Sunday, September 30, 2012
The new boat has a new name!
Should be back in the water sometime next week! I arranged for a new slip in the Ashley Marina, where Tranquility was berthed for four years. I'm very excited about getting in some sailing time here in Charleston harbor and getting familiar with her!
Back in the saddle already???
For years, I've wanted to work on the water. I wanted to find some way to earn money by driving boats. I started taking steps to make this a possibility about three years ago by getting a USCG Captain's License. This would enable me to drive boats for pay, and opened up a lot of opportunities for me. Early this past summer, I decided I would try to finally make it happen.
My plan is to build a micro-business that offers captained daysail charters here in Charleston harbor. To do this, I needed a boat that was pretty much the exact opposite of Tranquility. I needed a boat that was maneuverable, fast, and easy to sail by myself. I looked at a ton of different boats, but kept coming back to Alerions. I've really had a soft spot for these boats since I first saw an advertisement for them in Sail magazine back when I was in college. They're just gorgeous. I don't know what else to say about it. Drop-dead, classic good looks of a daysailer from an era gone by, but with a modern rig and underbody to facilitate speed and ease of handling. I shopped them online for a bit, and finally found one just south of Baltimore that fit the bill. About two weeks before we left on the sailing trip that ended with Tranquility getting dismasted, I bought "Moonshadow II," a 1999 Alerion Express 28.
In the middle of August, my buddy John Guthrie (whom you met in my Baja HaHa adventure last year) and I drove up to Flag Harbor, MD to get the new boat. Of course it goes without saying that Chili (being the old salty dog that he is) would be crewing for me on this trip, too. We would take about two weeks to sail her down the Chesapeake to Norfolk, and then bring her down to Charleston via the ICW. This would be a very rustic form of micro-cruising, seeing as how "Moonshadow II" is a gentleman's daysailer, and has virtually zero amenities/cruising gear. We would basically be camping out for two weeks, but we would have a great adventure.
We left Flag Harbor on Friday, August 17. The day started out great, and we were soon sailing at up to 8.4kts into a 15kt wind. As the day progressed, we got closer and closer to Point Lookout, MD, at the mouth of the Potomac River. The mouth of the Potomac can get really nasty when the winds oppose the current. The seas get steep and close together, and we sound found ourselves pounding into four-foot seas that were way too close together. The new boat did really well, but she's small and light, and we were taking seas over the bow and house from time to time that were pretty much drenching us back there in the cockpit. At some point, the display for the depth gauge got sea water inside it and stopped working. Shortly afterwards, I discovered that my VHF was also refusing to work. No worries, we watched the charts and markers closely, and by the end of the day, we were docked at Point Lookout Marina, a couple of miles up the Potomac. We laid up here for two days, trying to solve our electrical issues with partial success. We got the depth display working again, but would make the next leg without a functioning VHF.
Sunday the 19th we left early in the morning, heading for Deltaville. We would have some decent sailing on this leg, but towards the end of the day the seas again got rough, and we were happy to get into a slip at Fishing Bay Harbor Marina. Due to a small-craft advisory the next day, we laid up for a second night, and bought a new VHF in the meantime.
Wednesday the22nd we left Deltaville early, this time bound for Norfolk. As we left the bay, we were escorted out into the Chesapeake by a pod of 20 or more dolphins. Things like that are a rare treat, and everyone on board (including Chili) really enjoyed watching them play. There wasn't much wind that day, so we motorsailed all day down to Norfolk, arriving late in the afternoon. By six that evening, we were docked at Ocean Marine Yacht Center in Portsmouth, VA. We were at mile Zero in the ICW. It had taken us three sailing legs to get the 130 or so miles down the Chesapeake Bay. We were going into the winds and seas for virtually the entire trip, yet we still averaged 5.9kts over ground for the three legs.
The rest of the trip, being in the ICW, offered very predictable days. Up before dawn, motoring (and motorsailing when possible) southbound for 10+ hours, then docking in the evenings in various marinas along the way. Some days it was blazing hot with little cloud cover, often with hundreds of boats on the water. Other days it was rainy and windy with no other boaters for dozens of miles. Moonshadow II and her fearless (if not eager) crew held up very well, and we all had a pretty good time along the way. We stayed in some great marinas on the way down, with the best being in Coinjock, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC. Great restaurants at each of those places, and the one at Myrtle Beach had a pool with an enjoyable view of the ICW, several nice marinas and a drawbridge.
On Thursday the 30th we arrived at the Isle of Palms Marina, just north of Charleston. We laid up short that evening, enjoying dinner and drinks at the Morgan Creek Bar and Grill. The food was good (I had country fried chicken with gravy!), and the atmosphere was even better. Got to usher in the long-awaited start of the college football season by watching South Carolina beat Vanderbilt in a close one.
Next day saw us motor through Charleston Harbor and down to Ross Marine on the Stono River. There she was hauled out to have a few jobs done to get her ready for her new life as a working boat. The trip had lasted 17 days, 13 of which were spent with the boat moving from one destination to another. The chartplotter's log shows that we covered almost exactlty 650 miles, and had a moving average of 5.8kts for the entire trip. That's a surprisingly good speed for a 28' boat with a 22' waterline and a 10-horsepower diesel! I was really pleased with everything about the new boat, and I can't wait to get her back in the water and put her to work!
So that's it. From here I'll be trying to get the business going. I still have to do some marketing (brochures, website, cards), and networking (with concierges, tour companies, marinas, etc.), but I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I couldn't be more excited to be doing what I'm doing.
My plan is to build a micro-business that offers captained daysail charters here in Charleston harbor. To do this, I needed a boat that was pretty much the exact opposite of Tranquility. I needed a boat that was maneuverable, fast, and easy to sail by myself. I looked at a ton of different boats, but kept coming back to Alerions. I've really had a soft spot for these boats since I first saw an advertisement for them in Sail magazine back when I was in college. They're just gorgeous. I don't know what else to say about it. Drop-dead, classic good looks of a daysailer from an era gone by, but with a modern rig and underbody to facilitate speed and ease of handling. I shopped them online for a bit, and finally found one just south of Baltimore that fit the bill. About two weeks before we left on the sailing trip that ended with Tranquility getting dismasted, I bought "Moonshadow II," a 1999 Alerion Express 28.
In the middle of August, my buddy John Guthrie (whom you met in my Baja HaHa adventure last year) and I drove up to Flag Harbor, MD to get the new boat. Of course it goes without saying that Chili (being the old salty dog that he is) would be crewing for me on this trip, too. We would take about two weeks to sail her down the Chesapeake to Norfolk, and then bring her down to Charleston via the ICW. This would be a very rustic form of micro-cruising, seeing as how "Moonshadow II" is a gentleman's daysailer, and has virtually zero amenities/cruising gear. We would basically be camping out for two weeks, but we would have a great adventure.
Sunday the 19th we left early in the morning, heading for Deltaville. We would have some decent sailing on this leg, but towards the end of the day the seas again got rough, and we were happy to get into a slip at Fishing Bay Harbor Marina. Due to a small-craft advisory the next day, we laid up for a second night, and bought a new VHF in the meantime.
Wednesday the22nd we left Deltaville early, this time bound for Norfolk. As we left the bay, we were escorted out into the Chesapeake by a pod of 20 or more dolphins. Things like that are a rare treat, and everyone on board (including Chili) really enjoyed watching them play. There wasn't much wind that day, so we motorsailed all day down to Norfolk, arriving late in the afternoon. By six that evening, we were docked at Ocean Marine Yacht Center in Portsmouth, VA. We were at mile Zero in the ICW. It had taken us three sailing legs to get the 130 or so miles down the Chesapeake Bay. We were going into the winds and seas for virtually the entire trip, yet we still averaged 5.9kts over ground for the three legs.
The rest of the trip, being in the ICW, offered very predictable days. Up before dawn, motoring (and motorsailing when possible) southbound for 10+ hours, then docking in the evenings in various marinas along the way. Some days it was blazing hot with little cloud cover, often with hundreds of boats on the water. Other days it was rainy and windy with no other boaters for dozens of miles. Moonshadow II and her fearless (if not eager) crew held up very well, and we all had a pretty good time along the way. We stayed in some great marinas on the way down, with the best being in Coinjock, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC. Great restaurants at each of those places, and the one at Myrtle Beach had a pool with an enjoyable view of the ICW, several nice marinas and a drawbridge.
On Thursday the 30th we arrived at the Isle of Palms Marina, just north of Charleston. We laid up short that evening, enjoying dinner and drinks at the Morgan Creek Bar and Grill. The food was good (I had country fried chicken with gravy!), and the atmosphere was even better. Got to usher in the long-awaited start of the college football season by watching South Carolina beat Vanderbilt in a close one.
Next day saw us motor through Charleston Harbor and down to Ross Marine on the Stono River. There she was hauled out to have a few jobs done to get her ready for her new life as a working boat. The trip had lasted 17 days, 13 of which were spent with the boat moving from one destination to another. The chartplotter's log shows that we covered almost exactlty 650 miles, and had a moving average of 5.8kts for the entire trip. That's a surprisingly good speed for a 28' boat with a 22' waterline and a 10-horsepower diesel! I was really pleased with everything about the new boat, and I can't wait to get her back in the water and put her to work!
So that's it. From here I'll be trying to get the business going. I still have to do some marketing (brochures, website, cards), and networking (with concierges, tour companies, marinas, etc.), but I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I couldn't be more excited to be doing what I'm doing.
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