Change 3....'Touch and Go'...we leave the Bay....'Dive, dive'!!
Wallace's Sailing Adventure on "Arbella"
Mike and Vicki Wallace
Wed 30 Oct 2013 17:01
Since we had very light conditions at the bottom of the Bay (flat seas,
clear sky, 5-10 knots of wind, out of the south), we queried about whether
we should leave NOW and stay ahead of the front coming. Commander's
quickly concurred that this was our best option! Little Creek is where the
Marines and Navy Seals have many assets, and we were treated to quite a
spectacle as 6 dark gray Navy Seal speed boats came out, and a very large
hover craft marine boat, moving really fast went from the water right up on
the beach, all on a cushion of air....it was awesome....just the sound of
the hover craft should scare bad guys! So we refuelled in Little Creek and
exited the Bay at 1700 with very mild condition. And then....30 miles
outside the Bay, as we were looking forward, we received a call on the VHF
from a submarine who was now just behind us about 1 mile...he came out of
'nowhere'! We had several exchanges by VHF because we were in his way, but
we could not move very fast to get out of the way...I could picture exactly
the officer on the bridge (top of the sail) dealing with this. In the end,
they asked us to hold our course, and recognized that we would be inside
their 500 yard exclusion zone, so THEY ALTERED COURSE to come up our
starboard side....just 100 yards away...whizzed by at 20 knots....got about
1 mile in front and then ....'Dive, Dive, Dive' and they went under! Quite
fun to watch and be so involved.....it brought back many memories for
Captain Mike! I was dying to tell them that I was a 'submariner', but I
respected the formality of the communications instead!! Pictures will be
added...check this blog entry again later!!