Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth, Virginia: May 10, 2021
https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B050'30.7%22N+76%C2%B017'56.8%22W/@36.841868,-76.3013117
Marc- We left the docks at 06:00 this morning in order to make the 08:30 South Mills Lock opening. We were the last of 9 boats to arrive and the last to fit into the lock. The Lockmaster informed us that the record was fitting 17 boats in this lock. We went up 10 feet at this end of the Dismal Swamp and came back down 10 feet at the Deep Creek Lock. The passage was fine except for getting caught up in some pine tree branches we were blown (a cold front came through) in to while waiting for the Deep Creek Bridge and Lock to open. Unfortunately my attempt to untangle the rigging caused damage to the mizzen starboard forestay. It was partially ripped up through the deck. The mast stayed up thankfully but it took a side tow from Michael and Doreen to pull us out. Seeing our misery, fellow boaters Mike and Shannon Crothers invited us to raft up with them at the bridge waiting dock. It helped a lot.
Once we arrived at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth I dismantled the damaged mizzen starboard forestay base tang and its under deck supporting structure. The marina donated some lumber and I had enough epoxy to do the repair (90 % completed tonight). The good side of this incident is that it revealed water damage and rot to the under deck supporting structure for the mizzen. Better to discover this now than when under sail. We have tended to use the mizzen and genoa on this trip.
Are we there yet?
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