Work blocked Booth.org

Posted by Jason on 07/16/2008 11:53:55 am


I wonder if I should tell Cory his site is listed as a fraud/phishing site on most proxy censors.

:'(

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Damm hackers.....

Posted by Jason on 06/17/2008 11:29:32 pm


Grr.... I hate hackers. They disabled my site with c***. I got it working but am now going to have to figure out a way to close that hole.

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Basking in Morehead City

Posted by Charlotte on 11/14/2006 09:24:24 pm

Ahoy,

Yesterday was a little more like the ICW Cruising life I've come to know
and love. The wind stayed under 20 knots and the motoring was easy. In
fact we were able to raise the sails for long stretches, which saved on
fuel and made the trip even more enjoyable. LeRoy changed our fuel
filters after the previous days shakeup. It was smooth sailing all day.

Once again we had the company of dolphins and pelicans. They add a lot
of charm to the ICW experience. Power vessels do not. One power yacht
blew by us with inches to spare and rocked us from toe rail to toe
rail. I had stowed things as if we would meet a storm, but one tray
crashed to the teak cabin sole and broke. Not to mention put a ding in
my teak. He didn't leave us any room to turn into his wake so we took
it broadside. I put a curse on his engine, so I'm hoping the break down
happens at the least convenient time. Most boaters are courteous, it is
just the stinky few that give power boaters a bad reputation.

We decided to leave the boat here at the new Morehead City Yacht Basin,
and drive down to Florida to look at homes. Right now, it isn't looking
good weatherwise for us to go off shore to Florida as we planned. I
don't need any more excitement. LeRoy is off getting a car rental that
we can drive to Florida. Once we get there, we will have our own car to
drive. The rates at Morehead City Yacht Basin are $2.00 a foot daily,
$8.50 a foot weekly, $12.00 a foot for 2 weeks, and $17.00 for one
month. No telling how long we will be away looking at homes, but we
need to look this month while there are special deals with builders
trying to unload current inventory. I love a bargain. Anyhoo, I'm worn
to a frazzle trying to scoot down the ICW, so it will be a treat
driving to Florida in just a couple of days.

LeRoy is back and ready to roll, so I will chat later. He has to take
some of our Bimini down to get it resewn. The gale force winds broke
some threads. LeRoy had water pouring down in front of him at the helm
to add to his discomfort during the storm. The window in our bimini we
use to check the sails hadn't been restitched when they restitched our
bimini. The gale broke the weaker threads around the window and water
poured through. I brought out an umbrella to give him some protection,
but after a while we were both so soaked that dripping water made no
difference.

Driving off to Florida,
Charlotte

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Atlantic Yacht Basin

Posted by Charlotte on 11/14/2006 05:47:22 am
Ahoy,

With polished fuel and a nights rest we will start up once again for
Florida. For a mere $380 they circulated our fuel through a filter and
told us we shouldn't have any more problems. We shall see. At least we
made it through the 3 or 4 bridges and the locks with no trouble. I
think we only have two bridges tomorrow.

I failed to mention the dolphin escort we had the night we motored into
Norfolk. I was surprised by a rather large sploosh next to the stern.
It didn't seem likely that it was a rogue wave or the wake of some
mystery boat, but darn if it didn't happen again. LeRoy saw the
dolphins. I just saw the splashes. It has been so long since we had
the pleasure of their company, and at night it was a real treat.

So let's see, a midnight run into Norfolk and today a gale force wind as
we maneuver into the River Forest Marina in Belhaven, North Carolina.
We stayed at the Alligator Marina last night and discussed whether we
wanted to wait out the front that was coming through today or journey on
South. Belhaven was only 50 miles south, so I figured it would be a
fairly easy day. A front of sorts did blow by with torrential rain and
gusts up to 28 knots. We were in a wide channel in a wide river so it
wasn't a big deal. Going through the long canal wasn't a big deal
either. The winds were blowing from 20 to 25 knots, but we had some
protection from trees and it was a straight run. Then we came to the
big Pungo River. Well let me tell you, the wind kicked up to 35 knots
jumped up to 40 knots and pretty much stayed there until we were tied up
at the Marina. The waves built to 4 to 6 feet and were not very far
apart. Waves split by our bow, splashed over the deck and windscreen.
Thank heavens I always prepare the boat for the worse case scenario when
we cast off, because this was the absolute worse storm I've been in
yet. We were creeping along so that the ride wasn't any rougher than
necessary, but it was like riding a frisky Mustang.

I felt sorry for LeRoy at the helm. I helped spot markers, but mostly I
stayed out of the wind. LeRoy was trying to keep us in the narrow
channel and spot the markers leading us into the marina. Wouldn't you
know that the rains became a deluge as we approached the dock. LeRoy
knew he couldn't turn the bow into the wind as it was blowing between 35
and 40 knots. He was able to back into the wind, so that is what he
did. We had about 8 boaters helping catch our lines and help us into
the slip. Once we were settled, LeRoy noticed we only have 5.4 feet of
water here. We draw 5.6 feet. Glad he didn't have that on his mind
while we were getting into the slip. I wasn't much help with the
lines. I had things ready for a bow in, port side tie up. We backed in
and the wind was off our starboard. I usually have all the lines ready,
just in case, but this time I waited until the last minute so that I
wouldn't get blown overboard in the rocking waves. A breakwater
smoothed out the water, but didn't leave me a lot of time to adjust
lines. Anyway, I was busy rigging lines and tossing lines and basically
scrambling in the torrential rain. Water stings at that wind speed.

Now I am safely ensconced in my snuggy cabin. What a relief. LeRoy
just told me he was thinking about our fuel and wondering if the bucking
was going to stir up enough left over scum to block our filters again.
Poor guy. Imagine trying to stay in a narrow channel and then come into
an unfamiliar channel to the marina, while planning how he was going to
change filters if the need arose. My only concern was how was I going
to use the head, while the boat was lifting and dropping about 10 feet.
It takes quite a bit of concentration, not to mention dexterity and
timing. LeRoy just had to hold his water until we got tied up. I
offered to give him a potty break, but he turned me down. I could have
handled the waves. I was too dumb and excited to be scared. I was
having fun. I'm not sure the Captain shared my joy. Wonder if the
Captain is thinking about vaulted ceilings and swimming pools with spa
features.

I just learned when I got on the computer to send this update, that my
nephew, Cory's, little girl has broken her leg on a trampoline. Now
that is trauma. I would much rather be fighting a gale than have one of
my kids hurt. Katelyn is the prettiest, sweetest little girl. Please
add her to your prayers.

I'm pretty tired, so think I will crawl under the covers and watch TV.
Good news, our Follow Me Direct TV satellite dish stood up to gale force
winds. I asked LeRoy if we shouldn't take it down off our radar arch
until we got to Florida. He said it would be fine, and by gosh, he was
right. I'm proud of my captain. He got compliments on bringing our
boat into the slip. Well gotta go write to Katelyn and Cory, stay safe
and dry.

Drenched in Belhaven,
Charlotte

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Leaving Kinsale to search for the sun

Posted by Charlotte on 11/10/2006 01:29:06 am

Ahoy,

Here's the thing. Sitting for 7 months at the Port Kinsale Marina is
not the way to keep thinking happy thoughts about the boating life. I
would usually start the whining process just as LeRoy was finishing up a
particularly frustrating bit of repair. For instance, LeRoy carefully
removed the hot water tank and replaced all the leaking fittings. He
had to cut the electrical wires to remove the tank so that he could do
the repairs. He made the repairs, rewired the electricity and then
struggled to get it remounted under our starboard settee in the main
salon. It continued to leak. I believe it was at this point that I
told LeRoy that my life sucked and I needed a real home. The boating
life wasn't enough fun for all the frustrations, and yadda yadda yadda.
LeRoy looked like a whipped puppy and started to check out homes in the
Merritt Island part of Florida. I was still on the fence a little.
After all, we put all this work into the boat, now was the time to head
for the islands and start our big journey into more distant and exotic
places. Then again, the homes we were looking at had pools, and huge
kitchens with vaulted ceilings, and garden tubs. Just a tub would have
made me happy, so just imagine what a garden tub with jets does for me.
I was starting to get all tingly about a new life not featuring bilges,
and mildew and tiny gnats. { We have been living with tiny gnats for 7
months. Apparently they were breeding in the pool under our hot water
tank.)

Having convinced LeRoy that our marriage needed a house, off he drove to
Florida. The plan was to leave the car in Florida so that we would have
wheels to go look at homes. I told him to take a couple extra days and
get an overview of what was available, so that we could make good use of
our time. I could look at the homes on line, but LeRoy was there and
could really check things out. I'm was getting pretty jazzed about
buying a house. I decided not to travel with him so that I could get
things stowed away and have the boat ready to leave as soon as he got
back. It went a lot faster without LeRoy around. The storage is now
well organized and everything is in the computer with the location. No
more wondering where that sailbag is, or what did I do with that
electrical tape? From now on all I have to say is "Just look at the
list honey". If it's not on the list, I didn't store it and it's not my
responsibility. Ahhhh that felt good just typing the words. You have
no idea what it is like to have some control over my environment.
Speaking of environment, I've been taking super long walks through the
countryside. Each week I say the foliage can't get any better than
this, and each week it gets even more spectacular. We have wild turkeys
in the woods near the marina. I feel like I'm living a fall poster. A
scenic marina surrounded with a forest of fall foliage, foxes and
turkeys bounding through the forest and weather that is just starting to
get crisp. Pretty idyllic for marina life.

LeRoy drove down to Florida, looked around for a couple of days then
flew back to Norfolk. His Nephew, Allen, and his family picked him up
and kindly brought him back up here to Kinsale. Allen's son, Nathan,
was thrilled to see our big TV screen in our cabin. He was very polite
but I could tell that he wanted to watch some big deal sports event on
TV. He is quite the football fan and there was some big game getting
into the final quarter or some such. Every once in a while squeals of
delight would emanate from the forward cabin, while the grownups got
caught up on each others lives. Wanting to win his affection, I let
him choose a sharks tooth from my collection. I nearly had his
attention for a minute, then a big play happened. That's ok, I know the
way to a young man's heart. It is his birthday soon, and we found the
perfect gift. This will give him one more focus besides sports.
Gyromax to the rescue. But I digress....

So LeRoy got back to the boat and said we were sailing off the next
morning. I knew we were leaving soon, but I had figured that meant in a
day or two. I specifically asked him if the oil filters had been
changed and was he sure he didn't need to spend a day making sure we
were ready? Nope, he was all set and we were leaving first thing in the
morning. He said we could make Norfolk in one day. I warned him that I
wasn't up for pushing it our first day of cruising after sitting for 7
months. No, I wanted a nice easy day to get used to boating again.
LeRoy was able to weave us out of the small river and out into the
Potomac. The weather was perfect but a tad chilly. One of the things I
wasn't responsible for was my foul weather gear. LeRoy put it somewhere
on the boat. Sigh. Anyway, I layered up and off we motored. There was
not enough wind to sail and the wind was directly on the bow. LeRoy is
checking his charts and gives me this mirthful little grin. "You're
going to get a kick out of this. I'm off by a river. I was thinking we
could still make Deltaville even with this late start, but I don't think
we can. You have a choice. I can try to wend my way down a shallow
river that is unfamiliar to me in the dark, or we can continue on down
to Waterside in Norfolk." He pointed out that all the anchoring spots
were way out of the way in unfamiliar shallow places and gave me a look,
like you really don't want me to do that do you? I thought it over.
Big deep Chesapeake Bay and then big deep channel into Norfolk or doing
something the captain isn't happy about doing. Hmmm let me think...I
told him I thought it would be fabulous to keep going into Norfolk. I
reminded him that we would have a full moon. The sunset was just
getting gorgeous when the engine started making a different sounds. I
don't like diesel engines that make different sounds. We started losing
RPMs and I started losing my happy glow. LeRoy says it has to be dirty
filters. I blinked several times, harking back to the moment when I
asked if the oil had been changed recently and did he need to check that
before we left. So I'm sitting in the cockpit behind the wheel at
sunset, with no engine. We will discuss the running lights next. It
didn't take long for LeRoy to change the Racor external fuel filter,
then he had me rev the engine. White smoke billowed out of the exhaust
port. Not a good thing. Back down he ducked and replaced the fuel
filter on the engine itself. That takes a little longer and is a tad
messy. Sigh. So the engine is running cleanly once again. We never
worried about the filter on the engine before because we always used a 2
micron filter in the racor, but someone suggested to us that the 10
micron cartridge would put less strain on the fuel pump. We never had
any problems with the filters or fuel pump before, so we are going back
to the 2 micron cartridge. LeRoy cleaned up the mess and off we went.
My anxiety level is a tad higher as I wasn't sure why our filters had
clogged up. I was thinking maybe sitting for 7 months had let bad stuff
grow in our fuel.

Now about the running lights. You need running lights while motoring in
the dark. A green one on the starboard bow and a red one on the port
bow. Plus a white light in the stern. Our bow lights were only working
intermittently. I wasn't happy. My Captain is bounding up to the bow
to lean way over to look see if the running lights are on. I'm running
through the emergency procedures should said Captain fall overboard in
the dark. LeRoy finally turned on our tricolor lights on the top of the
mast. This is intended to be used with a boat under sail, but desperate
times call for compromise. At least we had something that told other
boaters we were in the area. I was busy keeping an eye on boat traffic
and trying to relax. I saw a large red glow in the East that I couldn't
explain. I thought maybe it was a light shining off the side of some
large cruise liner or something. I kept an eye on it and it turned into
a gorgeous golden moon. Ok, this was starting to be a nice trip again.
How exciting to be out at night.

The turn into Hampton roads got a little bumpy from the swells off the
Atlantic. I was getting anxious again, as there is always a lot of
barge traffic and huge cruise liners about. Not to mention frisky
little ferry boats zipping back and forth across the channel. I was
helping look for markers, but they are mixed in with all the bridge
tunnel lights and street lights etc. Near our destination I noticed
that the lights were blinking out and a huge black something was dead
ahead. The huge black something had red and green steady lights.
Markers blink. Fixed red and green lights mean something is headed
straight for you. I said in a quivery voice, "Uh, Honey, what is that
big black thing?" My Captain strains to look then does a quick course
adjustment as a huge barge the size of a condo goes sliding by in the
night, pushed by a very large tugboat. My that was exciting.

LeRoy had called ahead and arranged for Justin, (a dock hand at the
marina) to meet us at the slip and help us tie up. A huge motor yacht
was tied up in the entrance, so that LeRoy had some tricky maneuvering
to do, but he brought us in and backed into the slip with no problems.
We got tied up, hooked up and ready for the night. It is 11:15 PM.
Now here is the thing. LeRoy is all happy, cuz we made it to Norfolk in
record time, we had a lovely moonlight cruise and why am I suddenly all
cranky. I couldn't rant and rave while my Captain had to focus on
getting us to Norfolk, but I definitely thought I had a rant coming. He
owed me a " I messed up Honey, I'm so sorry I put you through all
that." Nope, what I got was. "What are you unhappy about. We are
safe, and we are here in Norfolk a day early. We saved the marina fees
we would have spent in Deltaville." The worst was, "It was your choice
remember?" Choice, I had a choice, I was starting to sputter at this
point. LeRoy was too tired to listen to a rant. Ladies, please....am I
right? Send email. The trouble is ranting just isn't satisfying when
everything turns out ok. I felt cheated. It didn't help that the next
day had high winds and rain. LeRoy looked all smug and said "See, we
would have been sailing in that mess and it would have been a bigger
chore getting tied up." I can't win.

The next morning LeRoy used my hair dryer to heat up the shower so that
I could be all toasty when I got out of bed and took my shower. He also
bought a lovely vase that matches our teal colors on the settee in the
main cabin. So ok, now that the anxiety is over, it was a lovely
moonlit night and the lights of the city were beautiful and everything
did turn out perfect. Still I think I will just peruse those brochures
LeRoy brought back from the various developers. Those vaulted ceilings
and pools, with spas and waterfall features, are looking good.

Safely at Waterside in Norfolk,
Charlotte

P.S. We have to move down the channel to the Atlantic Yacht Basin to
get our fuel pumped out and cleaned. I don't know if we still had water
left over from our fuel problems we had in the Bahamas, which may have
allowed algae to grow or if we got dirty fuel or what, but it needs to
be cleaned. At least we have experience dealing with it, and here in
the states there is a man that will take care of it for us and save most
of the fuel. Sigh. Did I mention garden tubs and walk in closets?

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