Discover Top Posts Tagged with #delmarquart

This is Ferd the Bird, a regular at the Downtown Marina in Charleston. 🐟

#herefishyfishy #snowyegret #nomnom #crewlife #delmarquart

Provisioning for our first jump offshore!

#svsensei #mealplanning #coastalcruising #sailing #delmarquart #nomnom

Steppin’ out

07/02/16 Brad writes:

We arrived in the Beaufort, South Carolina downtown marina two days ago, which gave us all a much needed shoreside retreat. We used a mooring ball near the marina because it’s more cost effective at $20 per day vs ~$60-80 per day to tie off to the dock. This has been a typical amount, and usually provides amenities like access to a laundry room (which are then coin fed), air conditioned bathrooms with hot showers, and a theoretical wi-fi internet connection (which didn’t reach our mooring position). Mooring balls are also generally much less likely to drag while under strain from wind or current, so there’s a security benefit also.

Anyway, time to do laundry, take hot showers, complete a few boat projects, clean out holding tanks, buy diesel fuel, top off batteries, top off water tanks, buy groceries, stash groceries in various nooks all over the boat, and eat some local food at a nearby restaurant (Plum’s had awesome low country boil!), all while traveling back and forth to the dock on a dinghy. It sounds silly that we didn’t get much sightseeing done over the course of two days in a cool old town with history back to the 1700s, but we got so busy getting ready for our next big challenge that seeing the sights had to take a backseat. The buildings and houses we did get to see were incredible, and many in the downtown area predate the Civil War. John informed us that the Union quickly overran the city near the start of the war, so there were no large battles or naval bombardments to destroy the now-antiquities. At least we did see more dolphins in the river while working up on the bow.

Sorry, “working”. The manatee count still stands at zero.

Prior to arriving in Beaufort, we had already been eyeing the Port Royal Sound as a strong candidate exit from the Intracoastal Waterway into the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the other sounds we had crossed had potentially dangerous shoals and breakers extending far into the ocean. Port Royal Sound has a good reputation for being straightforward, and would allow us to skip ahead up the coast past poorly maintained canals near Charleston. The weather window was the last part of the puzzle, and we agonized over the coastal forecast for probably four days prior to today. Each day, a slightly different wrinkle would appear and make us revisit our plans, which went from go to no-go and finally back to go yesterday. Currently, the forecast for tomorrow suggests 10-20 knot winds mostly from the south southwest, which will give us points of sail from a broad reach to running. Storm chances are small. Waves (seas) are predicted to be 2-4 ft (Lisa says “double it”). Sooooo, we’re off early tomorrow morning!! First off-shore sailing! First Atlantic Ocean sailing! First overnight sailing! First time on watch! We’re ready and excited to get underway, and Kristi and Lisa have been busy working on quick meals for the trip while I recaulked the hatch above our V-berth and John cleared and tied things down to the deck. We took a break for burritos and beer in the cockpit:

Tonight we’re anchored in a good staging area near the sound. We’ll get the next update out sometime after we arrive in the Cape Fear River on July 4, and we hope everyone is having a great Independence Day weekend!

#firsts #weindasouth #sailing #svsensei #delmarquart #coastalcruising

I Go To Come Back

6/21/2016 Kristi writes:

When I lived in the Virgin Islands back between 2004-2009, I learned from locals the value of a warm greeting. In the Caribbean, your best chance at obtaining mutual respect (and good karma) is to begin all interactions with “good mornin,” “afternoon,” or “good night!” You won’t get very far or make many friends in the islands without a positive demeanor and a little common courtesy.

West Indians love to cut their greetings into little quips too. One of my favorites parting phrases was, “I go to come back!” This phrase came to mind yesterday after we threw off the lines, stowed the fenders, cleared the deck and began to make way north. We waved goodbye to the giant water towers of the JAX Naval Airspace and all shouted “Hurray! Here we go,” in one form or another.

Not two minutes out of the harbor we realized something was wrong. The transmission would not push past idle in the forward position. RPM’s would rev up fine in neutral and reverse, but we couldn’t get any forward throttle. Bummer! So, we turned around and took her right back to the dock to start digging into the issue.

The good news is we had a very smooth practice leaving the dock and returning in moderate wind. The bad news is we’re still stumped on this throttle puzzle. Making the best of the situation, I joked to Brad that we “go to come back!” Seemed fitting. He just gave me this look (half laughing, half sad face):

Currently, John is in dive gear working under the boat to clean off the critters that might have accumulated on the prop over the last month while Brad is in the water too, scrubbing algae and barnacles from the hull.

John and Lisa brought Sensei into this slip a month ago and haven’t moved her since we set out yesterday. She was fine when she came here, so we’re hopeful that a little bottom cleaning will do the trick. John has pretty much tried everything else. We’ll see…

“Ships and seamen rot in harbor: a glib phrase but a true one.” -Dudley Pope

#svsensei #crewlife #troubleshooting #barnaclebattles #delmarquart