Another year, another pirate festival. Cathy's picking up sewing jobs again. We continue to split time between Orion and Jr. History does have a way of repeating itself.   

Not everything is same old, same old. Sue and Steve had us over to their big, beautiful, new boat for dinner.  Very comfortable.  We volunteered at the Pirate Festival for the first time.  There was the Memorial Day re-enactment at Fort Monroe.  It's a good mix of the familiar and the new. 

Boat Stuff


Orion Jr continues to get attention in preparation for her trip north to the Erie Canal. In addition to some regular maintenance such as waxing the hull and cleaning the cushion covers, we made some changes and enhancements. In order to maximize our broadcast reach on the ham radio, we decided to add some bronze screen lining to the hull from the stern to the kitchen sink. This will improve our ground plane which will be more important once we go into fresh water. (Since fresh water is a poorer conductor than salt water.) Since this involved Cathy climbing inside the cockpit locker, the sooner we got this done the better. While she was stuffed down there, Cathy discovered one of the fuel locker vent hoses needed to be re-attached, which she took care of. Hopefully, it will be a long while before we need more work down in there.

And we had more time to take care of some projects associated with trailering the boat. After some research, we found the right material for the warning flags that are required for Jr when she's on the trailer. Cathy sewed a couple of seams and installed grommets. The result, our 3rd attempt at this, looks less like rags and more like true flags. With the sewing machine out, she solved another problem – this time with the stackpack. By adding a webbing flap at the mast end of each pocket, she made the PVC poles removeable and thus easier to stow. David took a couple of cans of Fluid Film to apply a protective coating to the trailer while it is still clean and no saltwater has hit it.

Orion's projects were mostly the same as last year. Cetol on the wood, polishing the stainless steel, diving on the bottom, etc. We did track down and solve a small leak that had been bugging us. The port forward stanchion needed to be re-sealed with LifeCaulk. A huge thunderstorm passing through the same night as the fix confirmed that this leak is history.

Pirates, Take Warning

Blackbeard and his gang have met justice once again. Huzzah! This year they met their fate on an absolutely beautiful weekend, with sun shining and cool breezes blowing. Too bad for the pirates, but great for us. We had lots of pirate visitors as well, with Adam's family in full regalia. Pirates big and small had a great time.  On Sunday, we volunteered at the festival. We were supposed to distribute ice. Well, with the cool temperatures, that was a pretty boring assignment. But we were glad to help out. And we got a T-shirt and a mug for our service. 

Memorial Day weekend was the 153rd anniversary of a key ruling made during the Civil War at Fort Monroe. We visited the fort as re-enactors helped us turn back the clock and experience the "contraband of war" decision made by then Fort Commander, General Benjamin Butler. Escaped slaves having made their way to the fort just after the beginning of the war, were given protection by the fort's commander, opening the doors for freedom for any slave that could reach it. The program was well-done and gave us a new perspective on this local history.   

We arrived back to Orion on the first of May and were pleased with how she fared over the winter. With careful preparation and regular checks by Steve, we were given a pretty uneventful move-in day. Since returning, we've gotten back in the swing of things here in Hampton, working some on Orion and some on Jr, while checking in with friends here.

Big Boat - Little Boat


With both boats in close proximity for the first time in 3 years, we find ourselves splitting our time between them. Orion needs regular spring cleaning and maintenance. Jr has a project list spawned both from finally having her on the hard again and plans for the upcoming trip to the Erie Canal.  On Orion, we've re-seated a loose deck mount for the bimini, deployed some new dock lines (with loops spliced in by David), and then re-deployed the bimini and enclosure for protection from the rain and sun. We washed down the outside of Jr and the trailer to remove the road grime and, once the hull was clean, affixed Jr's new VA registration sticker. There's lots more to do, but some of it will have to wait for parts and supplies to arrive, and for us to have a little fun while we're back in town.

Things to Do - Places to Go – People to See

As luck would have it, just a few days after returning to Hampton, the Old Point Comfort Yacht Club was having a celebration of Derby Day and Cinco de Mayo. We took advantage of this opportunity to get to know a few of our fellow yacht club members, since we are rarely here to do so. It was a fun day. We were greeted with a mint julep --Recommend you just sip that drink – and enjoyed some good food, conversation and some fun hats. Oh, and there was a horse race, too.

We also were back in town for Mother's Day and, as luck would have it, Rick and Carla were passing through on their way (by car) to Deltaville from Edenton. They were retrieving their vehicle from Lynn and Larry's place. We met for a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant, Salsa's, in Newport News. The ladies even received a red rose in honor of Mother's Day.  

And, of course, we're settling back into our routine with a few tweaks. We're swimming at the community center, but now that we have our bikes, we go more often, since we can bike to Fort Monroe on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, when the Old Hampton center's pool is not open. We're back out on Steve's boat for Wednesday night races a couple of times, but haven't actually raced yet – not that that matters. And, of course, one of the main reasons we return to southern VA every year, we're close enough to family to sneak in a visit now and then. Most recently, it was to Richmond to see Adam and Christina and the kids. So, we're settling back into the groove for a month or 2, before we put the little boat and the trailer through the paces again.