{"id":682,"date":"2013-12-04T17:58:21","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T21:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/?p=682"},"modified":"2013-12-04T17:58:21","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T21:58:21","slug":"thawing-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/2013\/12\/04\/thawing-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Thawing Out"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lighthouse\"<\/a>
Holiday-decorated lighthouse at Hampton, VA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am writing from a coffee shop in Portsmouth, VA. \u00a0I can just see\u00a0Idle Queen<\/em>‘s mast from where I am sitting. \u00a0It is wonderful not to have 6 layers of clothing on for the moment. \u00a0Temperatures have moderated from the unseasonable cold that we experienced from the time we left Cape Cod until just a couple of days ago. \u00a0Today’s high approached 60, and the low stayed way above freezing. \u00a0It finally feels like we have made good progress south. \u00a0Of course, it can get down into the teens here this time of year, but that is unusual. \u00a0A week ago, we actually had temps that low.<\/p>\n

The trip down the Chesapeake was slow, cold, and at times, rough. \u00a0From Annapolis, we motored to Solomons, MD, where we spent Thanksgiving waiting out a gale. \u00a0I decided to ride the tail end of that wind down to Little Creek, to visit with friends. \u00a0The forecast called for light NW winds, so I figured that we would have to motor part of the way. \u00a0We set out with 20 knots. \u00a0OK. \u00a0I thought it would taper off. \u00a0Actually, it ended up staying up there, and then some. \u00a0By the time we were nearing the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay, it was blowing 25 knots and gusting higher. \u00a0The only sail up was a double-reefed main and the staysail, but we were cranking along at 6.5 knots and more. \u00a0It was obvious that we would arrive in Little Creek much earlier than I wanted to. \u00a0I was cold and tired, as the temps were in the high 20’s, so I decided to heave-to rather than enter the harbor at 0300. \u00a0I found enough room and hove-to under just a double-reefed main. \u00a0The next few hours were spent getting bounced around in a steep Chesapeake chop, but I could rest. \u00a0Michele kept a lookout for traffic while we waited for first light.<\/p>\n

As soon as 0600 rolled around, I unlashed the tiller and pointed us for Little Creek. \u00a0With steep waves standing up in the entrance, the channel provided a bit of a challenge for the 35-foot sportfishing boat that I watched crashing out of the harbor in great white plumes of spray, but\u00a0Idle Queen<\/em> rode in on top of the waves without shipping even a few drops on deck. \u00a0I needn’t have worried about entering this port in the dark. \u00a0Little Creek has a huge, well-marked channel and I easily found a spot to anchor between the first two marinas. \u00a0Sleep came quickly once the boat was secure.<\/p>\n

In Little Creek, we had a marvelous visit with friends who also own a Dreadnought 32. \u00a0They are a couple in their 30’s, which is a pretty small demographic among the cruising community. \u00a0They have done a beautiful job renovating their boat, and I enjoyed soaking in ideas for improvements to make on\u00a0Idle Queen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As tempted as I was to stay in Little Creek for the winter, it was decided that we should push a little farther south before hauling\u00a0Idle Queen<\/em> for some much-needed maintenance. \u00a0The current plan is to go at least as far as Oriental. \u00a0We will be taking the Dismal Swamp Canal route, and will be making an early start tomorrow morning to catch a fair current. \u00a0I am looking forward to a couple days on sheltered water…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am writing from a coffee shop in Portsmouth, VA. \u00a0I can just see\u00a0Idle Queen‘s mast from where I am sitting. \u00a0It is wonderful not to have 6 layers of clothing on for the moment. \u00a0Temperatures have moderated from the unseasonable cold that we experienced from the time we left Cape Cod until just a… Continue reading Thawing Out<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[59,24],"tags":[36,39,70,28,71,69],"class_list":["post-682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising-updates","category-dreadnought-32-idle-queen","tag-cruising","tag-dreadnought-32","tag-hampton","tag-idle-queen","tag-portsmouth","tag-solomons-md"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ztFW-b0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setforsea.com\/barrystravels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}