July 12, 2008.

We had a twenty couple mile trip to Saint Michaels on tap for the day. While leaving the anchorage this little girl seemed to be asking herself WWND? (What Would Nancy Do) We slipped our mooring at 1100 and soon had the sails up and the engine off. Our direction of travel was to be southeast, exactly where the breeze was coming from.

It was such a beautiful day we decided to tack our way down the Chesapeake and into the Eastern Bay. We moved directly across the bay at about 5 knots. Unfortunately, the wind started to diminish almost immediately. We ended up sailing between 3 and 4 knots for hour after hour as we tacked back and forth while we made our way down the bay. As we made our final tack towards the Eastern Bay there was a north bound sailboat nearby. It turned out to be Sapphire on their way to Annapolis. We said a quick hello and watched them disappear up the Chesapeake.

Finally, when we entered the Eastern Bay our point of sail changed to the northeast and we were able to ease the sails a bit. Then we were reaching along at 4 1/2 knots for another hour until the wind finally died as evening approached. We ended up starting the engine and motoring the last hour of the day into Saint Michaels. Or should I say next to Saint Michaels.

Saint Mikes has a tiny little “Y” shaped anchorage. Each branch of the Y has enough room for about a half dozen boats. There were already 8 or 9 in each branch so we were forced to anchor outside the harbor with a half dozen other boats. It’s very calm out here and we’re protected from the prevailing winds so things are good for now. We’re only spending 2 nights here and then moving 6 miles away to the Wye River for better protection from a hoolie that’s due on Sunday.

Late Friday night the wind started to kick a bit. Two boats were forced out of the overcrowded inner harbor. So they had to join the rest of us outside. By the time they arrived the wind had already died and it’s a good thing too. They had obviously spent the early part of the evening drinking their faces off.

It was a sailboat with 4 complete drunks aboard, I’m talking staggering. Their attempts at anchoring was the stuff of legend. The captain was giving orders to the deck crew over his loudspeaker, the anchor monkey was slurring a reply, a woman was amidships acting as amplifier for the slurring monkey and a useless fat guy stumbling around saying “I gotta pee”. All they needed was three rings and a calliope. The captain was ordering them to drop 70 feet of chain, not nearly enough in the 25 foot deep water. It was wonderful, a guy, drunk out of his mind, giving ridiculous orders to his wasted crew with his hailer so everyone in the anchorage could hear every word. We listened for 30 seconds as the chain just screamed from the locker; it had to be 200 feet if it was a foot. The captain backed down and nothing, the anchor no sticky. Of course, he probably never even got the chain unpiled off the bottom. Then they decided to try again. Somehow while they were retrieving the chain it got jammed in the hawse hole. They had muddy chain tightly jammed so they needed the deck wash and a screwdriver. So then there was the monkey, the big mouth drunk chick and the stumbling tiny bladder guy all with their hands in the anchor locker, with the hose spraying and the screwdriver prying at the chain. Partay! WoooHooo!

After a good 20 minutes the second boat used his hailer and told the sailboat that he was going to drop his hook and that then they could raft to him. He did this with ease and mercifully the rafting took place and the evening resumed its quiet calm. Way better than television.

Watermans Dictionary entry. Hoolie- pronounced who-lee. Excessive wind. As in....Its blowin' a hoolie out there.

July 10, 2008.

Our second day anchored outside Herrington Harbor was to be our last. The wind had picked up a bit and started to veer. We were getting fairly large rollers moving under the boat from side to side. We were not in any danger but some of the crew definitely had trouble sleeping in those conditions.

Herrington Harbor North is a huge marina complex that has about 1500 boats on the hard during the winter. It’s expensive as hell as far as slip rates go, but everything from the grounds to the services are top notch. We’ve decided to have the boat hauled here for the month of August rather than take her all the way back to Jersey. We only have a short list of things to do like painting the bottom, compounding and waxing the hull and topsides, changing the zincs, greasing the prop and re-doing the woodwork. Its labor intensive but they’ll allow us to do our own work, so along with the reasonably priced haulout, we’ll do okay. Then we’ll just rent a car for a week to see our people back in Jersey.

We went in and did laundry at the marina and walked to the ultra convenient West Marine right there on the marina grounds. After lunch back at the boat we headed back in to enjoy the swimming pool. After spending the afternoon swimming, we got together with the crews from Far Niente, Sapphire, Solitaire and Molly Brown for dinner at a local restaurant. The food was phenomenal, as was the company. We were even able to accomplish our biggest “boating upgrade” of the year during dinner. Jay from Far Niente is the man to see about acquiring a watermaker at a great price. It should be delivered to us when we reach Baltimore in a couple of weeks. The installation is something we can do while we’re out of the water in August.

The next morning we were in no hurry to get going because of the whole tidal flow thing again, so Nancy and Christy made a quick trip to the local grocery. Once we said our goodbyes we were under way by noon for the 20 mile trip to Annapolis. It ended up being one of those perfect sailing days. The engine was off as soon as the hook was raised and we were in the Annapolis Harbor 3 hours later after covering the twenty miles.

When we arrived it was in the middle of sailing school sessions. The waterway was thick with small sailboats headed this way and that. Who had the right of way made no difference as we threaded our way through the throngs of tiny boats. It was tense as hell as we wove our 28 thousand pound boat between 8 foot sailing dinghies Captained by 9 year olds. We made it to the anchorage without crushing anyone and treated ourselves to a 2 night stay on a mooring ball.

After dinner ashore we were treated to Wednesday Night racing that takes place just outside the anchorage and ends up with the competitors finishing up after slaloming through the mooring field. It was intense as some good sized boats were skimming along within a foot of our boat.



We weren’t really planning on hitting Annapolis until the boat show in October but slaying the Lenscrafters Dragon had become a priority.
I won’t bore you with a rehash of the whole Lenscrafters debacle. Let’s just say they suck, we’re pissed, they’re trying to weasel out of a refund, we’re pissed, they’re trying to hide from us and we’re pissed.

Christy found a store manager who would give us our refund as long as we could come to her store, to see her. Thursday morning we were on the bus to the mall outside of Annapolis. After two and a half months of eye exams, incorrect prescriptions, bad lenses and frustration we’re in and out of the store with our money back in less then 5 minutes. This manager unraveled the web of red tape we were caught in and in minutes we were sent on our way, semi-satisfied.

Tomorrow its on to Saint Michaels on the eastern shore…….

July 8, 2008.

First off, I’d like to thank Windows Word for being so smart. All I have to do is type the month at the top of the page and it automatically fills in the rest of the date. I may not know what day of the week it is or the number that goes with it but I’m still pretty sure about the months.

We spent the 3 day weekend in Solomon’s Island, Md. We watched the fireworks, walked hither and yon taking care of our chores and finally met a dog hater.

Not like the guy from Vero Beach 2 years ago. He was just a Jersey hater and it manifested itself directed at the dogs. I could understand his psychosis, after all, its Jersey. But our dog hater from yesterday caught us completely off guard.

We were in the dink on the way in to go food shopping. The guy on the next boat was sitting in his cockpit, we waved, he waved back and then waved us over. Let me preface this meeting with a little background information. They were anchored here when we first arrived. It’s been several days and they still haven’t launched their dinghy and gone ashore. Not once. This was the first time I’ve seen either one of them on deck in the daylight. They stay below all day, we might catch a glimpse at twilight and that’s it. I’ve got a theory that they might be vampires who silently launch their dink after dark and have it back on deck before daylight. Christy thinks my theory is stupid but I think she’s just jealous that “I” have a theory.

Anyway, this tiny little bitch, er, I mean this guy starts to whine that the dogs bark non-stop every time we leave the boat. For the first time in as long as I can remember I was speechless. Molly’s practically a mime, you should see her do “dog in an invisible box”, she never barks. We know that Tucker will sometimes howl when we first leave the boat. For Christ’s sake, the dog only weighs 14 pounds, how loud can he be. We’ve had friends tell us about his howling and we’ve heard it ourselves upon occasion but I just didn’t think it was that big a deal. Everyone said that he stopped after a few minutes and that they thought it was adorable. We’ve even had friends drive by the boat and encourage him to “sing”. I’ve heard louder noise from wind in the rigging.

We were both dumbfounded; I was sitting there like my parents were brother and sister. He was making all these contorted, disgusted faces while he was complaining. Finally I said “what would you have us do?” He said “you could put them below” Christy said “no, it’s too hot” then I added “don’t worry, we’ll be back” and we continue on our way. Who knew vampires were so sonic sensitive?

On our way back to the boat with our groceries we spied our closest shore bound neighbor cleaning his fishing skiff at his backyard dock. We pulled up in the dinghy and asked if he’d heard our dog and was he really that obnoxious. He replied that he’d heard Tucker ‘singing” and thought it was kinda cute. He said it only lasts a few minutes. Then he said once in a while his dog and Tucker will bark back and forth across the water but “that’s what dogs do, they’re just talkin” Christy recounted our previous encounter with the vampire and the guy said “if he don’t like the noise let him go anchor someplace else”

Then it struck me how the Solomon's got its name, the locals just ooze wisdom.

The next morning we bade Bella Lugosi and Solomon’s Island farewell and headed north for Herrington Harbor to see friends. We knew we would be bucking the ebbing tide so we waited until 1000 before pulling the hook in an effort to catch some of the late flood tide.

We had just enough breeze to keep the sails full and we motorsailed the entire 30 miles. Herrington Harbor is a big marina inside a fantastic seawall. The only problem is that there’s only a channel and a couple of marina’s inside the jetty, so we have to anchor outside the jetty and dinghy in to see our people.

The anchorage is fairly rolly but as long as the wind stays out of the west it’ll be doable. We went in and had a great reunion with Jim & Nancy from Solitaire and Phil who we haven’t seen since this time last year. This was the birthplace of Captain Rumboy and there was potential for a Rumboy spotting but through the use of maturity and self discipline I was able to keep the Captain at bay. That and the fact that Christy said no.


Boat Name of the Day. It was a sailboat we saw named Saline Solution and his dinghy was called Dropper.

July 4, 2008.

First off, Happy Fourth of July all.

After breakfast we decided to take a quick walk to the strip mall near the dinghy dock. We weren’t sure what would be open since it was the holiday. As luck would have the 2 biggies on our list were both open for business. That’s right, West Marine and a liquor store. After spending $20 at one place and $100 at the other, I’m not saying which was which, we headed home.

After returning to the boat Christy did a little internet research while I finished up a book I’ve been reading. Then we had a little Fourth of July barbeque for two on the boat.

As soon as we finished eating we had a nasty squall come through the anchorage. It literally went from dead calm to 25 knots in 20 seconds. The gusty winds also brought a deluge, this picture was taken in broad daylight. It poured while the wind howled. The winds died several times only to build once again.

There are 6 boats in the anchorage and the furthest one from us started to drag. The shoreline of the anchorage in Back Creek is mostly marinas. We watched as this unattended sailboat dragged ever so slowly and came to rest across the pilings at the end of a row of slips. The wind blew steady from the north for about 15 minutes and the boat seemed to be pinned to the pilings quite nicely. Of all of the places that boat could have dragged, this seemed like the spot that was least likely to cause any damage.

Christy and I discussed whether or not I should go see if I could pull this boat to safety and secure it. It was raining buckets but the problem was that it wouldn’t be prudent to go off trying to help someone else when I wasn’t really sure that the front had passed and that our own boat was safe.

Once the wind died down it also clocked around. Now the sailboat was being pushed back off the pilings but had become tangled with a boat tied to the dock. It was still raining pretty good but we had to do something. I launched the dinghy as Christy spotted one of the other guys in the anchorage watching the situation, she pointed him out to me so I headed over and asked if he’d help me secure the sailboat.



He hopped in the dink with me and I took him over to board the sailboat. First, while he fended and untangled, I towed the boat clear of the dock. Our first plan was to side tie the boat to a clear spot on the dock. The still deployed anchor kept us from getting the boat close enough to secure it properly so we went to plan “B”. We decided to launch and hand set his second anchor. When I got to the bow I almost laughed, his second anchor looked like a toy. It was a 25 pound Lewmar Claw and there was no second anchor rode for us to attach it to. Secretly I was relieved because using that anchor would have been like trying to keep a car from rolling down a hill by sticking gum under the wheel.

There was a more suitable Danforth anchor hanging from the stern pulpit so we figured there had to be a rode for it. We searched through the cockpit lazerrettes and eureka we found an anchor line. We dumped it into the dinghy and while I brought it around to the bow the other guy brought the stern anchor to the bow as well. I fed the line up into the hawse hole while the other guy drew it in and then he passed the big Danforth down to me. I shackled the anchor to the rode and took the anchor out as far as the line would allow. Once in position I dropped it over the side and the other guy started to haul in on it until he was sure he had a good anchor set.

Confident that the boat was secure and away from the dock the other guy got back in my dink and we headed back to our boats. It’s funny that even in a driving rain all I had to do was ask one guy for a little help in securing a wayward boat and he jumped right into the fray, we never even introduced ourselves. I love this community of boaters and I’d kill to be a fly on the wall when the people get back and find their boat 100 yards from where it started. Since it’s getting dark they probably won’t even notice that they have a second anchor out until morning.

Back at the boat I raised the dinghy again and stripped out of my wet clothes. The wind was gone and the rain slowly died off. Then it was dark and the fireworks started. We had seen them loading the barge with tonight’s display but had no idea where it would be towed to for the presentation. Turned out it was straight behind our boat, close enough to terrify Molly, but not so close as to actually kill her.






Once again, Happy Fourth everybody……..

July 4, 2008.

Yesterday we woke up in Jackson Creek, Va. It was a very peaceful night in spite of a constant breeze. We left the anchorage accompanied by a pair of sailboats. One of the boats was from the local yacht club. They passed us as we were about to head out the entrance channel. The 4 man crew looked to be out for a bit of racing and looked smugly at us as they motored quickly past. Following them out fit in real well with my plans as the tide was lower than when we had come in the previous night, and we had only 8 inches of water under our keel.

Once clear of the entrance channel Christy and I had the main sail up and had turned out towards the bay. The tide was to be in our favor for the first half of the day so we motor sailed east for 2 miles before heading north.

Depending on which weather service you believed we were supposed to have winds anywhere from 10 to 25 knots from the southwest. We shut off the engine and unfurled the genoa and it was like somebody had yelled “Go”. We had both sails up and pulling hard, along with the current pushing us, we were doing over 8 knots in comfort. We slowly walked away from the other boats leaving them a few miles behind us. We had a steady 16 knots until lunchtime when the winds started to slowly abate.

When the winds dropped to 10 knots our speed stayed above 6 knots. The guys on the boat behind us pulled out a spinnaker but weren’t really able to cut into our lead. It was a fabulous day of sailing but all good things come to an end.

We caught up to 3 boats that had left an hour before us and as soon as we did the wind just about petered out. We had to start the engine at 1500 and motor the last 8 miles of the day.

We dropped the hook in exactly the same spot we usually do when we stop here. The anchorage is full but not crowded so things are pretty good. We’ll probably spend the weekend here before heading north to Deale, Md.

A new addition to the blog is going to be a section called Waterman’s Terminology. As we travel through different areas we hear a lot of sometimes amusing local terminology. For example, down in Florida whenever 2 fishermen get done talking to each other one will invariably sign off with the mantra “Ketch em’ up”

Today’s entry. One fisherman asked another if he was catching anything and he replied “I got enough to make the pot stink” I dunno, I laughed.

July 2, 2008.

Today we were continuing north and going through the Great Dismal Swamp. There was a scheduled bridge opening in Elizabeth City at 0730 that we needed to make in order to make it to the first lock on the Dismal Swamp on time. The bridge is directly adjacent to the free slips in town so we backed out of our slip at 0715 and waited patiently.

We established communication with the bridge tender and he raised the bridge, well, most of it. When the bridge started going up only one span worked. We called him and asked if that’s all we were getting and he tersely replied that one span was not working. Okay, fine but he could have mentioned that 2 minutes ago when we were talking to him.

After the bridge the river is a winding, but very beautiful trip. After 18 miles we arrived at the first lock of the Dismal Swamp. We’ve decided that we are the very last cruising boat headed north and as such we locked through alone.
The lock raised us up 8 feet and released us into the swamp.

The Dismal Swamp is very beautiful but very boring at the same time. We had fairly thick smoke from nearby forest fires drifting through the trees which created an eerie effect. We had to take turns steering as driving was mentally exhausting and demanded constant attention. You had to stand at the helm and dodge one stump or log after another. The last time we came through here we decided that it would be our last because of the amount of debris that we “tried” to dodge in the water.
But alas, we are back again. Besides the smoke we had another first for us while in the swamp…..

Flies. An unbelievable amount of flies. We had to light bug torches, spray ourselves with repellent and wield fly swatters the entire time. If you weren’t driving, you were swatting. We were actually thankful for the smoky sections as it cut down on the flies.

After dropping back down 11 feet at the second lock we decided to anchor right in front of the lock. The locks only open 4 times a day and since we made the last opening for today, there would be no more traffic for the evening and we can stay right here until 0800 tomorrow. It’s a great spot with a tiny park for the dogs and some sketchy wifi for us.

The next morning we were up early and underway at 0800. There are several bridges in the next 10 miles and most are closed until rush hour is over so there’s no hurry. Of course, the first bridge that we came to was a railroad bridge. The rail road bridges are usually left open and only close when a train is coming or for MAINTENANCE, Shit.

We arrived at 0830 to hear a tugboat complaining that he’d been sitting there since 0630. Finally the bridge was repaired and we were through at 0930. We had been planning a short 20 mile day today but once we were through the bridges we were making excellent time as we were sucked out of Norfolk by the outgoing tide. We entered the Chesapeake doing 8 1/2 knots. Of course, when we turned north it started to work against us but only for a short while.










Once the current turned in our favor we were able to make it to Jackson Creek, Va. The anchorage here is very protected but has a ridiculously deceptive entrance. You literally have to drive the boat right up to the beach before making a hairpin turn back into the entrance. Very scary stuff.

June 30, 2008.

We enjoyed our stay in Manteo very much, but it was time to leave. The weather forecast was for 15 - 25 knots with higher winds as the day went on. Yahoo, we will be sailing. We motored down the long channel and raised the genoa as soon as possible.

We should have been beam reaching for over 20 miles but the forecast was also filled with the threat of very violent thunderstorms. If beset by one of these fast moving monsters its easier for me to douse the genny than drop the main sail and stow it properly. So with this in mind we sacrificed a balanced sail plan and headed out under genoa alone.

The 15 to 25 turned out to be more like 8 knots and we were sailing along at just over 4 knots. Crap. We weighed our options and decided to put up all sail in spite of the threat of storms. With all sail up we were moving at close to 6 knots, which also cut 2 hours off our trip up to and across the Albemarle Sound.

While enroute the Coast Guard announced a major squall with gusts to 45 knots just 20 miles away and headed right for us. Fortunately, our increased boat speed enabled us to out run most of the squall. It hit bringing a driving rain but no spectacular winds. We could see it coming across the surface of the water, so duly warned we rolled in the genoa and kept sailing under main alone. When the storm left it took all our wind with it, we were forced to start the engine and motor for over an hour in the storms aftermath. It all worked out for us and after the weather passed we once again put up all sail and sailed to within 3 miles of Elizabeth City.

We arrived in Elizabeth City at 1630 and pretty much had the place to ourselves. There’s only one other cruising boat at the docks and it looks like it might be a permanent fixture here.
After walking the dogs and squaring the boat away Christy and I walked into town to find Thumpers.

Thumper’s is a non descript pub type eatery. When we were here last time some other boaters were raving about the meals they had there. So we walked a couple of blocks and sat down and got the best store bought meals we’ve had in a while. Christy’s portion of stuffed flounder and black beans was huge and tasty while I opted for a cheeseburger. Not just any cheeseburger though, this one was completely covered with a crab cake and then finished off with melted provolone. I was torn with indecision about whether or not I should put catsup on it. The burger cried out for it but I just couldn’t do it to a crab cake, it was an epic struggle. Next time you’re home having some crab cakes throw one on top of a burger with some provolone. That’s good eatin’, trust me.

While we were finishing up our dinner we looked out the window to see that it was once again pouring. We could have sat there and had a drink or two and let it blow over or we could run 3 blocks through the rain to close up every port and hatch on the boat. Shit. We left everything open on the boat because the evening sky held so much promise. We got back and closed the 8 ports and 3 hatches we had left open, we even had the hatch over the bed open, shit. While that was bad, the worst part was that we had left the front of the enclosure open to give the dogs a better breeze. What we found were two completely drenched, very sad looking little dogs. They were sitting in the cockpit with no real protection from the rain as it swept through. Luckily for us though they have short memories
and after a little extra attention, and an extra trip to the lawn they completely forgot about being abandoned to the elements.

June 29, 2008.

It’s Sunday night and we’ve been here in Manteo for 2 days. I’m not real sure where to begin, so I’ll start with the town,
which is a neat old time town which has been revitalized, so to speak. There are lots of really awesome old buildings sporting great little stores, boutiques, art galleries etc. There’s a free town dock for daytime tie-ups, which is really cool. We’re out at anchor so we use the dock for the dinghy but it’s nice to see a town that has a space for boats to come in and spend the day in town without having to pay for a marina. It’s easy to walk the dogs here and the town is wired so there’s free wifi as well. There are lots of places to eat and drink along with the touristy shops and even a great bookstore. Food shopping, laundry and a hardware store are all within a half mile. Manteo rocks.

The refrigeration has proven once again, to be an ongoing saga. After the last repairman (our third) left the boat the unit was not leaking refrigerant (knock wood) and once again cooling. What wasn’t apparent to us, since we were plugged in at the Small’s dock, was that the unit wasn’t cycling like it should be. Once we were back off the grid it became apparent that the unit was running practically non-stop, which is a battery killer.

After exhaustive research the probable cause revealed itself to us, the unit was probably overcharged with refrigerant. The reason why too little refrigerant or to much refrigerant is bad is just one of those headaches you have to overcome when dealing in the black art of refrigeration. The remedy, hopefully, is that a bit of refrigerant has to be bled off. Easy enough if you know what you’re doing, I might need a net, I’m pretty much clueless. The low side of the system is supposed to run at no more than 7 PSI and we’re assuming that we need to bleed some pressure off. Fine, but just how many PSI is a pssst, is it 1 PSI or 6 PSI, we don’t have refrigeration gauges so I have to guess.

The big danger is that if I bleed too much off, then I have to get the system recharged yet again. So we’ve been trying to round up a set of gauges to use as a crystal ball to see into these dark arts. We found a local NAPA on Google Maps and when I called the guy said he had 3 sets in the store and that they close at 1300 hours, its 1125, shit, Google maps show a 3 mile walk north.

If you’ve been a faithful reader then you know how Google Maps has screwed us twice. When you’re on foot it can be a major screwing. After those occurrences it was decided that before we trusted any directions from Google we would call ahead to confirm that they were correct. Evidently I didn’t get the memo. Because after walking 3+ miles in the 90 degree heat Christy called NAPA to see if we were getting close. It seems that Google was wrong yet again and we were now 6 miles from NAPA and it was 1215. F**k me. We started to backtrack south, and even tried to hitch a ride, but apparently we are not in the Bahamas anymore, people might have even thrown shit at us so we stopped in at a convenience store to grab a drink and see about calling a cab. One of the clerks took pity on us and loaded us into her car and drove us to NAPA. I hope she wins the lottery.

We arrived at NAPA at 1250 and were once again confronted by the witchcraft known as refrigeration. It seemed that the hose connections for auto refrigerant are different then any other type of connector. Marine refrigeration guys have a different style gauge, but we can’t find any marine gauges for sale within a 2 day walk. So now I have to reinvent the wheel and cobble together an adapter to make the auto gauges work on our boat. Well, call me Gepeto because we came up with a combination that would work. Since it was only a 3 mile walk across the surface of the sun back to the dinghy, we bought a gallon of oil to throw in my backpack for the trip. I thought I heard Christy say that we needed a case of oil…..not sure.

While walking Christy spotted these freshly planted trees. Do you think they were considering job security when they put them directly under the power lines? They'll be trimming those things every year until they die.

Evidently Christy was a little pissed that I had marched us off in the wrong direction because on the way back we were passing a grocery store and she decided we had to stop in and grab a few things. While in the market we did see a great sign that was hung in every checkout line. Steal from us huh?, the south is so much fun. Now with my 2 ton pack and an additional bag full of groceries we headed back to the boat. We did take the time to grab some air conditioning by perusing a bookstore and stopping for a light lunch.

Back at the boat I had to modify one of the adapters in order to attach the gauges. Once hooked into the system the gauge showed that the low side of the system still had 20 PSI even though I had given it the old pssst several times. Now that we’re enlightened by the gauges, it turned out that a psssssssssssst was needed and viola, the fridge seems to be working correctly. Gepeto, master of the dark arts, practitioner of the black science of refrigeration. Of course now that I’ve put this in print I realize I’m doomed.

While I was dealing with the fridge we became aware of a family in their speed boat making a nuisance of themselves. Alright, I can’t really blame the 4 kids and probably not Mom either. Dad was towing the kids, 2 at a time on a tube behind the boat. The bay that we’re anchored in is at least a mile wide and over 2 miles long but this guy thinks that the best place to try and cripple his children is within 80 feet of our anchored boat. We’re anchored just off the marina and his wake is rocking the crap out of the boats tied up in their slips and us as well.

They’re at it for about 20 minutes but we
board the dinghy and head off for a little “explore the creek by dinghy tour”. I figure by the time we get back they’ll be exhausted or one of the kids will have broken something and they’ll have gone home.



After we pass by the marina there’s a low bridge that we go under and into an ever narrowing creek. It’s real pretty and after 15 minutes we come to a tree that’s fallen across the stream so we turn around and head back.

As we’re approaching our boat, Speedboat Guy is headed towards our boat from the opposite direction, still dragging a float full of kids. Then he gets the brilliant idea to rocket through the gap between Veranda and the shoreline. This left him with the shore to port, Veranda to starboard and us in the dinghy headed right at him. So he veered towards the shore, I figure its time for a chat, so I turn towards shore as well. I stand up in the dinghy and scream at him to stop. Instead of slowing he waves me off and tries to cut back and blow between Veranda and us in the dink.

This is where that whole physics thing came into play. That’s right he forgot about the kids on the float. You’ve all seen that instance where a ski boat can use centrifugal force to make it seem that the skier is actually going to pass the boat. His turn was so abrupt as he dodged us that he hung his children out to dry so to speak, they were not going to clear our dink. His wife didn’t forget the kids and she screamed at him to stop. He stopped with his tow line under our dinghy and his kids on their float 2 feet from us.

That’s when it all went kinda grey for me. Ya know how they tell you that its important for you’re lungs to enrich your blood with oxygen and then the heart pumps it up to your brain? Well evidently most of the blood pumping to my head was stopping at my mouth to help feed the demand my wagging tongue was creating. I went off…….

He tried to start with “What’s your problem?”
I started with “You’re killing those people in the marina and making it miserable for us out here!”
He counters by spreading his arms and looking around saying “What, you see any No Wake signs out here?”
I countered with a quick, very loud monologue “You need a sign to tell you to use common sense? What about common courtesy?” Pointing at his kids bobbing at my feet “What about teaching responsibility, CAPTAIN?”
He mumbled something back that I couldn’t hear so then I went with “You got the whole fucking bay and this looks like the best place to be doing this, CAPTAIN?” Then came “Use some common sense, CAPTAIN” “Try and act like you’re responsible, CAPTAIN”

When somebody screws up and they know they screwed up, you throw in enough ultra sarcastic CAPTAINS it’s better than punching them in the testicles. Alright, maybe not better but it’s on a similar plane. I was aware of the children so I only dropped one F-Bomb so it was kinda like a surgical strike as well, very neat yet yielding his total capitulation. I should teach a class……

After I was done he towed his tube off to the far end of the bay and they went back to their merriment before retiring for the evening. Although, now with a better understanding of boating etiquette and consideration for those around them. Helping people is really very gratifying.

My work here is done so weather permitting, it’s off to Elizabeth City, NC in the morning.