Aisling's Maiden Voyage Complete

Saturday, March 25, 2017

We had a lovely night at anchor.  Barbie got in the V-berth bed before we put the dogs in so she had "MY TERRITORY" staked out and had room and covers!  

Hans and Greta ate a good breakfast.

We made a hot breakfast of oat bran (Barbie) with frozen blueberries, sausage, egg in a hole (Jeff), coffee and tea. It was a beautiful, calm morning.  The weather forecast was for sun and highs near 70.

Before raising the anchor both dogs peed and pooped on the astro turf.  They are great cruising dogs!  🐕🐕 

We raised the anchor at 9:00.  We had a very short passage to Middle River Landing Marina.  Jeff called Tom, the manager/owner and received directions to find our new slip. This was the first time that we were going to back into a slip and also to see the marina from the water.  

 As we were approaching our slip we noticed people on the boat at the end of the pier with their phone camera taking pictures!  Barbie thought "NO, don't take pictures of us trying to get in our slip for the first time!" 

When we lived on Cynosure in 1989-90, we developed docking procedures -- Barbie was at the helm steering and Jeff (and the kids that were with us) handled the lines, boat hook and jumped off the boat to secure lines on the dock. We followed the same procedure with Aisling except NO kids.  Having the bow and stern thrusters were EXTREMELY helpful and were VERY easy to use.  They make it possible to "turn on a dime".  Barbie did and EXCELLENT job maneuvering Aisling and Jeff did an EXPERT job getting lines on pilings. People on the dock also helped with lines.  We were greeted by Max (a medium size dog) which made our dogs, Hans and Greta, bark.  

We are very happy to have made it safely to our slip.  We are enjoying having Aisling 20 minutes from home instead of a 2 hour drive each way through Philadelphia traffic.  We are now working on the list of things to do before leaving - repair, upgrade and readiness projects.  The list seems to grow longer each day!  

Our first voyage on Aisling was a success.   We made the one hundred mile trip without serious mishap.  Aisling had been on land as we waited for warmer weather to bring her home.  Finally with Spring we waited for two day forecast of fair winds.   Thorough preparation would be key to our safety as we did not know much about this vessel's operation, having no opportunity for a "shakedown" trip.    A water temperature in the thirties, added to the danger, and hardly any marinas were open for the season. 

As it turned out, our engine ran fine, the steering worked well, and the winds were calm, and current was favorable, allowing us to cruise at 13 knots down the Delaware River on our first day out.   The second day we were not so lucky with wind and waves, and we had a rough passage, with waves pounding our little Aisling.  At least we were in the familiar waters of Chesapeake Bay.  We waited out the windstorm in the lee of Poole's Island before completing our second day in the passage home.

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Chesapeake City Christening

Thursday, March 23, 2017 

After docking at the free town dock, and paying for electricity, at Chesapeake City, MD Thursday night, we had a little boat christening.

We made supper of spaghetti and meatballs and brussel sprouts.  It was a good meal. We had a pleasant evening.

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Chesapeake City to Middle River

Friday, March 24, 2017

We all slept very well last night.  Low in the boat was 54 and outside temperature was 31.  We got up at 6:45 and checked the weather and the WindFinder-Pro app.  The forecast was for warmer weather - in the upper 50s, but with winds increasing to 17 kts by 11 am.  We decided not to have a cooked breakfast and get underway as soon as possible. 

We walked the dogs, stowed things away and left by 8:00.  Leaving Chesapeake City was VERY calm, everything was reflecting in the water.  

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We had good data coverage.  At 8:50 we were in the upper Chesapeake Bay and Emily called.  We talked for about 30 minutes but as we talked the waves started getting more choppy.  By the time we finished talking the waves had white tops.  The waves continued to get higher - 2 to 3 feet - and we were having the waves break over the bow and splash onto the windshield.  We were heading into the wind.  

The day before we talked with Don (the yacht broker for G. Winter Sailing Center where we bought Aisling) about speed of wind and cruising.  I told him we had experience as sail boaters but not as power boaters.  I was wondering how much wind we could cruise in.  He told us that the Ranger Tugs could handle more than we would probably want to be in.  He said he and his wife spent time on a Ranger 27 (that's what we have) and coming back from the Bahamas they got into waves that continued to break over the bow and into the windshield.  They were like that for several hours.  This  gave us some comfort, as that was exactly what was happening to us!

We were making good time going south (12 kts via GPS) but pounding into the waves.  The dogs were very good at this time.  However, each mid morning they get a "dentistix".  Greta usually starts asking for it.  I tried to give it to them as we were pounding and Hans gladly took it but Greta was extremely reluctant and I don't believe she ate it.  She quite possibly was experiencing sea sickness.

After an hour of having crashing waves over the bow and the waves getting higher, we decided to head for shelter.  By 10:30 we were anchored on the north side (lee side) of Poole's Island.  We have a new kind of anchor that wasn't available in 1989 when we cruised on our 37 foot sailboat Cynosure.  This was our first time anchoring both with it and with Aisling.  Jeff put out 40 feet of chain in 6 feet of water.  We tested the anchor but weren't sure if it held.  We kept watching and decided we'd need to re-anchor.  When Jeff got the anchor to the water line he noticed that a football size rock was stuck in it.  

We anchored again, but again the anchor dragged.  The next time Jeff put out all 50 feet of chain and this time the anchor held.  We ate a lunch of crackers and cheese. We were rocking on the hook and took a nap.  Around 3:00 Jeff started talking about going on.  We were only about 5 miles from Middle River Landing.  However, we listened to the NOAA marine weather and they said the area was in a "Small Craft Advisory" until midnight.  Jeff ate sardines.  I didn't feel like eating anything.  We kept watching the conditions and at 5:47 we started the engine, pulled up the anchor and headed toward Middle River.  One of the reasons we moved was because we were almost in a "Digital Data Desert" (DDD) as we call it and we wanted data coverage.  Another reason was because we wanted to experience being anchored for a night, but closer to our final destination. 

Before we started on our way we feed the dogs.  Both ate well.  We also figured that they both needed to go potty.  We tried each dog once, but no deal.  The astro turf is only about 2 ft by 2 ft and the cockpit was rocking.  We waited and tried them again just before we left.  We tried Hans first.  After walking around in a little tiny circle, he peed for a long time.  He received a lot of praise.  We then tried Greta and she took longer but she also peed.  I had contacted an animal communicator twice prior to taking the dogs on Aisling.  The first time was the last of Feb. when we were hoping to move the boat within a week.  After that appointment both dogs peed and pooped on the larger (4' x 6') turf.  That was AMAZING since we had been trying for several weeks without success.  Then after doing that for about 2 weeks they were only peeing and then we forgot about the turf since we weren't leaving any time soon. This second appointment was this past Monday.  The communicator told me that Hans said "he didn't have enough room to hardly turn around".  She also said they would use the turf when they became uncomfortable enough.  They probably would have gone without the animal communicator, but the animal communicator gave me peace of mind and I believe she also let the dogs know that they would be OK and not to be scared on the boat. Neither dog showed any signs of concern while we were pounding into the waves.  That was also AMAZING!  Greta usually pants and shakes the whole time we are driving in the RV and Hans had signs of concern when we were at Aisling while still on the hard in New Jersey.

We arrived in Middle River in a nice cove just less than a mile from our marina --NO waves, NO rocking!  We anchored at 6:35, about 35 minutes after we left the anchorage at Poole's Island.  

​We had a nice dinner of cheese quesadillas, brussel sprouts, and a Weis deli salad.   

Launch day

Thursday March 23, 2017

We slept very well last night and were warm. Having an electric heater the temperature got to 50° in the main cabin. Outside temperature was 23°.

This morning the sun is shining, the wind is almost not blowing and the high temperature will be in the 40s.

We had a nice breakfast, just like home.

The dogs are doing great. They slept well. They have not had to use the astro-turf since we're on dry land. 

We started the launch process around 9:30. It was cold with some wind but sunny. 

We left Riverside marina at 11:00. Both dogs are comfortable and resting in their beds. We have the boat heater on and are very comfortable.

Maiden Voyage Plans

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

During the whole month of March we have been wanting to sail Aisling from the Riverside Marina in Delran, N.J. outside of Philadelphia to the Middle River Landing Marina in Essex, Md. which is closer to us in Towson.

We are planning to go to the Riverside Marina Wednesday, March 22.  We will do some last minute things on the boat and sleep on the boat tomorrow night.  The boat will still be "on the hard" (out of the water).   Winds are predicted to be out of the north/northwest at 17 kts with maximum gusts of 25 kts. This is more wind then we would like to travel in.  The weather is to be sunny and in the low to mid 30s 

Thursday, March 23, near high tide (around 11:00 am), the Riverside Marina will launch Aisling.  (Delran, NJ has 6 foot tides and the boat needs to be launched at or near high tide). We will then start our journey navigating down the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal) to the Chesapeake Bay and to Middle River and Middle River Landing Marina.  The length of the trip is about 100 miles.  We believe the trip will take us two days (one night on the water). Thursday the winds are predicted to be very low - 5 kts or less from the northwest. The weather is to be sunny and in the upper 30s to low 40s after a low of 24 on Wed. night. We hope to get to Delaware City (east end of the C&D Canal) and spend the night at Delaware City Marina.  

Friday morning we will leave Delaware City Marina, go through the C&D Canal and down the Chesapeake Bay to Middle River and Middle River Landing Marina.  Winds are predicted to be out of the southwest at 11 to 15 kts with maximum gusts of 26 kts. The weather is to be partly cloudy to cloudy and temperatures in the middle to upper 40s after a low of 31.  

Hans and Greta will be with us and have their first experience being in a power boat.  We will probably travel at 8 kts with a 180 hp diesel engine.  Jeff was at the boat Monday and among the things he did was to fill the diesel tank with fuel.  We thought we probably needed 40 gals to make it full.  However, he had to put 60 gals. in.  He took a 5 gallon diesel can and filled it 12 times at a filling station that had "off road diesel" fuel.  This type of diesel is the same as car/truck diesel but is not taxed.  He went to the filling station so many times that both of our bank cards refused to let him use them after about a total 10 times and the station attendant called his boss after about the 8th trip.  It is sort of comforting that bank cards are looking out for fraud and the attendant was also thinking something unusual was going on.  

We will keep you updated and let you know when we arrive at Middle River Landing Marina.