Off and running...

We got a relatively early start out of Portsmouth this morning as we planned to get quite a ways into the Chesapeake.  We first had to motor about 10 miles out the Elizabeth River past the naval base.  We saw our first submarines of the trip.  We also saw the aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower.

Two nukes.  All the ships are behind floating fencing.

Dwight D Eisenhower

Once we got to open water we were able to sail.  The wind was from straight behind and eventually built to the low 20s.  When the wind had been lighter we used our spinnaker pole to wing out head sail out opposite the boom.  Once the wind started to build we knew it might prove interesting getting the pole down since our dinghy is upside down on the foredeck.  We left the pole up enjoying the extra speed it gave us - high 6 to 7 knots.  We thought maybe the wind might go light later, and if not we'd just have to deal with it.  We had a great sail, clicking off the miles in 3 to 4 foot waves.  We ended up going 66 nautical miles at an average speed of 6.6 knots.

As we got close to our destination we decided to get the pole down and roll up the headsail, as we were approaching shore and an area filled with fish stakes - imagine hundreds of fence poles sticking up out of the water in front of us.  We got the pole down with no problem, but we couldn't roll the headsail in.  So here we are, sailing dead downwind around 7 knots right towards the fish stakes.  With the headsail out and drawing we couldn't slow down much, and we couldn't very easily head up into the wind to get the mainsail down.  Fortunately we had started this maneuver about 3 miles before we needed to,  just in case we had an issue.  We eventually figured out that a spare halyard that we had been using to hoist the front end of the dinghy off the deck to get a breeze down below when at anchor was rolling up into the sail and keeping the sail from rolling in very far.  The high winds has caused the very top section of the halyard to blow forward into the sail.  Since the mast head is about 60 feet off the deck we hadn't noticed it from the cockpit.  Problem solved.  We are now anchored in a really well protected cove in flat water.

A couple of things I keep forgetting to mention:

Restaurants in North Carolina all have a health rating score listed, like 98.6 or 89.5.  We're not really sure what the number means or how they arrive at it, since the deep fried fish place we ate at had a score of 101.5.  Maybe you can get extra credit if you give the inspector a free dessert.

We also noticed several restaurants down south that offer a discount on Sunday if you bring in your church bulletin.

When you don't have land to build a lighthouse,
or if you just want to mess with the boaters and move the light around.

A front yard in the historic district of Portsmouth.