July 6, 2016
NM Today: 35
NM To Date: 5597
We pulled out of Cape Charles just after 9:00 a.m. and waved goodbye to the osprey mom and her babes.
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| Mother Osprey |
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| Leaving Hazy Cape Charles |
It took almost an hour to weave our way out of Cape Charles and along the "twisty-turny" channel to get out into Chesapeake Bay. The sun hid behind a hazy sky for our crossing to Yorktown. For a change I piloted the boat for a large portion of our trip. Clark used this unique opportunity to take care of some business and make some phone calls.
As we neared Yorktown Clark took over the helm. Given the low visibility, we used the radar to expand our visibility of on-coming vessels and aids to navigation. On our chart plotter we could see a conglomeration of four vessels via the AIS display and wondered what was on a heading to cross our path into Yorktown.
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| Four triangles on top of each other? What the heck? (ours is the little black oval boat on the right) |
AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a tracking system used to identify and locate vessels by exchanging data electronically via base stations and satellites. We installed this system on Sea Moss specifically for our Great Loop trip before leaving New Jersey in June of 2015. For situations of this sort, it has proven extremely valuable. With the hazy skies and reduced visibility, we knew via AIS that other vessels approached well before we could see them.
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| Hazy Day - Vessels on the Horizon |
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| SS Cornhusker State and 3 Tugs |
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| McAllister Tug with towline |
As the four vessels approached the George P. Coleman bridge, two sections of the bridge swung open in anticipation of the vessels passing through. About this time the vessels slowed their speed considerably presumably to ensure safe passage through the bridge. Clearly the cars trying to cross the bridge would have a very long wait!
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| Bridge open and waiting for the ships to arrive |
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| Sailing Vessel Alliance |
We docked at the same marina as the Alliance. With the exception of one other sailboat, we are the only boats docked at this marina. When we checked in, we learned from the dockmaster that the SS Cornhusker State is a crane boat used as for training purposes loading and unloading freight.
After checking in we took a walk to get our culture tour for the day.
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| General George Washington with Admiral Francois de Grasse monument in Yorktown, VA |
We walked to the Waterman's Museum and took a tour. I learned some interesting facts about the Revolutionary War in general and battles fought in the Yorktown vicinity specifically. A windmill occupies one corner of the museum grounds. The original Yorktown Windmill was built in 1711 and used to grind corn. This windmill provided the bulk of the flour for York county during the 18th and 19th centuries. The windmill was reconstructed to its current beautiful condition in 2008.
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| "Miss Evelyn" (great name!) Windmill at Waterman's Museum in Yorktown, VA |
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| Gears in Windmill |
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| Used to Grind Corn to flour |
The Victory Center is being renamed to the American Revolution Museum later this year. As we approached the museum we passed by an interesting "fort".
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| Royal Welsh Fusiliers Redoubt from 1781 Siege of Yorktown |
As we walked around the town, we saw a number of historic homes and buildings.
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| Cole Digges House c. 1730 refurbished 1925 |
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| Custom House c. 1720 |
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| One of many "private" residences with signs telling visitors to stay out |
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| Yorktown Victory Monument Construction authorized in 1781 upon surrender and completed 100 years later in 1884 |
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| Inscribed with "One Country - One Destiny - One Constitution" |
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| Base is 84 feet high and Liberty adds another 14 feet on top |
After seeing the monument we walked back down the hill to the river.
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| View of York River |
Having suffered the extreme heat and humidity (heat index of around 105 degrees) for several hours, we decided to head back to the air-conditioned boat and relax for a while. Later we went out for dinner and chose the Water Street Grille.
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| Water Street Grille in Yorktown, VA |
We thought about staying in Yorktown for two nights, but we have seen what we want to of the sights and this location has no easy access to either laundry facilities or a grocery store. Given the lack of convenient services, we leave in the morning for the next spot on our itinerary.
After proof reading today's blog installment, Clark requested that I add the following update ...
In yesterday's blog I showed Clark performing surgery on his VHF radio. I am glad to report that the patient survived and is doing well. We did have a bit of a scare however. When Clark installed the radio last night, he turned it on and nothing happened. It did not even light up. He thought the patient had died.
After he had already plugged the cables into the unit, he noticed that the volume control was left in the on position and the circuit breaker for the radio was left switched on as well. Generally this is not a good thing to do and can cause damage to the radio. Pulling off the power connector from the radio, he discovered the connector had no DC power which suggested a blown fuse. This required lifting the console on the fly bridge to access the fuse in line with the circuit breaker. After examining the fuse he found that it was clearly blown and needed replacement.
Clark dug through his boxes of parts and miraculously came up with a replacement 10 amp fuse. Once the fuse was replaced, he trialed the radio anticipating three possible outcomes. 1) the fuse could blow again indicating a short in the radio and therefore a damaged radio, 2) the original problem could still exist, or 3) the radio could work normally. Happily the radio worked in the quick trial last night, and the operation further proved successful during today's usage.
The conclusion is that re-flowing the solder on the third leg of the volume control fixed the intermittent audio problem that appeared in Norfolk.
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