Salty Dawg Preparations

Sailing friends recommended the Caribbean 1500 for delivering a boat from the east coast to the British Virgin Islands. Instead we're participating in the 4-year old Salty Dawg Rally. I don't know about past years, but the organizers seem to have done their best to ensure participants are prepared to head to the the BVI from Hampton. We spent mornings in seminars, afternoons running errands and working on the boat and social events in the evenings, including rum of course. Every day more and more people poured into The Dawg House as the number of participating boats increased towards 70.  Mid-week the weather briefings started.  Chris Parker is our weather router--for the Rally and for Silhouette individually.

A number of US Coast Guard officers talked to us about preventative measures, emergency rescues, and medical emergencies at sea. We talked and even saw helicopter rescue. A Quantum rep went over sail trim, maintenance and most importantly sail repair. I learned lots about radio propagation, solar flux, and SSB communications, which I hope to apply during the delivery.  Though Silhouette has new rigging, I paid attention to how often to check the rigging, chain plates, ball bearings in the sheaves, putting toggles on the fore and back stays, looking for cracks in the sweg fittings, and to not "mustache" the cotter pins.  Most boats have satellite phones, SPOT and SSBs so coordinating all this and the electronics on board will make me smarter.

By week's end, we were fairly ready to go, but the weather churned up, delaying our Nov. 2 departure. Rather than leave on Monday with most of the boats, Bob, our professional captain, decided to delay until Tuesday, knowing from past experience the seas would take a while to calm down.  After more errands, more snacks for Kelly, stowing a scrubbed-down-to-its-skin by yours truly, dinghy and paddleboard on the front deck and a wonderfully fun farewell dinner at the marina restaurant, we are set to depart at 8:00 Eastern ocean time Tuesday.

BVI here we come:

Boat: Silhouette II, Canadian registered
Captain Bob Pierce, American
Owners: Kelly Brown and Linda Strachan, Canadians
Crew:  Keith (Canadian) and Vicki (American)

Dawgs:  none on our boat, but we have treats for Spinnaker when we get to Virgin Gorda!

Ready or Not Salty Dawg Sailors--Annapolis MD

The Salty Dawg Rally

Leg 1--23 October 2014. An uneventful flight on Delta from Minneapolis to Annapolis

The long-awaited delivery is at hand.  Who knows what hand we will be dealt.  I am flying into Annapolis to join Canadian friends and former students Kelly and Linda to help deliver their recently purchased 12-year old Catalina 470 from Annapolis to Hampton VA where we will meet boats joining the Salty Dawg Rally.

Linda and Kelly spent two weeks sailing in the BVI with me this past winter, one week as students in a Basic Coastal Cruising/Bareboat Charter class and a second week chartering a 30' boat as part of a flotilla I led. While at Cruisers University in Annapolis this Spring, Kelly found a well-kept Catalina 470 he just had to have. Plenty of living space in this wide 47' 2-cabin beauty.

Kelly and Linda thought it was in great shape until they moved onto it in early September after spending the summer on their 38' trawler in Lake of the Woods. Since then, they have spared no expense. They've replaced the standing rigging, running ringing, halyards, and the traveler. The 155 Genoa is now a 135. New items: life raft, DAN buoy, 4 solar panels, and a wind generator. The fuel was polished.  The never-before-used single side band was revived. The EPIRB, SPOT and satellite phone are all registered. Fawcetts Marine Store was a daily stop, though a tiring one on the little Wal-mart bikes they bought in place of having a car. All this was taking place in between classes--navigation, diesel, electronics--and the Annapolis Boat Show.

Leg 2--25 October 2014. An uneventful 18-hour motor sail on Silhouette from Annapolis to Hampton VA.  We left Bert Jabin Boatyard around noon on a sunny autumn day in 15-knot winds, weaving our way around crab pots and weekend race boats.  Traffic, big and small, was prevalent throughout the night.  Arriving in Hampton was easy.  First to the fuel dock, where boaters pump their own fuel, then headed to a separate fuel dock down a narrow fairway, backed out of that and proceeded to our assigned slip, again down a narrow fairway.  Backed the boat in with a bit of help from the bow thruster.  Congratulated ourselves on a nice trip, then headed to the on shore facilities, and as chance would have it, ran into friends Mary and Doug from Minneapolis.  They've sailed their Express 37 from Bayfield WI.  What a nice welcome to Hampton.

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