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.
Today, Friday November 25, we awoke to the realization that we had spent our first holiday in our new home and far from our close loved ones. This Thanksgiving was both good and a tad bit sad. First time in over a decade and a half that we were not within close proximity to the kids and grandkids and able to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday in their company. Oh, there were several years when we were unable to gather all together, things like the Coronavirus Pandemic that kept us all within our own household circle and no large gathering. Just this past year, when we still lived in Alexandria, Char and I spent Thanksgiving in our condo, but did spend Christmas eve day with the kids and grandkids. A couple of years, when we lived aboard the Misty Lady we spent a holiday just the two of us. We did manage to gather together with the family for Christmas Eve day. My son and his family usually spend Christmas Day with Becky’s mom and dad and we have sort of made it a tradition to spend Christmas Eve with them and my daughter. But yesterday was the first where distance precluded a family dinner and a chance to catch up in person, with the grands, my son and his family and my daughter.
However, the Bride (Charlotte) and I had a pretty darn good day within the confines of our new home, and our new city! We had a great meal, the Bride outdid herself, with a terrific homemade quiche for our start of the holiday day. It was really great and the fact that she made it from scratch (not store bought) made it all the more wonderful. The breakfast quiche was followed a short while later with an appetizer of warm Brie and a nut/maple syrup topping along with crackers for spreading. We watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and simply enjoyed the day, in our new home.
We did make plans to travel up to Northern Virginia for the Christmas Holiday to spend the day with the family and enjoy a Christmas celebratory meal. That visit will require our leaving our house early in the morning and driving the almost 200 miles north. We will spend the day, exchanging gifts having a Christmas meal and then in the midafternoon, point the nose of our little Buick SUV southward and return home to Newport News to the fur babies, Duchess and Penny.
So, to any of you who might still be reading the maunderings of this old senior citizen, here’s hoping your Thanksgiving was great, with good food, friends and family and lots of love all around. It is a day for reflection and renewing hope for a better future for all of us, the world over.
Updated: 12/27/2022: Discovered that I was using the kilometer measure for the bridge distance. In miles it measures 17.6 miles point to point. mea culpa.
Virginia has a rather unique item of interest in the area of the Hampton Roads known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Of course, in this area there are a substantial item of interest. This is the area where the USA really began, and so much of our history is here and available for visitors.
First let me explain what Hampton Roads means. In the tidewater area of southeastern Virginia are the cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Yorktown, the City of Hampton and several others. Hampton itself is very unique in that it is the oldest continuous English settlement on the North American Continent. Hampton was first settled in 1610, just three years after the first settlement of Jamestown in 1607. We have an Episcopal Church in Hampton, known is St. Johns and it is the oldest continuous Anglican/Episcopal Parish/Church in the USA. St. John’s church motto on their web site is; “Fighting Sin since 1610” and that is very true.
This area is bounded by many waterways, and the name Hampton Roads comes from the confluence of waterways including the Chesapeake Bay, the York River, the James River and the Atlantic Ocean all merging in this specific area. The Roads refers to the nautical appellation of ship channels as Roads.
So, on Saturday, November 5th, the Bride and I decided to take a day tour of some of the local sites. I had attended high school here in the late 50s at the original Hampton High School, and yes, I was a Hampton High Crabber (the football team’s nickname), as a result of my Air Force dad being stationed at Langley AFB back then. We left for a new duty assignment in Albany, Georgia where I completed high school and enlisted in the Air Force myself, but I returned years later working for a contractor at the NASA Langley facility in the early 1970’s before accepting a position with Bell Helicopter International in Teheran, Iran in the mid 70’s. So, I had not been visiting or had lived in this area since the early 1970s, therefore it pretty much was new to me as well as to her. However, I have always considered this area as my real home considering that my ancestors came from Britain and Europe landing at what was then known as Kecoughtan in 1620. Kecoughtan is now known as Hampton.
Our planned destination for that Saturday was the Eastern Shore area of our state. The Eastern Shore is a section of land separated from the mainland by the Chesapeake Bay and the entry from the Atlantic Ocean.
You see, Virginia shares the Eastern Shore with Maryland and Delaware, and this area is chop-a-block with neat little towns and villages that are, in my humble opinion, well worth a visit because of their unique character and most of them being rather old as well. Oh, and if you do visit this area yourself, be sure to bring your camera/phone camera.
For the Hampton Roads area, access to the Eastern Shore is across the world’s longest manmade span over the water, known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT). The CBBT spans the waters from Virginia Beach, VA to the Eastern Shore area of Kiptopeake National Park on the southernmost point of the Eastern Shore. The bridge tunnel spans 17.6 miles (28km) across the waters of the Chesapeake, Atlantic, and the confluence of the James and York Rivers. For those coming from the north, access to the Eastern Shore is by the Chesapeake Bridge/US Route 50, then connecting with US Route 13 for the trip south.
This day trip took us from our home in the Newport News’ Kiln Creek neighborhood, along I 64 through Hampton and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel across and under the waterways to Norfolk. The HRBT also provides a passage for the large Naval Ships into the Norfolk Naval Station. After crossing that bridge tunnel complex, we carried on down I-64 to US Route 13 north at Virginia Beach. After exiting I-64 onto the US Route 13N and travelling several city blocks, we approached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel itself.
This bridge/tunnel spans over 17 miles of waters with two tunnels that provide access to the United States Navy and large commercial vessels into the Hampton Roads waterways. The second tunnel, nearer to the Eastern Shore provides access pathway for large cargo and tanker vessels to the Chesapeake Bay areas for Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the Washington DC waterfront via the Potomac River. The first tunnel, nearer to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area provides primary access for the naval vessels heading into the Norfolk Naval Station as well as some commercial vessels transiting into either the York River or the James River. Some of the vessels heading up the York are Navy ships going to the large Navy supply center that is past the York River Bridge where they take on supplies including weapons, fuel as needed, and other personnel needed supplies. Needless to say, when one travels to this area, the military facilities are many and provide much of the revenues to keep these towns and cities well set for employment.
So off we went, toward the Eastern Shore and whatever sights we might be privileged to see. The first hurdle in our day tour was the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel where we encountered rather heavy traffic. Once we exited the HRBT, we had a good view of the Norfolk Naval Station and a couple of the Aircraft Carriers that were visiting for repairs, refreshing, or simply there as their normal duty station.
The above photos are of; our home in Newport News, the entrance to the HRBT tunnel, the GPS image of us underwater from our car and the Naval Station ships (aircraft carriers in this view) as we exited the HRBT.
Then on past that and into the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area, then to the US Route 13 North exit. After several city blocks on Route 13 we arrived at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Entrance booth. The day was very good for our day tour, sunny with light clouds, a decent temp in the low 70s and a slight breeze to keep us cool and dry. All in all, a great November day.
We entered the first of the tunnels and here is a photograph of the entrance to that tunnel.
Traveling on past the Kiptopeake National Preserve, we turned off 13 headed to the town of Cape Charles, a seaside village dating back to the 1700s. Definitely a place we will visit again. Especially to take a walk along the beach for that town. And perhaps we will rent one of the golf carts and travel all of the cart trails they have here.
The photos above are a couple of shots we took of the Cape Charles township. The photo on the left is a picture of the town’s water tower, but they took some artistic license and made it look like an old Virginia light house. The upper picture on the right is a view of the entrance to the Historic Cape Charles Theater and the photo at the bottom right is a street scene of the main down town area for Cape Charles. All of the parking spaces on the opposite side of this street are required to be parked rear in rather than nose in.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in Cape Charles in a restaurant that had been in operation for over 100 years. Good food, and friendly service. Below is a photo of my wife as we had breakfast. Just behind her was a large breakfront with some very old and really pretty antique glassware. The breakfront was a series of shelves with glass doors. A very nice antique, and probably extremely pricey.
The pictures below were taken as we left the area heading home. Another trip over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and then home to our beautiful neighborhood.
The photos above were taken as we headed home from our day trip to Cape Charles. The Picture in the upper right is taken of the twin bridges as they curved around to point toward the Virginia Beach area. The upper center photo is of my wife with a view of the Atlantic Ocean beyond her window. The shot in the upper right is a photo of the Virginia Beach coastline. We were still a bit too far out for it to be very clear. And the photo in the lower left is a shot of the cranes working on prep work for a second tunnel which will expand the traffic flow to single direction in each tunnel. Right now, the single existing tunnel had single lane traffic in both directions. Finally, the picture in the lower right is a shot of our ascent from the second tunnel and our final leg over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and onward to the “peninsula” which is what the locals refer to our home area.
The entire trip was a lot of fun, very interesting and filled with lots of great scenes. We will be making another visit to that area in the near future. Might wait until the Spring, however. That way we can really enjoy the walk about of this neat village, it’s beachfront and perhaps a few cart trails in a rental golf cart.
Keep watching. There’s a lot of neat things to see and do in our little corner of the USA and we plan on visiting as many as possible. Best thing it that the majority of the really interesting and historically prominent are within a very short drive. Lots of those things are right in our Hampton/Newport News area.
We are now celebrating our fifth month in our new home. Our original goal for a new location was to be in Hampton, but we found THE HOUSE in Newport News, and if there were no city limit signs, one would never know when they left one and entered the other. Actually we are truly starting to feel comfortable. We did get hit with a shafting by the individual who did the home appraisal for the mortgage company since she did the comps in the area outside of Kiln Creek and the housing in this area is worth a lot more, but we wound up coughing up another 6 grand to get the process to close. We also encountered some pretty hefty fix-up costs at the start, replacing the first level floors and sealing the slab for water intrusion, then staining the fence a nice color to eliminate the old bleached out look around our back property, but that is now behind us and we are truly settling in to this neighborhood and our home. Our community, Kiln Creek, is an Award Winning Golf Community, with the home neighborhoods intersected by a very nice 18 hole golf course, complete with a Resort Facility including a small hotel and a nice restaurant.
October is finally in the bag, expecting a small group of kiddies for the trick or treat thing, but hoping for a lot more, since we sort of went crazy with the candy buying.
Halloween done and done.
Well, there it went, October 31, and we did have had a nice Halloween in our new home/neighborhood. Many little kids and some not so little, appeared at our door for treats. We were very happy to see them, since we had a ton of candy to give out. Had not been involved with Trick or Treaters for over a decade, since we lived in condos and four years on our motor yacht for all that time. This night was a fun time for us, these kiddos were so cute in their costumes and we handed out candy by the handfuls. We had sort of over bought on the candy side, we couldn’t remember from our time many years ago and of course being in a brand new neighborhood and a brand new section of our state, we had no concept of what sort of traffic for the trick or treaters. Turned out we did get a good number of trick or treaters, so our huge candy supply was sufficiently reduced. Perhaps we can find a good locale to donate a few pounds of small candy bars and protect us from the sweets. But we made it and we don’t have that huge bag full anymore. Still have a lot, but far less than we started with or thought we would wind up with.
The Year is winding down
Wow, November is already here and the holidays are fast approaching. Next Tuesday is Elections Day, and hope springs eternal regarding the winning candidates. Both myself and the Bride know exactly how we will vote, and it will be as we have for the past several years.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and this will be the first time that we have been so very far from our kids and grand kids. Just going to be me, Charlotte and the two fur babies. Those two probably will not be joining us for our Thanksgiving dinner. But the Bride and I will have a meal and give thanks for all our blessings. Still, will miss having all the kids and grands around a table.
Major Changes oh my!
Well, as some of you may know, on October 17th Charlotte spent her last day at her large company employer. Rather than retire, we both felt that she had so much expertise and experience in her career field to share, so just stopping simply wasn’t in the cards.
She has now become an owner of a Small Woman Owned Small Business. Yep, we formed a company to have a facility for her to share her extensive experience in all things payroll. From Process to Regulatory, from Data Analytics to Seminars and Formal Classroom Training, She will be marketing her skills for those who need the kind of experience and expertise that she has become quite well known for. Of course I will help out, someone has to be the driver, and work on the computer thingys, and look cute around the workspace.
So she landed her first small contract with a major consultant company and will be billable for at least two months, perhaps three. We are hopeful that additional work will be following and she will stay busy. The plan is to hopefully grow the company, especially along certain paths, and try to keep the staff ranks as lean as possible to ensure that everyone has work and that the company continues to exist.
Of course if the worst thing happens and no follow-on appears she would also be able to simply retire.
Some time has expired since last I took keyboard in hand to try and communicate. As those who read my posts, comments, opinions, or what ever, know I have a tendency to allow some time to drag by between posts. I shall attempt to do better with this new approach.
Things have changed quite a lot since we last wrote on this blog space. We sold the Misty Lady sadly, and I see where she was sold again a few months ago, so a brand new owner possess that graceful old motor yacht. Hope they will do what we could not, restore her to her former glory.
We also moved into a condo in Alexandria, Virginia and spent slightly over two years there. Though we were of the impression that this condo neighborhood was relatively safe, (it was a limited access with coded locks and gate key fobs) we were to discover after a short while that this was not totally true. We joined the condo neighborhood Facebook page and joined our condo neighbors in discussions about life at the Pointe, in Alexandria. We soon discovered through posts by various residents that all was not totally safe from theft, vandalism or other criminal acts. One neighbor, an Army Sergeant, who was also a member of the Tomb of the Unknown Sentinels, had his new motorcycle stolen from our secure community and the underground garage. We then witnessed posts regarding the theft of air bags, tires and rims and packages from our lobby mail area.
We were both home usually all day, with the Bride Charlotte working remote for her company and the old former Captain was into his 9th and 10th year of retirement. We did quite often go down into the garage to visually check on our car. Finally, Charlotte’s company developed a set of employment status’ which included 1. Full time office, 2. hybrid office and remote, and 3. full time remote. Charlotte was offered and accepted the full time remote.
We then decided that it was time for us to consider a new area for living. It was decided that we would look for, purchase, and move down to the Hampton/Newport News area to a single-family home. Since we had lived in condo apartments almost all of our 30+ years in Northern Virginia, the idea of a stand-alone house with yards all around, a garage and lots of room was exciting. In addition, that area was chock a block with water, water everywhere. The James River, the York River, Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Several other rivers, smaller and now so well known, were feeding the Hampton Roads, one of which was the Hampton River. Wow, what former mariners would not want to be in such an area. One could almost see us settling in, and eventually purchasing a small weekender for sailing around the Peninsula, the Eastern Shore, and even into the Intercoastal Waterway. As yes, to dream, perhaps not the impossible dream however.
So, we placed the sale of our condo in the capable hands of a young woman Real Estate agent named Alanda. She was enthusiastic, professional, and provided us with a developed brochure of our condo, the area, and other attractions. She ran a set of comps to show us what we could reasonably ask and receive for our condo apartment.
I had already started a search of potential homes for sale in the Hampton, Newport News, Yorktown and Williamsburg area. My preference was for Hampton, considering that I had lived there as a teenager (a Hampton High School “Crabber”, the original Hampton High School), as my dad was stationed at Langley AFB. Also lived there later in life working at the NASA Langley Research Facility. So Hampton was “home”, or perhaps not. Neighborhoods that I had always felt were really nice, when I last lived there (in the early 70s) were no longer the really nice, upscale areas. Time had not been kind to these locales. Our Credit Union had a real estate program that provided recommendations for Real Estate Agents and we were pleased with the person they recommended. Kristie was a diligent, professional and enthusiastic agent and worked with us to identify the type of home we were really looking for.
With Kristie’s help, we looked at many places that I had found during my online searches, using Zillow and our local Real Estate Agency’s database linkage, and found disappointment in each place. Either the house was not well kept, or the neighborhood had gone downhill. As senior citizens, we were hoping to find a home in a nice, well kept, and community-styled area.
We did finally, when we were looking at a particular house, (nice house, minimal neighborhood), Charlotte said to the Agent, that she didn’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but we really didn’t need to look at the house, because she was not going to live in that neighborhood. Kristie said that she had a listing that just came on her lists, and mentioned it’s location. While it was not Hampton it was a really great neighborhood in Newport News. Hopefully any of my former Hampton High fellow students would forgive me for moving into the Newport News. When Charlotte and I arrived at the location, we were amazed at the beauty of the entire development and the neighborhoods along the way. We walked up to the house and found it to be very nice looking, 1544 square feet, much larger than anything we had owned or even rented during our 40 plus years together. When we opened the front door, our mutual reaction was, THIS IS THE HOUSE.
We toured the house, the garage and the small courtyard style back yard, then spoke with the Agent about next steps. We drove over to a local Starbucks (you just knew there would be a Starbucks nearby), and decided what to offer, how to style our offer and then Kristie completed the work up on her tablet computer. We signed the formal offer then she emailed it to the selling agent. Fastest home purchase offer we ever made. We then finished our Starbucks drinks, Kristie left for her home in VA Beach and we left for our hotel, which by the way, was actually in the very development where we would wind up purchasing our new home. Kiln Creek is a large planned community, with 31 neighborhoods, over 3,000 houses, condos and apartment complexes. There are over 13,000 people who reside in Kiln and a major attraction is an 18 hole golf resort with a boutique hotel and a full service restaurant.
We had come home!
Our new forever home.
The owner accepted our offer as modified (another bidder cause us to invoke our automatic escalator clause another 1,200 dollars and the house was ours! Well as soon as we could get the formal closing functions completed. We finally closed on July 8th and began the process of moving out of the hotel where we had stayed for over 5 weeks. The movers had already delivered our furniture and other belongings from Alexandria (we made an amendment with the owner for special occupation to allow the movers to deliver and set up), so we only needed to bring out hotel gear and of course the new fur babies, Duchess and Penny. Now they had tons of room.
Sadly, almost two years have gone by since this post was written. In our tasks to relocate ourselves from the Misty Lady to our land-based condo, posting this final blog entry as yacht owners and live aboard mariners simply fell through the cracks. After reviewing my old blog entries, I found that one entry was still in the draft queue. It was one that should have been posted before we left. Alas the emotional feelings, the thought that we were leaving our water-based home of over 4 years, and that we would no longer have the ability to take our big girl out of her slip, motor into the Potomac and enjoy a scenic voyage down the Potomac River and into the Chesapeake Bay.
Alas, here we are almost two years later, missing our life aboard, but knowing that the dangers to my person due to the health situation created an untenable situation. We moved into the condo on May 21, 2020 and now are preparing to sell this place and move out of Northern Virginia, relocating to the Tidewater area of Virginia, in the City of Hampton. This is a location where my ancestors, both maternal as well as paternal first arrived in this country. Both legs of my ancestry landed at Kecoughtan (now Hampton) around 1620. We are searching now for a new home, no more condos, looking at single family dwellings only.
And now, to the much delayed posting:
A Fond Farewell
This will probably be the last entry for the Misty Lady Blog, most assuredly the last for the Misty Lady herself. You see, we no longer own the Misty Lady, our 54 foot Bluewater Aft Cabin Motor Yacht. We sold her to a couple who will completely restore the old girl and give her a new outlook on cruising the waters of the Eastern Seaboard and associated waterways.
See from our earlier blog posts, health issues created a situation where we were no longer safe to remain on a floating home and located in floating docks. When we began the process of prepping the lady for sale, we discovered a leaking fuel tank. Repair of this problem ranged from 10,000 dollars to over 50,000 dollars. Not a lot of recreation boaters who were interested in taking on a purchase and immediate expensive repair of a major component of the yacht. The Lady’s fuel tank is a centerline 500 gallon aluminum tank encased in a fiberglass cage for protection. So, to repair this component or to replace it, would entail considerable labor to remove the fiberglas, the empty the tank (estimated to hold over 400 gallons at that point), then cut the tank into manageable pieces or remove the window frame in the galley (this was done in 2016 when we replaced the starboard engine), and lift the tank out that way. Anyway, no takers, finally got one person who was interested in doing a restoration of the lady, but then decided the asking price (very very low) was too much for him to take so he passed. Bear in mind we are at this point nearing the closing date on our new land based home. Finally, we sold the old girl at a fire sale price to a couple who are members of the Yacht Club and also specialized in doing restoration and updating of older yachts. So, on the date of our closing, May 21, 2020, we began removing all of our personal effects, clothes etc, including the two sea cats, Penny and Duchess, who were NOT pleased at this turn of events. We finished the move off the yacht and then turned her over to the possession of her new owners.
They moved her from the regular slip over to the T-Head of the B dock to load some items they wanted to take down to the Colton’s Point Marina where the Misty Lady would be hauled out and placed on blocks (on the hard as mariners say), the fuel pumped out of her tank and the replacement of her fuel tank (project number 1), would begin. Over the coming months, her interior will be restored with new wall coverings, new interior furnishings, some new appliances and perhaps new decking. Then her exterior will be cleaned, the wood trim sanded and re-varnished to bring her teak components back to their former glory. So she was going into a new world and coming out with a new look and refurbished from bow to stern. We will miss our old girl, she gave us four years of comfortable and unique living.
On May 7th, 2020, Charlotte and I were totally surprised at the outpouring of affection from our Capitol Yacht Club (CYC) family to wish us well as we got closer to leaving our Misty Lady yacht; the Capital Yacht Club family, and move back on shore into a new condominium.
Charlotte received a message from our CYC friends, Jeff and Sharon Sheats saying they wanted to come by our boat at 6:30 pm to wish us a fond farewell. When they got to our slip and knocked on the boat hull, we were encouraged to go up to our fore deck and they would stay on the dock so we could chat. Remember that our club really practices the social distancing and CoronaVirus safety practices so this wasn’t really a strange request.
The couple in the left photo/foreground on the dock is Jeff and Sharon. Just behind Sharon is Cara and Dennis our neighbors and their sailing yacht across the main dock from us. The photo on the right is Sharon holding one of the farewell signs they made for us.
Suddenly members started coming up to our slip from all over the yacht club marina. Since our clubhouse is on COVID-19 lock-down this was their work around to give us a farewell gathering. Since we were drawing pretty close to the actual settlement date for our new shore home, this was their opportunity to wish us well .
As folks began to gather from all three of our marina docks, they broke out a couple of signs showing their affection and farewell wishes. The caring and affection of these folks were just overwhelming and it was truly difficult to speak and keep a dry eye. It is truly amazing to us the warmth and affection that we have experienced while being members and residents of this yacht club marina these past four years. We gained so much knowledge and experience from the members for yacht handling, boating courtesy, rules of the road, line handling, and a myriad of other important points for living aboard a yacht. But most important, was the feeling of true family of
The number of folks coming out to wish us well continued to grow and each one that appeared just made our hearts swell with the outpouring of well wishes and expressions that they would truly miss us when we moved off the yacht, out of the club and into our new shore based home. So many offers for us to come back to the club and take rides on their vessels.
Then River Sam (Sam McKay) came up to the starboard bow and handed up a bottle of red wine, and proceeded to read a poem she had written especially for us. Charlotte and I had a tough time keeping it together as Sam read what she had written. Methinks that Sam had a bit of quaver in her voice on the last couple of words as well. A copy of it is below.
Another long time member, Richard Wellens also handed up a bottle of nice white wine as a parting gift. We will save these until we are in the new home and use them to christen our land based abode.
It can truly be said that the women and men who make up the membership and staff of the Capitol Yacht Club on the Washington, DC Wharf waterfront are in actuality a family. In all of the locations that Charlotte and I have lived in our life together, no where have we experienced the community, caring, close interactions and just simply expressions of friendship, as we had experienced here at the CYC. Leaving it is very hard, and will be even harder when that final day comes and we remove the last of our belongings from the Misty Lady and turn her over to the new owners.
But we know that she will be restored to her former glory and will continue to ply the waterways of the Eastern Seaboard.
We also feel gratified that so many expressed strong wishes for us to return when we can to enjoy the friendship and love from these wonderful people. A very fond farewell to our CYC family and we will miss you all very much.
Update: We now have a date and time for the closing/settlement on our new home. We take formal possession of the condo on the 21st of May and will be moving in over the following several days. Our plan is to be moving our personal belongings off the Misty Lady by next Sunday May 24th and doing a formal turn over of the Misty Lady to Laura and Tony.
As I am wont to do, many weeks have passed since I started this potentially final blog entry. I had actually started it to be a discussion of our family gathering for Christmas and the efforts of living aboard a winter covered yacht.
So, within the following paragraphs, I will attempt to bring you all up to date with the happenings of the old Captain and the Admiral (hey, she deserves the promotion).
So now it begins
As we progress into the year 2020, the month of January brought a need for significant change in our lives and lifestyle. Following a diagnosis of a health issue, Charlotte and I had a long discussion about the reality of continuing our life aboard the Misty Lady. The old man has now developed a situation where his sense of balance comes and goes, therefore walking on the Lady’s decks. getting on board or off, or simply walking about the marina on the docks has become a potentially dangerous, possibly even fatal situation of falls that injure, involve a water hazard, or falling between the boat and the dock (a friend died from that situation).
Faced with this situation, we determined that we should put the yacht up for sale and move back on land into a condo apartment somewhere. So, we made contact with a real estate agent about a new condo, and then let the membership know that the Misty Lady was going up for sale.
One of our yacht club member family indicated that he may have a person who might want to buy the old girl. Our asking price was quite a bit below the market for a yacht of this size and age, but we own the old girl outright and simply want to get her sold and use the funding from the sale to outfit our new condo. While everyone who heard our asking price was surprised at the low cost, we found that the first person was looking for an entirely different type of boat.
A second interested party came along to view the old girl and they were most excited about her size, looks and especially the asking price. We offered to finish off the interior walls, since we had already started that project and would allow them to select the new wall colors. The need for us to go ashore was brought home very painfully slightly over a month ago. During a visit by the couple who were interested in buying the yacht, I stepped off the dockside steps to close the water valve that was filling our on board water tank. I either missed a step, tripped over the hose or simply lost my balance, and fell on my face upon the concrete surface of our finger dock. Cut over my eye, an abrasion on my knee and right hand but the big thing was what I thought were bruised ribs. Following two weeks the pain increased sufficiently that the Admiral decided I should go to the emergency room. Turned out following a CAT scan, that I had actually broken four ribs, with one complete separated. Now, almost a month and a half later, the old ribs are finally allowing me to move about without flinching. So, the decision to end our live aboard lifestyle became even more confirmed.
After considerable discussions, and in consultation with several sources, it became obvious that we essentially had only three options. These were:
Find a person or company that did restoration of older vessels, and who would be interested in acquiring the old girl for a fire sale price and restore for resale at a market price. The work to restore the Lady would include fuel tank repair/replace, finish the interior walls, and other small tasks. A purchaser would have to be someone who went into this deal with eyes open and a commitment to working or hiring work done to first and foremost, repair the fuel tank.
Find a person or company who would purchase the old girl for salvage and remove the resalable items such as the two main engines, two large capacity generator sets, upgraded navigation system (including a new radar, a new radio with AIS capacity, and a multi function display). A washer and a dryer were also installed on the old girl along with a brand new (never been used) dishwasher. Lots of other items that would be salvageable from the old girl and then her hull and superstructure would be dismantled. A sad ending for a graceful lady of the waters.
Final option, least attractive, but probably easier to do, would be to donate the Misty Lady to some charitable organization, or perhaps the US Naval Academy for training purposes. We would not receive any cash out of this deal, but would possibly be able to take a tax write off over the next five years.
The photo below shows a group gathering of my immediate family members
The family is, L-R, grand daughter Hattie, me, grand daughter Camilla, kneeling, daughter in law Becky, my bride Charlotte, then my daughter Kurby, my ex wife/their mom Phyllis, and lastly. my son Clifton. As many of you know, my son Mike mid between my daughter and my son Cliff, passed from Meningococcal meningitis.
We spent a terrific afternoon with family, enjoying the grand daughters and just connecting with everyone. Gifts were exchanged and good food was served and enjoyed.
Following Coffee and pie, Char and I headed for home. We needed to stop off at a grocery to get food and snacks for tomorrow, Christmas Day. Nothing around here is open on that day in the form of grocery or other food items. We also expect the yacht club will be pretty empty since a number of our members will be visiting with family members for the holiday. A few, like us, will be in the marina and the club house but the numbers would be rather small.
The club house has been decorated very festive in the spirit of the holidays, and we took advantage to snap a photo of Charlotte in front of the Christmas trees on the upper dining/bar area on the second floor.
Today we woke to a new reality, WINTER IS COME! Our floating home has her winter covering of shrink wrap, vinyl. The marine specialist finished up the current state last evening. He worked until 10:30pm to ensure that our major area of wrap was secure and would provide protection.
The above picture shows the Misty Lady with her winter shrink wrap, looking from the bow towards the stern. The white box in the foreground is the Dock Box which provides storage for our items, also has the electrical (50 amp), tv cable, and internet connection to the wifi provider system. Also along side this box is the fresh city water system faucets.
As you can see from this photo, it takes a lot of wrap material to cover our rather large vessel.
In this view you can also see three of the lines that secure our boat to the finger dock. The yellow hose is the pump out hose for our “black water” waste removal. Further along the side is the stairs that we use to board and leave the Misty Lady. You can just barely see the orange ball between the dock and the Lady’s side, these are known as fenders and protect the boat from bumping into the dock and causing damage to both the boat and the dock. Remember the Lady weighs over 50 thousand pounds and it wouldn’t take much for her to create a problem if she were to hit the unprotected dock side.
This open portal, shown in the above photo, is set up for the installation of a sliding door that will add more protection from cold air and wind gusts as winter set in further. The marine specialist will be installing that door on Monday, weather permitting. There will also be a clear vinyl section added to the stern area, picture of the stern below.
The “window” will be installed in the upper center of this rear section. Slightly above and over from the two bumps (hand grips for the ladder from the swim platform), and will enable us to have a nice view of activity on the other docks, any movement of other yachts, and an opening for sun light to come into the salon.
The door has been installed and it’s tracking mechanism corrected to allow our ability to enter and exit with the door sliding smoothly in both directions. The large window was installed as well, so we now have the ability to view the actions outside our boat and the additional docks behind us. This window will also allow sunlight to come through and warm the interior supplanting the electric heaters we have set up and use to ward off the Washington chill that sets in with great regularity (must be something with the hot air coming from the Capitol Building when Congress is in session, or from the White House for the same reasons).
Photo above shows that our rear window is installed and provides a great view of the Capital Yacht Club marina yachts.
Guess a couple of pictures of our two Sea Cats are in order. The first photo is of Penny, our young Tortie, in this shot she is waiting by the starboard hatch looking for her mom (Char) to come home. She senses her while she is still walking down the dock toward our yacht.
The shot below is of The Duchess, our older Grey Tabby, sitting on the bed in the Master Cabin. She is looking back toward the stairwell to the Galley area for her nemesis, Penny.
This photo below, is a view off of our starboard side, looking east toward the early morning sunrise on another beautiful Sunday morning (@6:30am). This makes any hard time aboard, worthwhile. This shot was taken last week, the 17th of November.
So, we have completed 99 percent of our winter setup for our floating condo and are preparing to settle in for the coming winter weather. A couple of nights ago we had a storm come through with winds in the upper 20 miles per hour sustained and gusts of over 45 miles per hour. A real rocking time aboard the Misty Lady, also having a symphony of the dock lines rubbing against the boat’s surfaces and themselves, keeping us awake for hours.
But it is still a Living The Dream situation.
We traveled up to West Virginia to have Thanksgiving holiday with my son Cliff, his wife Becky, our two younger grand daughters, Hattie and Cammie. My daughter Kurby came with her and Cliff’s mom. We also had members from Becky’s family there as well. Good food, good company and a very pleasant day all together. Our trip back home to the DC Waterfront went quite well also, minimal traffic and the 100 plus miles went by smoothly. The country side from Leesburg, Virginia to their home in Kearneysville, WV is filled with rolling farm land, grape arbors (lots of wine country here) and some beautifully laid out horse farms.
One last photograph, Charlotte just took this off our aft deck. It is a photo of one of our members (currently serving as Club’s Commodore), 49 foot sailboat lit up for the season. Tim is a retired Lt. Commander in the US Navy and currently works for a major government contractor company. The waters in the Channel are so still tonight they made a perfect reflection of Tim’s yacht.
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and lots of good times with family, friends or just good associates.
Happy Holiday to you all and we look forward to a terrific Merry Christmas season in a couple of weeks.
Before I get into the stuff about the seaworthiness test, I thought it might be interesting to tell you about an incident that happened the night/early morning, of November 5th. The Misty Lady uses a combination of AC and DC power to operate our onboard items, such as lights ( both AC and DC lighting), water pressure pumps, etc. Our refrigerator operates on standard AC power but also has a DC subsystem that controls the operational sensors. There is a warning component that informs us that the fridge has lost AC power and this is what Charlotte woke from at 3 am on that November morning. Also our stove top, coffee maker and both TV’s operate on standard AC power. So like most motor yachts we use both types of electrical power. Charlotte woke me up and informed me that our power was off. The boat’s DC units would continue to operate off the installed battery banks but the AC was inoperative which caused our heaters to shut down and the fridge to stop working. We put on some shoes and went to the dock pedestal where our shore power connection is located. Turned out one of our 50 amp cables had become disconnected from the movement of the boat’s bow (winds blowing us back and forth) that put a strain on the cable connection.
We flipped off the circuit breaker and Charlotte reconnected the cables twist locks to restore our power. We reset the circuit breaker and then tested several AC items to ensure that full power was restored on both our power segments ( our boat has two AC segments, one each running down the port and starboard sides of the interior of our floating home. As we got back into bed, the phrase that most live aboard boaters use came to mind: “Living the Dream” afloat. Sometimes they are nightmares, but those are dreams as well. Things like the power loss are the stuff of the BOATING LIFE. Would we rather be ashore? Take a look at this scene,
This is the sunrise just breaking over the waterfront as we leave the boat to go to the clubhouse early in the morning. We see this kind of view a lot, far more than we ever saw when we lived on land.
Our new helm control is installed and the next step is another test of the installation to ensure that all works as it is supposed to do. The new helm control unit was installed on the 17th of this month and we had finished the install and system bleed by the late afternoon.
The picture below is the old helm control, a 250 V model which had been replaced by the 1250 V with better technology, simplified system construct and easier bleed out for trapped air. This old unit will either be shipped to the distributor/rebuild company, if they want it and are willing to cough a couple of dollars, or we will toss it out.
Looks like I have a bit of fluid to clean up on the deck, guess there was still some residual fluid in the pump’s tank.
Our original plan was to combine an actual helm sea trial with the Yacht Club requirement for an annual seaworthiness test. The next day was very bad for boating with winds gusting into the 40-50 mile an hour speeds. Taking a boat out in that weather would be an exercise in utter stupidity. The weekend was no better, with meetings for Char in Virginia taking the morning, up to early afternoon, and other chores to get done, the Saturday plan was blown. Sunday was miserable, temps around 50 degrees, constant rain, and some winds. Winds were infrequent and were not strong at all, but coupled with the temperature and the rain, we decided to bag it for that weekend. The Plan was then to make the trip on Friday of the coming week.
Friday, October 25, 6:45 am: We are now making preparations for the coming seaworthiness certification. Estimated Departure would be around 10:00 am, which is the optimum time for assistance from the Club’s dock stewards to cast off our lines and power connections. We will attempt to leave a bit sooner but only if we find others to assist.
The photo below is of Charlotte in the engine room bilge area, checking the fluid levels in the main engines, the transmissions and the generator, prior to start up to ensure that the proper levels of oil are available. Damage to one of these engines is NOT something we ever want to experience again. She had to add some oil to the port engine, but the starboard was okay. We will be changing the fluids out come spring, according to our plan. Depends on the availability of the diesel specialist.
The gauges at her knee are on the port side big Cat Diesel and the red engine is the generator set that provides us with 20KV of electrical power when the boat is disconnected from shore power.
This photo is of our early morning sunrise, just starting to light up the eastern skies. This picture was taken as we were leaving the Clubhouse after our showers (showering here saves water from our on board tank and having to break out the freshwater hose, to refill the 150 gallon tank), walking down the ramp toward the B and A docks.
Current plan was to contact the dock steward to assist in the castoff betweem 10:30 and 11:00am
Actual departure was 12:30 pm as we had the lines cast off, and slowly backed the big girl out into the fairway between A and B docks. Once I got the clear indication from Charlotte that our bow was clear for turning, I began the process of turning the boat using the transmissions and the props to alter our direction turning us onto a heading out of the fairway and into the Washington Channel. You do not use the rudders inside the marina or in any confined areas, because the prop speed has to be a lot higher than safe for these tight areas, to make the rudders functional. So in these areas, the watchword is always, “go slow like a pro” and use only the props and transmission to move about. As we approached the end of the fairway, entering the Washington Channel (WC), we sounded our boat’s horn to inform any other boaters that the big girl was coming out to play.
Entering the channel and turning on a southern heading toward the confluence of the Anacostia River, the WC, and the Potomac, we used the transmissions/screws to navigate down the waterway. Water taxi, other motor yachts, and the Metro Police Marine Patrol boat were our companions afloat going outbound.
About half way down the Channel, I decided to only complete the Annual Seaworthiness Certification and perhaps do an actual sea trial at a later date. We completed the voyage to the Hains Point area, at the confluence of the Anacostia, the Channel, and the Potomac and returned to the Yacht Club marina to our home berth. This completed the Club’s requirement for annual certification of seaworthiness for the Misty Lady. I provided the club management and the club’s flag officers with proof of our voyage and got our name checked off on the listing of seaworthy vessels.
We decided that we would do another static test of the rudder control while in the slip, with Charlotte observing the rudder system, at the master cabin hatch to the aft bilge area and I on the bridge, we would communicate through our cell phones for the test. This test went very well, and the rudders moved as they should in response to the turns I made on the helm wheel.
About the Water Taxi: The water taxi system, connect the City of Alexandria, the D.C. Wharf, Georgetown, and National Harbor for passenger traffic. The price of these water travel boats is pretty darn reasonable, especially if you want to visit DC and don’t want the aggravation of trying to find minimally existent parking. Park in Alexandria, and board the water taxi for your specific destination. Travel to the DC Wharf connects you conveniently with the National Mall/Smithsonian Museums, multiple Metro lines, and two theater venues. There is a free shuttle at the Wharf that will take you to the L’Enfant Metro Stop, the Smithsonian, and the L’Enfant Plaza marketplace where the new Spy museum recently opened. Also at the Wharf you will find the oldest active fish market in the country. These water taxi routes connect with points of interest in the Washington DC Metro area. Many local residents, along with visitors to the area, use these water taxi routes to avoid the horrendous traffic and parking aggravation of the City of Washington, DC. Parking in Alexandria is far less expensive than in the city of Washington.
The photo above shows two of the Potomac Water Taxi boats, docked at the Recreation Pier of the DC Wharf. From there, these boats travel to Alexandria, VA; National Harbor, MD; and Georgetown, DC.
At this writing, we are having the Misty Lady don her winter garb. Which means that any further voyages down river will have to wait until spring. Temps are forecast to drop into the 40’s and down into the 30’s over the coming week and overnight temps could drop into the upper 20’s and lower 30’s. Enough to make the protection of the boat decks and upper structures as well as provide additional insulation for us aboard, make this shrink wrap action almost mandatory. Some folks do not to this, but we have for the three years we have lived aboard this old girl and will continue to do so each winter until Charlotte retires and we say farewell to this area for warmer boating climes.
The local marine specialist has started the process of doing the shrink wrap of our boat, from bow to stern, from the radar arch to the mid hull surface. The following photos show the infrastructure rigging that the specialists have installed on the Lady’s decks. The white tape looking stuff is some very strong ribbon like item.
Rigging from the bow sprit, over the bridge roof, the radar arch, and then down to the stern bulkhead.
A longer view of the bow decks and the shrink wrap rigging. You can just make out the line of rigging tape along the hull that will be the anchor for the vinyl covering over our engine room intakes and the port hole windows to keep out the vagaries of our DC winters.
The photo below is showing the starboard side and the framework for a sliding door that will allow us to enter and leave the boat during the winter when the shrink wrap vinyl covers the entire upper section of our boat.
We are expecting that the team of marine specialists will have the entire boat covered in the next day or so. We hope that the final installation of the wrap will beat the forecast that we have for snow in the near future. YIKES.
The shrink wrap sheets will be applied over the next few days, currently the winds are in the 17 to 20 MPH and handling the large sheets of vinyl wrap could be very dangerous.
I had wanted to hold off on publishing this blog entry until they actually got the boat shrink wrap completed but it might be a considerable delay. They are currently working on another boat nearly our size a few slips down from us and we will be the next in line. Might be later today, or even Monday, the 11th. I will take some photographs of the process if possible and then do a short blog entry when it is completed.
Let’s take a short step back and let me relate a particular incident aboard the Misty Lady. As you may recall, we obtain our slip assignments through a bidding process using our Member number as an indicator of our seniority, lowest number bidding on a particular slip, wins the day and has the home berth in that slip.
We had been awarded a 60 foot slip on the A dock and were settling into it as our home, when another opportunity to bid on a slip further out on the A dock. The further out one’s slip is, the better the view and the easier to depart and arrive at the marina section of the Capital Yacht Club. In this case, we won the compete for slip A-10, which would place us almost halfway up the dock area.
On the day we chose to make the move from our A4 slip to the A10 slip, we had assistance from one of the Club dock stewards to assist in our departure preparations. The gen set had been started and we switched from on shore power to on board generated power, and directed the steward to remove our power cord connection. We then began the process of untying our dock lines and Charlotte was at the bow deck to receive the lines as the steward removed them from the dock. I was on the bridge, and got the main engines started and warming. Charlotte called back to remind me to ensure that the rudders were in the straight ahead position. As I started to do that, the helm wheel spun like a top, no resistance indicating the hydraulic pressure was not there and the system was not working. WE HAD NO RUDDER CONTROL!
Our original intent was to take the Misty Lady out of the old slip, travel down the Channel to the Potomac and then down to the Wilson Bridge. We were then to return to the Club and move into the new A-10 slip. With the loss of helm control, there was no way I was going to take this big girl out into the river with all the other boats and not able to use the helm to steer out of the way of the boating idiots. You must have seen the type, they think nothing of driving across the bows of our big girl. We weigh 55 thousand pounds and could slice a go faster run about in two pieces with hardly a slow down of our passage.
So, I said to the steward and Charlotte that I had changed my mind and we would simply move from the old slip to the new one today. The fact is that when a yacht our size is moving in or near a marina area, the speed is at idle for the most part. At idle speed, with the screws (propellers) turning slowly, the rudders are useless anyway. So, I backed the Lady out of our old slip, into the fairway between A and B docks, with Charlotte at the bow checking for when we were clear of the finger docks and okay to begin turning. I then, using the port and starboard engines and transmissions, backed clear and turned the bow toward the outlet of the fairway and into the Washington Channel.
Using only the Lady’s propellers (screws), and engaging the port and starboard transmissions to steer, we moved out into the Channel and turned the boat 180 degrees to reenter with a better angle on our new slip A-10. Slowly we approached the slip, and began using the screws again to turn us bow first into the slip. The dock steward was there to assist in catching our lines to start the process of securing the Lady in her new home berth. At that point, once the Lady was secured, all lines set and the shore power connected, I informed Charlotte that we had no helm control, our movement from the old slip, to the new one, had been totally performed by the use of the props and transmission. Also that we needed to contact our marine technician to determine what the problem was and if there was a ready solution.
In discussions and searching the path of the steering system with the marine technician we determined that the line from the yacht’s auto pilot controls had a leak. When asked if the auto pilot was necessary to me, I indicated that I had no plan to ever allow a electro-mechanical device to drive this boat. So we closed the valve for that line and that stopped the leak. However, we had drained a lot of the fluid through this leak out of the system and air had been introduced. This caused the system to fail and the helm wheel to spin freely.
We then prepared to “bleed” the system removing the air and replacing it with good steering fluid. We worked the process by filling the helm control pump and using the helm wheel, pressing the fluid into the system, forcing the air out. This took several hours until we finally began to feel resistance in the wheel and were able to get it into a hard over to hard over status. Feeling that we had gotten the system back on line, we shut down our efforts for the day, leaving everything in place, just in case. Turns out that was the proper thing to do. But we should have placed absorbent cloths beneath the helm control pump, live and learn.
As you can see in the photo above, this is what greeted me the morning after our first purge. Fluid had flowed from the helm station, down the side of the bridge within the bridge lounge/lockers and out the edges of the boat to appear flowing down the side, onto the gunnel. It took quite a while and lots of scrubbing with cleansing soap to get the fluid stains off the sides and the gunnels. But it did come off. Then up to the bridge, opening the settee/lounge/locker to clean up the fluid that had flowed from the helm into the locker space. This took a considerable amount of cleaning rags and elbow grease. Then when the technician returned we set about trying to correct again. Evidently during the evening, the air bubbled back up pushing the fluid out and onto the floor.
We once again started the adding of fluid into the helm control, testing the helm wheel until restrictions began and we once again got to the point of moving the rudders from hard over to hard over. Again we stopped when this occurred and this time we placed absorbent rags and absorbent pads on the floor beneath the helm control. The photograph below shows what greeted us the next morning.
Another round of bleeding the system to force the air out and we thought we had it again. The photo below greeted me the next morning.
During the next round, (these occurred over a period of several days), we once again found the steering beginning to be responsive, but alas that was not to be the case as seen below.
We finally came to the conclusion, after several attempts over many days, to locate any additional leaks and in concert through discussions with the senior technical representative of the pump’s manufacturer, that the pump itself was bad. The options were; remove and ship the pump to the manufacturer and have it rebuilt; purchase a re-manufactured newer technology pump; or purchase a brand new pump of the newer technology. I opted for the re-manufactured pump, but as it turned out parts to build a pump were simply not available, so I wound up buying a brand new pump for just under 1,000 dollars. (boats ain’t cheap folks).
On October 17, we installed the new 1250 pump and proceeded to make the appropriate changes to the system. Turns out the older pump, a 250, required a return line and a distribution valve at the rudder ram. With the capability of the new pump, we were to remove the port and starboard lines from the distribution valve and directly connect them to the lines on the rudder ram and cap off the return line. This removed another point of possible failure for our future boating. One option the manufacturer rep suggested was to pull the entire return line out and discard it. Yeah, like we were going to pull almost 50 feet of hydraulic tubing from the various guides and trace areas; the option to cap the hose was the smartest so that is what we did. Yea us!
After a series of bleeding actions called for in the multi step installation guide, to remove any remaining air, the new pump began to function and steering was returned to the helm wheel and rudders. We validated this by having one person at the helm turning the wheel and a second person in the master cabin with the aft bilge area cover removed so that we could observe the actual movement of the ram and the rudder control arms. When the movement was smooth from port hard over to starboard hard over we then centered the rudder with the observer (me) calling out the position of the rudder indicator. Cell phones do have their uses, to help us communicate from the bridge to the aft master cabin without yelling at each other.
At last, it appeared that we had finally repaired the rudder/helm loss and the old girl was back in business. However the proof of the pudding will be later, when we take her out of the slip, and pilot her down to the confluence of the Anacostia River, Washington Channel and the Potomac. The big hurdle is the winds, we are in the midst of the huge Nor’Easter and unless the winds drop below 15 MPH, we will stay in our slip. The boat is too large, her superstructure is too high and the higher winds will push us all over the place. Our sea trial of the corrective actions for our helm control will occur in the very near future, based on weather, Char’s work availability, and people to assist us in dropping the connections of the old girl, like the docking lines, the power cable, water hoses, and other connections.
If we feel comfortable, we will probably continue on down to past the Wilson Bridge, as long as the weather (high winds) does not interfere. More later, once we have completed the sea trial later this week, if the wind gods will allow, but for now we will wrap this entry about the trials and tribulations of large boat ownership.
Rather than relate the month to month life aboard the Misty Lady and living at the DC Wharf, I think that doing a summary of some key events might be best. Perhaps a overview of significant events for our time so far at our waterfront home. In a couple of weeks we will have been resident at the Capital Yacht Club aboard the Misty Lady for three years. Seems that the time has flown in certain circumstances, yet dragged like a turtle crossing the road in others.
Over those many months, we have “floated” from dock to dock and slip to slip as circumstances dictated for the “good of the club”. We finally won a slip on the B dock that was actually designed for a catamaran yacht (much wider than a regular sized motor yacht). It was convenient, since it was located one slip away from the ramp up to the clubhouse and access to the Wharf proper. We lived in that slip for a year, then won a standard yacht slip on the A Dock (A 4) that was more suited to our yacht (60 feet long) that gave us some wiggle room at the aft of our floating home. The further out your slip is for the main dock, the better because you are further away from the huge bulkhead and catwalk between the docks.
We then, after a couple of months, played boat hopscotch and bid on and won the compete for a slip further out on the A Dock winning the Slip A 10. This is where we are located now.
The photo below is the early sunset from our A-10 slip dockage. One of the best parts of being afloat is the opportunity of seeing sunsets and sunrises over the waters of the Washington Channel and the Potomac River, as well as the Chesapeake Bay.
During the late summer of 2017 we finally had our new clubhouse finished and available for our relocation from the temporary space. In October of that year, we were also able to both christen the new Club House and celebrate our Founders Day, for 125 years of the Club’s existence. Our Celebratory Cake is shown below.
During the previous Founders Day, we had the Mayor of Washington, D.C. Muriel Bowser as our guest speaker. Charlotte was able to spend a few moments with the Mayor and I snapped a photo of them.
Charlotte with Mayor Muriel Bowser at Founders Day Celebration in the old temp clubhouse.
All is not without an adverse incident however, back in April of this year, Charlotte was coming home from her office and took a spill at the L’Enfant Metro Station. The photo below is her in the surgical unit hospital room at Howard University Hospital. She fell face first into the sidewalk alongside the escalator while wearing a full backpack including her computer. Took a ride in the DC Fire EMT Ambulance with me following. She doesn’t remember anything about the fall, about giving my contact information so a kind DC person could tell me of her accident. She doesn’t remember talking to me in the ambulance, and she doesn’t remember the ride in the ambulance to the Howard University Hospital. And after all sorts of tests (MRI, CAT, EchoCardiogram) the doctors still don’t know what caused the fall, was it a heart thing, perhaps blood pressure loss, did she faint? Their concern was the situation where she doesn’t recall anything about the fall or anything else until the emergency room when she started asking where she was and where her husband was. We both think that she may have tripped and fell, and the resulting trauma to her head and brain caused a memory lapse.
Anyway, my lady is tough and heals rapidly. A few days later the abrasions on her face and hands were pretty much healed, the yellow cast to the bruises were almost invisible, and once the stitches were removed from her eyebrow area that healed pretty cleanly too. Scared this old man quite a bit I tell you. This lady is my rock and my life, the thought of losing her like this was terrifying. But we still have no idea what happened, the medical folks don’t know either. She still gets dizzy spells once in a while, but, as we have all our life together, we will take it one day at a time, and address what ever comes our way as life partners.
Talk about excitement, on August 31, this year, we were awakened by our alarm system telling us to evacuate the boat. This was around 2:30am so we were still sort of groggy. I called 911 and the fire department arrived both by land and water, the fire units on the fire boat, brought their gas testing equipment. WE were able, with the help of the firefighters to get the two sea cats into their carriers and bring them off the boat and onto the finger dock. There was no fire that we could ascertain and this was borne out by the firefighters. But there were a lot of gases and a couple could have been very bad with one possible fatal from heavy exposure. Lucky for us, we were not exposed that badly. The firefighters cleared out all of the cabins, opening windows and bringing a large fan device to clear out the air from the various cabins. The young man in the photo below was the person who, with his oxygen tanks and mask, searched through the boat with sensing devices to determine what type, and the concentration levels of gasses that were in our boat. He then found that one of our main batteries (starts the engines), was 185 degrees while the other batteries (we have a lot), were at a normal heat temp of 82 to 85 and determined that was the source of the various gasses. He shut down our battery charger system to remove the source of voltage feeding the bad battery. This battery by the way, weighs over 150 pounds and is approximately 4 feet long by 1.5 feet wide. Once the gas incursions were cleared out and the measurement of the gas concentration was down to normal levels we were allowed back on the boat and the firefighters left to return to their station.
Later that day, Charlotte called into her office and worked from home for the day. We were both pretty draggy all day. The bed was a welcome sight that evening. Our marine technician came over that afternoon, disconnected the battery cables from the bad battery, tested it and found it failed, which is why it kept fooling the charging system into sending power into it long past when it would be needed. Once the battery cables were disconnected and taped off, the marine technician was able to turn our charging system back on to allow us the ability to use our DC voltage equipment. Two days later, and a couple hundred dollars, a new battery was delivered, installed and the Misty Lady was all back in good condition.
If you look closely at this young firefighter, you can see he is rather tired at 3:30 or so in the morning.
I think I will stop the entry here and write more in the next blog. We have a couple of things working and I want to ensure that I have the right level of clarification.
Misty Lady Thought and Comment 