THURSDAY- As we finished the beautiful Dismal Swamp, the West winds were blowing steady 15-20 with 30 mph gusts. We hoped to visit Elizabeth City but the free docks and marinas were full of Southbound cruisers waiting out the weather. While backtracking to an anchorage, John Reynolds radioed and said we should raft up with his & Linda's boat, EASY, a GH37, at the city dock. The relentless wind made Mike hesitate but the wind was blowing away from Easy so we would only be blown toward open water if our approach failed. We decided to try it. It was a tricky to get close, as the wind was really gusting. We approached EASY in a T-bone, easing SEA DREAM's bow close enough for John to secure our long bow line to EASY's bow then Mike walked our stern into the wind toward EASY to tie the rest of the lines. The wind howled all night but we were well secured to EASY and we ran some very large lines around her to the dock. She's 10 feet shorter than SEA DREAM so they make an odd pairing.
FRIDAY- Louie met several other boat dogs at the well-manicured city park right next to the dock. Elizabeth City has a wonderful history museum and many beautiful old homes. It's a quaint, one street small town with a few shops, art stores and restaurants. Mike worked on the davit winch and found that the brake shoes were disintegrated. So, parts are being shipped. Without it we can't launch/retrieve the dinghy. We enjoyed a fun dinner at Grouper's with John & Linda. Tonight and tomorrow have gale warnings so we'll stay put and enjoy being with our friends.
 |
Rafted to Easy.
|
 |
| Another view. |
No comments:
Post a Comment