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2024 DELMARVA Reports |
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We
plan to conduct a DMVA circumnavigation training cruise from late September and
into the first few days of October aboard S/V NAVIGATOR, IP40 with
Captain Tom Tursi, First Mate Yvonne Brandt and four student crew: Allyson Vorob,
Bob Ivy, Robert McCay and Eric Zimmerman. Two weeks prior to the cruise, we
conducted a live online crew meeting to review plans for the cruise and to
assign navigation preparation tasks which will be used for onboard navigation
preparations during the cruise. I
arrived onboard NAVIGATOR a few days in advance of crew arrival to
complete boat inspections and food provisioning for the cruise. Yvonne arrived
onboard the day prior to crew arrival to familiarize herself with boat equipment
and review plans for conducting this cruise. Student
crew members arrived on Friday afternoon, September 27 to stow personal gear,
after which we completed below-deck inspections and review of cruise plans. Then
all went to dinner at the Flying Decoy Restaurant to get to know each other
prior to the cruise since most of us had not met previously. Overnight, students
went to their respective hotels to avoid crowding onboard while in port; Captain
and First Mate slept aboard. Saturday
morning dawned with moderate temperatures and cloudy skies. Student crew arrived
back onboard at 0830 ready to start predeparture training beginning with deck
inspection and rigging nomenclature followed by review of the helm station,
instruments, engine controls, PFD try-on, and MOB rescue gear. After that, we
raised each of the three working sails one at a time and reefed and unreefed the
mainsail as directed by student crew members following written procedure in the
training plan. Then deployed the 18-foot-long whisker pole used for sailing
wing-on-wing with the poled-out genoa and mainsail. By now, it was time for a
lunch break. After lunch, the crew prepared the navigation plan for tomorrow’s passage to Swan Creek Marina, about 15 miles distant, where we will pickup a mooring for the overnight stay. Nav plan preparations followed he procedures described in our YouTube video titled “Navigation Preparations for an Advanced Coastal Cruise” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy6vs8FtH28&t=369s consisting of manual course plotting and waypoint selection drawn on printed paper charts and correlated with the USCG Light List, Local Notices to Mariners and NOAA Coast Pilot, plus entry of waypoints into the deck logbook and GPS multi-function course plotter. Also, notation was made of cautions and restrictions noted on the charts and described in the Coast Pilot, plus determination of any dredge operations underway along our course to Swan Creek of which there were none found.
After
another break, the student crew proceeded with the boat inspection check lists
per procedures listed in the training plan as further familiarization with boat
equipment and procedures. This brought the day to 1630 hours, and we all went to
dinner ashore at the Blue Heron Restaurant in Rock Hall… Sunday:
dawned with moderate temperatures, cloudy skies and light winds from northeast.
Student crew arrived onboard by 0830 with the remainder of their personal gear
which they stowed below in assigned lockers. After completing departure
checklists per the training plan, we departed dock by 0930 with First Mate
Yvonne at the helm and proceeded to the waste pumpout station and docked there
using the docking bridle with Eric forward handling the bridle loop with his
long reach over the dock piling. The diesel tank was full, so visiting the fuel
dock was not needed, and we were underway for the passage to Swan Creek. All
crew will be up and on watch for today’s underway training, and the student
crew will take one-hour tricks on the helm in the following alphabetical order:
Ally, Bob, Eric and Rob. The on-watch navigator for each hour will be the
next-up helmsman; for example, Bob will be the on-watch navigator when Ally is
on the helm. Yvonne and I will monitor and guide the student crew operation of
the boat as needed to ensure safety of operations. Due
to cloudy skies, we could not complete the Sun-calibration of the ship’s
compass, so we continued under motor down Langford Creek to the junction light
“LC” where we setup to complete the speedo calibration between “LC” and
the dayboard G “1” which lay 0.60 NM to the west. We will motor at 2400 rpm
engine speed from G “1” to “LC” and note the elapsed time and average
indicated boat speed relative to the sea water and use this information to
calculate a correction factor for the water speed and distance instrument for
this outbound leg. Then repeat the procedure for the return direction and
average the two correction factors with the intention of averaging out the
effects of current. Results were 0.836 for the outbound leg, and 0.900 for the
return leg with an average of 0.87 meaning that corrected speed can be
calculated by multiplying the indicated speed by the 0.87 factor. Next,
we raised the mainsail and genoa and practiced sailing close hauled, tacking to
windward, winch handline techniques, heading offwind, use of the mainsail boom
preventer and controlled gybes using PST following procedures from the training
plan. After this, we headed down river toward our overnight anchorage at the
Swan Creek Marina mooring field with the student crew on helm/navigator watches
as previously described. At this point I made lunch for the crew consisting of
turkey, cheese and tomato sandwiches on Dave’s multigrain bread. We arrived at
the mooring field about 1500 hours and took mooring ball #6 as directed by the
marina staff, and noticed our MDSchool sister-ship SCHOLARSHIP,
that was doing an ASA104 cruise, already in and secured to mooring ball #1. After
relaxing a bit in the quiet and peaceful anchorage on a pleasant afternoon, the
student crew got to work preparing the nav plan for tomorrow’s northbound
passage to the C&D Canal and Summit North Marina. Dinner onboard was chicken
stew. As the sun went down, we all found our bunks as assigned in the float plan
with Bob and Rob in the forward cabin, Ally and Yvonne on the main salon berths,
Eric on the camping mattress, which he decided to take to the cockpit since rain
was not in the forecast, and I was in the quarterberth. Monday:
After a pleasant overnight, we all rose from slumber at 0600, made a quick cup
of coffee using coffee-singles bags, completed predeparture checks per the
training plan and were off the mooring and underway by 0700 with Ally on the
helm and Bob as on-watch navigator per the hourly watch schedule. Following the
nav plan, we left the Swan Creek entrance light R “6” to port and the next G
“5” Can to starboard, turned southwest to cross the Swan Point Bar, leaving
the two Swan Point range lights to starboard, and turned northwest toward the
Chesapeake Main Channel buoy R “12” leaving it to port and turned northeast
parallel to the channel. From
here we continued north up the bay under engine power at 2400 rpm, since winds
were very light from the northeast, and we remained outside of the main channel
on the eastern side to avoid ship traffic in the channel. The bay narrowed down
as we proceeded north affording an excellent opportunity to practice paper and
pencil navigation skills based on manual bearing observations and lines of
position (LOP) learned in the coastal navigation class. Yvonne made good use of
this opportunity by coaching off-watch students in taking magnetic bearings on
observable land objects, locating these on the paper chart and establishing
LOPs, fixes and running fixes, and comparing these results with our GPS
position. I also used this opportunity to work with the student crew on AIS and
Radar observation, skills that will be important to subsequent legs of the
cruise when we are underway at night and encountering passing ship traffic. By
1400 we entered the C&D Canal which is clearly defined by the rock piles
along its banks and encountered only one ship passing in the opposite direction.
We contacted Summit North Marina by phone to advise of our ETA and need for
waste pumpout, diesel fuel and overnight dockage, and they replied that the fuel
dock would be open until 1800 hours. We arrived there by 1700, completed pumpout
and fueling, docked at our assigned slip, went to dinner at the Grain
Restaurant, and returned to the boat to prepare the navigation plan for the
two-day cruise down Delaware Bay, Coastal Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay to Cape
Charles Town on the Eastern Shore. After completing this work in the late hours,
we all turned in for the knight with plans to rise early and get underway by
0700. Tuesday:
Crew up at 0600, quick cup of coffee, predeparture checks completed and underway
by 0700 with Bob on the helm and Rob as on-watch navigator. Used the midship
spring line to depart slip for the tight turn into fairway. Slight rain was
falling but visibility was good. Bob was posted on the bow to look for crossing
traffic as we exited the marina cove and slipped into the C&D Canal, turning
east and under the Conrail railroad bridge which was in the mid-lift position.
At this point we began the 24-hour watch cycle as follows: ·
0700 to 1300: Bob &
Rob; repeat 1900 to 0100 ·
1300 to 1900: Ally
& Eric; repeat 0100 to 0700 ·
0600 to 1200: Yvonne;
repeat 1800 to 2400 ·
1200 to 1800: Tom;
repeat 2400 to 0600 So,
the entire crew is on this six-hour watch schedule and Bob and Rob manning the
helm and navigator duties on a one-hour rotation, and Yvonne overall in charge.
Ally, Eric and Tom were off watch, but we used the time as an opportunity to
further explore use of the radar, AIS, Sirius XM, multi-function plotter and VHF
radio as aids to navigation and watch-keeping which will be needed as nighttime
arrives. Skies
were overcast with stratus clouds and winds steady at 12 knots from northeast as
we headed east along the canal and raised the main sail with a single reef. On
passing between the rock jetties at the canal exit into Delaware River, our
turning point into the river was marked when the Red over Green buoy “CD”
was directly to our port beam. At this point we turned southeast onto a course
of 150°T toward the Delaware River Main Channel buoy G “11” where we turned
SSE to our next waypoint buoy G “5” in the main channel. On this heading, we
noted a large dredge directly in our path about one mile distant; it was setting
an anchor and backing away from the channel and we determined to safely pass
ahead of it. Heading down Delaware River we are staying out of the main channel
and leaving the green channel markers to our port side. Passed the nuclear power station at 1030 and deployed the full genoa sailing on port tack. Winds at 12 knots northeast so we have a good apparent wind angle on a close reach sailing well at about 6 knots. Secured engine and now sailing under sails alone leaving green channel markers to portside so that we remain out of the channel. Crew practicing situation awareness to other vessels, AIS, tugboats and ships and our navigation progress.
Winds
remained from northeast at 12 knots until mid-afternoon when it began to
increase through the dinner hour reaching 25 knots for a few hours and settling
back to 15 to 20 knots northeast overnight. Current was flooding in and opposing
our progress and continued to do so until we were more than half way down the
bay and past Miah Maull Shoal Light. Then doing eight to nine knots over ground
as the ebb current gathered speed and coupled with 20 to 25 knots of wind on our
port quarter. Fortunately, the wind and current were nearly in the same
direction or the rough conditions that we experienced would have been worse if
they had been opposed. Sea
conditions were rough as we exited Delaware Bay into the Atlantic but smoothed
out as we pressed further south and out into the Atlantic. Dinner was Dinty
Moore beef stew and a challenge to prepare and balance on our laps as we toiled
on through the wind and waves. Some crewmembers declined dinner under these
unappetizing conditions. Overnight, conditions remained relatively stable with
winds of 15 knots from northeast, and this crew did an excellent job of standing
the watch and managing the boat and navigation under these unfamiliar
conditions. It was very dark as the moon was not visible overnight, clouds came
and went, and stars appeared for a while only to be shrouded again by clouds;
and so, the cycle continued. It’s beautiful out here, especially at night… Wednesday:
Winds continued at 15 knots from northeast for most of the day, eased to less
than 10 knots by evening, and we made good progress toward our Chesapeake Bay
entrance waypoint northeast of Cape Charles in full daylight, and had dinner
prior to entering the bay. Conditions were calm and we elected to transit the
passage between Fishermans Island and Nautilus Shoal where strong current was
flowing south and east through this passage and thus opposing our movement. We
could clearly see the two Fishermans Island bridges at the eastern end of the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge complex, and we planned to pass under these bridges which
had vertical clearances of nominally 75 feet, quite adequate for our mast
height. In view of the strong ebb current and the large menhaden fishing ships
that often pass through these bridges, we make a sécurité call over VHF
channel 16 advising others of our intention to pass under the bridges. Once
through the bridges, we made a 30-degree course change to port leaving the red
over green channel junction buoy RG “LS” to starboard and headed toward buoy
G “13” a half-mile distant. From there we had a clear passage directly to
Old Plantation Flats Light and Light “1CC” at the entrance to Cape Charles
Town entrance channel. This light was destroyed a few months ago and was
replaced by a temporary buoy (TRLB) that was featured in our YouTube video
titled “Steer Clear” and we were alert for the broken stumps of the
destroyed light but saw no sign of them. By now it was dark, and we picked our
way to the city marina with Yvonne at the helm and docked portside to a T-head
dock with electric power, secured our lines, placed fenders between the floating
dock and our hull and turned on the air conditioner to cool the boat. Then some
crewmembers went in search of showers and others went to the Shanty Restaurant
for desert. Eventually all crew returned to the boat and turned in for the night
for a peaceful sleep.
Thursday:
Plans today are to prepare the navigation plan for the trip up the bay overnight
to Annapolis and Rock Hall, complete predeparture checks, top up diesel, pump
out the waste holding tank and be underway by noon. Winds were light from the
south and we pressed on under engine power in the calm and comfortable
conditions. By late afternoon the winds picked up to 12 knots so we raised sail
and continued on motor-sailing. After
dinner, Yvonne directed a crew overboard (COB) exercise prior to sunset and
another after sunset during which our crew performed their duties very well and
we efficiently recovered our COB manakin named “Weenie.” Following that, we
had a lengthy discussion about the procedures and priorities of COB recovery
methods from various points of sail from close hauled to downwind with poled-out
genoa or spinnaker plus motoring and motor-sailing. My main emphasis in all COB
situations is that priority #1 is to stop the boat immediately in order to
remain close to the COB and keep them in sight. Our DMVA Training Plan and
YouTube video titled “Crew Overboard Rescue Techniques” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSk-L0U9VPM&t=1543s
describe how to do this starting from various sailing and motoring
configurations. Since publishing that video 13 years ago, we have learned that
punching the COB button first is not a good idea due to the time lost sailing
away from the victim, and to demote this action to second place in the priority
after first stopping the boat. Nighttime
came quickly after these exercises and we were soon in complete darkness
punctuated by dim lights from our instruments, shore lights and occasional ship
lights. Crew watch assignments remained the same as previous days, but Yvonne
and I switched so that I was on from 1900 to 0100 and Yvonne was on from 0100 to
0700. The night passed quickly with several ship encounters and calm conditions.
Friday:
By dawn we were approaching the Thomas Point Lighthouse south of Annapolis, and
we caught sight of the tall ship replica of SULTANA, hailing from
Chestertown, MD and heading south under full sail. A beautiful sight!
Because
of the ongoing powerboat show in Annapolis and the expected crowded harbors, the
crew elected to forego a stop there and head directly to homeport in Rock Hall.
We made the remainder of the passage a leisurely sail, mostly downwind with
poled-out genoa for the northbound portions and arrived at Lankford Bay Marina
by mid-afternoon where we pumped out the waste holding tank and topped up the
diesel before returning to our home slip. Bob, Rob and Ally sat for their ASA106
written exams, while Eric and Yvonne used the deck logbook data entries to draw
a 4-hourly DR plot on an NGA 926 plotting sheet for the portion of our cruise
from Brandywine Shoal Light in Delaware Bay to Cape Charles in order to
illustrate how this is done using logbook data during ocean passages. After
completing the written exams, the crew put the boat in order, packed their gear,
we presented diplomas for the cruise and all were off to resume their
shore-based lives, except for Eric who stayed overnight and left early next
morning for his long drive back to Chicago… Thank
you, crew! I enjoyed sailing with you as you were a very capable group of
sailors and great shipmates! My
best regards to you all
Captain
Tom Tursi
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