Yesterday I showed a picture of the narrow harbor channel into the marina. Well, this morning we faced a 15 mph wind blowing right into the channel as we departed. We left the dock and had about two boat lengths in which we had to turn 90 degrees to the right and directly into the wind to go out the channel. It turned out to be a "piece of cake" because... I have been working on my slow speed maneuvering of Lucky Us. For docking and other slow speed maneuvering the mantra is idle speed, helm in centered position, use forward/reverse on the engines to turn. This is indeed true because the easiest way to get into trouble in close quarters is to "gun" the engines. However, there are times when the wind and/or current make it difficult to turn. What to do? The next stage in the learning curve is to begin to use the helm to increase turning rate. The propellers are in front of the rudders so when backing up, the flow from the propellers does not pass the rudders, but when going forward the flow from the propellers passes and is effected by the rudders. Anyway a little turn of the rudders makes the boat turn faster, but if does not effect backing up. Anyway, I am still learning, and this more complicated approach is far from perfected. So, I will keep working on it until it feels "natural".
For the first 5 miles there were more small fishing boats trolling for Rockfish, and then suddenly there were no more for the rest of the trip. Obviously there was a change in something like salinity, bottom type (rock to mud?) or ???
Today's trip was 54.9 miles, which is a little shorter than the past two days, and mercifully, I got to sleep in a little. We departed at 8:40 am in light southeast winds of 10 to 15 mph. The seas were only 1.5 feet or less depending upon the orientation of the river relative to the wind. The Admiral usually calls the next marina about 9:30 am, and after she got off the phone, she commented that the marina employee had mentioned several times that the railroad bridge adjacent to the marina did have 4 tracks going over it... Sure enough, the main north-south line for the CSX System runs over that bridge. In a very short time we saw two Amtrak passenger trains as well as numerous freight trains. This picture was taken up by the marina office, and Lucky Us is docked out at the end of the pier (about where my finger tip is along the left edge).
Being a (retired) scientist, I had to check out the noise level by taking a nap... No problem! Then it was time for a few jobs. We checked the level of the hydraulic fluid in the steering system and added several ounces of fluid. The fuel price was good ($3.699/gallon for diesel) so we added 197.8 gallons.
While we were at it, we pumped out the holding tank and added fresh water to the aft tank. The marina was closed early for the holiday so we did it by ourselves so the pace was pretty relaxed. The picture at the right shows us tied up at the fuel dock so all of the fuel, pump out, etc. was right along side. There is also a CSX freight train going over the bridge. I exchanged waves with several of the engineers. Great fun!
In all fairness to the marina, this is the view out the port side of Lucky Us. There are a few houses on the high hill behind the marina, but we never saw anything like a town although the address here is Stafford, VA. I mentioned a change in the fishing earlier, but while enjoying this view, I realized that the vegetation has changed from a few days ago. We do not see any of the tall southern pines, and the forest appear to be all deciduous trees, which are in the process of leafing out.
Tomorrow we hope to be in Washington, DC. Stay tuned...
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