A Toast to Gambit

 

Steve and Nan Simpson toast to the renaming of Gambit, LNVT 37VT29 at Friday Harbor, WA. 

East Coast Rendezvous 2022

 Kristen and Kenny Bishop, Highland Mary 37VT18, just confirmed they will host the East Coast LNVT Rendezvous mid-May 2022 in Aquila Harbor, Virginia 

Tug Spotting Chesapeake Bay

 

Highland Mary 37VT18 was spotted on the Chesapeake on their way to visit Dave and Bicki Howell (ex-Nellie D 37VT63) in Church Creek, MD. Kenny and Kristin Bishop were  all smiles after a fun 3 day visit. Next stop will be Bob Allnutt’s (ex-Victory 37VT02) off the Potomac River. 

A Tug Fender

after a successful cruise to the Erie Canal, WhimSea 37VT64 returns to winter quarters.  Lots of upgrades are in the works and will be ready when she splashes in the spring.

Cohasset Harbor - A Quiet Night

 Jeanne Ewing-Koenig of Salty Paws reports a southbound journey to NJ after a summer long voyage to Maine

Belfast Harbor Slack Tide

 

From Maine Sailing and Cruising Facebook page. Photo credit Robert Maynes. Titled Belfast Harnor Slack Tide. 

Highland Mary - It’s a Small World

 

LaSalle Returns to Lake Erie

 LaSalle cruising outside of Cleveland. 

LaSalle #23 cruising on Lake Erie

Tom Healy, LaSalle’s owner, reports she has returned to Lake Erie back where she started in 1985.

White Smoke in the Engine Exhaust

John and Sue Mackie, John William 37VT68, are cruising from Michigan to Florida.  Last week, in the C&D canal, John started to feel a severe engine vibration.  He said that when he opened the Tommy Door the engine appeared to be dancing on the mounts and there was a lot of white smoke in the exhaust.  Turns out the fuel injector pump had failed and the white smoke is a result of fuel being injected at the wrong time.  

Alan Seymour’s quest for Dew Point

 

Alan Seymour’s efforts to find an effective method to display Dew Point while on board Sally W was detailed in the Panbo article found at https://panbo.com/monitoring-dew-point-temperature-at-your-helm-why-and-how/.   Alan worked with Ben Ellison to find the right equipment and connections to make the displays work properly.  The quest for dew point is important in Maine where the fog can set in fast and heavy.  The bottom line is the closer the air temperature approaches the dew point there is a likelihood of fog, conversely as they diverge fog lifts.  I suggest if you have any questions on this topic to ask the LNVT expert, Alan Seymour. 

 

John Niccolls - Great Trip to NYC

 

John Niccolls reports a great trip to New York City and is making his way back to the Chesapeake. 

LNVT’s and the Erie Canal

 

The Erie Canal is ideal cruising for an LNVT. The pace is slow, the scenery pastoral, and the towns welcoming. Currently at Fairport, the dockage is $14 including the wall, electric, water, restrooms and showers. Of course the dockage is offset with the need to shop and dine. This is part of the plan along the canal, entice folks with good dockage and they will engage in local commerce. 

It looks like Fairport will be home for a bit as I received a “Notice to Mariners” about lock closures due to Hurricane Fred remnants. It rained in New York State for about 48 hours, water levels are high and locks 24 - 28B are currently closed. Cross your fingers Hurricane Henri doesn’t bend west or WhimSea might put down roots in Fairport. 

Gotta put the mast down to get through the canal. 

Whimsea 37VT64 Spotted

 

Whinsea spotted sailing into Erie, PA by Dave Forsman.

Whimsea Moving East

This just in from Whimsea 37VT64

Just left Geneva on the Lake this morning. Heading east across Lake Erie to the Erie Canal. Originally planned the triangle in Canada but now planning Burlington VT and reverse. We’ll see how timing goes. I’ll head back to home base end of Sept. I found a great guy who will work on the boat over the winter so need to get it there. It’s so good to have WhimSea moving. She has been extremely popular at every port. I expected that a bit but she is the belle of every Marina.

Barb Robertson, barbandstowe@yahoo.com

A Great Loop Journey of 6,000 miles begins with the first waypoint.

 

After years of just talking about it, WhimSea started her Great Loop journey on 31 July.  The start is about 2 months late but she is finally underway.  The 2 month delay was mostly the yard not having time to work on her. The best work was her spa treatment. In fact, she looks so good after the spa treatment the dreaded credit card melting paint job might be put off a few years. On day one of the Great Loop journey I learned there’s no amount of planning to prepare you for the crazy stuff.  The first crazy was a “No Fix” reading on the Raymarine Chartplotter. No problem I’m running AquaMap on my IPAD, until I left the shore and I realized the IPAD I specifically purchased for navigation, was the wrong one and couldn’t hold a  GPS signal.  Fortunately,  I was in very familiar waters with a lifetime of experience and didn’t really need navigation help. I also had attempted triple redundancy and downloaded all the maps to my iPhone and it worked great. The final crazy was the weather forecast, good waves and wind if you don’t mind a chance of waterspouts. Although only a few nautical miles it feels good to be underway at last.