Still Heading North - Day 9

[Kyle]As I left Portsmouth in the pre-dawn light, I was intending for once to have an easier day than the usual all-day push. I generally like to plan long journeys so that I’m covering more distance per time than the remaining average. That way, if something comes up like mechanical difficulties or bad weather, I have an increasingly higher chance of absorbing the delay and still completing the journey. If everything works out as planned, I get a chance to slow down, relax and enjoy myself along the way.

The day’s weather forecast was good, but the following two days were not. I had originally thought I would just tough it out for the two bad weather days since they weren’t too long. The more I thought about it as I was making my way by the Navy yards on the way out of Norfolk, the more I thought there was no point in it. The weather was good. I wasn’t particularly attached to my next anchorage in Poquoson, Particularly if it starts blowing hard. So I skipped Poquoson and went directly to the anchorage for the next day while I had the weather in my favor.

Along the way in the open bay, since I didn’t have to navigate within 50 feet, I dug out all of the manuals and tried to brush up on the boat’s systems. I feel pretty comfortable with it now apart from the ship’s ham radio, which I’m only 3% less confused about than I was before. It seems the other ham in the family and I are going to have to spend the next winter refreshing ourselves on what we’re supposed to be doing with this thing.

I timed the currents right, which got me there after only ten hours, leaving me plenty of daylight left in which to enjoy my new surroundings in addition to the extra day I gained by skipping ahead. My selected anchorage in Stoakes River was a little stressful to get into because the approach was pretty shallow and poorly marked, but I made it in and found myself to be the lone boat in a big bay that was pretty uniformly five feet deep.

With the whole bay in which to swing around and knowing a blow was coming, I put out all of the chain. The bay has good protection from the waves, but not from the wind. This will allow the wind generator to keep the batteries nice and full while I’m here and keep the bugs away. Time to kick back and relax!