Even work is fun!

Just in case you think we have been shirking our boat duties, I can assure you that work is going on apace.
Fill holes, sand them down, then repeat. When it is done to your satisfaction, do again with finer sandpaper! Chris also ground down some of our above water blisters, re-glassed them and they look pretty darned good. Frank, from the yard, glassed the larger holes where our no-longer-needed instruments were, and you would never know they had been there.

See? It's fun!

After lots (and lots) of sanding we got our first base coat sprayed on the topsides on November 20th. Woo Hoo!

We spent a couple of nights in the local motel as the fumes were too strong to stay on the boat and returned to find the boatyard had already started filling (with pink) some more spots made visible by the new coat of paint. If you do this soon enough after the spraying you can miss out the sanding to prep for that session. We're all for that! Then you sand again to get ready for the next coat of paint!

Just starting the first spraying. Frank and Frankie worked for over 3 1/2 hours to do the topsides, excluding the anti-skid areas. It looks great!

Sanding has it's side effects. We have taken our wedding rings off after we noticed them getting smaller by being sanded away. And our fingertips are getting the same treatment as the boat. The rough outer skin is sanded off to reveal tender, pink, perhaps bleeding skin beneath. We have it on good authority that by the time you get down to really fine grit paper your fingers are so smooth that, to quote, "the girls really like it". Hmmmm

Some people think we must be getting a little disgruntled with all the boat work, but not at all. We don't want to take any longer than we have to, but we realize this is not a quick job. It will take as long as it will take. In the meantime we are learning so much about our boat that we really feel this is a great opportunity.

White with pink spots - it could catch on...

Russ and Lilly treated ourselves and another family of cruisers to a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner at their house. Russ works at the yard and very kindly thought that we might enjoy a home cooked holiday meal. I always thought I could cook a pretty mean turkey but this one beat me. The secret, I'm told, is to inject it with marinade and basting sauce as it cooks. Along with ham, yams, beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing and a host of other traditional fare we ate the best meal we have enjoyed in a long time.

Two days later and Chris and I were out to Urbanna, at yet another meal, hosted on a self-built wooden boat by some very nice people we met at the yard. It's amazing to be in a boat that someone has built completely themselves. This was a lovely and very roomy boat, complete with a small wood stove to heat the inside. They are getting ready for a trip to Bermuda.

We have met so very many kind, generous and really nice people while we have been on the boat. I can't imagine a more pleasant life.

Urbanna Oyster Festival

This is certainly a part of the country that likes to celebrate!
Early in November the town of Urbanna, about half an hour west of here, holds an oyster festival, which is now in it's 51st year.

The first day of this two-day event was chilly and rainy and we decided to give it a miss. The last day didn't start out any better but We voted to go. The rain stopped and the skies cleared as soon as we arrived in town. It was the first time we had been to Urbanna. It is a lovely little place with a sheltered harbour. It was established in the early years of the new colonies as one of the centers for shipping goods and tobacco back to Europe. The roads were closed off for the Festival and were thronged with people out to enjoy the day.

One of several live bands

The highlight of the day was the parade. There were marching high school bands, drum and pipe bands, old and ancient cars, majorettes, gymnasts, the irrepressable Shriners, the Oyster Shucking Queen (!!) and much more. The stalls had all sorts of foodstuffs and there were tons of them. I finally got to taste a roast oyster and I think I could get used to them! There was a cute dog act, that had all the kids openmouthed, and some great bands. It was a fun day.
We didn't have our camera with us, so all these great photos are courtesy of our friends on New Life.

Yours truly x 2

Boys in Blue

A high school band

Two of lots of great cars

Looking fine!

Those cartwheels take it out of you - just one more..

Shriners having fun

Playing with fire

Bringing up the rear

What it's all about

Smart dogs!

Hallowe'en

The end of October brings Halloween, and we spent it at the Holly Point Museum and Park. This is property that was donated by the previous owner and now hosts a nature park with several gardens to walk through, as well as a museum featuring Deltaville's boatbuilding heritage and restoration projects in progress. In early October they hold an art and seafood festival. We attended last year and had the best shrimp salad either of us ever tasted. This year we had to give it a miss in order to attend the Annapolis boat show (we bought a life-raft!), but we certainly thought Halloween would be fun. Especially as our Swiss friends have a 6 year old son who had never experienced Halloween.

Marvin at the entrance

It seemed as though most of the town got in on the act. Businesses sponsored stations which you visited after you entered, some with larger than life inflatable Halloween decorations, some with scary cobwebs and bats and creepy sounds. Each station had a costumed helper or two, giving out treats or goodies, even a T-shirt! After we had wandered through all the stations, with 6 year old Marvin getting into the act quite easily and uttering a few shrieks himself, we started on a Haunted Trail that led through the forest walk. It was nearly dark by this time, and we entered the trees by passing under a large archway with an evil looking devil. Eek!

It's Casper!

A groaning, smoking, creepy car

The Devil's Gate

Now it was the turn of other town volunteers to show what they could do. There were lots of ghoulish costumes hiding in the trees, ready to jump out and frighten us. Floaty cobwebs and flying bats, skeletons crawling out of coffins, headless ladies searching for their killer. Adults and teens alike had bent over backwards to put on one of the the best Hallowe'ens I can remember, the only entrance fee being a donation if you wished.

Do we know you?

Bubble, Bubble, toil and trouble....

After a hay-ride we did some traditional trick-or-treating at a couple of neighbourhood homes (which should have been on the cover of a magazine with their decorations) before returning home to check out the loot.

Great decorations

Difficutly in accessing internet from the boat, and inertia keeping me from camping out at the library has resulted in a gap with the blog. I resolve to do better, as we have been having a great time with sight-seeing, and also learning a lot about preparing a boat!

In mid-October we noticed in the local events paper that there was to be a re-enactment of The Battle of the Hook. It is described as follows: "The events leading up to the Yorktown Campaign and the subsequent victory of the Allies that insured the independence of the United States are well known. Less well known is the battle that took place across the York River from Yorktown sixteen days before the British capitulation, but one that led immeasurably to that final outcome."

The reenactment was to take place at Warner Hall, and the whole spectacle was provided for free, apart from a $1 charge for a round trip to the site by shuttle bus.
There was to be a procession through old Gloucester the Friday night, but the weather was so cold and the rain so heavy that it was cancelled. Saturday's weather was also terrible, but the skies cleared enough on Sunday that we decided to risk it.

It was a wonderful day, and although Wilmington offers a similar experience, the fact that this was all done by enthusiasts from around the country giving of their time and money made it unique. There were over 1500 re-enactors there for the three days and two or more nights required for the event. They slept in tents like the original soldiers did (though one did confess to us that he used a couple of sleeping bags!)and dressed in the manner of the time. There were reenactors of French, Spanish,English and Scottish soldiers(and possibly others), as well as American troops and raggle-taggle recruits. There were women and children camp followers, and merchants who set up a tent village with goods as they would have in the past. The reenactors prowled these tents looking for items needed by their alter-egos. From weapons to haberdashery, it was all represented.
There seemed to be more reenactors than onlookers and that further served to give the impression that we had stepped back in time. It certainly brought it home to me how many different nationalities were involved in the conflicts, as well as the mix of Americans from backwoodsmen to plantation owners and statesmen.

Scenes from the Encampment

Scenes from the merchants

Assembling the Troops

Scenes from the Battle

The Battle itself was interesting, as I had never thought about how very like a strategy game these earlier disputes were. One side made a move, then the next assessed it and made a counter move. The men pulling the cannon on wagons took long agonizing minutes to load, before firing on command, and the lines of infantry seemed to stand ready for ever until they were ordered to fire as a group. If you read of the losses suffered, they seemed minimal compared to some battles of the Civil War.. "The British withdrew to their lines with the loss of their infantry commander and 12 men, and a wounded Colonel Tarleton. The Americans lost 2 killed and 11 wounded, and the French suffered 3 killed and 16 wounded, including Lauzun's second-in-command, an Irish brawler and duelist named Robert Dillon."
Of course, I don't know how many they started with!

The Battle of the Hook:
http://gloucesterva.info/pr/events/bhhistory.htm
http://www.battleofthehook.com/history.html

Fun in Virginia

September 26


Computer problems have been keeping us from updating the blog easily. Our hard drive died, which involved sending off for a new one, waiting for it, installing it and trying to get our vital information off the old one. Thank goodness Chris is handy with this kind of thing but even so there are still gaps in the old data and various programs. My offline email reader also got zapped and I lost the lists of addresses and emails I had. It is taking some time to replace them all so bear with us. In order to get a reliable internet connection we need to go to the library so we only get there once a week or so. There is sometimes a low internet signal in the boatyard but we can't ever bet money that it will be there when we need it.

Time has passed and so have the seasons. The ospreys have gone,as have the summer blossoms and flowers. But the groups of bluebirds and cardinals are still here and there are now fall flowering shrubs and blossoms. The grass is still green, but the early summer fields of corn have been replaced by fields of beans, all bordered with blooming wild morning glory in all it's colourways of blue, white and pink. The temperatures are now in the mid 70s by day, with mid 50s at night. Great working weather.It is really lovely!

We have been having fun with the boat. We got a quote to have our rigging replaced and fitted and got a shock at the same time. We hadn't done our homework and the price was way beyond what we had budgeted. So we have decided to buy the rigging ourselves and have help fitting it. Seeing as how the rigging was all off, it seemed to make sense to have the mast off too. All of the wiring and running rigging going up through the mast needed inspecting, and we were pretty sure a lot needed replacing. So down came the mast.

If the mast and rigging are off it almost makes sense to give the boat the paint job we promised her "some day". We discussed it with the yard and settled on having them do the paint job while we do as much of the prep work as we can, under their supervision. Not too many yards would be as helpful as this one! They moved us under cover and we started the job of taking everything off. The windows, the hatches, the cleats, the windlass, the latches, the screws and the rivets, the chainplates, the rudders....you name it, we took it off and then some.

Then we removed all the silicone, scraped out the balsa core around the hatches, scraped the same out around the nail and bolt holes. That is where we are up to now. Next we will seal all the open edges with epoxy, fill the ones we don't want any more, and silicone the ones we do.
We had our blisters looked at. They are above the waterline, on both sides of the rear starboard hull. We had always assumed they were cosmetic - maybe the boat was built on a Friday?! But when Frank drilled one out it startd oozing within an hour or so! When water gets into fibreglass a chemical reaction starts and over a long time will separate it into layers. This usually happens underwater, but in our case it was happening above the waterline. Darn! It was hard to figure out how the water was getting in, but Chris found out when he was down below taking off the bolt for the pushpit. As he got it out water gushed into his upturned face and over the bunk top.(Remember we have been out of the water nearly two months!) Guess it had come in through a poorly sealed join! So now we have a new job of grinding out the blisters and repairing the fiberglass. The problem must have been ongoing for many years but was never picked up in the survey.

In taking our rudders off we found one of them was full of water too. Actually we expected them both to be that way, so it was a treat to only have the problem with one. We will drill holes in both of them to dry them out.

The guys in the yard are great! We have been gifted bags of figs which grow abundantly around here. I never knew! They give us tips on all sorts of things, and last night we were very kindly invited out for dinner by a cruiser and his wife who came, saw, and bought a house. We had crab cakes made with crabs she had caught herself, and never tasted better! AND were sent home with a jar of fig jam.

I have been asking around to find out who was born/grew up here. It seems as though almost everyone came from somewhere else, then settled here. I can absolutely understand why.

The Mast is coming off

We're under cover

The instruments come off

The windows didn't want to come off in one piece

After about 5 weeks of boat work we decided all work and no play can get sort of draining and we arranged to take a day off once a week or so and do some sightseeing. We will shortly be rid of the car, so while we have that luxury we want to take advantage of it. We don't expect to be in this part of the world again soon and there are certainly lots of interesting things.

Our first day off took us to a very small music festival in the grounds of an old plantation house on the north side of the Rappahannock River, the Northern Neck. It is currently growing organic crops and has a little store on the grounds. The owners and their friends provided the entertainment accompanied by a variety of instruments including a washtub.

Concert in the grounds of Locusville Plantation

Plantation House

The next day off we went to Colonial Williamsburg. It is a reconstruction of Virginia's second (I think) capital and has re-enactments of pivotal times leading up to the revolution. We got a multi-day pass, as we can see we will be visiting there often!

Sign by the York River, on the way to Williamsburg

Firing the cannon!

Proclamation from the house of government

This is a very pretty part of the world. Lots of flowering shrubs and trees that seem to bloom for months at a time. Lawns are always nicely mowed, hedges trimmed and flower beds weeded. Deer are often about. They seem way smaller than what we are used to and I wondered if they were a different breed. I was told they are the same as our Ontario deer but because there are so many of them sharing resources they grow smaller.

Realizing that we were going to be here for a while (!) we joined the local YMCA and are doing Yoga classes. They certainly let us know where our flexibility could use some work!
I also joined the library and have been having a great time reading up on the Chesapeake. I had already read James Mitchener's novel "The Chesapeake" which gives a very good introduction to the history of the region. It was quite an eye-opener to me how much piracy there has been here over the years. And the oyster wars in the Bay led to a greed similar to that seen in the gold rushes of the west with a lot of the worst of mankind's vices prevailing. A large number of people and incidents playing a part in the early years of the fledgling country that became the United States of America were from the areas surrounding the Bay. Pocahontas could easily have trod where our boat sits today! Washington was born a few miles north of us, the Revolution was partially fomented a few miles south, and the Civil War had many pivotal battles in the same part of the country.

To me as a newcomer Chesapeake Bay seems bountiful and huge, but my reading has shown that it has suffered the plight of many a first world waterway and has lost much of it's original abundance to pollution, over harvesting and mismanagement of resources. Some species have virtually died out, where others have become so weakened by environmental stresses they are barely hanging on. The States bordering the Bay have rarely agreed on solutions and this has led to many abuses in the past, and even today. A free boating magazine wrote about a Texas firm, Omega, that catches menhaden, a small fish that plays an vital part in the ecosystem. The firm has a plant north of here, in Reedsville, and uses the fish for fertilizer, pet foods, cosmetics, etc. Also Omega-3 oil, and meal for fish farms. They catch over a hundred tons a year. According to the magazine the plant had the largest fish harvest in the U.S outside of Alaska! Virginia has placed a limit on the amount they can catch in order to try and preserve stocks, so the boats simply go across to the Maryland side of the Bay, which has no such restrictions, and catch the fish there. They use spotter planes to find the schools and fleets of boats to net them - the poor fish don't have a chance!

ICW paraphernalia 2

The ICW has a variety of bridges that open to let us pass. Some split in the middle and open up, some lift up from the side only, and some swing open to let us through.

Here are a couple of others, at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Pontoon Bridge

This is the last pontoon bridge left on the ICW. It is actually a barge floating on the water, over which the road passes. Every boat has to wait for this to open, as they can't go underneath it. There are cables attached to the barge. When the bridge opens, the cables swing the barge to one side. Once the cables have dropped back to the bottom of the water, the boats can pass by.
The bridge tender's hut is on the barge.


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This is a lift bridge in Norfolk. With this bridge, the whole roadway slides up the two towers at the sides. There are some large naval and merchant ships in Norfolk, so these bridges need to raise very high. The movie does not show the bridge moving all the way to the top, which it does. The bridge tender's hut is in the centre, and he gets a lovely view every time he moves up.