Yes, it can!

Virginity can be lost twice…at least on a sailboat (or what we wish would be a sailboat more often).  High ZZ’s has just completed its second lost virginity transit.  The one where Shep and Deb, with no other crew, and no companion boat, transit overnight, offshore.   A slow, routine, some would say almost boring, trip down the ICW was transformed over two nights into a great leap forward in competence and beautiful weather.   High ZZ’s left Southport NC at 0900 Friday, sailed (well motor-sailed) out the Cape Fear River and arrived at 1000, Sunday in Saint Simons GA.   On a sailboat you say?  Well, do we wish more of one, but we have to continue to sing praises to YP, our trusty Yanmar Powerplant.   It took 49 total hours: 3 hr actually sailing in quiet bliss, 26 hr motor-sailing (not to bad, since engine RPM’s are way down), and 20 hr motoring.  And this seems to be the pattern developing for most transits.   Gone are the days of going down to the boat on Claytor Lake only when the winds are good enough to sail.   When you are trying to get someplace, in a certain amount of time (the vast majority of coastal cruising), well, you have to keep going and get there!  The winds varied from 15-0 kts, most of the time, and when there was enough of the predicted northwest wind, this allowed a broad reach with 1-3 ft following swells.    But too often the wind dropped below 10kts, slowing us way down (High ZZ’s can only sail at ~1/2 of the wind speed), and we wanted to get to Saint Simons while the weather was still fine; so out comes the trusty YP iron wind generator!   Most of the nights were calm motors in <2 ft, swells, but, apparently, King Neptune has not been entirely happy with us, having changed the name of our sailboat.  So we got 14-16 kts on the nose, and 2-4 ft seas to jump into the last 6 hrs of the trip until turning into Saint Simons Sound.    We had to slow way down to keep from slamming into the head-seas, and once, it made Deb bounce so high, she had to change beds to the settee.     But, we are finally in a warm place with 80F days and nights in the 60’s!

And yes, Marshall, we did miss the third crew, making the night watches less burdensome.  But, it was time for us to “grow up” to real couples cruising and do it on our own…but we were not really alone.  Just like our last offshore transit, we had a stowaway.    This little bird made itself at home, probably very tired since it arrived when we were 20+ miles offshore.  But, unlike last time, this one was insectivorous, making itself useful by consuming numerous biting flies and pesky moths.   It stayed with us overnight, sleeping, as you can see, snugly in the cabin…but the little bastard would not get up for its night watches!   As soon as we entered the Saint Simons Channel, it abandoned us and headed for the shore.  Can someone identify our friend (species)?  Anyway, we are off to Jekyll Island tomorrow.  Neat place, nice beach…we will have a swim in the 76F water.   We must wait until Nov. 1 to cross south of N 31 degrees, and Jekyll is N 31 04 min….have a nice winter!

Sunrise Hospital Point Portsmouth

We are off, again; leaving Deltaville after two and one-half months (only 2 weeks behind schedule, good for the “Shep Factor”) spent on boat repairs/maintenance/upgrades.   The first evening, High ZZ’s was lying peacefully at anchor (on the rode) at Red “36”, the official start of the ICW, at Hospital Point, Portsmouth, VA.    Wow, did we learn a lot about boat maintenance, life “on the hard” and the cruising community.   Our newest upgrade, 300 watts of solar panels, silently charged the batteries as we sailed the 50 nm from Deltaville to Portsmouth.   Got to love modern technology!  I learned all about wire sizing for <3% drop in current, what a “shunt” does, how to attach solar panels to a bimini arch….who said that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks?   Many thanks to Craig, Bill, Steve, Mark… did we mention how friendly and helpful fellow cruisers are?   Our new friends on Tilt, Casa Blanca, Motu, and old friends on Rachel can be counted on to loan you tools, offer expert advice, a consoling ear when things go wrong….  Many think that when they start cruising, they will be out there, alone, left to their own devices; but nothing could be further than the truth.   Fellow cruisers are quick to lend a hand and offer assistance, and this makes the loss of contact with “land friends” much easier to take.  Not a day goes by when you don’t get some useful tidbit from fellow cruisers.

High ZZ’s at the DIsmal Swamp Visitor’s Center

A useful tidbit we received:  “try the Dismal Swamp Canal, if only just once, you will love it.”  Well we would have to say that the third time in the Dismal Swamp, we finally did enjoy.  DS trip one, early February, not a good time: too cold, too many snags overhead and in the water.  DS trip two, mid-June: hot and buggy, no breeze, crowded visitor center docks.  DS trip three, mid-October, very nice!  No bugs, high 70’s, nice breeze, only one other boat at the free dock, Canadians Richard and Heather on Salvation, very friendly.  We can finally recommend it to others.  Another good recommendation was to stop in Elizabeth City.   Very friendly town with free docks, a “Rose Buddies” hosted wine and cheese reception (if five or more new boats show on the same day), and lots of neat little shops to visit in the rainy weather we had.  One strong word of caution, the free docks at Mariner’s Warf are very exposed and have very rough water in all but the most settled weather.  After taking a beating all night, we shifted back north, above the drawbridge, to Jennette Brothers docks (also a free place run by a local food distributor)…see how friendly EC is!

We hope to be moving again Thursday, after this big front passes.  We will try to get to the FL/GA line as early in November as possible (cannot cross the 31^st parallel until the hurricane season is officially over Nov. 1, unless we want to risk being uninsured).  Our goal is Venice FL, sometime in early December…but we know the rule:  you can say when, or you can say where, but when cruising on a sailboat, you just cannot say

Deep Creek Lock

when and where at the same time.