Category: A New Lifestyle

Well things have sort of gotten away from me again.  Been quite a while since I took keyboard in hand to update the state of our water borne life.  We are finally out of the “floater” status, having been awarded a permanent slip a couple of weeks ago.  We are now located on the B Dock of our Club’s marina (there are three docks, A, B and C).  Our slip is B3 which places us right at the bottom of the ramp to the club house.  YEA!  Note Charlotte (the Admiral) sitting on the foredeck.

The Misty Lady seems to be happy in her new home, especially since this Permanence State means that we will never have to leave the vicinity for a transient visitor and anchor the Lady out in the channel on a Mooring Buoy.  A lousy existence, but one that we no longer have to dread!

We recently ( 7/30/2017) took a short voyage, with my daughter, Kurby, my son Cliff, daughter in law Becky and two of our four grand daughters, Hattie and Cammie.  The older two are off doing their own thing, being in their 20’s.

Our voyage was just down the Potomac to the Mount Vernon estate of George Washington.  They have a very nice wharf that juts out into a small bay off the Potomac River and can accommodate the large tour boats (160 feet and larger), as well as smaller boats and larger yachts such as our 54 footer.  The day was pleasant, warm and sunny with a slight breeze.

Right at the start, we powered up the generator set (to provide AC and DC power to the “house”) and switched over from shore power to internal generator power.  Then we fired up the two big Cat diesels (of course the Sea Cats headed for their hidey holes, since they hate those engines).  We then disconnected the shore power cables, untied the docking lines and the Lady was free to navigate.  We moved slowly out of the slip and into the fairway traveling less than 2 knots (lots of expensive boats about).  About a half mile down the Washington Channel, basically where the Anacostia River joins the Potomac River, the Generator stopped running.  Don’t know the why yet, but we have a Westerbeake specialist checking it out.  This meant that the refrigerator and all other AC functions were off line.  The voyage was not a long one, so we just carried on to our destination.  While Charlotte, myself and the two sea cats stood a day watch, the rest of the group disembarked and took the tour of Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.

Last month we finally installed our cooking appliances.  We purchased a induction range top (with two burners) and a separate oven to be mounted below.  The local yacht technicians did the install for us and connected the electrical outlets to ensure that the wiring was professionally correct.  I immediately went to the grocery store and bought us a couple of nice Ribeye Steaks for supper the next evening.  Turned out, the oven put out a lot more heat than we had anticipated during the broiling action.  So we installed a cooling fan in the space under the range top and behind the oven to blow cooling air across the area.  Seems to be okay, but we will see the next time I put a couple of big steaks in the broiler….

Next up for this area is the acquisition and installation of a quartz counter top.  The range top required that we purchase pans that would attract a magnet, so we went shopping for pots, pans and skillets with a magnet.  See the range top cooks by magnetic induction and the burner area will not heat up until a pot/pan that is magnetic attractive is placed on the burner.  Cooks things pretty darn fast too, so we have to watch when making a breakfast of bacon and eggs….. YEA!!

 

As we posted back in July, for the Fourth of July Holiday, we looked forward to watching the fantastic fireworks display over the Capitol Mall.  We were positioned very well to observe the fireworks from the decks of the Misty Lady right here in the CYC marina slip.  It was quite a show from our view point, after all we can see the top of the Jefferson Memorial from our boat.

So we stayed in port, snugged up to the dock, sipping a cold drink, eating a couple of hot dogs with chili and cheese while watching from the comfort of our own home, these firework displays.  The two photos at the top are of Charlotte on the foredeck waiting for the evening to arrive and the show to start.  And a picture of our new Yacht Club clubhouse.  The clubhouse is a lot further along at this writing, with our expectation of moving into the new facility in about 5 weeks.  Note in the picture with the two boats, one the catamaran in the right slip and the yacht “Tide Together” in the left slip.  That slip is the one that we were awarded and is not our home port.  The big power catamaran will be pulling up lines and heading back to their winter port in Florida, shortly after the formal opening of our new Yacht Club home on the 12th of October.

As the sun set, we prepared for the big light show.

 

So to all of you out there who actually read my blog, we all hope you had a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!! We will, from the command bridge of the M/V Misty Lady.

The Wharf Status

Things are really coming to fruition for the transition of the DC waterfront from a sleepy marina and restaurant row to a dynamic Wharf place to go!!  The developers of the Wharf are spending over 4 Billion Dollars to create a beautiful and exciting locale.   Below are two photos that I took when we were given a VIP tour of the site.  

 

The top photo is of the Wharf as the artist’s conception, it is remarkably unchanged from the work that the construction companies have accomplished.  Note the three piers, the first (left most) is a recreation pier and in winter will have an ice rink there.  It also serves as a place for the water taxi service to arrive and depart.

The bottom photo is a display in the construction office and it shows the concepts of the finished Wharf area.  Our new Capital Yacht Club can be seen in the center, it is the smaller building built out over the water, you can see our three docks in this shot also.

I saw a listing the other day for one of the condo apartments in the VIO building (in the center of the Wharf phase one) that showed a two bedroom, two batch water view unit selling at 1.2 million dollars.  WE have a great water view and we paid less than 1 percent of that price…. Even with her warts the Lady is a good deal.

Short Notes

Thought it might be good to share a couple of photos that have an “Ahhh” factor, at least to me.

This is one of our mallard duck families.  Momma has 6 ducklings.  They are so cute as they swim around our boat in the slip and the fairway between the docks.  Momma Mallard has her wings full chasing these guys.

This is the view from our boat almost every evening.  Sometime an overcast will hide it but most of the time we are treated to a beautiful sky.  Makes being a live aboard all worth while.

This smaller yacht is a unique live aboard, the entire top of the boat is a series of solar panels and the majority of their time afloat these panels supply all of their power needs.  Of course the captain of this boat owns a company that builds and installs solar panels so he should know what it is all about>  The Misty Lady is across the dock, next to the CYC maintenance barge.

 

More Later?

 

 

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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A Note from Harv:  This blog post was completed a couple of days ago, but it was blocked by Facebook from posting at that time because I was being punished for saying mean things to a right winger.  Oh well, Happy New Year to you all again.

Today, Sunday January 1, 2017 is the beginning of another year and a first new year’s day as yachting family folks for the Bride and I.  As each week ends, we become more attuned to the aspects (both great and not so great) of living aboard.  Granted we are living on a rather large yacht (not yuuge, but sizeable) which has around 1000 square feet of living space.  Not exactly a “tiny house” right?  We have become more and more comfortable aboard and have adjusted to the differences inherent in comparison of a land based home and one that floats.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas holiday and an enjoyable and safe New Year celebration.  Our wish is that you all have a better year in 2017, than you had in 2016.  Albeit that could be very problematic considering the change in political administration.  As for the four of us, Captain, 1st Mate and the two sea cats, we spent a quiet evening, watching the New Year’s programs on the television.  We passed on the yacht club’s “Toast the Boats” celebration last evening, primarily because it required evening dress and we just were not in a mood to put on formal clothing and walk the docks for a quarter mile to the Club house.  Besides, since I can’t drink any alcohol, (diabetics don’t do well with booze, we can die.) we really don’t “party” all that much anymore.  But we will enjoy the first day of 2017 in our own way, just me, the Bride and our two fur babies.

We have been in the slip on C dock for three weeks now and the difference in the wind effect is striking.  Also though we enjoyed the time on the A dock T head, the temporary residence in this slip is more comfortable with respect to the winds blowing down the river.  We miss the great views on the T, and will probably be back out there come spring, unless we are awarded a permanent slip before that time.  At this point, the Misty Lady is completely shrink wrapped, and we do see a difference in the lower need for the space heaters higher run rates to keep us from growing icicles on our noses.  Obviously the lower the operating temps, the lower our electric bill each month.  We have no idea as yet what kind of savings we will see, but we are looking forward to a smaller bill for energy use this month.

We truly hope that you all is to have a more pleasant, prosperous and healthy year in 2017 than you had in 2016.  Hope that you all get the opportunity to enjoy life, do a bit of travel and improve your lot in life.  I know, I know, that is going to be rather difficult most likely with the changes we see coming, but we can persevere and hold our own if we all keep the faith.

As for us, we will spend the winter in our floating home working on tasks that will enable us to begin enjoying the ability to cruise the waters of the eastern seaboard, the local rivers and the historical venues that abound in our neck of the woods.  We do plan on taking the Misty Lady on her first voyage within a couple of weeks of the removal of our shrink wrap and cleaning her decks and hull from winter’s deluges.  Over the coming weeks, we will be preparing the internal areas to bring her more in tune with what we had originally planned when we first took possession of her last May.

The first voyage will most likely occur in May (perhaps a birthday cruise for the Captain?), and it will mainly consist of a trip down the Potomac, possibly to Smith Island or Tangier Island in the Bay.

Keep the faith folks, the Misty Lady will be cruising the coastal waterways and this blog will provide a ride along journal of these voyages and scenes along the way.

 

Wednesday, December 14 – Well folks wintry weather is finally showing itself in spades.  The temps have been in the low forties for a high on the last week and expectations are for 40’s, 30’s, and some 20’s.  The temp today will climb to about 45, but will then start dropping steadily as the afternoon, evening and overnight temps go under 30.  Expectation is that tomorrow morning (Thursday) the temp will be 28, and for both Thursday and Friday the high will be 28-29 with lows in the mid to upper teens.  Lordy!  Boats are not designed with cold weather insulation and as a result you use heaters, and with us, we used three to four space heaters where we warm the major areas of the boat to ensure that the we don’t freeze, the Sea Cats are reasonably comfortable and our bilges/engines and external connections are kept above the freezing mark.  Hello electric bill!!!

Also a goal was achieved when we were able to get the port engine to cooperate this past Monday and brought the Misty Lady over from the A Dock T berth to the C Dock Slip C11 and are now in a better more sheltered spot, we have a large motor yacht on each side and another couple across the dock from our slip.  Yeah!!  Our bow is now pointed toward northward so the winds, even if they are able to slip through the other boats with the bow facing north (mostly the winds come down our water way from the north and the northwest so this really helps.  The photo below is a shot of the Misty Lady in her winter slip on the C Dock.  This slip actually can accommodate a yacht of 70 Feet LOA.  Our yacht is 54 Feet LOA so she has plenty of room.  The person who is assigned to this slip normally has his yacht in winter storage.  I understand that his yacht is 68 feet LOA. He pulls the boat in early October, down river, and has it stored in a environmentally controlled warehouse.  Nice to have tons of money, huh?

The picture below is a view of the I-395 bridge over the Washington Channel.  The blue LED lighting was installed and is maintained by the Hoffman company which is conducting the redevelopment of the Washington DC waterfront.

The CEO of the Hoffman company is also a member of the CYC and he told us, during a walkthrough of the redevelopment (and our new clubhouse) that the LED lighting on that bridge is of miniscule cost, virtually a few dollars a month.

We discovered the fuel pump problems were increasing when we brought the Lady over from the A dock to the current slip.  The smell of fuel was getting pretty strong.  One of the club members is a mechanic and he helped in moving the boat, then took a look at the fuel pump.  Turned out we had a small crack in the pump which had gotten bigger and instead of problems with leaking air, we had a compounded situation of leaking diesel fuel.  Erik, the CYC member began the process of removing the pump.  We will be installing a new remanufactured pump as soon as it is delivered, expectation of weeks end or Monday.  Finally we hope, the Lady will be able to have both engines start as designed.  YEAH!!!

Also this week, or at the latest, the first of next week, the Misty Lady will be shrink wrapped for the winter.  This process will cover the boat from bow to stern and from the Electronic Arch to midway down the hull.  Openings will be inserted to accommodate the access to the water filler pipe, the waste holding tank pump out ports, a doorway for our entry and exit and a couple “windows” to allow us to see the world.  The expectation and the yacht club long time sailors statements are that we would be a lot warmer through the winter AND the electricity bills will be significantly reduced.  One can only hope, right?

With Winter coming this strong this soon, I see a need for better warmth and this shrink wrap process is reputed to be the major solution.  The kinds of weather we are all experiencing over the past few years tells me that the climate change deniers are as full of crap as a Christmas Turkey and the preponderance of evidences put forth by REAL scientists are spot on with the ideas that our climate change is happening and we humans are responsible, with our refusal to care for our planet.

Okay, am going to have to wind this down, I am expecting the diesel guy shortly to finish removing the fuel pump from the port engine and as soon as he arrives and gets started I will be driving Charlotte to National Airport for her trip to her Nashville office.  She has about 6 people working in that office and they are folks who were part of the company that they just merged with.  She will be there for a couple of days, assigning projects, meeting with people (problem solving>) and just showing her management chops.  Me and the Sea Cats will be holding down the fort aboard the Misty Lady (hopefully not freezing ).

More later>  as soon as the shrink wrap process is completed I will generate another issue and include some pictures.

See Y’all later.

 

December 4, 2016-Aboard the Misty Lady

Well, it has been a few weeks since our last update, so now is a good time I guess that we could bring about the latest from the old Captain and the First Mate along with the Sea Cats.    And speaking of Christmas, every see Santa Claus riding down the Washington Channel on a paddle board?  Well, here is one, shot from the dock at the stern of the Misty Lady this afternoon.

Last Evening the Mate and I were treated to viewing the Parade of Lights and a fireworks display.  This is an annual event where the various captains in marinas up and down the upper Potomac decorate their boats with lights usually in themes and they gather at the City Of Alexandria waterfront.  They are then launched in a Parade along the Potomac, then turning into the Washington Channel.  The boats are judged in two categories, sail powers and motor powered.

The photo in the two top and the lower left images are of our slip neighbor, his boat depicted an old locomotive and even had the sounds piped through speakers.  Larry and Linda, the owner and creator of this display took Best In Show!  The photo in the lower right is also a boat from our A Dock, and has a large menorah along with four Star of David renderings along the hull.  There 60 entrants but we don’t know how many actually came through, the judging stand was up here on the DC waterfront, next to our Yacht Club house.

Following the Parade the promoters had a fireworks display and we have included four of the images we took from the deck of our yacht.

Of course these are only four of the shots, the show ran for a constant fifteen minutes with no pauses in the works.  The Sea Cats by the way were NOT amused.  But we enjoyed it.

Today we were invited to take a tour of the Wharf development including our new CYC clubhouse.  The presentation was excellent and the facilities and services that will come online as the development winds to an end (around October of next year).  We will have Irish Pubs, a “jazz alley” with live music, restaurants of all possible tastes, including some of the top names in restauranteur venues.  Our club house (which is supposed to be completed in early fall or late summer will be over the water and will have sensational views.  I will include some pictures of the display table for the development models.  This thing was fantastic in detail and our pictures do not do them justice.

The bottom picture is a view of our yacht club marina, the docks already exist and we occupy them, the club house, shown as a two story building overhanging the water between two of the docks is scheduled for occupancy late summer or early fall next year.  The other pictures, including one that shows Charlotte are all various views of the display table which covers probably the length of two large conference tables.  Buildings are inclusive of three hotels, a concert hall seating 6,000 people and various retail businesses including a ton of restaurants, pubs and live music venues.  Going to be a ton of fun as a neighborhood and we look forward to the opening of the various buildings.

The two photos above are artist’s conceptions of the Wharf as it will be when complete.  The Bride/Mate and I are excited that this will be our home neighborhood.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been addressing some situations with the Misty Lady.  Not that the Lady is unique with these situations, basically almost all yachts are supplied with situations when it comes to the winter weather.  Boats are usually atrociously lacking in insulation.  Great fun in the warm weather, but can be miserable in the winter months.  First off, we are installing a set of new technology heating for our upcoming cold weather comforting.  These heaters are very economical and use very little electricity to provide warm air.  They have no fans, so the heating is providing through a “radiant” process where the air is brought into the unit from the bottom, processes through a series of heating elements and comes out the top as warm/warmer air flows.

The Lady comes with four HVAC units but they use a process whereby raw water is brought into the system from the outside and processed either as air conditioner or as a heater.  When the water temps drop to 40 degrees or below, these units cannot be used due to potential freezing and they simply become ineffective.  Ergo, a “cruising” family must resort to space heaters to warm the various cabins.

We currently depend on what are knows as Amish Heaters (smaller, portable, heating units) that use electricity to heat elements and the heat generated is then blown out into the room by fans.  While these do provide sufficient heat, they are very inefficient regarding power usage.

Ergo the new technology ENVI units using a “stack convection” process to generate heat.  These heaters are wall mounted and therein lies the difficulty of finding sufficient open wall space to hang them from.  They are 19 inches wide by 22 inches long and measure about 2 inches thick.  Should have three of these units working by the mid week time frame.  Having these efficient heating units should keep us warm, warm the boat overall (keep ice from forming in the bilges), and ensure that we don’t keep popping circuit breakers will make our “cruising” lifestyle a lot more comfortable and pleasant.

Next weekend, if all goes well, we will be moving the Misty Lady off of the “T” of A Dock and temporarily berthing in a slip on the C dock.  The boat that is usually in that slip belongs to the CEO of the company that is the builder/developer of the Wharf.  He pulls his boat from the water each winter, places her on dry storage in a environmentally controlled boat storage house. (must be nice being a multi millionaire huh?).  Anyway we will be in that slip until April or until we are awarded a slip of our own.  At the time we get tied up and situated in C11 slip, we will have the Misty Lady shrink wrapped.  The entire super structure will be wrapped in heavy duty plastic-like sheeting from bow to stern and from the bridge to mid way down the hull.  This process will also provide us with more insulation from the December/January/February freezing winds and protect the boat from snowfalls.  The snow will slide right off the smooth surfaces of this shrink wrap and the old Captain and the First Mate will not have to get out on slippery decks to clear off show accumulation.  As soon as this process is done, I will take some photos of the boat to show you all what a shrink wrap boat looks like.

 

Well, today is Sunday, November 20, and the Bride and I are riding out a bit of interesting weather.  The winds started last evening around 6, but were only about 8.5 knots and over the night time grew in strength.

Ye Old Captain was a bit tuckered yesterday and fell asleep in the master cabin around 7 so I missed the majority of the growth in the winds.  We had a bit of rain last evening, starting about 4:30 or there about.  We had been over in Alexandria, VA at Home Depot and the temperature dropped from about 73 to around 48 during the 40 minutes we were inside the store.  WOW.

This morning we awoke to winds averaging 14 to 20 knots and gusting to over 45 knots.  Enough to make standing in the shower an exercise in agility and balance!  Dressing, then grabbing the first coffee of the morning, the adage about “sea legs” came to the fore as we balanced ourselves in the galley to attend to morning chores, coffee, breakfast for us and of course breakfast for the Sea Cats. (Funny how two little brats who hate when the boat is underway, had no problem moving about in the roughest time).  Pouring coffee was an exercise in skillful handling of a coffee pot and cup.  We had a microwave breakfast of a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich (still no darn stove, thanks to a incompetent merchant organization), and then spent the morning in the salon, watching the waves grow, the boat rock to and fro and side to side.  Since the Misty Lady is secured to a dock rather than in a slip, we are tied up only on the Port Side while the Starboard side is exposed to the winds, waves and has no restrictive lash up.  As a result, we get pushed against the dock (thank God for great “bumpers or fenders”) that keep the boat’s side from hitting or rubbing against the dock edges.  In a bit of fore knowledge, we bought several brand new fenders in Edgewater before casting off for home.  They have truly come in very helpful with this wind storm.  funny to see sun and clear skies, coupled with dark clouds but above all, strong wind with even stronger gusts.

A couple of pictures of the waters outside our starboard salon door.  Bear in mind that under normal circumstances the waters surfaces are very smooth, almost glass like.  But when the breezes come up, we see some chop.  Not like this however.  Guess the Wind Gods decided to give us a harsh, windy, cold day to make up for the snows further west and north.

Thanks to the rapid drop in temperature we now know that we have got to get a couple of winter coats soonest, we gave ours away last April, expecting to be sailing through the summer and then shop in October for winter foul weather gear.  Things got a bit busy September through the first week of November so now we are facing a hurry up trip to a clothing store for coats.  Go figure….

We bought some wall panel heaters for the Misty Lady to keep us warm this winter.  These are supposed to be very efficient electricity cost wise so we will see.  But now we have to find spaces on the boat where there is enough space to mount the heaters, AND an AC plug nearby to provide the electricity.  Oh Joy!

Anyway, if we don’t write before, wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  We will spend our with my children and grand children at my daughter Kurby’s new home.  May your holiday be wonderful and full of family, love and good food!!

 

 

Been a while since I sat long enough to bring the blog up to date.  As I said in the last entry, we finally made the voyage from the Gingerville Yacht Center at Edgewater Maryland to our cruiser home at the Capital Yacht Club in Washington, DC.  But here we are and here we will be rest for the cold season from now until March or April.

Presently we are berthed on the “T” head of the CYC A dock and from a time it looked like we would be here for months.  To get into a permanent slip one must bid using seniority for any slips that come open AND that your boat or yacht will fit within.  For instance, the Misty Lady is 54 feet long and therefore we much have a slip with a length of at least 55 feet, so 60, 65, and 70 foot slips are the only ones we can bid on.  We thought we had our slip a couple of weeks ago but someone with a lower member number (more seniority), placed a bid on the very last day.  Today the Club Manager informed me that a slip holder was going to move his yacht into winter storage and his slip would be available from now until the end of March.  We are seriously considering taking this slip for the winter months since it will shield us from the vagaries of winter storms and associated rough water at the T.

One of the advantages of being berthed where we are is the ability to see all sorts of visitors and large yachts that come into the CYC marina area.  For instance,  the yacht below belongs to Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.  Of course his yacht is named: “Almost Heaven”.  It is 75 feet long and Joe has a problem because our longest slips are only 70 feet.

Joe spent much0 dollars to install hydraulic lifts for his swim platform to fold up against the stern, to reduce the Length Over All (LOA) of the Almost Heaven but when the Rear Commodore and the Dock Master measured, even after all the expense, the yacht was still too long for our slips.  At CYC even Senators have to abide by the Club rules.

The Sea Cats, Penny and The Duchess (Penny is the Tortie in the front and The Duchess is the grey tabby to the rear) have adapted to their new home and have explored from bow cabin to the salon and all the points in between.  The still do NOT like the sound of the engines and the vibration that they cause.  We are hopeful that at some point next summer they will have adapted to that noise as they have with the noise from the plethora of helicopters that fly down our waterway from the Pentagon and the White House.  At first they were jumpy when one passed overhead, now it is just another noise and they ignore them for the most part.  Now if I can just get them to ignore the sound of the Lady’s diesel engines.  Perhaps on the first voyage of next year we should bring them up on the bridge and then see how they do with both of us within sight.

Our boating neighbors do love to decorate their boats, the docks and anything else that stands still.  This was one of the docks decorated for the Halloween season.  The sign reads Creepy Dock and it was a very neat display.  Lots of “spider webs” hanging across the dock from boat to boat.

Today, a new vessel docked at our B dock T.  She is a beauty and will be here for a couple of days and then off for parts unknown but she can sail anywhere!

Isn’t she a beauty?  The crew are young people and their visit here was sponsored by the primary developer of the Washington, DC waterfront.   Some of us were hoping to be invited on board to tour this gorgeous yacht!

We have ordered and will be installing some new technology heating units to keeps us warm this winter, as well as provide warmth to the boat’s external shell.  I ordered three wall heaters from a company (made in the USA by the way) and these heaters are just a few inches think, mount without making holes in our fiberglass walls and will keep each room very nice and comfortable.  In addition, we will be putting an “ice eater” unit underwater next to the Lady’s hull to protect her from ice incursion.  This device is also referred to as a “bubbler” because it uses a prop to circulate water from the lower depths (where it is warmer) to the surface.  Both the warmer water and the agitation of the water will prevent the accumulation of ice.  Of course we are hopeful that the weather will cooperate for our first winter aboard and not generate much if any ice on our section of the Potomac.

We are also planning the “shrink wrap” of the Misty Lady in a couple of weeks.  This process involves the wrapping of the entire boat from the top of the radar arch to just above the water line of the hull and from the bow to the stern.  The material is a heavy duty vinyl type product and this wrap will save us tons in the coming winter months by not only insulating the boat with a secondary layer, but will also cause any snow that might fall to slough off and we will not be covered with snow should this year bring snow fall similar to the previous years.  The alignment of the wrap eliminates a lot of the flat surfaces of most boats of our size.  The wrap will have an access portal or two to provide us with entry and exit.  The installation will also include a clear panel to provide a “window” to prevent the claustrophobic type of total enclosure.  When this process is started, I will take some pictures of the process and the final look.

Well enough for tonight.  I will try to be more attentive to the blog in the coming days.  Not sure if many people read it at this point, not a lot of excitement in being on a boat in the winter time.  But it is a brand new experience for Charlotte and I so I will continue to relay our activities and the circumstances we encounter.

More later, stay tuned.

 

This blog entry will be rather long, I am trying to cover our adventure from our second night stop until our final berthing at our home port.  Hope that the photographs will entertain.

Sunday afternoon we laid over at the Colonial Beach Yacht Marina, at Colonial Beach, VA.  Below are a couple of photos of that layover:

The top left photo is of a small houseboat (sort of the size of an old fashioned outhouse), on one of the docks of this large marina. The second top phot is of a view across the stern of that small houseboat toward the back of the marina.

The photo above is a shot from the dock where we were berthed looking aft toward an old 1920’s yacht that at one time was a Presidential yacht that we were told was the Lady Ann.  She was in rather decent shape considering her age, but certainly could have used a few thousand dollars (tens of thousands actually) in at least some cosmetic changes.  The Bride and I went to the onsite restaurant for this marina and had some very delicious seafood for our supper.  We earlier had visited the marina office and settled our bill for the transient berth and we were then ready to depart at our schedule, rather than others.

Monday morning, October 17, 2016, broke with a nice sun coming over the horizon.  The skies were lit with a warm reddish/orange glow and the clouds were puffy and innocent of bad weather.  We cast off lines and found the treacherous current in the Colonial Beach Yacht Marina had not abated.  Leaving the dock was an exciting adventure.  Problem was compounded by the fact that the channel out of the marina is rather narrow and the water clearance in several spots is less than 2 feet (we draw a minimum of 4), so we watched the depth sounder instrumentation with great concerns and I thought I was in a slalom environment from moving port to starboard, and starboard to port.

Finally the water depth was deep enough that we could breathe again and we turned out of the “creek” leading to the marina and into the main channel of the Potomac.  We had finally, on the third morning, actually left with first light.  Now that we know how to do it, perhaps next season we will be more successful with out planned departures.  The biggest thing it to ensure that you have performed every prep task possible before you retire for the night.  Making sure that your transient dock fee is paid the night before is also important, as we discovered that most marinas have a 8:00 to 8:30am opening time.  Not good for getting away at first light.

Daylight on the Potomac moving from the marina entrance.

Anyway, back to the journey, we moved away from the marina/creek and into the main channel of the Potomac only to be confronted by more crab and fish pots/traps all through the channel.  Had to ply those areas very carefully, with Char watching for these floats as well.  Seemed only a few minutes after we cleared one pot area, we were seeing another batch further up river.  Now understand that I don’t begrudge these fisher folk the right to earn a living, but putting hundreds of these pots and their floats in the main navigation channel seems a bit much.  I am sure that the large ships that come up the Potomac do not watch the pot floats like we did, so I wonder how many of these crab or fish pots get dragged away by these large ships.

As we began to increase our speed, passing the town of Colonial Beach, we were looking forward to passing under the Harry Nice Bridge (US 301).  We motored well, making about 11 knots, up the Potomac, and dodging flotsam and wood dangers (tree limbs, even a 2×4 plank), making our voyage rather interesting.  Finally in the distance we spotted the 301 Harry Nice Bridge, and this marked a significant milestone on our trip as we were well up the Potomac and truly going to make our home port that day.

The above are views of the Bridge, our approach shown in the upper left, a closer view out the bow windows, then on the lower left, passing under the bridge and finally the view from our stern as we left the bridge behind.  We motored on up the Potomac, and as with most rivers it was a winding, curving passage.  We saw lots of nice scenery but nothing really worth photographing on that section.

As we drew nearer to the DC metro area we began to see interesting locales.  The three photos below are of Fort Washington which is on the Maryland side of the river.  It was a military post from the early days of our nation and a few years ago was turned into a national park.

Across the river, was another national heritage treasure,  the home of our first president, George Washington.  Mount Vernon is a site well worth a visit if you are ever in our national capital area.

After we passed Fort Washington and Mount Vernon, we knew that home was just a short distance left in our voyage.  Our next landmarks were the National Harbor Resort and Marina on the Maryland side and the view of the Wilson Bridge, and our gateway into the upper Potomac and HOME!

As we motored up to and through the Wilson Bridge, Alexandria, VA appeared on our port bow. As we closed on the Wilson Bridge, a water taxi carrying passengers from Alexandria to National Harbor passed us astern.

Alexandria in the distance, and you can just make out the George Washington Masonic Temple above the skyline.  The next photo is a close in view of Alexandria and the Torpedo Factory which is a repurposing of a WWII facility into a crafts mall.  The bottom show is of the one of the buildings that make up the US Naval Research Laboratory.

As we passed by Alexandria, the small white buoy markers along the way warn boaters to go slow and “Don’t Make Wakes”.  The next pictures are of our view as we made another turn up the Potomac toward our Capital Yacht Club berth.

The upper left photo is a view as the turn into the Washington channel, you can just see the top of the capital in the right background.  The building on the upper right is unknown to us but we believe is part of the Army post at the point where the Anacostia and the Potomac meet.  And finally the bottom picture covers the Haines Point, a DC park, a view of the Washington Monument to the left and the Capitol building to the right.  At this point we were almost home.  The CYC dockmaster had already stationed himself on the dock where we would tie up and we could finally say that the Misty Lady was almost home.

This next group of photos are of our final stopping place, the Capital Yacht Club.

The left most picture was taken as I brought the stern of the Lady snugged to the dock and our dock master was making her midship lines fast.  Following this, I shut down both engines and we were home!  The middle picture is a shot from our stern down the dock to the foreground.  And the right most picture is a bow on shot of the Lady finally secured to the temporary berth.  As soon as a regular slip is available to us we will move her into her “forever” home berth.

The top left picture is a shot down the fairway between the A and B docks and shows a small portion of the redevelopment that is currently being down for the Washington Waterfront.  The small building with the yellow walls is the new Yacht Club house, currently under construction.  The top right picture shows some of the yachts on the B dock and a view of the Washington Monument along side the cranes of the construction.

The bottom left picture is one of a family of Malard ducks who make the Yacht Club their home. Next is another view of the Monument, the B Dock yachts and the construction cranes.  The next view is of the bridge and a glimpse of the top of the Jefferson Memorial.  And finally the last picture is of a large yacht that arrived the next day after we did.  This yacht is 109 feet long and takes up the entire length of the B Dock “T”.

Thought you might like a couple of pictures of our views from the Misty Lady at night.  The upper left is a picture of the Washington Monument, the upper right is a shot from the maintenance barge looking down the A dock toward our berth at the end. The lower left is another view of the Washington Monument from the after deck of the Lady.  The lower right is a photo looking back down the channel to the Gangplank Marina and one of the very large tour boats that make this marina their home.  The boat to the side in this picture is a large Catamaran Sailboat.  They left the Club around noon today heading home, somewhere down south of here.  Probably Florida.

Whew!  That was a lot folks but now we are home and will have some topics to discuss of life aboard a yacht in the Washington Winter!  Oh Joy!

Stay Tuned.  It could get rocky for a while.

 

 

As you may recall in our last entry, we were resting from the preparation for departure.  Well, our plan was to cast off lines, bring in shore power cables and move the Lady from her berth at Gingerville, heading down the South River and home.  We did arise around 4:30 am to get the necessary things accomplished in readiness for the trip.  We had all the loose articles stowed (can’t have things breaking underway), and our breakfast consumed.  Time to start engines, and begin the cast off process.

Well, the starboard engine didn’t want to start, and in all truth, it was a pretty chilly morning.  After goofing around with this thing for a couple of hours, calling the original mechanic who built the engine we finally decided to spray a bit of starter fluid, lo and behold, we had engines.  Of course it was already 11:00 and we were about three hours past our planned departure……

A little side note: this fellow shared our dock and fished to his/her hearts content.

Finally we had the Lady ready for her voyage home.  Backing out of the berth, the Captain pivoted her using the two engines and pointed her bow toward the river, and we were off.  This is the bridge we sailed under.  This area is a 6 knot venue so we moved rather slowly,, BUT Stately under the Route 2 bridge.

So we motored on down the South River and eventually into the Bay.  There were a lot of boaters out by that time (what we had hoped to avoid with a very early departure.

A view of myself and Char at the helm as we motored down the Bay. We spelled each other to relieve each of us to attend to other things.

We were moving at a pretty good clip, enough to make wakes of impressive size. The first picture is the wake coming off the bows and the second is obviously our stern wake.

The Lady can certainly push water.

Interesting the people you meet on the Bay, these are two oil tankers headed up the Bay, probably destined for Baltimore.

As we moved down the Chesapeake, it dawned on us that because of the delays in getting out of Gingerville, we were going to have to lay by overnight and hoped to make it to Colonial Beach, VA for the layover.  Not to be, that local was more than 50 miles up the Potomac River from the Bay and it would be late afternoon by the time we reached the mouth of that river.  So we looked for another marina.  Not as easy as looking for a hotel while driving down the Interstate.  First, did they accept transient boaters, second could they take a boat our size, third the water depths at the docks and finally, how far away!  We found a site called Point Lookout and secured a berth for the evening.  We hoped to make it into the marina before nightfall.

But as you can see from these two photos, we were still about 6 miles out.  Night fell, and even with a full moon, we were depending heavily on our chart plotting GPS Nav system.  It was still nerve wracking, but old Harv made it to the marina even in the heavy darkness.  Our berth was to be in between a 120 foot mega million dollar yacht and a bulkhead.  Was I nervous about clipping the big yacht?  Nah, piece of cake ( riiightt).  Slipped the Misty Lady in and laid her along side that pier with the 1st Mate grabbing pilings with the lines.

We went to bed that evening two very tired little campers.  The transit to the marina in pitch black waters, not knowing what may be in the water ahead of us was very nerve wracking and tiring and we crashed into bed.

The marina did not have the proper power source for us, (we take two cables of 50 amps) they only had 30 amps and we only had one 30 amp conversion cable connector.  AS a result, we could not run our HVAC units and turned out that our battery banks were drained quite low because the single cable was not properly place.  In our exhausted state, we did not connect the right cable and things didn’t work as they were supposed to do.

When we awoke the next morning we discovered that the marina office did not open until after 8:00am to allow us to settle out bill for the berth and services.  We finally got the power straightened out by starting our generator set and uncoupling from shore power.  We encountered a battery problem again, but this time it turned out to be a circuit breaker had tripped (and we didn’t even know it existed), a call to the previous owner got that information for us.  Anyway, again our departure at first light was delayed.  But we did get a couple of pictures of the area…. The first is a picture of Charlotte on the dock near the Misty Lady’s bow.  The second was a picture that Char took, you can barely make out the moon near the right side of the picture.

 

We finally got things sorted, the engines started, the lines pulled and we moved out of Point Lookout headed up the Potomac River.  Along the way it also became obvious to us that we were not going to make the Capital Yacht Club in Washington, DC before night fall and after the previous night’s excitement, we did not wish to do another night docking.  So, we decided to take an early lay by and made a reservation for the Colonial Beach Yacht Center.  We arrived at the center at around 2:00pm and began the process of docking the Lady.  Turned out NO ONE told us about the currents in that marina.  The Lady was not cooperating with my movements to put her in a dock, we made seven passes and at long last, was able to bring the Lady to the dock and get her lines in place.  We got the power connected with both cables supplying our needed power amperage.

After eating a nice seafood meal in the restaurant located on the marina grounds, we came back to the Misty Lady to soothe the frazzled nerves of the two sea cats.  The sounds and vibrations of the engines drive them nuts.  Our hope was that they would soon adjust, but so far it is not to be.  Perhaps by next season?

Anyway, we are all squared with the marina management here, so there is no need for us to be held up for their office hours.  Our plan is to once again, depart with the first light.  Problem is around this entire area are the plethora of crab pots and fish traps.  Hard to see, those things in the waters in bright sunlight, let alone the early morning rising sun.

But those are the challenges of the “boating life” I guess.  Well, enough for tonight, we will try to snap a couple of pictures around this marina and then more as we go up the Potomac and home.

Stay Tuned