The Maine Idea

Update: life is good. I went ahead and reconfigured the Scarlott Waters. Now she's set up for short trips and spending the night on board. Check out the full size bed which now dominates the cabin!    thanks to the wonderful friends who helped me along the way to this destination. Hanging out in Baltimore... What a beautiful morning! I started out as planned with all winds and tides as predicted, motoring out of Solomon's Island at 6:45 a.m. into a beautiful sunrise with only the main sail up, (still reefed from the day before). I knew I had a two hour cussing built into my trip which should take about 10 hours putting me at my destination around 430 pm.  I decided to lose the reefing lines and put the main sail all the way up and began preparing to do so. Then at 8:20 a.m. the motor quit. It acted like an electrical problem but I double checked  anyway to make sure it was not fuel. Checked the coil. My main suspicion is that the points closed up I will attempt to r

The weather Monday and Tuesday was very similar to what I experienced on Sunday, so the Scarlet Waters was left safely moored at Solomon while I went home to sleep in a dry place and prepare to transport my car to Baltimore. We will take our two cars up to the Magothy on Tuesday, look around, then Anita will drop me off Tuesday night at Solomon to reconviene my nautical adventure and make the final push up the Chesapeake bay. I plan to cover 53 nautical miles at an average ground speed of 5 knots. I'll start around 0630 on Wednesday and hopefully pull into SW's new home 10-12 hours later. On this day, the wind is forecast to be  from the south and the tide cycles are somewhat in sync with my intended movements. From around 12pm the tide will go my way. For the first 6 hours or so it is slack or going out. My hope for the morning  is that by hugging the western shore I will be able to avoid the main drag of the ebb tide.  I found a very nice app to compare the wind temp and tide

 Friday was relatively uneventful. I cruised out from Deltaville.  Had the sails up all day with almost no wind. FInally, I turned westward in the afternoon and looked for a place to tie up. Several marinas were recommended, but either their approach was too shallow or they had no room or gas. I finally decided on Point Lookout Marina on the north side of the Potomac River. What I didn't know, is how far up the Potomac River Point Lookout Marina actually was (7 miles). I slipped in and tied up around 5:00 p.m. The marina was closed for the night but they were nice enough to leave me the combination to use the marinas's facilities. The best thing about this stop was the very nice well-heated and clean shower and bathroom area. I was disappointed to find out they were closed the next morning and I could not fill up my gas thanks. Luckily I was able to fill up the boats main tank with all the reserve gas I carried on board which I judged was plenty to get

Last night at anchor was peaceful. I woke up at dawn and got underway. My intent was to have a short day and put in at Deltaville to ride out a nasty line of thunderstorms predicted for that evening and early the next day. I had two worries: staying ahead of the thunderstorm and running out of gasoline. The Atomic 4 burns about a gallon per hour. I had about 14 gallons in the tank and no reserve which should be plenty unless I was forced off course by the weather.  I stayed as close to shore as I thought I could, keeping to areas charted at 6 feet deep or more. Even so, Chugging along at 5 knots, I ran aground  on a sandy point off of Bethany Beach. Nothing I could do would get her to budge. Eventually I decided to launch the dingy with the anchor inside it with the other end of the anchor line firmly attached to the bow of the Scarlott Waters(SW). I paddled out exactly 120 feet and dropped the anchor, paddled back and began the match my tugs on the

Happy birthday Emily! Today I made great time partially under power and under sail. I left Portsmouth free docks at 8am and arrived at Willoughby Marina just before noon. I was fortunate to see a diver already at work and was able to get the hull of the Scarlott Waters cleaned off which should make the time of my trip a little shorter. I pumped out the black water tank and made repairs to the water pump on the Atomic 4 which had ingested a piece of impeller. I cleaned out the blockage, installed a fresh impeller, and the engine now runs cool as a cucumber. I decided to try to make it over to Hampton by sail, and left Willoughby at 2pm. The wind was perfect and I zoomed past the intended stop only to find I had a much longer way to go than I had planned.after crossing the York River. Sunset over the York River- It was after dark when I pulled into hook Harbor and dropped anchor for the night. 

After camping for the night just north of the deep Creek Lock. I motored on through to the free docs at Portsmouth Virginia right across from Waterside. My daughter met me that evening for dinner at the local "Fish and Slips"  restaurant. By the way, yesterday I met a nice couple cruising up to Deltaville in their Nordic Tug on the NC/V A border in the dismal swamp canal and  plan to follow them to stop in at Deltaville.  I'm a little worried about the atomic 4 though, which seems to be running hotter than normal. Tomorrow I will put up sails and plan to stop at Willoughby Marina to make repairs to the motor and also get the blackwater tank pumped out.