Overnight Cruise - 9/12 - 9/14/09

Yesterday (Sat) I finally got Foxy's engine running. To run it needs: spark, air & fuel. I knew I had the first 2 - so it must have been fuel. I have been working on the engine all week, but finally on Sat with ether and Carb cleaning spray I got her going, and after letting her run under load for about a half hour, I figured the blockages must be cleared. You can have no idea how absolutely great it felt to get it running. The satisfaction is hard to beat! That afternoon we could finally leave on a cruise! We were very keen to start enjoying our new boat, and were very much looking forward to an overnight cruise! Brigite did a great job provisioning, especially since our plan was quite vague!

We headed off and with the NE wind, we headed up towards the Western shore, with Mobjack Bay as a target, but York River as the backup in case we run out of light. Had a nice sail up, skirting along the large shallow bank. The wind was quite light, and we used the #1 with full main, close hauled. Just around sunset with the dying breeze and not great sailing speed we fired up the donk, and put the sails away. We motored up into what looked like a nice quiet and protected shore with enough depth. It was close to the Coleman Bridge. We dropped the hook at 8:30pm and fired up the BBQ. A couple of steaks and a glass of wine later, and we could not have been happier! Brigite was responsible for the delicious meal, and found the galley quite functional, and she made peace with the alcohol stove!

It was a peaceful night, with only one noise that needed attention - the hanging lid of the BBQ was occasionally making contact with the topsides.

Woke up around 7am, quite refreshed, made coffee, and enjoyed the great feeling that waking up anchored in a protected cove offers! After an hour or so we decided to haul the anchor and take advantage of the N breeze to sail accross the bay to Cape Charles.

We had a nice breeze as we left the York river with the Spinn up. It was a lovely sail accross the Chesapeake Bay, and we caught a little fish, and another bigger fish broke our line and took off with our fishing tackle! Guess our line was not strong enough for trolling. It was a lovely port tack sail of just over 20 nm. We sailed up the channel to Cape Charles, as the engine would not start. It was the no-crank issue, which is an electrical problem. It was frustrating to say the least! We sailed into the Municipal Marina, and got the engine started about an hour later. We ate at the the great Irish Bar in Cape Charles, and their to-die-for chocolate cake! We had a good night and bought gas in the morning at the reduced prices they offer. We motored up the very thin channel to the Bay Creek Resort.

We docked there to check out rates and see if there were any anchorages around, and apparently up Cherrystone Inlet is a nice spot, which we will explore in the future! Then we set sail for home. Another nice sunny day, but the breeze a tad light for the 20+ mile downwind run. We found that our "goofy" sail is quite good in these conditions, as the symmetric was very unstable in the chop, but goofy managed to keep his shape, and pulling. We had very good tidal planning for the trip, and that helped us make good time. 7 miles out we decided we needed the motor, but before firing it up, I gave the waterline and rudder a scrub. We motored in with a good 2 knots or more of tide under us, and tied up in Willoughby around 4:30pm, after a most enjoyable two night cruise. Lets hope we have lots more of these in the future!