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Maiden Voyage! *Updated with pics*

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/01/2008 : 11:36:45

This weekend we sailed Sea Monkey for the first time, a journey of over 100 miles, to her home marina. We are extremely pleased - she performed beautifully in all sorts of conditions, and today there is literally dust under the sole plates. Dry as a bone. The rigging and everything performed beautifully, the anchor held, etc.

We left early Saturday from Middle River, Maryland, sailed down the Chesapeake, and lost all wind. We tried and tried, but we had to motor the first leg.

I have pics of all of the other sailboats out there with no sails up - we were not alone. Terrible day for sailing. We anchored out for the night and the wind arrived Sunday morning, with huge swells and 3' chop on the bay. These were following seas, so the swells made it quite an athletic endeavor to control, but we made about 68 miles that day, turning off the motor at 8:30 am and not starting it up again until 8:30 that night when it got dark.

The very last part of our journey took us up the Potomac, and that was a great part of the trip. Gorgeous river. We set the sails, set her on course, and we did not even have to keep a hand on the wheel (yes, wheel, we decided we liked it...) and she maintained herself beautifully for about 15 minutes! We could not even begin to let a hand off the wheel while we were out on the Chesapeake - too much current, chop and swells slapping the rudder around.

We learned a few things, of course, like how we could have provisioned better, for instance, and we want to replace the motor mount, because we are just not confident in it, but overall the trip was uneventful. That is, except for the swarms of black biting flies that invaded us the entire day Sunday. They came aboard at anchorage, at least 100 of them, and stayed after us the entire day. In the cabin, in the cockpit, constantly keeping after us. We learned we need a fly swatter and a can of Raid. The flies just about sent the both of us overboard. Don't have a clue what brought them to us - it was not our food, lol. I say I want some Raid, but I am not sure if that will be harmful to the gelcoat, so if anyone has any advice on dealing with flying pests like that, pass it on!

Special thanks to Steve Merrick for sending me pages from the Furlex manual - it turns out we did have the sail loaded correctly, and once we furled it under some tension, it furled beautifully with the leech covering everything just right.

I am also proud of myself - DH wanted to anchor out one additional night, because it was full dark when we arrived at the mouth of the river where the marina is, and the marina is WAY up this very tiny river, full of crab pots and obstructions. I wanted to try (the sun shower worked great - hot water at the end of the day - but I wanted a real shower!) and was determined to make it in to the marina. He got on the bow with his light and I got us in. I used the GPS map to navigate, and did run aground in some very soft silt right as we discovered we had found our destination, but I got us off easily. This is the first time I have ever actually taken charge at the helm of any boat - deckhand experience only prior to this. Maybe it was foolish to attempt, but I did it, and we both got to take hot showers (the swaying, rolling kind that you take after being on the water for two days straight, lol).

We learned a lot about what we like and what we don't, and it was a great experience. We can't wait for next weekend. We are both fried though, and we must rig up some sort of bimini. There was no way to get out of the sun for 2 days, and those were two HOT days.

I just wanted to let everyone know how it went, and how much I appreciate the help we have received from this site so far. Reading through threads and getting responses to my own made a huge difference in how our trip went this weekend.

Liz
Richmond, VA

Sea Monkey
82 SK/SR #3054

Edited by - Stellaluna on 09/02/2008 12:04:23

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 09/01/2008 : 12:36:06

Liz,
Congratulations, sounds like you guys had a nice adventure, other than the flies. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Edited by - on

Kendall
Navigator

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USA
146 Posts

Response Posted - 09/01/2008 : 17:47:16

Usually if you keep about 100-150 yards offshore than flies, mosquitoes, and the other will leave you alone. This is easier said than done in a river.

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Response Posted - 09/01/2008 : 21:52:47

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Kendall
 Usually if you keep about 100-150 yards offshore than flies, mosquitoes, and the other will leave you alone. This is easier said than done in a river.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

We were every bit of that off shore- but we were between two land masses, and I'm just assuming that is how we picked up these flies. Any further away (we guess 1/4 mile away from land) and we'd be too close to the channel. It is a trade off. Lessons learned. The more we sail our regional waters the more we will learn. This appeared to be a good anchorage, but now we know. The flies, I believe, are a seasonal plague, so it may be that we just caught the right conditions.

Also, I'd like to add that during the very rough sailing with good wind, following seas, heavy swells and 3' chop, we had at least 3 unplanned jibes that were quite violent - not fun at all - and the rigging withstood the assault admirably. We now know better how to avoid this kind of strain on our standing rigging but it is nice to know what this boat can handle. When we finally arrived at our home marina, we took the time to re-inspect a 25' MacGregor on jacks nearby, the same boat we were considering (before it was hauled and we discovered the distinct absence of a keel and the out of control blistering/cancer/delamination that changed our minds) and we were struck at how light and insubstantial the rigging was on that boat compared to the C-25. Boy are we glad we did not go the MacGregor route!

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 00:16:13

The flies on Lake Erie don't care how far you go offshore; I have been assaulted 15 miles offshore, but it is predominantly a late summer and early fall problem

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 07:57:28

Around here, the problem is greatest when the wind is offshore. I think the flies are randomly blown out to sea, get tired and hungry, and look for boats to land and feed on. Once they find one, they sure don't want to leave!

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 09:35:18

Flies on the Bay:

On a hot, windless, summer day last year I was attacked by biting flies that were the size of house flies. It was a mile or more offshore. These bugs bit me mostly through my thick socks! I kept spraying on repellent.

They're not mosquitoes from a marsh, not horse flies from a stable, not black flies from the north woods, they're little chesapeake devils.

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 09:51:10

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JohnP
 Flies on the Bay:

On a hot, windless, summer day last year I was attacked by biting flies that were the size of house flies. It was a mile or more offshore. These bugs bit me mostly through my thick socks! I kept spraying on repellent.

They're not mosquitoes from a marsh, not horse flies from a stable, not black flies from the north woods, they're little chesapeake devils.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes, and repellent does not really bother them too much, unless you spray it on very heavily. You should have seen me hanging off the transom trying to spray myself without getting overspray on the boat.

They DO look like houseflies, but are faster. At first they were just landing all over us and all over the boat, not concentrating in any particular area (not like house flies that are attracted to food or trash - these things seemed aimless) and they did not start biting us for a few hours. Then the bites became more and more painful after they had been with us for 4 hours or so, and by 6 hours they were slowing down and we were able to smack and kill them.

However, in spite of that plague, we made such great progress that second day, without the motor, and had a great time. The great sailing made up for any trouble the flies gave us.

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 09:52:06

Perhaps it's ill advised, but this summer we used spray repellent and burned a citronella candle in the cabin - but not the vberth where we slept - until lights out . We didn't have any bug issues.

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 10:01:10

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by jerlim
 Perhaps it's ill advised, but this summer we used spray repellent and burned a citronella candle in the cabin - but not the vberth where we slept - until lights out . We didn't have any bug issues.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

We've got some pretty powerful battery-operated fans that we hung up, and that kept the bugs off for sleeping. The nights have begun to get chilly so we were cold by morning - too chilly for bugs.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 11:19:53

For bugs at night, I used an old camping mosquito net that just happened to be the right size for fitting over the cabin area with the pop top up.

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 11:44:49

Here are some pics of the journey, though they are not much to look at! We did not step off the boat the entire trip and did not get very close to land the whole time, so the pics are a bit dull.

Here we are leaving the marina in Middle River, MD. Note how poorly the genny is furled - that gets fixed later.

Out on the Chesapeake - dreary day, no wind.

Pretty bridge (hwy. 301 over the bay in MD)

Note the calm nature of the bay - and the lack of sails out on the other boats in the distance - we were not the only ones under power.

Floating skyscraper? Yikes. It does fit under the bridge, believe it or not.

Finally getting some wind. OMG - look at the sanding and varnishing I've got ahead of me this winter!

Sun setting over the Potomac - she is sailing herself at this point while we have our dinner of pistachios.

Still 4 miles to the mouth of the Yeocomico River. Wind about gone. Get out the GPS map!

In her new home at the marina, with a slip overlooking the rather attractive grain elevator.... We still need to put on new boat name and clean her up, but she's home at least.

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 13:17:49

Good Job Liz and Stellaluna....wow what's next when she's rested a while...I seem to remember Calista's maiden voyage being all of five miles. From boat ramp to mooring.

Val on Calista # 3936, Patchogue, N.Y.

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 16:22:28

Congrats and Fair Winds !
I see you have the 'brown' motif...not my first choice, but it's how she came!

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 16:48:06

Not a fan of the brown, myself! It goes with the "Sea Monkey" name, though, in a way.

The covers all need replacing, so the brown will probably be a thing of the past, except that the leech of the genoa is in wonderful shape and the brown is going strong there. It would be odd to have the furled sail a different color than the main cover and wheel cover, though.

There is no end to the fixing up we want to do to her, but the main thing for us is that she sails beautifully, the cabin does not have any leaks when it rains, and we can enjoy her anytime we want to.

I need to get out the charts and check the distance from the Yeocomico River to the East River in Mobjack Bay. That will be our next journey - we have family with a dock there. That ought to be a relatively long trip as well.

Edited by - on

glivs
Admiral

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USA
836 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 18:16:45

Liz,
Great story and what a wonderful first entry in Sea Monkey's log. Congratulations and welcome to the forum! Your tale of being overcome by flies brings to mind a similar scene from The African Queen...unless someone has experienced it, they just cannot grasp how close to insanity those bugs can drive you. Fortunately this time of year here in the north, most evenings are too cool for mosquitoes/flies.... something I'm looking forward too as my daughter and I set sail for our annual adventure this next week.

Keep us posted on your adventures/projects.

Edited by - on

Even Chance
Captain

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USA
393 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 19:34:27

Liz,

Kinsale to Mobjack Bay is a hefty trip -- I would overnight at Deltaville. Depending on the wind, you can anchor off Stove Point in the Piankatank and be well protected. Beware the Mobjack -- very shallow!

Brooke

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Stellaluna
1st Mate

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53 Posts

Response Posted - 09/02/2008 : 21:04:17

I grew up summering on Mobjack, at the mouth of the East River, and the tides go from 18" to 4' where the family place is located. We won't be able to get up to the dock - they do not have it dredged - but they have a mooring we can use that is in between sand bars, and is about 2.5' at low tide (!!!). This is one reason we were looking for a swing keel. Otherwise, we'd anchor out at Diggs Wharf and they'd come pick us up in their skiff. We need a dingy, I think!

It would be cool to make the trip, though. We like long weekend sails, and this seemed like a good one, especially since we'd have a destination and family who are anxious to see our boat.

P.S. Thanks for the tip about Stove Point! We need that Chesapeake Bay gunkholer's guide to learn about places to go - or, I'll just pick your brain!

Edited by - Stellaluna on 09/02/2008 21:16:08

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 09/03/2008 : 10:29:25

When planning that trip, remember to factor in a couple of days for the possibility you won't be able to continue or return exactly when you want to. You don't want a deadline to force you out onto the water when you shouldn't be there.

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