Onward (and Backward)

We spent five days at Reg and Jetty's house doing some preparatory work on Sirius and provisioning for the trip ahead. A great time to get to know them better. Reg and I served together aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Sweetbriar over 45 years ago, lost contact, and lived the larger part of a whole lifetime before reconnecting when I came across the previously linked article about the building of Rainbow. I can't say I recognized the "Old Man" who I saw in the photos, but there was no mistaking his passion for designing and building a sailing craft of that caliber. 

Nina got busy making memory foam pillow toppers for our V-berth on the boat. No pipe-frame / canvas berths for us. As I write this we are aboard Sirius in Great Bridge Virginia and she is stitching away on a Bimini type cover to keep the cabin cooler in the tropics. 

We got underway last Wed (11/19) with the weather forcast promising some favorable though very cold winds. The run to Deltaville was made halfway under sail and the last half using the iron Genoa as the wind had backed around to hit us on the nose. A layover day in Deltaville to get a couple of forgotten supplies and to allow the winds to become more favorable. Set sail Fri am with perfect westerlies of about 15 knots. Throughout  the day the direction held steady and speed gradually increased to 20 to 25 knots. Sirius stood up nicely under full sail to the increased wind speed and made a steady 6+ knots. We pulled in to the Elizabeth River at Norfolk, Va and tied up for the night in Portsmouth, Va. We decided to get turkey and all the other fixin's for Thanksgiving dinner as it appears that we will be in the middle of nowhere on T'giving day. 

Passing under a lift bridge leaving Norfolk. 

Next night we anchored in Blackwater Creek. A tight squeeze getting into that anchorage as Sirius draws 4 feet and our depth sounder recorded 4 feet depth on the way in. Such a peaceful spot though. 

Anchorage in Blackwater Creek. 

On the way we had to share a very narrow channel with a pretty large tug and barge. 

Here we were stopped and pulled over almost among the cypress stumps. 

Got up very early the next morning planning a long leg including crossing Albemarle Sound while the weather was favorable. Started the engine, made preparations and pulled the anchor at which point the engine quit. Diesel engines normally just keep on running and the silence in the early calm of the anchorage was...well, quiet. Seems that when a diesel quits it is usually something clogging the fuel system or air in the system which is effectively the same thing. I exhausted my limited bag of diesel mechanics tricks and eventually (with head hung appropriately low), called BoatUS for a tow. The last couple of years we have taken out towing insurance, but this is the first time to use it. The tow guy said that we have unlimited towing so he would tow us wherever we wanted to go. We suppressed telling him that Florida would be good and, instead decided on a marina 18 miles back the way we had come that had diesel repair service. 

At the repair place, the highly paid mechanic kept doing what I had already done, bleeding the air out of the system after which the engine would run for 5-10 minutes then die. Eventually after 5 hours of high pay, he discovered air leaking in at one of the screw-in plugs in the primary fuel filter. This seems to fix the problem so we'll be off again at first light in the morning. Next time I will try longer and harder to be the successful and highly paid mechanic. 

Preparations

Lots to do, but, Hey, preparing is part of the fun too.  We are eager to get settled aboard Sirius and to make it our home.  We recently sold our much loved Flicka and moved "up" to a big boat...Ha, from 20 feet on deck to 24 feet.  It really is amazing though, how much difference 4 feet makes.  We now have an enclosed head with a real sit-down toilet and holding tank, and galley with a gimbaled stove with oven.  No more having to tie pots onto the stove to keep them from flying about the cabin.  I now have standing headroom and really appreciate not having to bend my neck at odd angles to keep from bumping my head.  We will attach pictures later when we get to the boat.  For now we are still in Alaska and will be heading down to the boat on the Chesapeake Bay in 4 days.  Friends Reg and Jetty have kindly let us tie up to the dock at their house.  I am attaching a picture of Sirius at the dock.  Behind her you can see Reg's ship Rainbow.  Here is a link to a photo description of the building of this remarkable sailing vessel.  http://www.georgebuehler.com/Regsboat1.html

So why the blog title "Approaching the Horizon"?  This seems to be something that one really can't do, like going into the future.  No matter how quickly you rush into the future you always find yourself "right now."  Similarly, moving toward the horizon, we always end up "right here" with the horizon somewhere "over there."  For me, the hardest lesson to be learned traveling is to be "right here now."  So much the better to be able to learn this by being in ever new places.  Yikes!  Never mind.

I'll end for now with a favorite Robert Frost Poem:

The Sound of Trees

I wonder about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace,
And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air.
They are that that talks of going
But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older,
That now it means to stay.
My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when I watch trees sway,
From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.