May 2010
Saturday morning, we left for the Rhode River. The morning was rainy and cool.
Day number -124
Departed Herrington Harbour North 38° 46.2977' 76° 33.8622' Sat, May 29, 2010 9:00 AM
Arrived Rhode River 38° 53.0239' 76° 32.0315' Sat, May 29, 2010 11:10 AM
Engine Hours 2.62 Nautical Miles / Engine Hour 6.4
Time Under-Weigh 2h 25m Fuel Burned / Engine Hour 3.1
Nautical Miles 16.8 Average Speed 7.8
Fuel Burned (est. US Gal) 8.20 Miles Made Good 16.0
When we arrived, we virtually had the anchorage to ourselves. There weren’t 10 boats there. Within a few house, the clouds began to break, and people started to arrive. By 4:00, we counted 65 boats. Our afternoon amusement was watching the boaters, that were either new to boating or had lost their skills over the winter, anchor and raft. They made every mistake possible: deploying the anchor while under-weigh down wind, then trying to raft while the boats were swinging to the wind; 
trying to raft in the heavy sea caused by jet-skis.
Ken spent time read the Furuno manuals and making setup adjustments based on our experiences on the way up. It is really great to be on the water again.
Sunday morning, we just goofed around; Linda took a swim, Ken played with the electronics. In the afternoon, Eva and Chris (Linda’s Polish hairdresser and husband), who live on the Rhode River came by to visit. Later, 
Chuck and Andrea (See Links, local Selene and Ranger dealers) rafted with us in a new Ranger Tug -- very nice boat with all of the bells and whistles including both bow and stern thrusters, two miles per gallon at 20 knots. We visited and caught-up all afternoon and evening.
After breakfast Monday morning, Chuck and Andrea departed. We spent some time reading then left for home after lunch.
Day number -122
Departed Rhode River 38° 53.0239' 76° 32.0315' Mon, May 31, 2010 12:55 PM
Arrived Herrington Harbour North 38° 46.2977' 76° 33.8622' Mon, May 31, 2010 3:20 PM
Engine Hours 2.83 Nautical Miles / Engine Hour 6.1
Time Under-Weigh 2h 25m Fuel Burned / Engine Hour 0.7
Nautical Miles 17.3 Average Speed 7.2
Fuel Burned (est. US Gal) 2.05 Miles Made Good 16.0
On the way back, we played with the new electronics to try to understand it. Once back, we installed the dingy engine.
Saturday, May 22, and Sunday, May 23, 2010 -- 130 days until departure. We fixed our problem with the stabilizers. Somehow, mud clogged the cooling water discharge port -- don’t ask me how that could happen. Gail and Ray (Reston neighbors) visited. It was cool with a nice gentle rain on Saturday evening and Sunday -- perfect sleeping weather.
Sunday Morning, Three@Sea, a Nordhavn 43 with David, Kathryn, and Ayla aboard, pulled in one slip down from us.
Friday, May 21, 2010 -- 133 days until departure.
Departed Herrington Harbour North 38° 46.2977' N 76° 33.8622' W Fri, May 21, 2010 9:40 AM
Arrived Herrington Harbour North 38° 46.2977' N 76° 33.8622' W Fri, May 21, 2010 12:30 PM
Engine Hours 3.06 Nautical Miles / Engine Hour 6.2
Time Under-Weigh 2h 50m Fuel Burned / Engine Hour 2.0
Nautical Miles 18.9 Average Speed 6.7
Fuel Burned (est. US Gal) 6.15 Miles Made Good 0.0
Our first cruise of the season. Ken got up early to do all his engine room checks (he hopes he remembered everything), to clean up the pilothouse, and install the horn. Oops, he did forget something – The Maryland sticker. He ran down to the hardware store to buy a razor to scrape off the old sticker, and installed the new one.
There are two purposes for today’s cruise: 1) to checkout and calibrate the new Furuno navigation system, and 2) to shake down Escapade to see what does and doesn’t work. The second goal turned up two problems -- The Exhaust High Temperature alarm came back to haunt us. Ken thought he had put a band-aid on it, but no joy. The second problem is that no cooling water flowed to the stabilizers, which overheated. We’ll fix these this coming week.
As far as the first goal: After some dockside and on-water setup by Ryan of MTS, the system worked well, almost better than expected, though we had high expectations. While it works great right out of the box (better then our old system ever did), it has so many features and capabilities for customizing, it will take us months or years to really exploit all of its features--seems it can do everything short of giving you a back rub. The system is fabulously flexible. Ken will be in heaven customizing it for our tastes 
We thought that we had a problem that the AIS (Automatic Identification System) was not transmitting, but Ryan went to another customer’s boat and took this photo (at right) of what Escapade looks like to other boaters. The ARPA (Automatic Radar Plotting Aid) feature is fabulous (excuse all of the superlatives). With this, you simply click (yes, it does support a mouse) on a radar target and the system tells you its course, speed, CPA (Closest Point of Approach), and TCPA (Time to Closest Point of Approach). The digital radar’s de-cluttering is also remarkable. It automatically adjusts the gain, sea state, and rain filters so that all you see are real targets. AIS provides a ship’s course, speed, CPA, and TCPA, as well as its name, call sign, position, destination, cargo, rate of turn, and a whole bunch of other information about every other vessel within range.
The scene in the pilot house was somewhat hectic as alarms and buzzers activated. There’s a setup procedure where we let the new pilot handle the boat so it can figure out boat handling characteristics. Other boaters watching us must have wondered what in the world we were doing -- circles and figure eights and other crazy maneuvers in the middle of the bay. It was good to do this on a weekday, in the middle of the bay, far from other vessels.
It is really wonderful to be back on the water again. Today’s short, somewhat hectic cruise makes us long for September (or maybe August) when all of prep work is done, and we can truly live aboard, enjoy retirement, and take it one day at a time.
Thursday, May 13, 2010 through Monday, May 17, 2010 -- 136 days until departure. The work to de-winterize and re-commission Escapade is complete. We hung the new book shelf that Ken built over the winter. Linda scrubbed the winter grime off of the decks. Kevin, Kyle, Courtney, and Anita visited us and we went to a party at Kevin and Courtney’s in Fredericksburg.
Everything appears to be operational. We scheduled a shake-down cruise with Ryan to get the new electronics calibrated for Friday, May 21. We are in our new (semi-) permanent slip -- C14. The weekend was generally rainy and cool -- just the kind of weather we hope to escape.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 through Saturday, May 8, 2010 -- 145 days until departure. The work to de-winterize and re-commission Escapade begins. Escapade in in a temporary slip. 
She will have to move within the next week. We were offered several options for a transient slip. We elected to go to “C” dock knowing that she might have to move again during the summer if someone wants that slip on an annual lease.
The electrical system (with the new beefed-up house bank) seems to be functioning perfectly. The ice-maker finally failed permanently; we had been having trouble with it for years. Appliances intended for land-based household use simply do not hold up in an marine environment.
The new Furuno vector mid-range charts (Installed by MTS over the winter) do show the water depths. We had complained about that last fall. Kudos to MTS and Furuno for being responsive.
The check valve for the engine room bilge pump failed. This valve was in such a difficult place, that we had to put a camera in the bilge, take a picture, and then, using the picture, feel for the hose clamps.
We installed a new radar reflector, checked all of the mast lights for proper operation, then, with the help of dock mates, raised the mast.
Monday, May 3, 2010 -- 150 days until departure. Escapade was launched.
May 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
