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| Lady Liberty - too bad we couldn't stop |
We decided to sail through the night to take advantage of the off shore breeze and to ensure we had time to make it to Norfolk (320 nautical miles) before the next storm which is due to roll in on Wednesday. The 30 knot (gusting to 60) winds had us double reefed for Saturday. The winds were a little lighter (25-30 knots, gusting to 40) on Sunday and the skies remained clear; it was so nice to see the sun after a week of dreary weather. With AIS, Radar and MARPA tracking we felt safe to know the location of other vessels around us. The Coast Guard were warning of navigation bouys may be out of position and new shoals have appeared since Hurricane Sandy so we took a track that was 30 miles off shore to avoid the fishing nets and traps and shoals.
With so many large container ships queuing up to get through, sailing into Chesapeake Bay (in the dark) early Monday morning was a little intimidating. As the sun rose we made our way to Norfolk where we saw huge boatyards that were built to maintain the American navy ships as well as large commercial vessels.
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| Norfolk is the US Navy Headquarters |
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| Norfolk is a major shipping port, thank goodness for AIS |
We arrived in Norfolk tired after more than 48 hours of non stop sailing. Norfolk is a clean town and the downtown waterfront is very pretty and well appointed. We walked to the Freemason historic area where we saw cobbled streets and many old homes/buildings which have been restored. We were surprised that so few people were out and about on such a beautiful, sunny day.
There are several tall ships here on tour and we took a tour of the Norwegian ship today. The boat was in to take on fuel (7000 gallons, 2 tankers came to fill). We also spent several hours at the maritime museum where we could easily have spent a full day. We got a tour of the battleship Wisconsin. The tour was led by retired seamen/women who shared their vast knowledge and answered all Al's questions.
HNoMS Statsraad Lehmkuhl
Wisconsin 887 feet long, 108 feet wide, 58,000 tons
212,000 hp, speed > 33knots, 2.3 million gallons fuel