Wet and Cold

I'm back from my first adventure trip of the season - a four-day jaunt from Old Town Alexandria, down the Potomac, and back up the Chesapeake Bay and Patapsco River into Baltimore, aboard the Pride of Baltimore II. This is the ship I've taken several trips on before. This time, my friend's husband (also a friend himself!) came along. I had a great time, but still the way to summarize the trip is cold and wet. Or wet and cold. You get the idea!

My compact bag and boots

For a couple of weeks before the trip I followed the weather forecast. We had days in the seventies here, where I had all the doors and windows open, airing out the house. But the forecast for the trip got progressively worse and worse. By the time we left, the forecast for the four days started with pouring rain in the 40s, 30-knot winds with temperatures in the 30s, to a relatively benign sunny and 40s with light and variable winds. Welcome to spring, climate change style in the mid-Atlantic!

I hate to be cold, and staying dry is also a key part of staying warm. So I packed fairly compactly, but I brought all the outerwear I would bring on a longer trip. It all fit in a neat little carry-on sized backpack, with my waterproof seaboots attached on the outside. In fact, the first time I zipped the bag, it went too easily, so I opened it back up and added more socks and doubled up on hats and gloves. 

We joined the ship Sunday evening at the dock in Old Town Alexandria, a town that pre-dates the founding of Washington DC. It's got plenty of George Washington sites, and parts of it were surveyed by Benjamin Banneker, in a project run by President Jefferson. In fact, the original 10-miles-square District of Columbia included most of the city of Alexandria, but when the federal city grew only slowly, it was returned to the state of Virginia in the nineteenth century (along with the sites of the Pentagon and DCA National Airport). As we enjoyed the waterfront and getting to see the ship, it was just starting to drizzle.

Through the bridge at 3:30 am

A highlight of the trip for me was going under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, interstate 495. This relatively new bridge only opens between 2 - 4 in the morning, so after orientation aboard ship, we settled into our bunks for a quick sleep. We were roused to the deck in the drizzle at 2:30 am, and the ship cast off the dock and went through the open bridge at 3:30 am, using the engine with no sails. After that, two thirds of the crew were dismissed to go back to bed, but my friend and I, along with some professional crew, stayed on deck on watch. I noted when we passed Mount Vernon on the shore south of the bridge. The skies opened up to a pouring rain, and we motored down along the narrow and twisty river with very little visibility. We spent the next four hours straining to see ahead and to the side, occasionally pointing out to the watch captain some object. There were flashing lighted buoys to show the channel, but they were far apart and unlighted buoys were more frequent. There were essentially no other boats out, which was a relief. We had GPS with displays to help out, but actual eyes were needed. It poured the whole time. Dawn came very slowly, impeded by the heavy cloud cover and rain. 

Drowned rats, ready to go below

By the time dawn came, the fun had pretty much gone out of it. Did you know that most rain gear, exposed to hours and hours of pouring water, will end up letting moisture through? I discovered after being dismissed below at 8 am that I was not wet to the skin or on the bottom of my 3-4 layers, but I did have very damp fleece outer layers under the wet insides of my rain gear. I turned it all inside-out and draped it about the cabin. The lining of the rain gear was dry by afternoon, and everything except my thick gloves were dry by the next day. A hot filling breakfast and a morning nap were very welcome. I was distressed to realize that my phone had gotten so wet it was acting very fluky, but there was nothing to be done except see what happened. (They have a dedicated rice bag to rescue phones!)

Nan at the helm!

We went back up on deck on watch at 4 in the afternoon, after hanging out down below chatting with crew and the cook. The rain was tapering off, and we had rounded the corner out of the river and turned towards north and home to Baltimore in the wide Bay. We were still under power, as the wind was from the wrong direction, and the Captain was anxious to get to a safe and sheltered anchorage before the 30-knot gale started. We, the amateur crew, were given a chance to steer the ship! We each took two hour-long tricks at the helm, and it was a lot of fun to manage such a large, heavy object being buffeted by wind and waves. There is a significant lag time to when you turn the wheel and when something happens, and you have to stop turning the wheel long before the ship comes to a heading. It's not easy, and as the winds and waves picked up, it got harder. Over the course of our four-hour watch, the rain stopped and the temperature dropped and the wind picked up and it got dark. Because of the wet and the cold, I found I was holding a huge amount of tension in my neck and shoulders, and two hours on the wheel was physically challenging. But fun!

My friend at the helm

We were dismissed below at 8 pm, had another hot and nourishing dinner, and I went right into bed. Hygiene suffered, as I wasn't anxious to shed layers and add wetness to my cold and tired body. I normally sleep with an eye mask for darkness, and I am used to listening to a book or a meditation to help me fall asleep or get back to sleep when I inevitably wake up at night. I have acquired a "Musicozy", a soft head/eye wrap with build-in tiny flat speakers that bluetooth to my phone and play privately into my ear. It worked very well! A bonus is that it is thick and soft, and actually added warmth to my head sticking out from under my large heap of blankets.

In the middle of the night we heard the chain rattle, and I realized they anchored the boat without my help. I snuggled back down into my nest of blankets and fell back asleep to another chapter of my Italian murder mystery (I am constantly rewinding because I miss things as I fall asleep!)  

The next morning the whole crew slept in, with no engine noise and not a lot of motion. We had an 8 am breakfast, and the Captain informed us we'd be staying put for the day as the wind chill put the temperature down at 18 degrees! We had a schedule to meet back in Baltimore, but years of experience have taught them to build in significant buffers for weather and for things breaking. The crew had plenty of maintenance to do on the ship, and we were welcome to pitch in or else lounge about. 

At anchor in Annapolis

The Captain, feeling some obligation to the guests, made himself available for an "ask me anything". This guy has made this ship his life - he's done a lot of other nautical things over the years, but he has been involved with the Pride of Baltimore II since before it was built! He's commanded every trip I've been on (this was my 5th). I've learned he loves to talk. He is an expert, and he knows it, and he explains things very well. So that was decent entertainment for the day. I also took periodic trips up to see the sun-drenched but chilly outside. In the afternoon, I found a little niche to hide in, down on the deck between a couple of crates, out of the wind but in the very strong sun, and just hung out for a comfortable while. My friend's son lives in Annapolis, and he came down to the shore and got a shot of us at anchor, right by the Naval Academy. 

Weighing anchor in the pre-dawn

We also enjoyed watching a small fleet of teenagers aboard little fiberglass sailboats practice their racing moves in the late afternoon. One unfortunate boat capsized four times in the still brisk winds. Three times the crew righted it, climbed aboard and kept going. The fourth time, they were significantly separated from their boat, and they must have been very cold and tired. One of the four little motor boats shepherding the fleet came and got the two people out of the water, and another one towed the capsized boat back. They did get it righted again, and the crew went back aboard, but they went right into shore - good idea!

Sails up!

Early to bed, and a pre-dawn all-hands assembly on deck to head off to Baltimore. The crew raised the anchor with a manual lever and capstan. The engine was running, but we raised sails as soon as the anchor was aboard. With two sails up, off went the engine and we were sailing!

 

 

 

Always anxious - will we fit under the bridge?

It was a gorgeous day, though still nippy. The wind was unfavorable, so we sailed close-hauled under the Bay Bridge, and then tacked our way up the bay for the rest of the morning. Sail handling is a lot of work, and this was only the second or third voyage of the season, so the crew needed a lot of coaching by the Captain and the chief mate. I have learned to mostly stay out of the way as I am not that useful in hauling on the big heavy ropes. I did do some rope coiling, however.

 

 

 

Close to the bridge! Captain at the helm

 

 

Typical view on the bay -
wooden ship and modern freighter

We dropped the sails before heading up the river to Baltimore. The crew, and a couple of the more eager guests, headed up the mast to tightly furl the sails. We motored through the remnants of the Key Bridge (the one that collapsed a year ago) and into the ship's permanent home. My brother-in-law came to get us, saving us the train ride home. It seemed warm and sunny once we were at the dock!

Going aloft to furl the sails

 

 

Bridge remnants - eerie!

 So, the verdict is, it wasn't the best trip ever, but it beat staying home! Sadly, my phone is permanently wonky, but I was able to use it on the last day to take more pictures. I got a new phone yesterday, (I had been contemplating the upgrade anyway - it's a significantly better camera, and who knows what's happening with imports) and spending the day setting the new one up seemed as ambitious as I needed to be for the entire day. I was still tired!  

BIL admiring the boat

There may be more trips like this in my future. This one, while disappointing as far as sailing went, showed me that the right and sufficient clothes make a huge difference. Standing around will be colder than moving around. And, this trip had very little disruption of my sleep - up most of the night Sunday night/Monday morning in the rain, but a good night's sleep both Monday and Tuesday nights. There is a lot of ladder-climbing required aboard ship, and that went well. All the work I've done to strengthen both legs has paid off!