Log #39 - Pagan River Cruise - September 10, 2004

Friday, September 10, 2004 through Sunday, September 12, 2004 (3 days and 2 nights)

While I was waiting for the Rover I took this picture of a cargo ship tied up at Lamberts Point.
The Rover was a little slower than I expected because I was able to meet it until about 4 PM.  But it was worth it because the group did a pretty good cheer when they spotted me and Kerrie got a kick out of it so it was fun.

Jonathan as seen from the Rover.

Here is a picture of the mosquito hatch cover that mom made me for my birthday.

When I first pulled in there were several boats taking an evening sail.

I was just off the Norfolk Air Station so there was lots of interesting air activity.

With water all around it was a Beautifulsunset...

The sun is almost gone...

The colors really were this intense.  I was mindful of the old sailor's saying "Red sky at morning sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight."
Saturday I headed out for the North River on Mobjack Bay and I crossed the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and headed north.  But the wind was out of the north and were fairly strong (some whitecaps) and I decided that I wasn't in the mood for that kind of a tacking battle and decided to head back towards the James.  After studying the chart I decided on the Pagan River.

About this time the wind changed and seemed to be from the East and was directly behind so I was doing wing and wing.  Another sailboat passed me and I thought - hey what can I do about that.  I decided to take down my lapper jib and put up my 150% Genoa.  This took about 15 minutes but I was glad I did because I ended up sailing wing and wing for several hours.  I guess he didn't want to sail wing and wing because after sailing across the Monitor Merrimac tunnel he tacked to port so he could sail on a broad reach.  I kept sailing wing and wing and when he finally tacked to starboard I was surprised to find that I was well ahead of him.  He followed me wing and wing to the James River Bridge and we both turned west towards the Pagan River.  I took down my sails as I approached the Pagan and decided to motor the river while the other sailboat left her sails up.  I found out later (by listening to the sailboat confirm his Smithfield Station slip reservation) that the sailboat was a 36 footer. 

I thought I had been on the Pagan River before but realized that I hadn't.  It was a much shorter and more developed river than I thought.  I think the last time I took a wrong turn and what I explored was Jones Creek or maybe even Lawnes Creek.  I will have to check my notes on that sail to see if I can judge which creek I was on.  But, that creek was actually prettier.

Still, the Pagan was pretty enough and there were a lot of houses on the river which were interesting.   At Smith Field station I watched the 36' sailboat dock at the T dock and watched a 54' cabin cruiser (a real beauty with a crowd of people on it) back into the "harbor" and dock on the side pier.  Pretty impressive seamanship on the part of the cabin cruiser Captain.  I'm sure I wouldn't have looked nearly as good doing it.  But, I'm sure I would have made it. 

After that I headed back out the Pagan looking for an anchorage.  There really weren't any great anchorages and I anchored just to the side of Mark "18" in about four feet of water - one of the beauties of a small boat like the P19.  Again it was pretty windy (about 10 mph) so I set out both of my anchors a 15 pound Danforth and an 8 pound mushroom.   Again it was about 6 PM and I had a very relaxing soup and salad and a couple of adult beverages (read Budweiser).  On the radio I was lucky to listen to a very entertaining 2 hour radio show of the Prairie Home companion.  There was another beautiful sunset - which made for another very relaxing and satisfying evening.

Sunday I got another early start; here are a couple of pictures I took the next morning while heading out the Pagan towards the James...

I assume hurricane Isabel did this last year.

James River Bridge

Newport News

Coast Guard helicopter.

Just before crossing the Monitor Merrimac bridge tunnel the wind picked up (probably around 12 to 13 mph) and I decided to take down the Genoa jib and put the Lapper jib back on.  Big mistake.  I forgot to attach the line to the CDI halyard and the halyard line went up out of reach.  This was something I had always feared I would do and when it happened I said "yep-there it is" and "lamented" that this was going to cost time and put a damper on the pleasant sail I'd been having.  I took down the main as I decided I couldn't resolve the situation in the rough water.  But, after motoring for a few minutes I decided to see if I could use the boat hook to get the halyard down.  I taped the boat hook to my gin pole and after about an hour I was able to hook the line and bring it down and finish rigging the Lapper Jib.  I didn't feel too bad about this because this was something I always felt was bound to happen and now I know I have a solution that worked at least once.

For the next two hours I had an invigorating tacking sailing session back toward the Norfolk Harbor.  Due to Hampton Bay Days the Hampton Flats and the Elizabeth River were filled with sailboats - the most I have ever seen on the water.  Once I turned up the Elizabeth the wind really died down and it was a pleasant sail with the tide.   At ODU there was some kind of small sailboat competition going on - there must have been about 40 small boats on the water.  I wish I had taken the time to get in closer and take some video.  I didn't take the sails down until I entered the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River.  It was another very nice sailing day and a good capper to a nice relaxing weekend. 

After getting home and saying hi to everyone and taking a much needed shower I sat down to watch the Redskins opening game and the first one with Joe Gibbs being back.  Before leaving I had set the VCR set up to tape the 1 PM game and at 7 PM I poured myself a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and fired it up the game.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Redskins beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16 to 10.  Welcome back Joe Gibbs!

A very nice and relaxing weekend.  Here is the track of the trip - which totaled 78.4 miles.