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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Salty Dawg Rally 2017

S/V Northern Star in her slip at Bluewater Yachting Center

We arrived at the Bluewater Yachting Center in Hampton, Virginia last week. Not knowing any better, when we were asked at the fuel dock if we had a preference for a slip, we just pointed and said, “Right over there is fine.”  “Right over there” placed us at the far end of the outermost dock of Bluewater.  


Our meeting place at the marina
There’s nothing wrong with our slip, except that we have the longest walk of anyone to get to the clubhouse, the showers and laundry facilities.  Many empty slips sat between Northern Star and the rest of the boats in the marina.  However, over the past two days, those empty slips have become occupied by other sailboats coming to participate in the week-long series of Salty Dawg seminars before the Rally.  A total of 73 sailboats have signed up for this year’s Salty Dawg Rally!

A full marina now
When we look around the full marina now, we see people clambering all over their boats, performing one task or another to get the boats ready for the passage to Antigua, a voyage that we are hearing could be anywhere from 10 to 15 days in duration. 
Salty Dawg hats

There are sailboaters putting up new sails, divers cleaning barnacles off the hulls of boats (including ours) and riggers going up the masts to check for any weaknesses in the hard rigging. 
Our anchor disassembled for passage

There are people scrubbing their decks, rebedding chain plates, examining the integrity of their lines, replacing worn cotter pins, and spraying teflon onto the slugs and travelers to ensure that sails are easily raised and lowered.  
One of the foreign boats; this one is from Sweden.

Dinghies are being deflated and hauled up onto the foredecks by use of a halyard.  They are then securely lashed down to prevent being dislodged if hit by a big wave.  Every boat is provisioning in one way or another.  
Lots of lists.  This one - Meats in the freezer.

While most people are filling up their freezer and refrigerator with various cuts of meat, pre-cooked (as I have done) others are buying ready-made frozen dinners to feed a crew of 6, for ~$36/dinner.  Shuttles are running three times/day from the marina to West Marine and grocery stores to help us with provisioning.  
Aft end of catamaran.  Cats have LOTS more room than monohulls.

The Rally organizers have made arrangements for some unique services for us, too.  Each boat has already submitted their paperwork for Customs and Immigration.  Antigua wants to see that the boats have been signed out of the previous country, so the U.S. Customs Office is providing us with courtesy documentation for that.  
This younger couple is traveling with their 3 pre-schoolers.

People who have oxygen tanks for deep-sea diving have sent them to be filled in Norfolk.  On Tuesday, our propane tanks will be filled and returned the same day. It is propane that fuels our cooking stove, our Dickenson wall heater and our barbecue mounted on the back of our boat. 
Milling about in between seminars.

The Rally has even arranged for a veterinarian to be onsite to examine and verify the health of each of the 15 cats and dogs that will be sailing to Antigua.  Yesterday, a representative from Garmin came to our boat and updated all our Garmin software on the chart plotter and radar.
Presentation by Quantum Sails rep

The seminars have been practical and to-the-point.  Before today, we have had seminars about examining our rigging, sail trim, SSB (single-side-band) communication, fishing during the passage and a special round-table for women.  
When you need to "park" the boat in rough weather.

Today we had a seminar on sailing in bad weather and the Care and Feeding of the Captain and crew.  Tomorrow morning we’ll review all of the events that are planned when we arrive in Antigua.  On Tuesday, the US Coast Guard will provide a morning-long presentation about their rescue procedures and First Aid at sea.  
This is a Coast Guard Rescue swimmer.

We will be receiving webinars from the Rally weather router, Chris Parker.  He will be following the rally boats and advising them regarding sailing a course to avoid the worst weather if possible.  We have already been advised that there is currently a large eddy in the Gulf Stream due east of Hampton which will necessitate a more southerly crossing of the Gulf Stream than would otherwise be done.
She and husband have sailed this Rally many times.

We are meeting lots of new people here, an equally important aspect of the Salty Dawg Rally. There is so much to learn from other sailors.  We’ve been able to make a few important decisions in the last few days, based upon the experience of others we have met.  All of our preparations here in Hampton are done with the goal in mind of a safe passage. 
Raising a new sail 

If I were to attempt to describe this group of people, I would have to say that we are, on the whole, a rather plucky group, eager to learn from one another, tolerant of periodic discomfort, but not for braggadocio, regardless of the thousands of ocean miles behind some of them. And although preparing for an ocean passage is clearly a sober undertaking, this group seems to find levity in all kinds of places.  
A beautiful boat that will be sailing with us.

I was reminded today of an old trick to play on the boat’s Captain; the long and short of the trick is that after the Captain has ensured that every inch of his boat is tight and shipshape, one of the crew tosses a random cotter pin or bolt onto the clean deck. How hard will the Captain work to track down the origin of that cotter pin? Of course, the trick works just as well, when the random piece of hardware is tossed onto your neighbor’s boat. 


Salty Dawg flag, Seven Seas Cruising & Ocean Cruising Club
Only a few more days now before departure.  The excitement here is palpable. Last-minute fruit and vegetable provisioning remains to be done although the boat is already overflowing with canned food and dry goods   Two large boxes of food supplies are wedged into the shower stall, along with a bin of crew snacks that anyone can pilfer as needed anytime, day or night.  
We filled a 10 gal. Ziplock bag with "snacks" for the passage.

We are expecting another couple of boxes of supplies ordered through Amazon Prime before our departure. One more load of laundry will be done before we leave the U.S. The crew will move aboard on Tuesday or Wednesday in anticipation of departure November 2nd, if the current weather forecast holds true.  Some final details will be shared with you just before we set sail.  Stay tuned.


Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Leaving a Best Friend Behind

Norfolk is on the shore beyond
Today we arrived in Hampton, Virginia by sailboat.  While 99% of all the boats on the ICW (IntraCoastal Waterway) were going south, we were going north to Hampton for the start of the Salty Dawg Rally. Two nights ago, when we stopped in Coinjock, the dockhand deadpanned a question…”You know you’re going the wrong way, don’t you?”  
Lying low and trembling

good stiff wind on St. James River
Today was not an especially good day for Jax.  While he loves being in close contact with his human pack on Northern Star, he does not love it when the boat is heeling or when we are plowing through waves causing the bow to pound up and down.  
Jax loves extra attention when it's a bumpy ride

He was trembling most of the last 10 miles owing to a 35 knot wind pushing significant waves at us as we went up the St. James River.  
At the start of our sailing life, 2015

Jax in NYC.


Jax on ICW

Jax picks a comfy spot





Jax wasn't crazy about stand-up paddling

Jax has been, in our opinion, a remarkable boat dog.  A more accommodating, tolerant and patient dog than we could have hoped for.  

Jax has never learned to like brushing





A leeward pee

Early morning on the water
Among his most notable achievements are the ability to pee off the side of the boat, often times choosing the preferable leeward side. If he does make the mistake of aiming into the wind, he’s fastidious about his own hygiene.  
Happy day onboard for Jax

When we are unable to make it to land for bowel movements, he does his preparatory back and forth trot from port to starboard and back again before carefully placing his stool up on the bow, next to the wash-down pump. 
A preparatory trot before stooling on bow

Carl and Jax.  
Many sailors with dogs have admitted they are envious that our dog has these two skills. When they ask how we taught him to do that, it’s a perfect opportunity for a chuckle about the difficulty of demonstrating such skills inter-species. 
Hmmm....an animal that doesn't move, and no odor.  How odd.....

When we're at a dock, Jax knows that when one of us jumps off the boat to walk somewhere nearby, he is not allowed to jump off without permission to do so.  
Waiting for a walk

He will position himself on the bow or wherever he finds the best vantage point to observe us from a distance, even when that means waiting in the hot sun.  He will obviously take advantage of shade when available.  
Good vantage point to people watch

He waits patiently for his leash to be hooked up after we’ve gotten off the boat to go for a walk.  He waits again to be unhooked, before jumping back onto the boat when we return. 
Jumping up or down to the dinghy.  No problem.

He does not require the ideal circumstances for jumping on and off the boat, which is great because rarely do we have the ideal conditions. 

Jax will pick the best spot from which to jump.
Nine times out of 10, he is obligated to figure out where he should jump to find the shortest distance to the dock and whether he should scramble under the bottom lifeline or jump between the two lifelines on his return.


Jax kept an eye on me from the bow

This summer while I was sewing under the covered pavillion in front of our boat, he spent hours watching me.  Carl would bring a sandwich out to me mid-day and we enjoyed calling him to come join us while we ate lunch.  “Jax, Come.”  
He appreciated having a shade canopy.

At that invitation, he leapt off the boat and ran headlong to us with tail wagging and a big dog smile for us. 
Jax helps recycle.

Oh, there was a time or three, when he just couldn’t wait to be invited and out of the corner of an eye we saw him slink toward us, tail hanging down and head low.  

On the bow of the dinghy in the Bahamas.
Clearly, he banked on our forgiveness for breaking the rule. I swear he  thought he could perhaps arrive unnoticed if he made himself smaller.  One of us would return him to the boat, and after he boarded, we could then invite him properly to join us.

Striking a pose in Annapolis
Jax loves riding in the dinghy.  He claims the bow of the dinghy as his domain, often placing himself upright on the tube where he has the best views and best sniffs, no doubt.  He has introduced us to more people than we could have ever met on our own.  This he does without even trying.  “Oh, what a pretty dog!  What kind of dog is he?” And the conversation is underway.  

Making friends with puppy on Bahama beach
He excels in the dogly graces of mutual sniffing and engaging other canines to play.  Rarely has he met a dog he doesn’t like.  

He’s gentle with puppies and offers corrections promptly and patiently when an overly rambunctious yearling leaps all over him. 
Jax calmed this guy down a little 

"Is it really necessary to climb on my nose?"
Jax is a healthy 13 year old dog.  Devoted and smart and funny and lovable to all humans who like dogs, barring small children. He is one in a million, in our book.  And that is why our decision to leave him behind when we go to the Caribbean is so hard.  
Late afternoon on the ICW

Jax, the stick-chaser extraordinaire.
We’ve spent months thinking about this.  We don’t feel right about asking Jax to take the long (10 to 20 days?) ocean voyage with us.  We know he would be miserable but for the calmest of days.  He doesn’t eat or drink or pee when the boat heels.  We just cannot do that to him.  Getting to the Bahamas was an easy 36 hours in great weather.  No one can predict the weather and sea state for 10 to 20 days in advance.  
Jax off the coast of Massachusetts

If he were to get sick out there, there is little we could do for him but suffer along with him.  Arriving in the Caribbean poses other problems. Each country has their own regulations about bringing animals into the country.  We do not want to risk him being quarantined ever. For a dog that is so watchful of his pack, that would be the cruelest thing to do to him.  
Jax walks by his human's side, as if on leash.

Because the boat will not be returning to the States for at least two years, Jax would essentially be trapped in the Caribbean, and obligated to stay behind when we fly back to visit family for a month or more. Again, too cruel to do to him.  
Sad face outside a closed door.


"Do you need me to jump in there to save you?"



Jax survived the hot summer and fall in Oriental but we were able to use the A/C on the boat and Jax reliably chose the coolest spot on the boat to lie down. We would rarely have that option in the Caribbean.  He would become “that black, furry and very hot dog” that everyone in the Caribbean would feel sorry for, especially Carl and me.  
Jax, ever attentive to his humans


Jax has been invited to live with some dear friends who live in Washington D.C..  They offered their home before we thought to ask and for that we are so grateful.  They know Jax well, and know that they are signing up for black dog hair that will inevitably turn up where it is not expected.  They love Jax.  And he loves them.  We will be renting a car to drive Jax up to Washington D.C. this weekend.  It will be the hardest return trip we will likely log from visiting friends.
Jax will love his new home. We will miss him so.