The wind picked up overnight. It was pushing Zanshin onto the dock and I set my lines up so I could spring myself off the dock without scratching my new paint job. Then I waited for 11:00 to come around so I could get to my destination in Norfolk at the right state of the tide. When I finally cast off the wind had settled so I didn’t have to use the spring line but could use the bow thruster to “bump” the boat off the dock and depart Hampton. The marina was rather nice, as were the people, but considering every other cost I had had spiraled over budget I was happy to find a cheaper location to wait for the inverter/charger delivery and the right weather window.
Once I got out into the channel the winds picked up and I had to crab at angle in order to stay in deep water. After navigating the channel I had a downwind run to Norfolk so I let out the genoa with 3 reefs and turned off the engine, marking Zanshin‘s first real sail in several years and she did admirably well at 8 knots. The trip took me past the navy docks where they had a couple of aircraft carriers and assorted other military hardware on display.
When I finally furled the genoa and motored into the channel it turned out to be at least 3 feet deeper than I expected and the only difficulty was staying in the channel due to the very strong winds. Soon I was at the docks with 4 people to assist me in docking and somehow I managed to get lucky and not ding anything and I fooled those on shore into thinking I’d actually planned it that way.
The facility is very nice and I was given guest privileges, which means that I can heat myself up from the inside out in their sauna!
