We took possession of the yacht, our new home, this morning in Dundalk, MD. This is a photo taken of the First Mate and myself (The Captain), as we were preparing to board her for the first time and the owners. She needs some TLC and some mechanicals before we move fully on board.
At 9 am we began the process of unplugging her shore power lines, the television cables and the dock lines holding her into the slip. The First Mate was selected to perform the pre-start checklist, and she did a journeyman’s job of it too. The boat broker was on site to assist in training and advice and coached the first mate in the prelaunch fluid checks (oil in the diesel engines, the transmission fluid levels to ensure that our propulsion would be smooth and steady.
We left the marina and headed out of the harbor area toward the Chesapeake Bay and our ultimate destination, the Gingerville Yacht Center on the South River. The start was picture perfect, with a beautiful sun, blue skies and a temperature in the upper sixties. Aboard were, in addition to Charlotte and I, Walt the Yacht Broker, my son Cliff, daughter in law, Becky, our grand daughter Cammie and her little friend, Peyton.
The seas were slight and we moved through the waters very smoothly, partly owing to the stabilizers that this yacht came equipped with. Our projected arrival time was around 1:30pm. I was truly enjoying the feel of this large vessel under my control and watching the other boats moving about the Bay.
Suddenly, there was a shuddering, and an alarm sounded. The starboard engine shut down. We pulled the throttles back on the port engine and began to investigate. Turned out some we believe a cooling line popped off, and once the engine reached a certain temperature, it shut down.
We aired out the cabins, calmed the young girls and began to motor on down to the South River (at Annapolis, MD), and the shipyard. Since we had one engine and the yacht center assigned docking slip was rather tight, Walt the yacht broker was designated to bring the yacht into the yard and into the slip. All hands were on station and helped Walt as spotters, directors, and shovers (keeping us away from the pilings).
Walt performed admirably and his extensive yachting experience was truly of value as we moved her into the slip with the able assistance of another yachtsman who was on the dock and giving us a hand with sight lines and helping to handle the lines as we snugged her up into the dockage.
We now have added another task to the list of high priority. Finding the problem and fixing it.
After we had the yacht snugged, and all her lines in place, the folks began to disembark. My wife drove my son, daughter in law and the young ladies back up to Dundalk to pick up their car. I remained behind, on the boat and commiserated with her for the injury she received. We both hope the situation is a reasonably simple solution and she will be shipshape starboard engine wise on Monday.
But, all in all, the lady made it to the yacht center, all of us are healthy and well, and the trip was completed with the boat still above the water.
As my old flight instructor taught us, any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Same with a yacht. Any voyage where you reach safe harbor, is a good one.
More later as the mechanical and physical folks take over the lady and give her lots of TLC
Author: harv1941
Just a summary, I am 84 years of age, retired in July 2013 and settled down to promoting the dangers of bacterial meningitis, which killed my beloved son, Mike in 2009. My wife, Charlotte, and I embarked on an adventure of live aboard cruising, aboard a large Blue Water motor yacht. While our beginning was rather fraught with hurdles, we continued to look forward to the day we moved aboard the Misty Lady and cruise the eastern seaboard and associated waterways. After more than four years of life aboard this Bluewater Motor Yacht, I developed an advanced problem due to interaction with medications and experienced rather frightening balance problems. Therefore, getting on and off the yacht was fraught with danger of falling between the docks and the boat's hull. Walking the docks was also problematic considering that our yacht club docks were all floating docks and my balance problem was a danger during the walk from our yacht's docking slip to the clubhouse or out to the DC Wharf facilities and our car housed in the yacht club's reserved garage. SO, we had to regretfully put the Misty Lady up for sale and move back on shore. We moved on shore, first into a condo apartment in Alexandria, then after two years there, we relocated to the city of Newport News, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Our original desired location was in the city of Hampton, Virginia, which is the oldest English-speaking settlement in the United States having been established originally in 1610. My ancestors came to this country through this settlement in the mid 1600s and lived in that area for around 100 years before beginning a migration of one portion of our family toward the west.
I looked forward to moving back to this area and exploring the roots of my family, both maternal and paternal ancestry, but we found a great house in the Newport News area and became ensconced in the terrific neighborhood of Kiln Creek. My wife, being still actively employed, received a substantial offer in a position with a government contractor firm back up in Northern Virginia. So we put the Newport News house up for sale, receiving and accepting an offer withing two days. We then relocated back up to the city of Alexandria and into another high rise condo. My wife reached a point where considerations for retirement were becoming very important. She indicated that she really didn't want to retire in Alexandria, so once again we began a house search in the Tidewater area, this time in the City of Williamsburg and in a community restricted to 55+ age owners. We found the ideal location, initiated the sale and closing for our retirement home. We then put our condo on the market. Alas, the market was not as robust as before so we had to change asking price a couple of time, but finally the Alexandria Condo was sold. Now we are set to enjoy the great locations found here in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area, considering that we are history buffs and there are literally hundreds of historical sites in this segment of our nation. Of course living in Williamsburg is the epitome of history living life.
So, now we are in our retirement home, in a great retirement type community. A great clubhouse with a fine dining restaurant, a grill/pub, an award winning PGA designed golf course and miles of walking trails. Looking forward to my wife's eventual full retirement and the two of us visiting all up and down the east coast historical spots.
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Misty Lady Thought and Comment 