My First Raft-Up
This Labor Day weekend, I participated in my first raft up. We were a strange group: one sailboat, one cabin cruise, one small speedboat, and a kayak. We came over in the sailboat and cruiser. The speedboat was our ‘dinghy’. I was hoping, in the future, to use the kayak as my dinghy. I wanted to see how it would work out.
I met the others in the York River. Jodi wanted to come with me, since I was planning on sailing. So we tried to figure out how to get her from the cruiser over to my sailboat. I suggested she get on their raft and I could ‘rescue’ her. So Jodi hopped on the raft, I circled so I could get close enough to throw her a line. She grabbed it and I pulled her to the swim platform where she jumped aboard.
The cruiser towed the powerboat, and was able to use a ‘shortcut’ to reach our destination on the East River, off the Mobjack Bay. I sailed around the long way and am glad I did. The winds were great the the temperature was perfect. Interesting though: we arrived only about an hour after the cruiser.
We had a hard time finding the cruiser when we arrived. We’d been given the wrong mile marker to look for. But they brought the powerboat out to find us and guide us in.
I read an article online telling how to raft up so I’d have some idea what to do. So I arrived and, as the article said, I motored past the cruiser, dropped my anchor, the reversed to set the anchor and sidle up to the cruiser. Well, the anchor set. But I was on the wrong side for reversing and sidling. I kept going the wrong direction. So I tried going forward and doing it again, all the time my anchor is down and Jodi is letting out line. Well, I don’t know how much line we let out, but we finally did end up next to the cruiser.
Mistake one: letting out all the line. The next night I just drifted back and we had no problem sidling up to the other boat.
What did go right? Well, luckily our free boards were close enough that the fenders were not an issue. And we didn’t have problems stepping from one to the other. We did pull the sterns in, not the bows, as etiquette prescribed, since we are good friends. I’m not sure how we would have handled bow to bow, since the cruiser’s bow is higher than mine. And my lifelines in the front are difficult to detach, so walking across would have been problematic.
Another thing that went right is that Maria, the owner of the cruiser had done this before and knew to pull the lines in tight. That proved quite helpful when the powerboats in the vicinity sped on by, causing waves. Our boats weren’t banging hard against the fenders.
The temperatures were perfect that night. The company was great, and the food and drinks were delicious.
The next morning, I was up at 6 am. Everyone on the other boat was still asleep. I had brought yogurt and fruit for my breakfat. So I reached into the fridge and, lo and behold, the fridge wasn’t cooling. The ice in the tray had melted. I looked at the battery gauge and it showed less than 10 volts on the charge. The lights were still working. But the higher amp items, like the fridge were not.
I did have issues with the batteries the day before. After we’d been sailing for a few hours, the lights on the console began to flicker. I’d seen this before and knew that the batteries were running low. So I turned on the engine to charge the batteries back up.
I’d had this issue in the not too distant past. After finally becoming frustrated enough, I pulled out the battery meter and found one of the house batteries was dead. I’d replaced it and no more problems. Did my current issue mean the second house battery was now dead? Guess I’ll need to take a look.
So now, I finished my breakfast then tried to turn the engine on. No clicks. Was it the starter battery that was the problem?
More on the electrical set up on my boat. I don’t have a switch; I have 3 handles. I have not done anything with those handles. But a conversation with Maria from pointed to the fact that I should disengage the starter battery when anchoring to ensure I had a charge to start the engine later. I filed away that useful but of info.
Again, I’d seen this before. I’d thought maybe I was out of fuel. And, indeed, the next day when I put in fresh diesel, it started right away. But when I later tried filling the tank, the 20 gallon tank only took 6 gallons. So no answer there.
A fellow boater at the marine had suggested tapping on the solenoid, that it might have a loose connection. So I talked with Jodi, a whiz at electronics, and asked her to show me where the solenoid was. She figured that out, we tapped it, and the engine started. Batteries charged again, I was in good shape.
Maria and Jodi noticed the tea I’d also make myself and asked if I could heat them some water, too. They had an electric stove on the cruiser, which required getting the generator started to work. I had a propane stove that was much easier to light and use. So I heated water for them, as well as for Maria’s husband, CT.
After this very leisurely morning, air blew up my kayak. I have a Sea Eagle kayak that ai love. It’s quite sturdy for a blow up kayak, and it takes up a small enough space when deflated that I can transport it in the back of my car.
I got it inflated and was disappointed to see I’d not included the skeg. Ah well! Paddling would be harder. But it proved not to be. This is rated for 3 people, but 2 adults fit in in comfortably. I sat in the front so I could also play with the sail. And I had no problems steering it. I did, however, order a new skeg when I got home.
Later, I put the kayak away and we took the power boat to try going into the nearby town of Matthews.
We had talked before about taking the kayak over. I’m glad we didn’t: it proved to be further than we had anticipated. We went during high tide, since we were told it wouldn’t be passable otherwise. As we approached the town, however, it was too shallow for the power boat and we started kicking up mud. Jodi, who was being pulled in a raft, helped turn us around and move to deeper water, and we headed back. Mission to accomplished. But we did get a nice view of the rest of the river.
We played for a bit more when we got back, then decided it was time to start moving to our next destination, in the Severn River, on the other side of the bay.
More on day 2 and the rest of the trip in the next post.