Tornado

Tornado
05/23/11
We thought we were well out of the hurricane zone and safely tucked away upstream .....

Don was away when I experienced my first tornado - and (I hope) my last !!!  I was happily relaxing on the couch in the salon when the sunlight disappeared - I rushed upstairs to get the washing off the lifelines and within seconds the day had turned into night, pelting horizontal rain drenched me and strong winds made retrieving the washing very difficult.  At the time we had an awning covering the boat - the wind immediately broke the first two lines holding the awning down which set up a domino effect- the lines continued to snap as the awning sailed up in the air - it came to rest on the mast now forming a sail which in turn, with the wind behind it, rammed White Rose into the dock knocking me off my feet.  Two boaters came to my rescue and helped pull the awning down to the base of the mast where I grabbed rope and tied it in a bundle - Dick (Dickinson) being one of the rescuers noticed all my hatches open and dropped them from the outside - we were all drenched, clothing sticking to our frames.  The wind whipped up waves of several feet in the quiet little bay.  The rain was followed by hail - yes hail in summer! the size of golf balls!  I ended up with many bruises on my arms and legs from the hail.  I was shocked that such a ferocious storm could hit without any forewarning – no one had forecast it nor knew it was likely.  I was shaken and the inside of the boat was drenched - which as luck would have it included my new computer - I turned it upside down and drained a cup of water from its insides - that was the last straw - I cried - what else could I do ??  I tried to phone Don but couldn't get in touch with him which was probably a good thing no point worrying him also.

No damage to the boat but really scared me - usually radio and tv give warnings with alarms of expected bad weather but there was none for this one, it took everyone by surprise.  I found fishing tackle boxes which were packed away inside lockers with cushions over the top that had their handle cavities full of water - that was the strength of the rain.  The storm passed over after only 10 minutes but seemed like hours.  I turned my computer upside down in a V to drain and it gave me the fright of my life 2 nights later when it started up - did the start up chiming and blue glow - spooky !!!  It has permanent damage but I was able to copy the information from the hard drive.  For the next few weeks I was constantly nervous about the weather and leaving the boat, the tornado had really unsettled me.  There were reports of 75 mile per hour winds with trucks blown off bridges, lots of trees down and houses with damage.

Portsmouth, VA

Portsmouth, VA
05/02/11

Our plan for the next 6 months while waiting out the hurricane season was to sail the Chesapeake including stops in Washington DC and Annapolis,  maybe go up the coast as far as Maine and make our way back down to Virginia via New York - something like that - it doesn't really matter now because reality was very different.......

Our first anchorage in Virginia along the Chesapeake was Deltaville - a protected anchorage alongside a beautiful country town - we soon found out that beauty is not everything - with no public transport - not even a taxi and with the nearest shops being further than walking distance, provisioning White Rose became problematic.  Our diesel engine "Mr Engine,Sir" was having problems which stumped us - high oil pressure!!  We really needed a spot to stop with a marine and hardware store nearby.   We emailed around trying to find a marina with reasonable dockage fees - no such thing in the Chesapeake apparently.

05/08/11
36 50.44 N 76 19.95 W




Eventually we decided upon Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth and headed back the way we had come - carefully and slowly to keep the oil pressure gauge happy !!!  As it turns out we could not have chosen a better spot - we were there for 6 months and loved every minute of it.  Within days we became part of the scenery and the community.  Our next door neighbor, Dickinson on "The Ninth Wave" became my adviser and friend.  Dickinson showed amazing patience with our constant boat jobs which at times included noisy electrical tools and dust - all I needed to add would have been loud music and I think he may have blown a gasket - as it was he was understanding and encouraging.
We spent every Saturday morning at the local pub for breakfast.  We were thoroughly entertained by the friendly bickering of our new friends who discussed all the usual no go subjects of religion and politics with great enthusiasm.  Don and I gorged ourselves with a breakfast that only Americans can produce - sausages, eggs, pancakes, grits, and the list goes on - the serves were so large that Don and I always shared one between both of us and at times could not finish it - we found we could not eat lunch and only a small token dinner - so good was breakfast - nothing like a good serving of starch, fat, cholesterol and sugar to keep you going all day.



Portsmouth is simply beautiful, it has an "Old Town" section with the most amazing very old colonial homes - some for sale at very inexpensive prices for 3 stories !!  It has its bad areas where we are warned not to go walking at night (black neighborhoods mainly) there is still a lot of racial problems here - Don and I are always the only whites on the buses and have lots of fun talking to the African-Americans, listening to them banter or sing - they are a happy lot and they find us amusing.  The children are simply gorgeous, usually shy with fuzzy black hair that would be perfect for a duster - usually done in tiny little ponytails with bright bands - they are so cute.