Hawthorn At Governor Dinwiddi Portsmouth

... work for the span of only one week. On November 2, in an early morning conversation, the weather router agreed that a November 4 departure seemed one of the better options for that week and the 4-5 day sail the crossing would entail. Bob quickly arranged flights that day for his crew to arrive at Norfolk the following afternoon. We spent the balance of the day on shopping ventures with Bob to include WalMart, Lowe's, and a ...

... Florida. More details on that later. I will be busy working throughout this weekend and through next week, looking for competitions, and events we can go see related to skateboarding.

The first competition? "Bleah" we want a do over. It didn't go well, but then again, there's more to come, and the initial stage fright will go away. Heeeeerrreeeeeeee we goooooOOOOooooo!!!!!!!

... wind was 40 degrees higher than the true wind direction.

We anchored in the Rhode River where we could play host to friends John and Joan and their friend Gail while visiting the Annapolis sailboat show. We ended up staying on the Rhode River until departure October 19 due to incessant inclement weather. On October 14 Dave had an appointment to sail with the Quantum sail guys to re-evaluate the main’s issue with its battens (some of ...

WARNING Rough Draft Copy. Editing will come throughout the week.


Ahhh... it's the 29th of October, and I've slowly started to pack up all our things we have accumulated over the last 29 days staying here at First Landing State Park. I've washed all the dishes, and locked down most of our belongings in our cabinets and closets. Laundry has been done, and there are only a few things left for me to do to get ready ...

... something large was hooked up. It was a white marlin and I mean that fast it was hooked, to the boat, picture taken and release before anybody had even drawn to see who would take the first fish.

We quickly set the fishing order and it was "on" all day long as we caught white marlin after white marlin for many hours before ...

... around, only to find nocturnal birds fishing for food. We were all alone for the most part until we started heading back, bumped into another couple about to do a romantic midnight stroll, only to find no moon is out. We passed by the other campground we don't host, campground "G" which had sites right next to the dunes. As chilly as it was, the lights of the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel/Bridge lit the sky, following the trails, only to ...

We spent September 13 on a day sail with guests John, Jim and Charlene, Wally and Michelle. We sailed through the North Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on N winds 10-15 kts, then sailed back via the south tunnel. We spotted a very impressive flock of rays along the way and enjoyed a nice lunch spread. Dave was happy to have plenty of helpers eager to take the helm and adjust sails.

We spent September 21 on a day sail with Dave's dad, Norma and brother ...

Finally—back to sailing! We've spent Labor Day week out cruising with Alize. We left Norfolk September 5 sailing on pleasant, sunny N NE 10-15 kt winds to the Severn River on Mobjack Bay. This was the first upwind "test" of our new main sail and rudders. We took a long tack across the Bay then headed for Mobjack. Caught only a couple small bluefish on the clark spoon – no keepers. The next day we headed to ...

... and an hour later she came into view. The rest of the day was spent motoring down the lower Chesapeake to Portsmouth. Once again we saw different bird life than we're used to. Going into Hampton Road we were joined by a pod of dolphins, who came alongside before diving under the boat and going on their way. What a spectacular sight ...

Planned to visit Washington Monument and the Holocaust Memorial Museum that morning. Arrived at the museum at around 10-ish. The earliest admission tickets distributed were for 12:45 pm. So we got our tickets and walked across the street to the Monument. All tickets to the Monument for that day were all given out and were told we should come back before 8 am the next day to line up for our tickets. Since we can't get in, we were left to admire its grand scale ...