can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Second Wind - Saturday in Portsmouth



Sat 29 October 
At 5am in darkness we slipped our mooring and motored out of the creek, following the navigation lights through the buoyed channel to the open bay. Chesapeake Bay is a major shipping area for tankers and container ships heading to and from Baltimore and other ports in Delaware and Maryland, serving the East Coast. They are generally travelling at 30 knots plus, so appear out of nowhere quite quickly. Since they are highly unmanoeuvrable, we made several alterations to our course to make sure we weren't in their path. Some called us on our ship VHF radio to check our plans and let us know theirs, which is very helpful. They are able to do this because all commercial ships now carry AIS transceivers which identify other vessels with AIS by name, and giving course and speed. We have one of these on board Second Wind, and in these busy waters, it is invaluable.
(You can access AIS maps from our web-site and take a look for us. It works up to about 30 miles offshore) 

There wasn't so much wind today, and we had calculated that to make Portsmouth, 70 miles south, we needed to maintain 6.5 knots to arrive in daylight, and have two hours to spare to navigate down the Elizabeth River to Ocean Marine, Rally HQ. So we motored and motor sailed most of the way, but had a chance to catch up on a few tasks including rigging the new third reef in the mainsail.

We made good time and arrived at Elizabeth River by early Saturday afternoon, in the middle of the yacht club racing, and the arrival of a large naval vessel. 

Over the radio came the announcement

"This is Warship 55 calling all vessels in this area, stay away from MA WARSHIP"
- that's got to be a perk of the job to get to say that!

Two hours later we had navigated through the river shipping channels, past mile upon mile of naval ships undergoing refits in the huge naval docks, and pulled into the marina, where we will be based for the next week, while all the boats arrive to prepare for the 1500 mile journey out into the Atlantic, across the Gulf Stream and south to the Caribbean.



Previous | Next