Waiting out the Storm

It was 2:00 AM on Tuesday morning, May 10, 2022 when I felt the boat heel to about 15 degrees. It woke me from my sleep. I was by myself on my 51 foot sailboat. There was a terrible racket outside and I could hear the wind howling. I was tied up at the end of B dock at Little Creek Marina in Norfolk, Virginia, but the heeling of the boat was alarming. I jumped out of my warm bed and went out into the blistering wind and cold to make sure that the lines holding the boat onto the dock were intact. I was able to tighten a few of the lines and I quickly ascertained that there was no danger to me or the boat. It was then that I realized I was stark naked but being 2:00 o’clock in the morning, thank goodness I did not have do any explaining there as were no other unstable sailors around in this howling gale. My wind instruments registered 45 knots of wind and it was a consistent wind with gusts up to 50 knots. This was the weather we were fearing and the reason S/V Ileana was in Norfolk Virginia and not in New York as originally planned.

The original plan was for the 4 of us, Marlo, Doug, Auke and myself to sail from the Bahamas directly to New York City. We had been advised of a potential storm that would arrive on the east coast by Friday May 6. As we approached Virginia Beach, we realized there was no way that we would make the 250 miles to New York City before hitting the full fury of the storm. It looked like we would be off Atlantic City when we would get the brunt of it. We collectively made the decision to head for the shelter of Norfolk, Virginia to wait this out. I have talked about the difficulties in making schedules while on a sailing voyage and this is another example. Although our weather routing app had predicted that we would be in New York City before the storm hit, we had hit some light winds, and then there was that issue with code zero getting stuck at the top of the mast which delayed us for 1/2 a day. The end result was that we were not going to get to New York City in time to meet the wives and other activities. My wife Ileana had booked a flight to New York City on Thursday, May 11, and we were planning on having a lovely romantic weekend going to expensive restaurants and checking out a few museums. Auke was meeting up with his wife in NYC and she was planning on arriving from Amsterdam on May 9, 2022. Marlo’s son and daughter-in-law, both accomplished musicians, were performing in concerts in France and he was hoping to leave for Paris to see them perform once we arrived in New York City. Doug’s wife Sue was flying into New York city and Doug also had some commitments in Toronto.

Once we found a place to dock at Little Creek Marina, we went exploring while we tried to figure out a new plan. We visited the Nauticus Naval Museum in Virginia Beach.

The weather continued to deteriorate and the following day although we went out for a short walk to the beach to experience the maelstrom, we were pretty much confined to the boat watching Netflix and trying to make plans as to how we could salvage some of the arrangements that had been made. It was clear that the weather would be nasty for at least one week. One option that we looked at was taking the boat to Annapolis, taking off the mast and pulling the boat out of the water. I would then ask Andrews Trucking to bring the boat to Toronto. When I contacted Andrews Trucking, they said they were pretty much tied up until late June perhaps even July. There was no way they could manage to bring the boat back until then……

I then received a surprise email from Jeff. You might remember Jeff, he was the one drinking bottomless mimosas on Easter Sunday in Georgetown with his wife Valerie and Ileana? He offered to fly down and give me a hand to bring the boat back to Toronto. He had recently returned from Georgetown where he left his boat. Valerie and Jeff flew back to Toronto at the end of April and he wanted to help me out. This was a huge relief for which I am extremely grateful. Jeff is flying in to Norfolk on Thursday, May 11, and we plan to head to New York City early Friday morning. The trip will likely take 36 hours and the winds are predicted to be light. This freed up the others, Auke, Marlo and Doug to fulfill their plans. Auke Flew to New York and met up with his wife yesterday, Marlo flew to Paris and met up with his wife, son and daughter in law and arrived today, and Doug flew back to Toronto.

This all explains how I ended up on B dock last night stark naked in a howling gale by myself…….

The weather has improved and I went for a 10 kilometer run this morning. About half a kilometre from the boat is an endless beach which is perfect for running. The sand is hard and the beach seems to go on forever. The fury of the storm has largely abated but there is still some strong winds.

As cruel as the ocean can be to us sailors, it is also cruel to the inhabitants of the sea. While I was running, I came across much evidence of this. Some Beautiful Creatures were washed up on the shore. It is always sad to see this but it serves as a stark reminder of the uncertainties of life and the importance of living life to the fullest while we can!

My plan is to leave for New York City early on Friday, April 13, 2022 and we will likely arrive in New York City on Saturday evening. I’m hoping to meet up with Auke for dinner that night, but you know how it goes with schedules and sailboat, so it might be breakfast or lunch or dinner the next day…….. Jeff and I will likely head up the Hudson River early next week and plan to be at the lock on the day that it opens, May 20, 2022. We will need to take the mast off and put it on top of the sailboat. Once we get to Oswega, NY, the mast goes back on and then we sail across Lake Ontario back to Port Credit.