June 30, 2017 Aboard the Misty Lady
Well, it has been quite a lengthy period since my last entry. My apologies to the folks who were readers of the Misty Lady’s blog. Things sort of got out of hand and my attention was elsewhere. I shall try to maintain a better issue period from now forward but then in winter there is not a lot of interesting things that happen. We did have a few things that are atypical for a land based family but not for those of us living on the water. Luckily for us, the winter here on the DC waterfront was relatively mild. We did have a few bitter cold days, but all in all, not too bad. Only one snow fall where we had an accumulation. The shrink wrap did it’s job in this as well because as the snow would hit and start to collect, the slick surface and pitch of the vinyl casing would cause it to slide off and into the water. We did get some accumulation on the slip pier, but only about 2-3 inches, and it was very easy to shovel off and into the water. The good thing was that we were a lot more comfortable and the power bill for heating the boat dropped quite a bit. The extra layer of insulation kept the boat cabins a lot more comfortable and we were able to have a decent time of our first winter aboard.
We continue our membership status of “floating” which means that we still have no permanent slip for the Lady to call home. As a floater we are asked to move the boat to various available dockage as needs arise. We were in a member’s slip from early November. This member is the CEO of the company that is the prime developer of the new Washington Waterfront, known as “The Wharf”. In early April he has the Captain bring the boat back down to the Capital Yacht Club for the boating season. Therefore we were required to move from his slip to the B dock’s T head.
Since the Misty Lady had the port engine down for a fuel pump rebuild, we could not navigate in the close confines of the yacht marina on just one engine. A few of the members pitched in and using small outboard motor boats, they towed the Misty Lady from the C dock over to the T Head of the B Dock. The Club membership are truly outstanding in their willingness to assist other members. The Lady had to be towed twice after that first move to the B dock. We were towed from the B dock back over to the C dock and into a 50 foot slip. (obviously we couldn’t stay there permanently because the Club has a rule about NO overhang and the Lady is 4 feet too long! This of course meant that we would need to move again when another member (with a smaller boat ) bid on and won the award of that particular slip.
I should tell a bit about the two from B back to C dock. When the members tied on to the Lady in preparation for the tow, the winds were calm, but then when they got her out into the channel in order to make the turn down the fairway to the new slip, the wind picked up and the Lady showed those two little boats who was boss, by towing them around the channel. Finally the winds died down and they were able to position her to head down the fairway. We all breathed a great sigh of relief when the big girl was finally in the slip and we were getting her lines secured.
One more tow was required shortly afterward when we had to move from that C slip over to the A Dock T Head. Again, this is one of the best locations for views. The picture below is a shot of the Lady being towed by two of the members. One has a line off the bow and another from the stern. You can see Char on board preparing to cast lines when the Lady is pulled into position on the T Head.
We tied up there for a couple of weeks in which our diesel guru finally brought the freshly rebuilt fuel pump back to the boat and got all her components back together. IT was a true pleasure to step on the bridge, turn the ignition key for the port engine and have that beautiful sound of a diesel engine actually starting as normal! A few days later we were asked to move again to accommodate a mega yacht scheduled to dock on the A T Head. We were able to fire up both engines, cast off lines and motor over to the new temporary slip under our own power! YEA
Now the photo above is a picture of one of the mega yachts that visited the Capital Yacht Club. So far this year we have had a 109 footer, a 160 footer and the one above is a 200 footer. Imagine paying 10s of millions of dollars for a boat…
As for us, it will be wonderful to at long last have a boat that we can start both engines from the bridge, cast off lines and run down the Potomac for a short cruise, down to the Chesapeake Bay for an overnight cruise or even down to Hampton Roads (Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, etc. ) for a week long cruise. We start our cruising next week, with my son, his wife, our grand daughters and my daughter Kurby. We will take the Lady down the Potomac to Mount Vernon, and hopefully let the grand daughters have a great tour of our first president’s home. Seeing it from the water is a lot different than from the land side. Hope to have a lot of photos to share then.
Last month our yacht club held the flag raising celebration for our 125th year. We had Cake:
Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke at our event and here is a photo of her speaking. Charlotte got a photo with the Mayor and they chatted for a bit. The Bride was pretty impressed with our Mayor.
The canon fired the salute for our club and officially opened the boating season for 2017.
While we were on the T Head, we caught a long rain storm, our sea cat, Penney was not happy, and looked out the window at the rain so intently.
You can almost hear her wishing for the sunshine to return. Charlotte and I took photos of each other at the Club house patio in the late winter/early spring.
We were headed to the boat from a CYC meeting. Caught the sunset and thought a photo was in order.
Well enough for today, we will look at our activities since we moved this last time in the next rendition of the Misty Lady’s blog.
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Misty Lady Thought and Comment 