Those who really know me, know that I am a serious planner (at least when it comes to boating and fun). I was teased for years by my good friend (and long time dive buddy) Blair as being someone who is overly safety conscious and overly prepared... "you've got back-ups to your back-ups" he would often tease. So what I was planning to do flew in the face of that reputation. The math showed that if I ran my normal cruise speed of 36-37 mph and burned my average fuel consumption rate of 42.5 gals/hr at that speed that I would use 197 gallons to get to Norfolk. I hold 236 gallons, so I would get to the fuel dock at Norfolk with 39 gallons to spare. Not a big reserve, not my typical safety reserve for a long cruise, but a reserve. Now running 36-37 mph cruise depends a little on conditions and ethanol is no help. Ethanol tends to knock about 5% off my cruise speed while still burning 42.5/gals hour. I determined that 32.5mph average was my bottom line minimum to make it to Norfolk. If I averaged that speed overall, I would pull in to Norfolk with 14 gallons in my tanks. None of this was adding up to what I teach about having 1/3 (78 gallons) in reserve. This would not be an example I would use in class. That's tight, with no real room for error. The plan... start running and monitor the average speed and fuel consumption after 4 hours, if I was concerned, turn in and refuel at Deltaville. If I didn't turn in to Deltaville I was committed to Norfolk because there isn't really any place in between.
We pulled out at 8:15am. It was a beautiful cold, clear morning. We headed down under the bay bridge and everything was running perfectly. We were running 36 and burning 42. Perfect. As the fuel would run down, we should get lighter and run a little faster. Off to a great start... Tad took this photo with his cell phone as we crossed under the twin spans of the bridge. One span on each side of me.
There was a 2 ft chop for the first hour of running. Two hours in as we passed by the Patuxent River the waves had grown to 3 footers and I had dropped off to 34 mph. By the Potomac River we were in 3-4 footers with lots of spray all the way over the hardtop. It was getting tougher to read the water through the spray covered eisenglass but my new wiper blades were doing the trick on the windshield so I would duck down and peak through the windshield when I needed better visibility. All of the time, I'm running the numbers over and over again, time, speed, distance... fuel. I was still running around 34 and burning 40 gph so I was still within the range necessary to make it. All of the sudden there was a weird noise coming from the stern, was it a drive issue?... I looked back but the boat was running fine, then we saw it... one of the tie-down straps had come off and the dinghy was partially off the swim platform hitting the waves. I slowed and tried to keep the motion in the waves to a minimum as Tad re-secured the dinghy and added an additional strap. The break from the pounding was welcome and we took a few minutes to hit the head and try and eat something. Tad's friend owns Capriotti's Sandwich Shop in Delaware so Tad had brought a 3ft long "Bobbie" sub. It's turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Perfect lunch break rolling around in the waves off Virgina. Having spent 15 minutes with the dinghy and food, I was stressed a little about those Norfolk bridges and our arrival time as well as all of those TSDF calculations. A would have to make the Deltaville go-no-go decision shortly and I just wasn't sure I was comfortable about it. The conditions were messing with my ideal plans. We calculated the remaining miles, estimated the remaining fuel (in spite of an onboard computer, I know that the fuel tank levels are not properly calibrated and mean very little). When my Starboard tank reads "0", I should have about 15 gallons left in it. Port will have slightly more (that tank is slightly bigger since the generator draws from it). Every which way I tested the numbers, it looked like we would still make it with roughly 30 gallons total to spare. It was time to make the decision... no fuel stop.
Humm, how many extra miles were we running up and down waves total? Would it make any difference? It was certainly knocking my speed down. I tried not to worry, just keep calculating. The computer tells me how many miles it calculates I have left in fuel. Since it thinks I will run out 30 gallons before I do, I just keep watching that number and comparing it to the miles left. We should enter Norfolk Harbor on "0".
We entered Norfolk Harbor and the Starboard tank said "0". "That should mean minimum 15 gallons per side" I told Tad. We should be fine. Several Canadian warships were anchored in the harbor and I would have to go between them to get to the ICW. I stayed my 500 yards away and started to cut between. All of the sudden a large Apache attack helicopter lifted off the back of one of the ships and headed straight for us just 50-75 ft off the water. Just before reaching me, he climbed slightly and went right over us and off to shore. There were helicopters flying everywhere and of course the many US warships in port. Norfolk is amazing and a bit intimidating to cruise through.
I pointed out Tidewater Marina, our originally planned fuel stop and the start of the ICW. Tad said "you're going to stop for fuel aren't you?". It was 2:00pm, we had averaged 29.7 mph for the 170 miles of the bay. I estimated a little under 30 gallons of fuel left. If we didn't stop yet, we could still make it through most of the bridges and to the Great Bridge lock before the rush hour closures began. We would stop for fuel after the lock at mile 12.8 of the ICW. "No I said, we're going to continue. I think we're ok on fuel". We needed to make the 3:00pm opening of the "Steel" bridge to stay on track. We continued on through the long "no wake zone" that starts the ICW. The railroad bridge in Norfolk which is usually left open, was closed for a long freight train to cross over. We missed the "Steel" bridge opening by 20 minutes because of the train and now had to sit for 40 minutes waiting for the next opening. Tad pulled out some pub cheese and crackers he had brought and we snacked and talked about the run down the bay. I started turning off one engine at a time for a while. Alternating between them, to conserve fuel while we waited. There was just enough of a current and wind that I needed to maintain some maneuverability. Putting down the anchor, in a channel did not seem an option that made sense.
We got through the bridge at 4:00pm, the last opening before rush hour, and raced on to try and make the 4:30 lock at Great Bridge. I will admit, I was now starting to wonder about the fuel situation. We were the last boat to pull in to a very full lock. It turned out that the water level was so high that they had not been able to lock anybody through for the past 2-1/2 hours. As soon as we were in and tied, I cut the engines. Guess we could have stopped for fuel in Norfolk after-all and it would have made no difference to our schedule. That would have been nice. The new fuel stop and stop for the night would now be Atlantic Yacht Basin on the other side of the lock and bridge. Shortly after we were in the lock they were able to lock everybody through.
The 2-1/2 hour lock back-up had now changed a lot of peoples plans. No one would be able to get through and make it through the remaining 2 bridges before dark so everyone was suddenly going to stay the night at Atlantic (and of course re-fuel for the next day). We were the last in and the last out of the lock. That meant we were the last boat in a long line of boats wanting to fuel. I had called ahead for a slip reservation at 3pm when I knew we wouldn't make it any further. But I wanted fuel desperately. We floated with both engines off, and idled, usually with one engine, waiting for a spot to open at the dock. Seemed everyone was taking on a lot of fuel. The sun set, and we waited. Finally, after over an hour, we were able to get in and fuel. I filled both tanks. We had gotten to Great Bridge with exactly 12 gallons left between the two tanks. So all of my calculations had proved correct, but wow had I pushed it. After 6 years with this boat, I know the performance numbers intimately, I felt certain we would make it. But it is certainly not a lesson in the proper procedures.
On reflection, would I try again to run from Rock Hall to Norfolk without refueling? Yes. Especially if the conditions were right. But if the conditions were as they had been today, no... Too much stress. If we had run out of fuel in 8 footers, the situation could have been bad. I always felt we would have at least 30 gallons to spare (which translates to 5 hours or 25 miles at minimal speed), that was our cushion. Not much, but had that fuel gauge gone to "0" before we entered Norfolk harbor, I would have called BoatUS to bring us fuel and been able to continue towards Norfolk at enough speed to maintain steerage and headway as we waited. That was my back-up plan. Would I pass on by the refueling option at Tidewater in Norfolk next time? No way. I count this run as a test and a success. No need to try again, I might fail next time.
After refueling, we were finally in a slip at Atlantic Yacht Basin at 7pm. The place is a really a working boatyard, not much of a marina. We were tucked up a working slip-way with a bunch of derelict boats. Let's be clear, this is not a destination marina. But after the day we had, it was nice to be tied to land. In the dark we gave the boat a wash down to get off all of the salt spray from the bay and walked over the bridge to Kelly's sports bar for a decent dinner. 182 miles today in some rough conditions. Thats a fair days work. Tad sure got an introduction to distance cruising.
