We got up today and felt that it had great promise. We had spent the night in a lovely place and it only seemed nicer when it wasn't raining. Our stuff had started to dry out and we were hopeful for a nice sail to Norfolk. There were these high soft clouds in the sky that said "its going to be a good one."
We motored just long enough to clear the harbor where the Yacht Club was and then raised to sails. We did shifts as we did the prior day because it was still quite cool. Here is a picture of Richard at the helm. Notice the gloves, but he is perched on the rail to get all of the warming rays from the sun that he can get.
We had a great sail for the better part of 6 hours. We had winds on our starboard beam of between 8 and 14 knots. At one point Richard announced that we had reached 7.82 knots of boat speed. We were quite impressed with how fast the boat is. We sailed until we reached Norfork Harbor which is one of the busiest and commercial and military harbors in the world. We saw huge loading and and unloading facilities and we counted upwards of 20 naval ship in port at the naval base, and that doesn't include the little patrol boats that keep you from getting too close.
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| US Aircraft Carrier |
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| Port Facilities |
When you are approaching Norfolk, all of the traffic is monitored because of security concerns. We had at least 3 or 4 helicopters fly right over the top of us. Probably no more than 500 feet above us. We were sure that they had our name and course plotted into a supercomputer somewhere and were watching our every move.
We finally got through all of the busy commerical and military traffic and found our way to the Norfolk Yacht and Counry Club. We were welcomed to enjoy their 50,000 square foot clubhouse. Not shown here is the facility that has the locker rooms, squash courts, gym and indoor pool. I found it necessary to take in a sauna, a steam and a shower before grabbing a burger in the grill room. The members here were very accomodating as one of them offered the use of his truck in case we needed to go to the store for anything. I met a fellow MIT graduate who graduated in '65 with a degree in Naval Architecture (Course 13) in the grill and had a very nice chat.
We got up today and felt that it had great promise. We had spent the night in a lovely place and it only seemed nicer when it wasn't raining. Our stuff had started to dry out and we were hopeful for a nice sail to Norfolk. There were these high soft clouds in the sky that said "its going to be a good one."
We motored just long enough to clear the harbor where the Yacht Club was and then raised to sails. We did shifts as we did the prior day because it was still quite cool. Here is a picture of Richard at the helm. Notice the gloves, but he is perched on the rail to get all of the warming rays from the sun that he can get.
When you are approaching Norfolk, all of the traffic is monitored because of security concerns. We had at least 3 or 4 helicopters fly right over the top of us. Probably no more than 500 feet above us. We were sure that they had our name and course plotted into a supercomputer somewhere and were watching our every move.
We finally got through all of the busy commerical and military traffic and found our way to the Norfolk Yacht and Counry Club. We were welcomed to enjoy their 50,000 square foot clubhouse. Not shown here is the facility that has the locker rooms, squash courts, gym and indoor pool. I found it necessary to take in a sauna, a steam and a shower before grabbing a burger in the grill room. The members here were very accomodating as one of them offered the use of his truck in case we needed to go to the store for anything. I met a fellow MIT graduate who graduated in '65 with a degree in Naval Architecture (Course 13) in the grill and had a very nice chat.
The photographs are fabulous and your stories are captivating, leaving me wanting more.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.
You guys keep safe out there!
Loved the commentary as well as the photos. Is the first one yours???? Impressive.
ReplyDeleteKeep those posts coming. Edie & Stan