YOLO at Cape Lookout The place is Deltaville, VA; this is the current "temporary home" for Yolo.
The destination is Oriental Harbor Marina in Oriental, North Carolina.
The delivery date is Monday, 13 November 2017, our 19 year wedding anniversary!
The hard deadline is Tues, 14 November 2017, back to work at our "real Jobs"…Boohoo.
Dolphins! YESssss, we had at least 50 dolphins swimming at the bow!!! Wickedly awesome!!!!!
David arrived in Deltaville on Wed, 8 Nov to complete last minute survey items and the boat ready for her voyage to Oriental
Friday afternoon, I finally arrive in Deltaville after a long night of "sleeping", yea, right, I'm sailing my dream boat home tomorrow, who can sleep….way too excited. I can't believe the day is finally here. After taking the longest ever 1 hour UBER ride to get to our retirement home, I find out we aren't sailing her today, we have to wait until tomorrow to pull the dock lines. What?!?! Stupid wind, tides, currents and whatever…our best weather window would be the next day. Ugh. I pulled myself together after the heart wrenching news and David gave me a tour of our beautiful vessel. Next order of business was to stow my things and take a tour of the marina (restroom run).
That night while having dinner we watched YouTube of other sailing comrades. Off to bed early, we had a big day ahead of us.
We started the day with a warm bowl of oatmeal while checking the weather and discussing our plan on how to leave the dock. The current was pushing Yolos port towards the dock with some help from the wind. The marina was curvy and shallow all around; this was going to be a tricky getaway. David pulled the lines, I started to back down while David held the spring line to turn the bow starboard. Once the bow was pointing away from the dock I pushed the throttles forward but the wind, current and me not holding the wheel completely straight pushed us right back in to the dock. Captain Dave took over at the helm and safely got us out with some quick maneuvering. So, remember to hold the wheel straight when driving a catamaran with the throttles. Whew, finally we are on our way. Navigating the Chesapeake Bay was definitely doable. On this day we were the only boat for miles.
We set our sails on a port tack, hit the auto pilot and started cruising towards the Atlantic Ocean averaging about 6-7 knots.
Our first meal on passage was salami and cheese sandwiches, no bread, with chips for lunch and dinner was a warm plate of spaghetti. Cooking on Yolo is so different than cooking on Starjewel. The main difference is that I have so much more room on Yolo AND the multihull design makes the sail steadier and less rolly.
After sailing several hours the port engine started to die off. I think it may have done this 2-3 times before David decided to change the fuel filter while underway. He was thrilled to say the least.
Night watches came early since there is only about 9 hours of daylight. Our plan was to switch every two hours, David took the first watch. I had a difficult time falling asleep and once I did I did not want to wake up, David being the gentleman he is, gave me an extra hour of sleep. I wanted to return the favor so I gave him 3-4 hours of sleep time. I think we averaged around 3 hour shifts. The sunrise the next morning was so incredible with the air smelling like fresh morning dew. We were having the best sail ever. The auto pilot was working like a champ. I was answering my phone, my son was calling and then it happened…I saw a dolphin jump as I looked out our panoramic windows in the salon. I started yelling "Dolphins! There are Dolphins! Oh my goodness, there are DOLPHINS!" There were so many playing, jumping and brilliantly swimming with Yolo! I saw a mama and baby dolphin swimming in tandem, IT WAS AMAZING. I couldn't speak other than to say, "there are dolphins"! I can't wait for this to be my life…a full time live aboard cruiser. We stayed 6-15 miles off shore so we didn't have to worry about much. Not too many boats, no crab pots, or much traffic. It was a nice way to do a first cruise in a new to us boat.
Our only stop was to anchor at Cape Lookout. We were hoping to be there before dark, almost made it…not. However, we have anchored there a few other times and we used our chart plotter to navigate the way. Dropped the hook on the first try, it was so easy. Settled in for the night for us both to get some well deserved sleep.
The next morning I awoke to the most gorgeous sunrise I have ever seen with my own two eyes. This was our anniversary wakeup call and Leonardo could not have painted a better one than this. Truly breathtaking, I wish I had the words to describe the beauty…mere words would not do it justice. Even pictures did not capture the full intensity of the sky. Happy anniversary to us…thank you Lord.
With the engines revving we pulled anchor and started motoring our way to the ICW. The motor from Cape Lookout was about a seven hour adventure; slowly we made our way down the channel into the Neuse River. The catamaran slip we have in Oriental Harbor is on the end and we slipped Yolo into her just right. We did have help from Dock master Mark, very grateful he was there to lend a helping hand.
Aaaah, at home, and now the "real work" begins getting her outfitted and upgraded for our circumnavigation.
Be sure to check out our video of the delivery cruise here.
The destination is Oriental Harbor Marina in Oriental, North Carolina.
The delivery date is Monday, 13 November 2017, our 19 year wedding anniversary!
The hard deadline is Tues, 14 November 2017, back to work at our "real Jobs"…Boohoo.
Dolphins! YESssss, we had at least 50 dolphins swimming at the bow!!! Wickedly awesome!!!!!
David arrived in Deltaville on Wed, 8 Nov to complete last minute survey items and the boat ready for her voyage to Oriental
Friday afternoon, I finally arrive in Deltaville after a long night of "sleeping", yea, right, I'm sailing my dream boat home tomorrow, who can sleep….way too excited. I can't believe the day is finally here. After taking the longest ever 1 hour UBER ride to get to our retirement home, I find out we aren't sailing her today, we have to wait until tomorrow to pull the dock lines. What?!?! Stupid wind, tides, currents and whatever…our best weather window would be the next day. Ugh. I pulled myself together after the heart wrenching news and David gave me a tour of our beautiful vessel. Next order of business was to stow my things and take a tour of the marina (restroom run).
That night while having dinner we watched YouTube of other sailing comrades. Off to bed early, we had a big day ahead of us.
We started the day with a warm bowl of oatmeal while checking the weather and discussing our plan on how to leave the dock. The current was pushing Yolos port towards the dock with some help from the wind. The marina was curvy and shallow all around; this was going to be a tricky getaway. David pulled the lines, I started to back down while David held the spring line to turn the bow starboard. Once the bow was pointing away from the dock I pushed the throttles forward but the wind, current and me not holding the wheel completely straight pushed us right back in to the dock. Captain Dave took over at the helm and safely got us out with some quick maneuvering. So, remember to hold the wheel straight when driving a catamaran with the throttles. Whew, finally we are on our way. Navigating the Chesapeake Bay was definitely doable. On this day we were the only boat for miles.
We set our sails on a port tack, hit the auto pilot and started cruising towards the Atlantic Ocean averaging about 6-7 knots.
Our first meal on passage was salami and cheese sandwiches, no bread, with chips for lunch and dinner was a warm plate of spaghetti. Cooking on Yolo is so different than cooking on Starjewel. The main difference is that I have so much more room on Yolo AND the multihull design makes the sail steadier and less rolly.
After sailing several hours the port engine started to die off. I think it may have done this 2-3 times before David decided to change the fuel filter while underway. He was thrilled to say the least.
Night watches came early since there is only about 9 hours of daylight. Our plan was to switch every two hours, David took the first watch. I had a difficult time falling asleep and once I did I did not want to wake up, David being the gentleman he is, gave me an extra hour of sleep. I wanted to return the favor so I gave him 3-4 hours of sleep time. I think we averaged around 3 hour shifts. The sunrise the next morning was so incredible with the air smelling like fresh morning dew. We were having the best sail ever. The auto pilot was working like a champ. I was answering my phone, my son was calling and then it happened…I saw a dolphin jump as I looked out our panoramic windows in the salon. I started yelling "Dolphins! There are Dolphins! Oh my goodness, there are DOLPHINS!" There were so many playing, jumping and brilliantly swimming with Yolo! I saw a mama and baby dolphin swimming in tandem, IT WAS AMAZING. I couldn't speak other than to say, "there are dolphins"! I can't wait for this to be my life…a full time live aboard cruiser. We stayed 6-15 miles off shore so we didn't have to worry about much. Not too many boats, no crab pots, or much traffic. It was a nice way to do a first cruise in a new to us boat.
Our only stop was to anchor at Cape Lookout. We were hoping to be there before dark, almost made it…not. However, we have anchored there a few other times and we used our chart plotter to navigate the way. Dropped the hook on the first try, it was so easy. Settled in for the night for us both to get some well deserved sleep.
The next morning I awoke to the most gorgeous sunrise I have ever seen with my own two eyes. This was our anniversary wakeup call and Leonardo could not have painted a better one than this. Truly breathtaking, I wish I had the words to describe the beauty…mere words would not do it justice. Even pictures did not capture the full intensity of the sky. Happy anniversary to us…thank you Lord.
With the engines revving we pulled anchor and started motoring our way to the ICW. The motor from Cape Lookout was about a seven hour adventure; slowly we made our way down the channel into the Neuse River. The catamaran slip we have in Oriental Harbor is on the end and we slipped Yolo into her just right. We did have help from Dock master Mark, very grateful he was there to lend a helping hand.
Aaaah, at home, and now the "real work" begins getting her outfitted and upgraded for our circumnavigation.
Be sure to check out our video of the delivery cruise here.
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