24 Oct-4 Nov Transient, On the Hard, and back Underway

Getting underway by 0600 from the Norfolk Naval Base was critical to make the 0820 null tide in Portsmouth VA Ocean Marine haul facility.  The Elizabeth River cross current just in front of the small lift-out  slip made approach and exit tough, especially for a single handled sailor.  It's been almost 3 years since the last bottom paint - the Micron 66 and PropSpeed really held up great with the monthly bottom cleaning. We last cleaned the bottom in late August...keeping The Belle underway weekly sure made a difference on bottom maintenance!

With bottom sanded and recoated with Micron 66, thru-hulls pulled and cleaned, hull cleaned, polished and waxed, prop polished and PropSpeed coated, 5 blisters on the rudder opened, ground, filled, barrier coated, and painted...The Belle is ready for another couple of years of family cruising fun.

With a steady 15-18 kt wind, all sails out and close-hauled pushing 7.2 kts with the tide, the in-coming Carnival cruise ship closes in on The Belle at the narrowest part of the ICW/Elizabeth River channel as we get in stride sailiing home to the Norfolk Navy Base.  The Carnival ship captain asks that we "hug the green markers"... and keeping to the windward side of the channel, we trim a bit, and continue the run north as the beast-ship passes to port. Clean bottom and new sails sure make for great fast sailing!

 

With the Carnival cruise ship aft, the waves start to build as we head north and approach the opening to the Chesapeake Bay and the 100mi fetch that brought the superb steady NE wind and now building swells.  A great sailing day for The Belle!