Heat, Biting Flies, No Wind ..... We're Lovin' It!

The Admiral Escaping The Flies & Heat

Welcome to Chesapeake Bay in the summer time. Heat, biting flies, no wind. But there are no lobster traps and very few rocky reefs, much to our delight. We had traveled overnight from New York down the coast, then up the Delaware River and through the C&D Canal, to enter the Chesapeake and pause for two nights in Annapolis..

Go Aussie !

A local told me that there are at least two rocks in Chesapeake Bay, but everyone has forgotten just exactly where they are. The bay is over 150 nautical miles long from north to south, and little more than 20nm at it's widest. A haven for yachting and boating in general, it is typically quite shallow with a deep water channel running up the middle of the estuary.

The world 505 sailing championships are running here at the moment. This morning, before we departed Annapolis, we had breakfast in the cockpit watching all 90 of these compact but high performance racing yachts breeze past us. The crews were from the USA, Canada, France, Great Britain, Poland and Australia, among many other nations.

Day Tripper Eats Insects, Then Departs.

As the Aussie boats sailed past we gave them a big welcome cheer, waving our large jar of Vegemite. What would the neighbours think?

After breakfast we headed south, working our way through the racing fleet and then motoring all day - no wind, but plenty of biting flies to kill. The deck is patched red with blood splotches. Just days back, cruising from Greenport to Port Jefferson, we had a beautiful Golden Finch on board. It stayed with us all day, ranging around the boat and carefully devouring every single insect on the boat. We really needed that bird with us today...

As I write we're approaching the mouth of the Patuxent River, where we'll spend the night anchored in Solomons harbor, just across the river from the Naval Air Station (remember Tom Cruise in Top Gun ? That's the place). The naval aviators aren't flying today, no super loud noises as we approach, so we'll look for them in the local bar when we arrive.

505 Sailboats Ready To Race In Annapolis

Dodging Hurricane Jose, Ducking Under Bridges

At The NYAC Yacht Club - What Hurricane ? Who Is This Jose ?

Hurricane Jose wimped out on Long Island Sound, very fortunately for us. Planning for the worst, we headed for Pelham in New York. With the help of OCC Port Officer Thomas Delaney, we arranged a berth on the pontoons in the pond at the New York Athletic Club Yacht Club. There, in the best hurricane hole north of New York City, we rode out the barely 15 knot winds that Jose finally rent down upon us. It was a fortunate anti-climax.

Determined to head south quickly, chasing warmth and sunshine, we planned a passage off-shore from New York to the Delaware River, just as soon as Hurricane Jose had passed by. To access the ocean we needed to travel down the East River of Manhattan, only then we discovered it was closed for security reasons during the United Nations General Assembly session last week. What next ?

Urgent Boat Repairs In Rockland

After colliding with the rocky ledge some weeks back, we needed a place to haul the boat out of the water and make good the damage. Luckily we found just the place we needed in Rockland, Maine.

Journey's End Marina is well managed, clean and very well equipped. Besides marina berths they have a 55 metric tonne travel lift and hard stand areas, plus indoor storage for hundreds of boats and a complete range of repair and maintenance services.

Clad Welding The Damaged Area

Crystal Blues was efficiently lifted out of the water and blocked onto the hard stand among the many large sheds. Then, without us lifting a finger, they arranged for an engineer from their associated shipyard to inspect our damage and recommend a repair process. Given that Crystal Blues is a steel boat, this was a very welcome response.

Grinding Back

Our own local surveyor also inspected the damage. He agreed with the shipyard proposal so we proceeded with clad welding the dented keel and grinding back to a fair surface.

The shipyard also correctly insisted that we empty the keel fuel tank and test the bottom area of the keel for fuel leaks, using an electronic sniffer (that little operation added a few days to the job!). We also ground back the entire keel base and the sides of the keel for about four inches up from the base, as it was dinged and scratched up on the rocky ledge.

Then we sand blasted all the damaged areas and primed with 3 coats of our standard Jotun epoxy primer.  Obtaining the paint was a major effort - to speed the process we rented a car and drove south to New Jersey to collect it from the nearest distribution center, then drove back to Maine - 8 hours each way.

Epoxy Fairing Compound Going On

After priming the keel was faired with epoxy fillers - we mainly mix our own using West System epoxy and the purple colored phenolic micro-ballons. Then two final coats of Jotun primer before the joy of anti-fouling - three coats of Jotun Sea Force 90.

Keel Finished

At that point we lifted the boat and moved the keel blocks so we could start the process all over again, on the areas that were previously covered by the blocks.

Gori Propeller Service

Another week went by .... the weather in Maine was cooling rapidly, the thick duvet was on the bed and we were often rugged up in 4 layers of clothing.

While out of the water we also serviced our Gori folding propeller - it had served almost 4000 hours since 2005, without more than changing anodes and rubber stoppers, so we figured it was time.

That job turned out to be relatively easy - the hub and blade assembly came off the shaft hub quite easily and we stripped the assembly to replace the thrust washer under the crown gear. Putting it back together was simple, so long as all the parts were numbered... The plastic thrust washer wears over time, creating some sloppiness in the gearing, replacing it tightens up the whole assembly.

We polished the top-sides and made ready for the water, and finally the job was complete, 3 1/2 weeks after we hauled out. We were lucky we found a fantastic yard to work in, willing to let us do our own finishing work and to plan the project the way we wanted it done, while supporting us with their own team every step of the way.. Hat's off to Journey's End Marina in Rockland!

While the team at Journey's End Marine were exceptional, the real moral of this story is to never, ever, use or trust Navionics Sonar Charts!

South West, To Warm Water & Sunshine

Repaired & Heading For Warmer Water

Having completed repairs at the excellent Journey's End Marina in Rockland, Maine, we quickly made a jump south and west over the past two days, chasing warmer weather.

Penobscot Bay To Block Island Sound

Crystal Blues was launched on Monday at 13:00hrs and we fueled, conducted a small sea trial and finished rigging the boat that afternoon. Early Tuesday morning we struck out southwards down a very cold Penobscot Bay, dodging the ever present lobster traps all the way until we reached the open ocean.

A Cold Captain

From there it was SSW to the Cape Cod Canal, a 150
nautical mile run that we covered in around 22 hours of mixed motoring and motor sailing.  We zoomed through the 9 mile canal in just under an hour and continued WSW down Buzzards Bay in light airs. Sunshine and warm air lightened the mood - Ley turned to the galley and produced multiple loaves of fresh bread from the oven.

What a difference a solid day of travel can make - by 4:00pm yesterday we were anchored in the Great Salt Pond on Block Island, stripped of our multiple layers of clothing and enjoying balmy conditions around 25degC. We had passed the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and were into warmer Rhode Island waters.

Thick fog shrouded the boat this morning, so we delayed our departure until mid-morning when it had mostly cleared. It was a glorious day for sailing with 12 knots of wind and smooth seas, so Crystal Blues was in her element. It was our best sailing day in many weeks.

We romped along at 8 knots for most of the afternoon, hard on the wind with only a light salt spray decorating the foredeck. Six hours of travel now finds us back in New York State, in Greenport at the home dock of our friend Arthur Stroem. It's damn good to be away from the cold, and even better to be away from all those rocky reefs and ledges .....

Warm Air & Sunshine At Last - Approaching Long Island This Afternoon

Here in Greenport we'll do a complete rig survey - it needs to be carefully checked since our incident with the rocky ledge. Then we'll look for a weather window to take us safely south to Reedville, just off the Chesapeake Bay. September is the major hurricane month on the US East Coast. While Texas and Florida are cleaning up from the last two hits, hurricane Jose is hanging around out there in the Atlantic, and two more disturbances are now rated 70% chance of forming hurricanes in the next five days. You can update on those right here.

A Busy Month For Atlantic Tropical Storms

Navionics Sonar Charts & The Missing Reef

Part Of The Keel Damage

Early on August 9 we departed Potts Harbour, heading for Booth Bay, Maine. Leaving the anchorage we collided with a submerged reef, bringing the mighty Crystal Blues to an instant stop from around 5 knots. Ouch. Our first computer assisted grounding!

Fact is, we were lucky.  The mast and rig stayed up, the hull was not breached and the damage could be repaired fairly simply. However a boat built less heavily would have been in severe trouble. The story that follows is intended to serve as a warning for others, to help prevent further accidents. So how did it happen ?

First off, I made the mistake of trusting Navionics Sonar Charts, which I'm unlikely to do again. Secondly, I failed to check any secondary navigation aids or references. So with more care I could have avoided the reef. Dodging lobster pots, early in the morning, I was busy at the helm and trusted the charts that had brought us into harbor the afternoon before. Never again...

It's ironic that I was actually looking at the charts (on the iPad) as we connected with the reef - when Ley stumbled up the companionway and I picked myself up off the wheel, we both looked at the chart on the iPad - it showed over 13 meters of water depth. Wrong. In fact very wrong.

Crystal Blues was at that point bobbing on the gentle swell, afloat, but occasionally colliding with the reef on the bottom of the swells and occasionally hitting something as she rocked from side to side. Not wanting to start the engine in unknown waters, we lowered the dinghy and towed her away to deep water using the outboard motor. We lifted the floor boards and inspected the bilges for damage or leaks, and then (more than a little shaken) proceeded to Booth Bay, where I dived on the boat and captured the image above.

Pulling Away From The Reef

So now, over three weeks later, we're hauled out of the water at Journey's End Marina in Rockland, Maine, working towards repairing and refinishing the keel. In the time since the accident both we and others have had time to look at the Navionics charts for the area in some detail, and the results are not good.

The Missing Reef

First of all, this problem has nothing to do with zoom levels on the screen. No matter how close in you zoom, that reef was not shown. So here is what we were viewing on screen right when the collision occurred :

With the wisdom of hindsight, it does look weird. The yellow line is our track, and it shows just over 13 meters where we came to a sudden stop. When we checked the standard Navionics chart (not the Sonar Chart version), a serious chart error became apparent :

You can see that this version shows a depth of 5.4 meters nearby, and the dark blue zone adds to the message that we shouldn't be there. However it gets worse, much worse.

The official government chart, above, shows a minimum depth on that reef of less than 1 meter. Yoiks ! So, not only the Navionics Sonar Charts were wrong, but also the "standard" Navionics charts.  How can this be ? How widespread is this problem ?

Cruising The Lobster Coast

Goat Island Lighthouse Greets The Full Moon

We worked our way north from Boston, stopping overnight in Portsmouth  before another day hop to Cape Porpoise Harbor, just a few miles north of Kennebunk. It's small harbor, almost full of moorings but with space for perhaps three yachts to anchor just inside the sheltered zone.  During high tides a little swell does cross over the reefs, though it was never uncomfortable in the time we were there. Strong onshore winds could change that, so Cape Porpoise needs to be treated with respect.

It also has an incredibly dense field of lobster traps at the entrance - a huge tangle of floats on the surface, almost blocking the entrance - though with care we found a pathway through.

Crystal Blues At Anchor, Cape Porpoise Harbour, High Tide

Inside, the harbor looks huge at high tide, but is reduced by almost 70% at low tide to a much narrower channel between the islands, with dozens of lobster trap boats lying on moorings. A processing plant sits on a pier head with the two good restaurants adjacent, plus a large dinghy dock. The local supermarket is only a half mile walk, and has everything a cruiser could want.

The Admiral In The Lighthouse

At the entry to the harbour, the Goat Island Lighthouse is fully functional (using an LED light source we noted), with the historic site and buildings maintained by the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, who open the site for visitors most days.

The small floating dock on Goat Island can be accessed for an hour or so each side of the high tide. We used our dinghy to cross the pond, climbed to the top of the lighthouse and enjoyed the warm sunshine - something that was becoming scarce as we moved north east.

Lobster Dinner, Of Course, With Ralph Hurlbutt

Here, close to Kennebunkport,  we enjoyed a great reunion with Ralph and Louise Hurlbutt, whom we had last seen in the year 2000. We had worked with Ralph in Sydney, and even lived with Ralph and Louise in their Sydney home.

Stowaways In The Forepeak

Of course they cooked up a storm of local lobster, clams and seafood, and we shared a grand table with Ralph, Louise, their family and friends. Later, we played host to them onboard Crystal Blues, where the kids explored the boat while the adults explored the local wines, a perfect arrangement.