of weather came our way. Before long, the boat was pounding in the seas and the wind was howling. We had waves breaking over the bow and our poor Starry Night was jerking on the anchor. We’re not sure exactly what the conditions were, but the winds were 30+ knots and the seas were 6+ feet. We had to get the anchor up.

By 7am, the winds had calmed enough to attempt hauling the anchor. The winds were around 20kn and seas around 4-6ft. Bob went up to the foredeck to haul the anchor while I took the helm. We’ve pulled the anchor at 20kn before and it isn’t easy. The helmsman has to keep the boat pointed toward the anchor and move forward just enough to take pressure off the chain while the deckman hauls up the chain. Everything has to be timed perfectly or you’ll run over your rode or put too much stress on the windlass and deckman.

Well, the seas were a bit rough for anchor hauling. The bouncing from the waves was enough to overload the windlass. In fact, I watched the bowsprit, windlass and Bob disappear under each oncoming wave. To keep trying would be risking Bob getting an injury or washed over. To stay put in the worsening conditions was a threat to Starry Night.

We decided to drop the ground tackle – our CQR anchor, 145 feet of chain and 270 feet of line. We tied a float on the end of the line in hopes that we can retrieve it later. It wasn’t easy to watch almost $3,000 of ground tackle go over, but it was the right decision. Bob and Amanda needed to take a quick break at this point to become violently seasick. Bob turns a really interesting color of pale green. Amanda was just pale.

The winds at this point were around 25kn and the seas were around 6 feet. We’d drifted a bit while taking our emesis break and were downwind of the channel entrance and needed to fight our way back up so we could head in. Problem was, we weren’t moving, even at full power. I tried angling off the wind, but whenever our nose came off, the boat would blow further downwind.

Bob set our storm sails to give us a bit more stability and hopefully a push. That seemed to work well and we were able to reach the channel. We had to experiment a while to see if we could hold a line at all. The channel entrance was about the worst layout for the conditions. It was a narrow dredged channel with shallows on both sides. There was little room for error. There is no jetty or breakwater, so the entrance is fully open to the wind and fetch. The wind, waves and current were all broadside to our course and would push us toward the side. We weren’t sure if we should attempt going through. If we got pushed off course, we’d be grounded in near gale force winds. However, the weather forecast called for worsening conditions, squalls possible of up to 40 kn. So the thought of staying out in that wasn’t overly exciting, either. We were also very tired. I’d had about 3 hours sleep and Bob only about 2 hours.

Again, we talked it over and decided to go for it. Bob did a great job angling in and we got through without further adventure.

Once inside the inlet, it was like another world. We had calm winds, still water and warm sun. There was no sign of our experience, except perhaps the float off the SC coast with our ground tackle attached to it.

Now we are at anchor (thank goodness for back-up anchors) and trying to figure out what happened and what to do. Turns out, an un-forecated low moved off the coast last night, complete with thunderstorms and winds up to 50kn. I’m sure there are many more boats with worse stories than ours out there. We were lucky, we didn’t get lightening and only had winds to 30kn (maybe some 35kn gusts). We’re not sure if we’ll be able to retrieve our ground tackle. We’ll need calm conditions to attempt it (assuming it’s still there) and there is no calm weather in the near future here.

However, we are all well and no one was hurt. We are safe, the boat is safe and the rest is just details!

Getting older

30 May 2011 | Charleston, South Carolina
Jamey
Now that we are back in the US, one of the girls' favorite thing to do is call and talk to friends. Being away from friends has been one of the hardest part of this trip for them.

Listening to them talk on the phone is an educational experience for me. We just left the Bahamas, with amazing beaches, incredible snorkeling and perfect weather. However, on the phone, the girls tell their friends how expensive everything was, how we couldn't find a bank, had to lug water, the stores were small and selection was scarce.

So, I'm thinking that I have the most negative children in the world! When I asked Amanda about that, here was her answer:

"Well, I can't call my friends and tell them how great it is and how much fun. They won't like that. It might seem like bragging or they might get jealous. I'm much better off to tell them about the awful things so they won't get mad at me."

After getting over how incredibly insightfuly this was for a 10 year old, I also realized how true it can be, and how sad.

Children are amazing with their honesty and fresh way of looking at the world, but they can also be very cruel to each other. As we grow, hopefully, we learn the skill of being happy for each other's good fortune. That's one of the better parts of being a "grown-up". When talking with friends, if they have gotten engaged, won a lottery or had an amazing experience, it makes my life richer, too. I can be happy just because they are happy.

So, maybe I am growing up. I have the wrinkles, slower metabolism and failing eyesight, but I also find more joy in the world. It's a good trade off!

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