Edward and I got down to Santosha on Wednesday evening to get a couple of chores done before the trip, oil change fueling up etc… There is always a great sense of anticipation, that I love, arriving the night before a long trip and this would be our longest afloat.
Our plan was to sail and troll for Rockfish down the Rappahannock and anchor at Little Bay or Fishing Bay for the first night about a 25 km run. In fact we were not planning on setting foot on dry land for the entire trip.
Heading out tonight for the annual Fishing trip with the boys, 9th. year!
Here are a few pics from the last few years, notice how few contain Fish and how cold we look 🙂
After a wonderful few days in Fleets Bay it was time to roll back up the Rappahannock to the slip in Urbanna.
After taking Mojo on a quick walk and making some coffee we cast off at 730am. I wanted to get an early start as the trip would be 6 hours and we had to clean the boat and get back to Richmond for work the following day.
I was hoping to get some sailing in as we left the protection of Indian Creek.
Its been too long, so here is a trip that I plan on repeating this year!
Took a couple of days off last week so that we could get out on the water one last time before the kids went back to school.
The plan was to sail down to the beach at Little Bay, just north of Windmill Point and raft up for the night with our friends Daniel and Karen.
Memorial Day Weekend
After all the work I have done in the past few months, Santosha is not close to being “Re-fit” I still have plumbing and electrical to replace, however she is very usable so we piled the kids and their friends, and the dog , and Jean and I into the car and set off Friday afternoon.
The plan was that we would roll out early and try to make it to Dividing Creek, just north of Fleets Bay, about a 30 mile trip up and around Windmill Point. Being that Santosha only sleeps five the kids slept outside the first night.
I have no desire to do this, but I have followed this race since I was a kid, when it was the Whitbread.
Apparently more people have climbed Everest than sailed around the Cape!
First let me say that this is neither an endorsement or a review, everybody has their own comfort level when it comes to going aloft. Personally I understand that I need the ability to climb the mast but I dread heights. I do own an old style wooden Bosuns’s Chair but my family does not have the power to get me up the mast nor the skills to get me down safely. Therefore I have been looking at two other interesting systems, the ATN Mast Climber and the Mast Mate. Both systems look very safe and reliable as long as you take the right precautions, climbing harness, don’t go up with out a man on deck with a safety line etc.
Rick from Middle Bay Sailing had some interesting observations about the ATN System which reminded me of my Fathers comments about the one that he owned, but never used.
Today I went down to Urbanna to do a couple of projects, neither of which involved fixing the deck light that was hanging by its wire from the port spreader. I ran in to my friend Matt down there and asked him about the Mast Mate that he owns. He promptly retrieved it and suggested that we see if the mast slides fit. Unfortunately for me they did.
Three years ago we purchased an Allied Seawind 32, a salty looking world cruiser from the 1970’s and re-named her Santosha, Sanskrit for “being content with what you have and where you are”
At the Slip in Urbanna Creek
Re Named
Adventure Time
We are based in Urbanna, VA on the Rappahannock River.
We started this blog because when we were looking for a boat I found the best research on the pros and cons of a design was from real users. Also I regularly check out others blogs and sites to find how to restore and fix an older “Plastic Classic” Cruisers, so maybe we can help others learn from our mistakes.
The Chesapeake Bay is such a wonderful place to sail, yet there seems to be few sites dedicated to the region compared to the sites covering the Caribbean. I hope that we can show others some of the great local places that we cruise to and hope that other can share their favorites with us.
This site is new so please keep checking back as I add more content and projects from the last three years.
Adam.
Written by an average-height brunette
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