Up the Potomac

Up The Potomac – September 17 to October 1, 2010

Head north from Deltaville and turn left when you reach Smith Point Light. After trying to do just that for a week, we finally made it to the mouth of the Potomac.

Smith Point Light

During our visit to Ontario in August, LSYC members Pat and Peter told us about their visit to St. Mary’s College at St. Mary’s City on the St. Mary’s River. The timing was right for an overnight stop. We decided to check it out and ended up staying for two days.We anchored in 15 feet of water at horseshoe Bend, just off of the docks used for the sailing program at the college.

 

Sailing school dinghies.

St. Mary’s College is a liberal arts school with a student population of about 2000. The 319 acre waterfront campus is idyllic with mature trees, walking trails, historic buildings and its own sailing center with a sandy beach. It feels more like a resort than a school. We walked around the campus and had lunch and dinner at the school cafeteria that is open to the public. The food was great and very reasonably priced.

 We did not get invited to the college beach party at the sailing center and didn’t think we would blend in very well if we crashed it. Oh, to be young again!

 If you take daylight savings time into consideration this campus sun dial was only 10 minutes off the correct time.

Adjoining the campus is Historic St. Mary’s City which was established in 1634 and was the original state capital of Maryland before the seat of government was moved to Annapolis. St. Mary’s City is known for several American firsts: freedom of religion was mandated, the first African-American participated in colonial legislature and the first woman requested the right to vote. The settlement was later abandoned and returned to farmland for many years. The site has been rebuilt using techniques and materials that are based on what has been learned from extensive archaeological activity.

The reconstructed ‘ordinary’ where early travellers would have stopped for sundowners.

The landscape is scattered with these frames on original footprints depicting the buildings that once existed.

Early morning departure from St. Mary’s

We expected the trip to Washington, DC to take three or four days. We left St. Mary’s very early in the morning and headed up the Potomac with a list of anchorages as potential overnight stops. We soon caught a strong up river current and by late afternoon we had reached Mattawoman Creek, just a few miles from downtown DC. After stopping on the river to chat with the Canadian catamaran Zero to Cruising and hearing that their upriver trip had taken six days we were quite pleased with our progress.

Communication dishes on the banks of the Potomac.

On our arrival at the entrance to Washington Channel we were escorted by dinghy to the Capital Yacht Club docks by a member whom we had met last year at the Seven Seas Cruising Association ‘gam’. This is not a service normally provided by the club. Bill just happened to be passing by in his dinghy and recognized Polar Pacer.

The Washington Channel is also the flight path for US government helicopters. 

They fly low and are loud.

The club members and staff at CYC are very friendly and helpful and for a nominal fee anchored cruising boats can access their clubhouse facilities which include showers, laundry, pump out, bar service and wi-fi. We were also welcomed to join them for Spaghetti Night and Rainy Day Soup. The volunteer cooks are very skilled. And many thanks to Mike and Jean for hosting us for dinner on board and making a special grocery store run.

There are how many different kinds of shrimp?

From the CYC parking lot it is an easy walk to the fish market and many of the museums and monuments that Washington, DC is so well known for. On our first day we had an early start and took the dead presidents walk past the Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln Memorials to the Reflecting Pool, World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument. Then we spent three hours walking through the Museum of American History!

The Reflecting Pool

  Forrest Gump was nowhere to be seen.

After almost wearing out the soles of our shoes we slowed the pace down a bit but still managed to cover a lot of ground and see most of the Smithsonian Institute. These are just a few of the highlights of our Washington tour:

The view of the anchorage from the top of the 555 foot high Washington Monument on a drizzly morning. Polar Pacer is third from the left.

The White House.

Every car that gets this close is searched by bomb sniffing dogs.

 

   The black statue sits in front of the Canadian Embassy. 

Its white twin is in the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.

The Capitol Building.

The House was in session but we were able to tour much of the building without having to get a special pass.

Opened in 1897, the Library of Congress is an amazing example of Italian Renaissance architecture. 

We saw one of the few remaining 15th century Guttenberg bibles and rough drafts of the Declaration of Independence. If you have a valid library card you can download eBooks, audio books and much more from its extensive collection. Check it out at www.Find LIBRARYeBooks.com.

 Best selling fiction writer Isabelle Allende, niece of assassinated Chilean President Salvador Allende, was one of the authors interviewed at the annual Library of Congress Book Fair. 

She is a very animated speaker with a wonderful sense of humor. She is now on my ‘need to read’ list. 

Ken Follett, Martha Grimes and Scott Turow were other familiar names on the agenda.

The government of Russia provided the Air and Space Museum with this replica of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. The Soviet Sputnik program was prominent in the news when I was a child.

Tomatoes on sale at the Eastern Market on Saturday.

The National Museum of the American Indian was designed by Douglas Cardinal, the same architect who designed Canada’s Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. 

Our favorite exhibit was Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture which comes with headsets so you can listen to the music of Redbone, Buffy Sainte Marie and others as you go through.

Jimmy Hendrix’s Coat of Many Colors

And there was much, much more. Entry to all of the Smithsonian Museums, gardens and Art Galleries is free. We could have spent several more weeks there and still not seen everything. It was definitely worth the trip up the Potomac.

Relevant Reading : Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

In this book, written well before he was elected president of the United States, Barack Obama talks candidly about his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia and what it was like for him to grow up black in his white family and having a father that he had never known. He speaks about abandoning a career in the world of high finance to become an “organizer” in the poor, mostly black, neighborhoods of Chicago where he struggled to provide leadership and show them how they could make a difference in their own lives. Over time his sense of family was challenged as he made contact with his extended family and travelled to Kenya prior to attending harvard Law School to meet his numerous step brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and his grandmother.

Always focusing on the human side of his experiences, Mr. Obama is an excellent writer and his memoir reads like a novel, ending on a note of romance with his marriage to Michelle.

The Portrait Gallery in Washington DC does not yet have an official portrait of Barack Obama but has this fine art version of the mass produced campaign poster by Los Angeles graphic artist Shepard Fairey.

        Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown is a recent addition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Escape From the Boatyard

Escape From the Boatyard – September 13 to 16

It took two false starts before we finally broke our ties with the boatyard at Schroeder’s Yacht Systems. On our first attempt we made it as far as green marker #1 at the entrance to the dredged channel leading into Broad Creek from the Rappahannock River. The motor stopped running without warning and when Tom opened the lid to the engine compartment a cloud of white smoke and steam billowed out. While I ran for a fire extinguisher and hailed Tow Boat US on the VHF radio Tom determined that there was no fire but the engine was very, very hot! There was also a large pool of antifreeze in the bottom of the engine compartment. After being assured that there was no fire on board and that we were not in any imminent danger, Tow Boat US dispatched a crew to our GPS location to provide assistance. About forty-five minutes later we were on our way back to the dock at Schroeder’s Yacht Systems. Thanks to our unlimited towing insurance with Tow Boat US it didn’t cost a penny.

Fortunately for us the mechanic at SYS was on site working on his own boat and was willing to give up a good part of his Saturday afternoon on his day off to help get the problem fixed. It turned out that some hoses for the hot water system had been connected incorrectly and the plug for the antifreeze had not been tightened quite enough.

 Polar Pacer under tow.

On our second attempt at leaving we made it as far as Reedville, VA. We ignored the warnings about the smell from the menhaden (a small oily fish found in coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic) processing plant and chose it as our first stop on the way to Washington, DC. It was not far and we had not been there before. We wanted to take a look, and a sniff.

The Lancaster, a menhaden fishing boat, coming in to port with the days catch. The odor that emanated as she passed us was a sample of what we could expect as we got closer to the processing plant up the creek.

One of several fish traps just off the entrance to Cockrell Creek. The birds have it all figured out. Just wait on one of the posts until a fish tries to escape.

We found a nice quite spot to anchor in a tributary off of Cockrell Creek. There was a definite smell of fish in the air but it was not unbearable. Apparently the newly installed air scrubber that we had read about was doing its job. The bigger disappointment came when we lowered the dinghy and saw a film of oil on the water coming from our stern. More specifically the oil was leaking from our drive leg! Further investigation revealed a loose plug where water had been able to enter the drive leg and force the oil out.  We needed to go back to Schroeder’s to be hauled out of the water once again! At least this time we didn’t need to be towed. We were still able to motor for the short distance back out to the bay where the conditions were perfect for a beam reach sail back to the Rappahannock.  Another short bit of motoring and we were back at SYS and lined up to be hauled in the morning.

The drive leg was drained, refilled with clean hypoid 90 gear oil and left to sit overnight to ensure that there were no leaks around the seals. We had also discovered that one of our thru hulls was seized and needed to be replaced. All went well and we were re-launched on Thursday morning. After saying good-bye to our boatyard friends for the third time we were on our way once again and headed for Washington, DC.  

During our second stop at Reedville we were not so lucky with the fish processing plant. The wind was blowing from a different direction and it got quite smelly during the night when the plant was in full production.  We should have learned the first time. 

This historic stack was being refurbished in honor of the industry that has been located in Reedville for many years.

A Hot Water System for Polar Pacer

This was one of the items on the job list for the Boatyard Marathon. It all started from wanting to raise the new helm seat in the cockpit by three inches.  A little research revealed that if the cockpit floor was raised six inches and the existing small locker in the cockpit floor was incorporated, a 6 gallon water heater could be fitted into the new space and there would also be enough room to add two more golf cart batteries if we decided to increase the size of our house bank. 

The fiberglass work commenced and the smallest tank available at a reasonable price was ordered from Defender as well as a hot/cold deck shower fixture and new hot/cold taps for the sinks in the galley and head.  New water hoses were installed for the hot water tank and to both sinks.  

The 6 gallon Seaward hot water tank.

The tank was fitted into the new space at several stages of the construction process.

The tank originally came with a heating element for 120 volt electricity. We replaced that with a 120/12 volt element and a Xantrex C40 charge controller that we ordered from SVhotwire.com. The Xantrex controller is set to divert excess power from our wind generator or the alternator to heat water. 

 Xantrex power diverter

We also ran hoses to the engine so it could also be used as a heat source. That exercise was a bit of a challenge as Yanmar does not use standard threads on their engines where the connections are made. They had to be tapped out in order to fit. Also, since the water heater was located higher than the engine, air pockets could form in the system and we had to install an expansion tank that was higher than the water heater in order to get the bubbles out. 

The expansion tank on the left.

The deck shower is installed in one of the new fiberglass lockers on the back deck.

After motoring or good wind power generation we now have hot water for dishes at the galley sink and can have a shower on the back deck without having to use propane.

The Boatyard Marathon Continued

The Boatyard Marathon Continued – August 23 to September 12, 2010

It was a good thing that we had completed most of the projects on our job list before we left for Canada. When we returned it was somewhat more difficult to get ourselves motivated. Although the temperatures in the boatyard were about 20 degrees cooler that July, we found it harder to get organized and stay focused. It was too easy to get distracted and find more interesting things to pass the time. 

During our stay in the boatyard we had access to the showers and toilets at Stingray Point Marina next door. We also were able to get internet access in the screened in BBQ shelter. That was important as the cooler weather had also brought out the mosquitoes!

This full scale replica of the original Stingray Point screw pile lighthouse is a prominent landmark at the marina.

Chrysaora Quinquecirrah

The presence of sea nettles in the waters of the Chesapeake discourages swimming. Fortunately we have not experienced the sting from their tentacles which can be quite unpleasant. Apparently one of the methods to relieve the pain is to apply urine.

The Chesapeake Deadrise is the official boat of Virginia. Around since the late 1800’s these wooden boats were originally built as work boats and many are now being refitted as pleasure boats. There were several in the boatyard in varying degrees of repair. We have also seen them out working the crab trap lines. 

To help fill the cracks between the planks the boat will be “sunk” and left to soak for a while until the wood swells.The term deadrise refers to the V shape in the bottom of the boat.

Deadrise: The “Dead” straight rise of the wood from the keel rabbet to the chine. This usually includes all bottom planking from the bow staving to near the stern.

When we first arrived in Delatville in mid June the crepe myrtle trees were in full bloom. They were still blooming mid September.

Just one of the many colors of crepe myrtle that range from white to deep purple.

Interesting bark.

But back to the marathon……

Tom used ‘On and Off’ to clean the hull and applied a coat of wax before adding a fresh coat of Micron CSC Blue bottom paint. After more than a year in the water we were surprised to see how well the bottom paint that we had applied in Canada was holding up. There were only a few areas around the bulbs on the front of the bows where the layer of blue paint was worn down to the layer of black underneath. Most of that was due to rubbing against the anchor chain and mooring ball lines.

We had Frankie from the boatyard do some gel coat repairs on our bows. He did a much better job than we could have done ourselves. We have seen some of his paint work on other boats, Polar Pacer’s sister ship Zulia for example, and were impressed with his workmanship.

These new power saving LED lights were installed in the main cabin. The wiring runs behind the new panels that the headliner is glued to. Each light has its own on/off switch.

Every makeover should include new window treatments. The curtains on Polar Pacer were probably original from when she was built in 1985 and did not block much light from coming through. While back in Ontario I took the opportunity to visit Ottawa Street in Hamilton in search of suitable material. 

Since each window is a slightly different shape trapezoid I looked for something without a distinct pattern in a light color to keep the interior as bright as possible. I also wanted a lining that would help keep the heat from the sun out.

  

There are ten windows. Each one required a separate pattern. A Styrofoam bowl made a good temporary pin cushion.

 

 Tom used his new Fein Multimaster (the wonder tool) to prepare the last area that needed to have fiberglass tabbing replaced.

Bit by bit we did get everything completed except for things that we decided could just as easily be done on the water.We just wanted to be back in the water and on our way.

The final thing holding us back was bureaucracy.  The pleasure vessel cruising license that we had obtained when we first arrived in the US last year was about to expire. Without one we would need to present ourselves in person at a customs office each time we arrived at a new port of entry.  With a valid cruising license we can report our arrival by making a phone call.  Prior to leaving for the Bahamas  last fall we had inquired as to the proper procedures when we would return in the spring and were advised by a Customs and Border Patrol agent that we would need to wait two weeks from the expiry date to apply for a new permit.  If we traveled during that two week period we would need to do a full check in at each port.  There were no other requirements. As we spoke to different cruisers we started to hear inconsistent versions of the process which did not surprise us. There seems to be a bit of confusion among C&BP staff as to what the requirements are for foreign cruising vessels. We were a little concerned that we were hearing that we would also need to take Polar Pacer out of the country for the two week waiting period. Considering our location, that would be a difficult thing to do. When we contacted C&BP in Baltimore to confirm the procedures we were advised to come in to the office with our expired license and our boat documents and they would issue a new permit. A quick road trip to Baltimore with a side trip to Annapolis and we were ready to launch!

Oh Canada

Oh Canada – August  1- 22, 2010

After six solid weeks working eight and ten hour days in the hot and humid boatyard we were very ready for a whirlwind three week trip home.  However, the logistics of planning the trip were more complicated than crossing the Gulf Stream!

The nearest rental car location is the Enterprise office in Gloucester, Virginia which is a 30 minute drive from Deltaville.  They provide a pick-up and delivery service but only Monday to Friday between 9 AM and 5 PM. The nearest airport is in Richmond, Virginia which is about a 90 minute drive from Gloucester. It costs considerably less to fly to Buffalo, NY than to Toronto, ON and friends had graciously offered to drive to us to and from Buffalo. The challenge was to book flights that would fit into this jigsaw puzzle.  I also wanted to spend some time with family in Calgary using frequent flyer points to get there. 

It all came together in the end and we had a wonderful visit with many more people than we expected to be able to see thanks to our many generous friends and family members. It was good to see so many familiar faces at Lake Shore Yacht Club and our former workplaces and hear that many of you are following our travels.  We apologize for any concern we may have caused when the blog posts were suspended while we worked on the boat.

We have many people to thank for making our trip so successful.  We truly appreciate the time they took out of their busy lives to make it such an enjoyable visit.

 Amy

Amy’s family picked us up in Buffalo then offered us the use of their cell phone, car and home for the duration of our stay and organized a homecoming BBQ with several of our best friends in attendance. 

  Juno

Juno’s family took us out for a very nice Thai dinner with our son and helped us celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Zeus

Zeus’s family organized a  canoe trip/shopping day and dinner as well as the second annual “Name That Tune” competition. They also delivered us back to Buffalo to catch our flight to Virginia.

We played tourist with our son in Toronto and attended the annual Taste of the Danforth festival for the first time and sampled Greek foods from the many kiosks. 

One of our visits to LSYC coincided with the annual Caribbean celebration complete with a steel band.  Thanks to Karen and Warren for securing tickets for us.

As expected, my week in Calgary went by way too fast.  It was great to be able to see as many family members as I did. I miss you all. The 10 degree weather was quite a change from the 40 degrees that we had seen in the boatyard .  It was the first time I had worn long pants in many months.

 There was hail mixed in with that rain. Brrrr!

Rider Pride is alive and well in Alberta.

It  was over too quickly but hey, we have an adventure to continue……

One Year Later and the Boatyard Marathon

One Year Later

Wow! It has been over a year since we left our jobs behind, handed the keys to our home in Missisauga to the new owners, filled the storage locker at the condo, disposed of our automobiles and moved on board Polar Pacer. Time really does fly when you are having fun. We have met an amazing array of people and made some very good new friends. We are still enjoying the experience and are not planning on giving up the lifestyle anytime soon.

A year living on a boat sounds like a long time until we meet people like the Swiss couple on Roi Soleil who have been travelling the world and living on the water for 37 years. Now that is a long time. We have grown accustomed to living in a small space with minimal possessions. In fact, we have disposed of many of the things we had on board when we started the trip as we realized that we just did not need them. Our shopping experiences are usually limited to those things that will be used up (beer, food, propane) or are replacements for items that have broken (Tom's camera - twice) or worn out (flip flops, bathing suits and boat parts). Souvenirs tend to be items that serve a purpose on board or take up very little space. I have collected postage stamps since I was eight years old so that works well. As we use the salt and pepper shakers almost every day they were an appropriate acquisition.

Pewter images of blue crabs bring back memories of the Chesapeake. The salt shaker is stored on the stove next to the burner to keep the white stuff flowing.

Polar Pacer has proven to be a comfortable and reliable vessel although we came up with a list of changes that we think will make her a little more user friendly. Some of the changes are cosmetic like fresh varnish on the teak while others are functional like a hot water system and a shower on the back deck.We have had a number of requests for technical information on the upgrades we have done. The list is pretty long so  I will spread them out over several posts. If there is something specific you are interested in let us know through the comment feature on the blog.

The Boatyard Marathon - June 14 to July 31, 2010

We started out with a combined wish list/job list of 139 items and narrowed it down to more things than we could reasonable expect to accomplish in a six week time frame with a budget considerable higher than what we could sensibly afford. We were hauled out of the water at Schroeder's Yacht Systems in Deltaville, Virginia on the morning of June 15 with a spreadsheet of 79 top priority 'to do' items.

We are fortunate that Polar Pacer is just over 15 feet wide and can fit in a regular travel lift. Newer catamarans are much wider and have a harder time finding facilities that can accommodate them.The guys at Schroeder's are very careful with our home.

We were anxious for the boatyard marathon to begin. The sooner we could start checking things off the list the sooner we would be back in the water to continue the adventure.We were just a bit jealous of our friends who had continued to head north en route to Maine to feast on fresh lobster but we were also excited about the improvements we had planned for Polar Pacer.

More than one person had warned us about the heat and humidity in the Chesapeake during the summer. Our first purchase from Home Depot in nearby Gloucester was a window style air conditioner that Tom installed in one of the hatches with a blue tarp and lots of duct tape. Thanks to Liz and Chris for the loan of their car for that shopping trip. 

It turned out to be one of the hottest summers on record with many days reaching temperatures over 100 degrees and most of the others in the 90's. We would have not slept much without our Zenith.

We have ordered most of our supplies using the internet and they are delivered by UPS directly to the boatyard. There are also some suppliers in town ( including two, yes two, West Marine stores)  but nothing is within walking distance and we are mostly relying on the kindness of strangers to drive us around. There is an Enterprise car rental location in the next town but that can get rather expensive.

There is no need for an alarm clock to make sure we get an early start to our days. The boatyard crows are up with the dawn and their early morning treetop arguments are loud enough to wake the dead.  They seem to appreciate the cooler morning temperatures as much as we do.

They also like to admire themselves in the port lights.I have not seen so many crows since I was growing up in Saskatchewan.

There were several sewing projects on the list. There is a large painting shed in the boatyard that is not seeing much use that became a workshop for many of our projects. It worked well to set up the sewing machine with lots of room to work with large pieces of Sunbrella.

The problem with sewing without anywhere to sit is having to spend a lot of time standing on one leg.

This piece became a large awning that drapes over the spinnaker pole from the mast to the inner fore stay. It covers the entire cabin top and provides shade. It has a long slot at the front edge to accommodate the inner fore stay and loops of polyester (UV resistant) webbing on all four sides in order to tie it in place. There are rod pockets at both ends plus two more aft of the fore stay that we can insert poles into to give it more shape.

Our diesel cans are starting to show the effects of being out in the sun day after day and needed to be protected from the UV rays.

If the sun can do this to plastic imagine what it does to our skin without sunscreen.

All dressed.

The dinghy chaps that I had used as my practice piece when we first purchased our Sailrite sewing machine

were showing some wear and tear and we identified a few design flaws that needed to be fixed.The Sunbrella material and polyester thread are holding up well against the UV rays. Other projects included Phifertex panels for the cockpit enclosure for more air flow and shade, a foredeck bag for the staysail and new dryfast cockpit cushions.

Have a seat.

Tom's biggest project was to build several fiberglass units. He made the shapes using core cell and a hot glue gun, added layers of fiberglass cloth and epoxy, faired them with Awl Grip and finished them with Brightside  paint. 

A new propane locker and one of the back deck lockers with a fresh layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy.

The new storage cubby for the helm station with a coat of Awl Grip fairing compound. It will be sanded when it is dry.

Ready to be bonded into place then painted. The raised compartment at the helm station makes space for a six gallon hot water tank. The new helm seat will be positioned on top and I will no longer need a stool to see where I'm going when I'm at the helm.

One of  two lockers being bonded to the back deck using epoxy and thickener. They will give us space to store the fishing gear and snorkel stuff plus a shower system.

With all the new pieces installed the cockpit got a fresh coat of paint.

The list goes on. But more of that another time.

Life in the boatyard is not all work and no play. There are enough people who like us, are staying on their boats as they work on them and appreciate a break in the routine of sanding, painting, and repairing or replacing various broken bits. One such diversion was a movie night where we watched the latest version of Alice in Wonderland. 

If you have seen the movie you'll note the significance of Jabberwocky as a backdrop.

Too busy to write.

It has been a very busy time in the boatyard with no time to write. Will have an update soon.