1 LiveBloggin' the ICW: Heading Down The Bay

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Heading Down The Bay

The Annapolis Boat Show is over and it's time to head for Hampton and the ICW. I'm on the Chesapeake right now in fact, with my good friend Darren, who is helping me to get the boat to Hampton. And this is being posted to you courtesy of his mifi - how cool is that? I have to admit, I'm feeling rather pampered - someone else running the boat while I surf the net. Now if only the winds would shift to the west so we could sail!
Here's the plan....this weekend, the Hampton Snowbird Rendezvous is going on. This will be a great event, with some excellent speakers, and I'll be sitting in on a round table discussion on Florida Anchoring on Sunday morning. You can find details at Hampton Snowbird Rendezvous.
On November 1, the SAIL Magazine ICW Snowbird Rally begins, with 19 new cruisers heading south to Miami. You can see details of our trip at Itinerary, and follow the blog at Rally Blog Page
It's going to be a very exciting trip, and I will be blogging/facebooking and putting up video and photos of the trip as we move south - so you can follow right along - even email or text with questions if you wish.
Currently, there are close to a dozen boats moving south with us, in SSE winds of about five knots and a north setting current of .4 knots. Gypsy Wind is making about 4.5 knots, which is good in these conditions.
We have the main up, and it's helping, and I'm holding closer to the west shore so that as the wind backs to the west later in the day, we can take advantage of it. You can see our position by checking the Delorme Tracker we have onboard. As if a red boat with a Canadian flag and Cuban puppy isn't unique enough!
That's it for now - time for me to go up and take my shift.