Dismal Swamp and Virginia.

Sunday 25th May 2014  36:43.223 N  76:14.025 W  Distance sailed 42 miles.

When my son's Paul and Tom read of the loss of the Danforth anchor they reminded me of two earlier incidents with that anchor and Tom commented " The Americans can have it". In the mid 70's our 24 foot  Dutch Akerman and Kramer designed  Waarschip Quarter Tonner which we called Warship was anchored on a lee shore off the West beach of Heir Island near Baltimore with only Tom aboard. He noticed she was dragging towards the beach and with help moved her to safety. A more dramatic incident occurred at a Baltimore Sailing Club Sunday Meet at Barlogue at the entrance to Lough Hyne. My late wife Angela and I had been aboard a friend's boat for pre lunch gins after which we then shot the Rapids in an inflatable into Lough Ine with Bernadette Perry to be followed by Warship with the child minder Bronagh Perry, Bernadette's daughter and Gabby's sister and the 6  Hegarty children aboard. The Danforth had dragged.  Bronagh had the baby Mark in her arms and Tom, about 12 at the time, and the eldest child, did his best to start the engine but Warship was swept through the Rapids into Lough Hyne with the anchor bouncing along the bottom. Luckily the tide was near high water and no damage was done. Sometimes it's difficult being the eldest of a family, as Anne and I are.

In coming to Elizabeth City I had decided to take the Dismal Swamp route to Atlantic Yacht Basin where Shelduck was to be stored for 11 months. Anne was also keen, the name alone attracted us and Shelduck was just within the maximum draft of 6 feet allowed. Everything from birds and slithering reptiles to winged insects and bears, including a few scattered people, inhabits this unique primeval forest. Once owned by George Washington the swamp holding was donated in 1973 by the Union Camp Company to create the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Monday 19th Shelduck left the Mariners Wharf Free Dock in Elizabeth City at 08.30 to catch the Bascule highway Bridge opening at 09.00 then proceeded up the winding, narrow, unmarked headwaters of the Pasquotank River which has a wild eerie splendour. Here you have some of the most undisturbed and natural cruising grounds anywhere.  On through an open manually operated railway bridge to South Mills Lock where Shelduck arrived at 13.15 for the 13.30 opening when she went through with one other boat, a Canadian. I decided to moor for the night between the lock and the adjacent bridge which are worked together by one person who drives between the two. Here on a grassy bank we removed, bagged and folded Shelduck's sails in the late afternoon sunshine. A beautiful and most convenient place to do the job. Distance for the day 16 miles.

South Mills, nearby, is a small town with a population of 444 and with 13 churches and the centre of a farming area. The people we met were very welcoming, one offering to drive us the usual mile to the local grocery and came back next morning to know if there was anywhere else we wanted to go. Next day Shelduck went through the bridge with 3 other yachts that had just come up the 8 feet in the lock. We had entered the Dismal Swamp Canal and as we reached the Welcome Centre the floating bridge that gives access to the Dismal Swamp itself was opened for us. The 4 of us just fitted at the pontoon for the night. Distance for the day 4 miles. While the depth was showing a minimum of half a meter under the keel in the Canal the keel rolled over logs on the bottom a few times and Anne and I almost got used to it. Anne bought two books of the history of the area in the Centre and next morning I timed Shelduck's leaving to get to the Deep Creek lock at 13.30 which she exited at 14.15., then on through the winding marked Deep Creek and into the ICW at Virginia Cut to the Steel Bridge at 15.00, into the Great Bridge lock at 15.30, through the Great Bridge, which opens every hour, at 16.00 and I immediately called the Dockmaster at Atlantic Yacht Basin and were secured alongside at 16.30.

A seven month cruise over and almost eight months away from home. Shelduck had logged 7013 miles. Anne and I had sailed 3026 miles on our own in the Caribbean and East coast of the US and 3987 miles with friends and family including the ARC Atlantic crossing and the passage from Cascais to Grand Canaria.

Items that helped our comfort:

1. The Active Radar Reflector. We observed many ships altering course to avoid Shelduck including a tanker at night as we exited the Mona Passage which she was entering. Our AIS received signals only.

2. The Hella Fan in our cabin.  We would have died in the heat of the southern Caribbean without it. 

3. The Fuel Cell kept the autopilot, fridge and GPS going for the crossing without noise with two half hour noisy periods a day running the engine to help the cell. It was also very useful while at anchor or on a mooring.

4. Having no mainsail, just the two poled out genoa's for most of the passages from Lagos to St. Lucia.

5. The Rope Cutter at the propeller.

6. The Satellite Phone used for the Blog, to keep in touch with family and weather routing with my son Tom.

7. SPOT a birthday present to Anne from her friend's John and Mary Treanor. It is a satellite GPS Messenger which will send an email from anywhere on earth to 10 selected people. We sent it out daily on the crossing to family and friends. John was first to encourage us to come across and said we would not be disappointed. He was right, we are not disappointed.

Items that did not work well:

1. New Holding Tank. It never took anything from the heads. Anne was not too unhappy about that. She hates holding tanks. Americans please note it will be working next year.  

2. Reefing of No.4 on inner forestay. A piece of kit that needs adjustment.

3. New flexible 100 liter water tank connected to existing system. Leaked into the hull after the ARC start and had to be removed having emptied more than half its contents under the floor. It did not matter on the crossing except for the bailing, mostly done by Anne. We had plenty of water in 100 liters per person plus one and a half liters of bottled drinking water per person per day.

4. The Seawater Seacock leaked under the floor when opened so I tied it shut and used a bucket to get seawater. Anne did most of that bailing too.

Items lost during cruise:

1. Tail end of one jib sheet chewed by the rope cutter as Shelduck motored into the marina at St. Lucia after the ARC finish. A very tired crew did not notice it in the water.

2. One floating fender being used for safety while swimming off Shelduck. Went away between swims off Ragged Island Bahamas  A poor bowline by me probably.

3. One Danforth anchor. Maybe used incorrectly as in other examples where the ground was probably unsuitable.

Best tips for us at the ARC briefings before the start:

1. Have a block at the outer end of any spinnaker pole to run sheets through. Shelduck did not loose any rope through chafe during the 7000 mile cruise.

2. Just before you leave as the frozen food is being put in in the fridge fill any space left with water bottles and don't open the door for 3 days. We had fresh meat for 2 weeks ending, of course, with beef.

Anne and I have enjoyed our welcome from so many in the US. People are friendly, helpful, interested and seem delighted to see us wherever Shelduck takes us. They go out of their way to help. Shelduck will not be rushing back across the Atlantic. Her draft of just less than 6 foot opens up most places on these coasts. There was interest at the finish of The ARC by people who owned 34 footers particularly Halliberg Rassey's who wanted to know how the crossing was for us. They had sailed over with other owners in larger yachts. I expect to see more 34 footers next year if the Cheeky Rafiki incident does not put people off.

As I complete the Blog of our cruise, here in Virginia on this Memorial weekend, Anne is practicing her rowing technique in Shelduck's tender.