Hello, North Carolina!

We stayed in Mill Creek near Fort Monroe for three days until a mechanic could come out and look at our port engine.  By then the generator had konked out on us, too.  It turns our that they were related problems.  Without going into details, suffice it to say that low fuel plus churning waters equals crud in the fuel lines.  Crud in the fuel lines equals no go.  Good news, all in all. Our engine (and generator) are both fine and I got quite a lesson in fuel system diagnosis and repair.

Our backyard du nuit

Portsmouth, VA and mile marker "0" of the Intracoastal Waterway, finally, on Wednesday afternoon.  First stop: Tidewater Marina where we took on water and fuel and emptied our holding tank and garbage--all badly needed.  I remarked to Jane that the purpose of our boat is to convert fresh water and diesel into waste water.  "And miles," she added.  "Yes," I agreed, "waste water and miles."  The temperature reached 75 degrees and I got to wear a T-shirt and shorts for the first time since getting underway.  Got all our laundry done and had lunch at the marina's restaurant.  As the sun went down, with a beautiful view of the Norfolk skyline, we sat in the cockpit sipping champagne to celebrate having making it to the ICW.  It was one of those moments, still countable on the fingers of one hand so far, that reminded us of the point to all this madness.

Yesterday, not so much...

Boat Show(s)

We are back in Annapolis for the boat show.  Attending shortly after buying our boat was a decision we bandied about quite a bit, actually.  Would we feel we'd been too hasty in buying the one we did?  Would we come down with a case of  the dreaded "two-foot syndrome?"  Would we lose all restraint and spend untold sums on pretty things  for our baby?  On the other hand, if we weren't interested in any of the above, why go at all?  We did go, of course, because it's the largest boat show in the country and it's simply the thing to do.

On the upside, we did manage to escape without spending a cent...except for the ball cap that I bought because I pessimistically expected fouler weather and my bald pate was suffering for my presumption. I am now the somewhat sunburnt owner of an official Annapolis Boat Show ball cap with integrated cap clip.  Had it not been for that simple bit of brilliance, I would've regretted the twenty bucks I shelled out for it, but as a devotee of good design, seeing it (along with the opportunity to kick myself for not coming up with the idea), was well worth the money.

Put to the Test

We continually remark now upon how fast the time to our departure is whizzing by. Yet, there are standout days in this blur of time and yesterday was one such: our boat's survey and sea trial.

Rene is showing Gale the radar display.

First off, a shout out to all the boat buyers who raved about Gale Browning from Hartoft Marine Survey Ltd. She was as much of a stickler for detail as you said she'd be which was especially important to we newbies. All in all, she spent over seven hours on (soon to be) our 42 ft. catamaran.

Since the current owners were on hand, they worked with Gail, revving engines, unfurling sails, and generally exposing their boat's innermost parts to inspection. At first, I tried to peer over her shoulder to learn whatever I could, but soon gave up as I really couldn't make anything from her actions. Jane, feeling, as usual, the magnetic pull of the water, gravitated toward the bow, and Tommy, our broker, seeing that there were plenty of hands to handle whatever Gail needed hung back, always at the ready in case he was needed.

Something undignified about a boat out of water...

The good (and expected on everyone's part, I think) news was that she checked out quite well, overall. The few items on the "essential" list are all ABYC recommendations and all things an insurer will want verification of.

The final negotiations with her current owners will happen in the next few days and by midmonth she'll be our "JOY".

...As one might imagine, seeing as she is currently docked in Annapolis, we are keeping a VERY close eye, as it were, on Katia.

Buying a Boat?

It seems we are buying a boat.... After a few days of suspenseful back-and-forth, the sellers have accepted our offer. The boat is a 1993 Fountaine-Pajot Venezia, a 42 footer that has just completed a circumnavigation. We met the owners, and visited their boat, during our last trip to Annapolis. Love, love, love it. Not because it's sexy. Instead, it seems homey, settled-in. She is an old gal who has been well-loved and cared for, and she's kept her people safe and comfortable for ten years. Soon, we hope, she will do the same for us. Much more to say about Joy, but for now we are wide-eyed, shell-shocked, and mostly speechless.

Tuesday, Oh Six Hundred

Looking out from Pier 7 Marina, Edgewater, MD

We are aboard Wingsong.  Jane slept like...well...Jane; I barely slept at all. Which is all to the good as far as I'm concerned - I get more waking hours aboard and I've enjoyed every minute of them so far, even the ones during which I thought I'd lost my brand new, uber-cool bolle marine sunglasses. And we are still onshore!

 Here are a few things we have learned about the cruising lifestyle:

1. Heads, as they are known, are noisy, very noisy.
2. Space is even more limited in practice than in theory.
3. When drying your clothes ondeck, turn colored items inside out if you don't want them to be bleached by the sun (no, this one we did not learn from our own experience, but from that of our "next-door" neighbors, Renee and Steve aboard Shiraz who have spent the last 10 years circumnavigating.  As an aside, their extremely tricked-out FP Venezia also happens to be for sale).
4. This one is more a matter of re-learning: If you like bugs, turn on all your salon lights.  We have LOTS of bugs on the bridge now, many of them deceased since last night.

Captain Rich will be by in a few hours.  We set sail around 10:00.  On a sad note, the Blue Angels, for undisclosed reasons, canceled their flyover.  So, now our itinerary is to follow the wind and the currents.  Details to follow.

Sitting here, in the cockpit, in shorts and a T-shirt, admittedly only playing "yachties," it seems pretty unlikely that we'll be able to wait until the end of hurricane season to buy our boat.  But it is the prudent thing to do and perhaps when we are back in Milwaukee, a little distanced from all that we counting down for, it will be a bit more--just enough more--tolerable.  ...we'll see.

Bobby the Broker

Last Wednesday we filled out an online form with Bay Yacht Agency about what kind of catamaran we wanted - purposes, budget, desired equipment, etc.  We did it together, and it was a good chance for us to talk through our priorities and our vision of what this boat will be like.  Things are firming up pretty fast.  Good for us.  The next day, of course, I got a call from Bobby the Broker.  Bobby calls me Janie and Hon, and I somehow forgive him.  Just as we will accept the mores of the locals wherever we cruise, I will acknowledge that anyone who calls himself Bobby is apt to call me Hon.