The summer tour begins…first stop a short hop out to Fishers Island for some post 4th of July fireworks. We had never visited Fishers Island and frankly I really did not grasp how many people actually live on these islands that physically separated from the mainland. Ferry boat in their only mode of transport. I guess you just make a ferry ride part of the plan as you need.
Kindred Spirit at anchor in West Harbor Fishers Island, NY (Yes its New York in spite of the fact it a lot closer to Connecticut)
Kindred Spirit at anchor in West Harbor, Fishers Bay
A great location to catch the afternoon races.
The crews aboard Kindred Spirit
We woke to a little fog…Magnolia engulfed!
Fishers Island
…..and then the fireworks barge arrived….JUST off Magnolia’s Bow…this could be interesting…..
Yup….very….ahhh….interesting….intense
Spectacular
back to interesting…….
In the end we were destroyed in a ball of fire though I would not have wanted to be any closer that is for sure!
Afternoon walk through the lovely park at the edge of town
Kindred Spirit had to make an appointment so while they took care of that, Magnolia headed for Montauk Lake.
The passage down to Lake Montauk, NY was an easy half day passage.
This is the coast of Fishers Island…lovely area for sure
The “Race Lighthouse” This light sits at the edge of Fishers Island in an area known as the race. During tide changes, the water RACES through here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Rock_Light )
SV Kismet (Jim & Laurie) were to be in Lake Montauk as well. We hera Kismet often on the HAM Radio but we seem to narrowly pass in many anchorages. Exploring Montauk Lighthouse was a real treat. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Point_Light )
Looking south to the quiet today Atlantic Ocean….some days not so quiet!
SV Kismet headed out heading west…something about a grandbaby!!!! 🙂 So exciting
Next post Magnolia meets back u with Kindred Spirit in Block Island, RI
We arrived in Groton, CT a couple days before we had to depart for Detroit. We had a wonderful evening catching up with a number of people at Shennecossett and greatly appreciate SV Cutting Class for getting the ball rolling. The night before our departure we were gifted with a sensational sunset sendoff.
The primary purpose of our trip was to celebrate the wedding of my youngest niece Sydney and her husband Rodrigo. It was a wonderful afternoon!
My niece Lori cutting a rug with her daughter.
The happy Grandparents my Mom & Dad
My Brother and his daughter Sydney
A rare sighting….I am NOT wearing shorts!
Even though Magnolia was 700 miles away…we were able to keep an eye on her from the UConn webcam!!!!
We had very little time in Detroit but we did sneak in two special events. Friday morning while every one else was working we ran down to the Ford Motor Company Piquette Plant. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Piquette_Avenue_Plant )
Annette quickly found her care…of course it was Red…and it has pockets too…inside joke
I tended towards the blue coupe…
The volunteer docents gave a great tour and VERY enthusiastic !!!
Later in the afternoon we were joined for dinner by my nieces Lori & Janine…of course we gabbed and missed the picture!!!! Speaking of pictures…our friends Al & Michele sent some of Magnolia who hung on their mooring ball while we gone…THANK Al & Michele!
The day after returning to Connecticut our friends on SV Minx arrived fr a brief stay. As always we enjoyed our visit with Jay and Tonya. It was great fun to introduce Al & Michele as well as Anthony’s Famous Grilled Pizza with homemade Engine Room Dough!!!†
Next post the “Summer Tour Of New England” really gets rolling!
Once we knocked out the New Jersey coast passage Magnolia was really on easy street! We had good weather and easy passages along the coast of Connecticut.
First stop was a 270 protected cove near a small group of islands.
It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon and evening!
I even took on a small boat project of wiring and installing some waterproof under counter lighting!
Next stop was the Thimble Islands. Our friends on Amici have a ball there and a great location to meet up with them!
After a brief but wonderful stay in the Chesapeake it was time to get moving north. I have to say we were unable to see many many friends and family this stop but we are going to do better in the fall. We have to say it was a real treat to have my Godson and Cousin aboard. Hopefully he will not soon forget!
It was
A little dreary out but the wind was down and the seas were calm.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge – Annapolis MD
Passed this beauty along the way….
We made a nice day passage from Annapolis up to Chesapeake City, MD. With a small “blow” coming through it was a great place to hold up and catch up with our friends from SV Minx. It was great to see Jay & Tonya but we did miss seeing Peanut!!! There was even a second Kadey Krogen, Magnolia is the good looking girl!
We were super excited to have our friends Jack & Kathys daughter come by for dinner and a visit.
It was great to spend time these ladies. It was great talking with these ladies. It was wonderful to hear there thoughts on future and eve a couple ideas on fashion!!!
Anthony, Christina & Alexi
The “blow” decided to hand on a bit longer than for farcast but Magnolia and Crew were game to make the passage down the Delaware Bay to set up for a an easy arrival to Cape May, NJ the following day.
Preparing to drop the anchor, my look kind of covers my thoughts on the weather
After a rolly night we woke to a lovely morning and easy entrance into the “back-door” at Cape May New Jersey.
Inlet at Cape May
We are very familiar Harriet Tubmans work in Cambridge, MD though completely unaware of her presence here in Cape May.
Because of our short stay in the Chesapeake we did not have time to visit the Tennar Homestead…thankfully Jack and Kathy were will to meet us in Cape May.
Jack, Kathy & AnnetteJack, Kathy, Annette & Anthony
Always a great time together and we found this wonderful little Italian place in town.
A weather window opened so Magnolia made a dash up the coast of New Jersey. Really was one of the best passages we have had with the exception of fog over night
This para glider boat for some unknown reason decided to cross our bow with a chute up. Kinda nots and well REALLY stupid. A whole ocean…..
Para-Sailor Way TOO Close
Our arrival into New York coincided with favorable tide conditions allowed us to transit the East River and the formable Hells Gate passage into Long Island Sound.
Last year with our friends on Kindred Spirit we anchored behind the Statue Of Liberty, this year she marks our right turn into the East River. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty )
Long time followers know we are are gifted many many memorable moments…sharing time and experiences with those close to us. This couple of weeks…well we have made memories in spades. The week started with our return to our home marina, Hartges Yacht Harbor in Galesville, MD. The boatyard has been a family owned bussiness for well over a 100 years. It is easy to feel at home….it was good do be home.
First up was a reunion of some our Freshmen Class, 2013 sailing south class that is! MaryMarie has always been the best when it comes to the conch shell….when she is not signaling sunset with a shell she us playing her tuba….yea she is definitely a ringer!!!
SV Mandala – Ron & Nancy sailed to the Bahamas and sailed to Europe for a couple years until scooting down the coast of Africa to the Caribbean…most definitely most adventurous of us.
SV Exuberant – Burt & Prue have been running the coast a couple more years than the rest of us but have always appreciated learning from them. SV Eleanor Q, found adventures beyond cruising…yea I know…and yet they always welcome us home with open arm…and hearts too! What a wonderful and memorable evening at “Camp Quigley”
The “Cleckner Kids” had not a round-up recently and they were willing to come out for a Magnolia visit. Ellie and I did some kids stuff soldering on some gadgets while the “adults” caught up. I think everyone had a nice afternoon!!!
Lovely thing about Hartges is the lovely views afforded of the west River.
My Godson & Cousin came for a visit and a four day tour! The Admiral made the Watson/Tennar/Steinke stateroom as welcoming as you can make any space on a boat.
My cousin in-law Julie provided the art work which really adds the art flair!!!
My cousin Dan & Lori were kind enough to provide transportation out to Galesville. We are not experienced hosts for non-boaters so we were all going to larn together!
Schwab Leo went right to work safely piloting us across the Chesapeake Bay.
We anchored in Pickering Creek off the Wye River which happens to be home to Audubon Center . We walked around the facility and surrounding preserve
We also made a stop at the nearby Chesapeake Bay Herb Society…who would’a thunk?
After returning “mom” to Magnolia, Leo and I went out a played in Blossom for a bit!
The following day Magnolia made the trip back across the Chesapeake Bay and took up a mooring in Annapolis MD.
The crew got right to touring Annapolis. You know what they say, you never see your own backyard until someone come to visit. I am too embarrassed to say how many “spots” I have never visited ! First Stop, Maryland State Capital.
House ChamberSenate Chamber
Annapolis was also the temporary capital of the United States in 1783. It was also where Washington resigned his military commision on December 23, 1783.
American author Alex Haley has a monument in downtown Annapolis…”Haley has stated that the most emotional moment of his life occurred on September 29, 1967, when he stood at the site in Annapolis, Maryland, where his ancestor had arrived from Africa in chains exactly 200 years before. A memorial depicting Haley reading a story to young children gathered at his feet has since been erected in the center of Annapolis. — Wikipedia
Next up was a guided tour of the Naval Academy. What a wonderful day it was. Our tour guide was a retired Naval Officer who gave an amazing tour!
The Academy Chapel is open to the public for weekly services as well as the occasional Organ recital.
It kind of cracked me up that Admirals Zumwalt & Burke had some of the largest and “loudest” stones in the cemetery. Kind of matched the personalities….
The recently deceased Senator John McCain’s resting place. People have left various trinkets celebrating his life. He is certainly missed…
Walked out the side door of the Academy and poof, there was Magnolia sitting proud
At end of the week…at the completion of the final examines including a bowline knot, Leo was promoted from Schwab to Mate First Class
It was a wonderful week of having Sheridan and Leo aboard. We hope they will choose to embark again! It was great to be back home. There are many people we did not get to visit….we will be working n that the month of September!!!!
Typical spring weather on the Chesapeake…afternoon thunderstorm threat. Magnolia made the passage from Hampton to Reedsville, VA and then following day onto Solomons Island. MD.
Solomons Island is on the Patuxent River just north of the Potomac River. Test question: What historic role does the Patuxent River play in US history? (Answer at end of post)
We stopped in Solomons to attend some medical appointments in DC. The upside of the schedule was visiting with relatives. We had a terrific evening with cousin George and GenIV MaryRose along with cousins Dan & Lori.
Annette also had the time to visit with the ladies as well. Meg, Carol, Lori and Annette. We are so blessed to have friends that have stayed with us despite the crazy life style.
We were also able to connect with Chris and Melody. Though our crusing paths have not crossed outside of Solomons and each of our travels have been distant….it is still nice to connect once again.
In addition they were speaking at the Pentagon Sailing Club so it was great to share in that event as well!
Though somehow the picture escaped us…we were blessed to share time with Sail-Runaway. Matt & Marty took us in off the street. We always have a great time!
Annette kept busy in the sewing room. This is the fabric that Annette made during our visit to Andros Bahamas.
There were sail bags to produce as well. These are the much sought after ‘Bowline Bag!”
Annette is the only person I know who can make a bowl with a sewing machine. Granted it is interlaced with Andros Fabrics.
Departing Solomon Island we traveled north to Deale MD to top up the fuel tanks before heading for New England later next month. After taking on 175 gallons we headed east to the Wye River.
The Wye River is is located on Marylands Eastern Shore and rather remote. A lovely place to get away from it all. Well almost all. Our second day this sail boat came in and anchored near us rather than where one might expect a 1/4 mile to the east!!! Oh well, he must have been lonely.
The one bad thing about the Chesapeake Bay is the how little access there is since so much of the land is privately owned. Here in the Wye there are a couple place to go ashore for a walk,
A lovely loop around the park with plenty of green.
The big reason were in the Wye was to participate in the Pentagon Sailing Club Memorial Day Raft-up . We actually do not raft -up but anchor nearby and dinghy to the raft.
It was a great turn out as you can see….
Our friends on SV Bootlegger were obviously awake long before we were….thank you Sean & Laurie
Sean & Laurie
Mike & Tina
Anthony & Annette
We had a wonderful weekend and it was great to catch up with friends. It was time to head into Galesville for a few chores, visit friends and a few appointments. Life is pretty darn good and grateful to be living it.
We have never taken the coastal route…we just got stuck doing the Belhaven / Alligator River thing. In this year of mixing it up…it was time for a change. After departing Oriental, NC the next stop was Ocracoke Island. The channel coming into the island can get a bit narrow to share with one of the many ferries coming and going but that was easily worked out on the VHF.
One of the Ferries….not small
First stop, Ice Cream…check
The real treat of the visit was meeting up with fellow 2013 Freshmen Class Members JR and Drena. They have a house in Ocracoke and it was perfect timing to see them here.
Since their cruising days they have added a new crew-person who is the most adorable little lady.
Though she is a sailor at heart, she found the characteristics of a trawler very interesting….particularly the perfect height look-outs scattered about the decks.
A terrific couple of days and so happy to spend time with the crew of SV Journey again.
Traveling along the outer banks was really cool. Every place we go has a slightly different feel and this area is no different.
The trip up to Manteo on Roanoke Island is a long one for a single day but the limited anchorages along the way tells your right up front, get it done!
Manteo has a free city dock y9ou can tie up to for a couple days with a lovely view of the small museum.
Not much better nautical view to be found for sure
and would you look at that…now for a little history humor….my favorite T-Shirt in this town was “Never ask a resident for directions, they lost an entire settlement”
Continuing north we whisked by the eastern edge of the Albemarle Sound and found a lovely little anchorage at the top of Currituck Sound. We also lucked out in that the inside route was experiencing a huge hatch of midges which were just covering the boats. Thankfully our route saved us from that mess!
50 miles from Portsmouth VA…note miles on the ICW are measured in Statute Miles as oppose to Nautical Miles.
The final leg of the ICW
Definitely getting into goose country….messy and noisy
and the turtles are taking a little sun too.
as well as traffic gets heavier the closer to Norfolk we get.
We were arriving the Norfolk area we found that two other Krogens, our friends on Confetti and Privateer were near by. A plan to meet at the Norfolk Yacht Club was worked out.
Magnolia was the first to arrive and Privateer was not far behind.
Confetti taking a loop…
Confetti on final approach with Anthony catching lines
The ladies celebrating with a night cap. Some how I did not get a groupl picture with all six of us….hmm
Heading onto Hampton, Confetti would be a long in a day or two
Acadia, Confetti and Magnolia celebrating in Hampton
A Magnolia Blossom making her entrance
and two days later, a full flower. In between we got bunches of shores caught up on Magnolia.
And of course Niece and Nephew-In-Law came for visit and our youngest crew-member is being recruited,
I definitely have my hands full….out of my area of expertise…
The legendary Barking Dog is still making terrific sandwiches and
and serving name appropriate cans of wine!
One more dinner with Acadia and it was time to head for the Chesapeake!
Please dont drop that on MagnoliaAth dock were a Army bridge building unit or a secret invasion of a Marine Corp Base by the Army!
Next was a stop Swansboro NC where Annettes cousin live. Always great to catch up.
Magnolia departed Swansboro and nice passage, across Bogue Sound, up Adams Creek, across the Neuse River to Oriental.
Arriving Oriental we were able to schedule our visit in the middle of a few rainy days. That did not slow us down from getting a couple of lifelines sized and mounted as well as some visiting.
We were able to bring some friends together all from the same town who did not know each other. Across from Annette is out friend Pat who was a distant work colleague and thankfully not such a distant mariner friend. Next the new owners of Magnolia-S. Yes we are at dinner with the new owners of our last vessel. Most would suggest very brave…but they really love her. A proud testament to how well we tried to take care of her if I ever knew one. Last but not least is Roger and Leslie from the Pentagon Sailing Club. Roger was one of our early sailing instructors! It was great to spend time together and maybe help make some new friendships.
Departing Bluffton we stopped at Beaufort, SC. The new manager at Ladys Island Marina has been terrific the last couple of visits so we try and give them business as schedule permits. Also of note the “Fill’n Station Bar” are back to doing their Wednesday and Friday Specials. Moving on from Beaufort we anchored one night before arriving in Charleston.
Construction continues in the ever expanding Charleston downtown.!
Of course the week we can visit Charleston is the same week of the yearly sail boat races. Can you say obstacle course to avoid following a race! We did make an overnight stop in Mt Pleasant to visit our friend Vicki. A visit was over due and great to catch up….stupid me no pictures.
Historic Fort Sumter
Continue on we made a two day trip to Georgetown SC. It has been a number of years since we have been here and coincidentally another Kadey-Krogen followed us into port….we did not know them.
With a view like this out the portside window sure helped the place grow on us.
MV Acadia with Tim & Diane aboard arrived the day after we did. We had not seen them since the winter in Palm Beach. It was a great visit.
They were celebrating their anniversary on a cool and rainy day so we invited them to come to dinner where for their anniversary dinner they had homemade chicken soup and engine room bread….not that’s living!
As I said, definitely a wet day in Georgetown!
Next stop was an overnight stop in the Waccamaw River just south of Myrtle Beach. One of the prettiest sections of the ICW to be found.
Thank you Diane for this one!!!
Our friends Joe and Christine who live in Southport could be around for our visit to Southport so they drove down to Myrtle Beach shared Easter Dinner with us. A real treat and really appreciate their effort!
Arriving in Southport we were greeted with a lovely weather though a bit on the windy side. None the less, enjoyed and afternoon stroll around town and maybe an ice cream.
Early evening we participate in retired USN Meteorologist Hank Pomeranz discussion on conditions and upcoming weather along the ICW. https://www.carolinayachtcare.com/
There might have been some post seminar fun and high-jinx with Hank & Lisa aboard Magnolia. Always great time catching up.
I have been getting some information requests about our solar system so I decided provide an update about our current system. I have been a long time proponent of solar energy on boats. The biggest reason is I hate noise and running the generator makes noise. We try and do that as little as possible. On SV Magnolia, a 1990 Nelson Merrick Morgan we ran the generator for 1 hour a day. We needed the the generator to make hot water and to make make fresh water using our water maker. In addition we did the initial “bulk charge” on our battery bank.
I really cut my teeth on the installation aboard Sailboat Magnolia. I learned a lot and really in the end very happy with the outcome. A review of that installation is documented here: http://a2baker.com/magnoliablog/?p=3850
On MV Magnolia, a 1997 Kadey-Krogen 42, I basically recreated the installation as I did not the sailboat. The solar panels selected were different but the overall design is very similar. One thing I wanted was to minimize the visibility of the panels. That was partially the reason for the installation of the weather cloths along the fly deck rails. As you can see from the picture you can hardly see the installed Pilothouse Solar Panels.
The second set of panels are located on fly-bridge level are mostly hidden as well.
The panels I selected were “200 +25% Watt 12 Volt Battery Charger Solar Panel Off Grid RV Boat ” which were purchased from via Ebay at:
With a lot of time spent with a tape measure I was able to determine that we could comfortable accomodate 5 panels for a total of 1000 watts. Luckily the same panel comes in two physical shapes which worked out PERFECTLY. The initial installation was made on the cabin top of the Pilothouse. Note one of the panels needed to be be offset to maximize exposure. As can be seen above the second set of panels is located on the rail of the of the flybridge deck,
The pilothouse cabin top is canted slightly aft so I wanted the aft edge of the panels to be slightly higher in than the front edge To achieve this I was utilized two different mounts. On the front edge of the panels I used:
Solar Panel Mounting Z Bracket Mount Supporting for RV, Roof, Boat
To secure the brackets to the cabin top I used 3M Scotch 5952 VHB Tape available at most hardware stores. This stuff is terrific and no hole drilling required!
All of the panels are wired in parallel with the power being delivered to a OutBack Power FM60-150VDC FLEXMax 60 Charge Controller . The panels from are Ebay and not top of the line name brand. The Outback Controller though is the very top of the line controller.
