Friday, June 5th - Portsmouth, VA to Deltaville, VA (Deltaville Marina)

All set ready to cruise.  This is the first day of leaving the ICW and traveling the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.  Still raining and gross out but less so than the previous day….i was excited to be able to wear my new foul weather gear, as i had to be the one out in ‘it’ putting away the lines and pulling up fenders, etc…  it wasn’t pouring but it was a steady drizzle.   this picture captures the last smile on my face for the entire day.

i guess i noticed it all starting about a 1/2 hour into our cruise day.  I remember this because the waves grew just as we passed this HUGE tanker and i asked Harry if the waves we were feeling were from passing the tanker? - he said yes.  but the problem was the waves never stopped and in fact they grew and grew and grew.  Harry was piloting the boat from the cockpit due to the drizzle and not the fly bridge as usual…i kept thinking we were just hitting a rough spot…and we’d come out of it….but the waves were relentless.  i can’t recall now why i went below (probably to pee) but when i did i had to bump myself down each step on my butt in order not to be thrown off the steps.  below was a disaster zone which was in the process of what looked like a demonic possession…the boat’s insides seemed to be stretching and moaning and throwing up with each wave, every drawer was flinging open and shut, the refrigerator doors had flung open and everything on the floor, the glasses in the wine holder broke, pictures had flown off their hangers.  i just sat on the bottom step for a minute and watched…i couldn’t move.  i finally made my way over to the galley because i was on a mission.  I wanted to save my two potted plants and planters that were teetering toward disaster on top of the cabinets.  i managed to grab them, put them on the floor and pushed the garbage container flat up next to them.  forget about peeing….i had to get back up top….

we were both quite, not talking.  i sat behind the captain in one of the deck chairs pulled up close to the fly bridge ladder which i held on to SO tight that my hands were numb.  ‘they’ say when the waves are bad not to go down below and it’s true, oh hell yea, it’s true.  back up top i began to feel my knee caps twitching and i got really cold chills and i couldn’t stop shaking…i kept trying to talk to myself in order to avoid / keep my mind off of fainting and/or vomiting.  Harry asking me if i’m alright i said, ‘no, just pull over there and stop.’  there was no place over there to stop.  I’m sure the waves were coming up over the fly bridge because they were certainly coming up to and over the cockpit windshield.  I could not watch the waves coming, so i sat behind harry hanging on to the fly bridge ladder with my head down on my arms.  hours passed like this.   I was miserable, miserable. 

I realized the dinghy was thrashing around like crazy and really taking a beating, but i didn’t care, but knew Harry would so i told him…he then said, ‘take the wheel, i have to secure the dinghy’ - i said NO!! and took the wheel.  As scary as it was you can’t really screw up when you’re getting beat up so bad from massive waves.  all i did was try my best to steer us into them and not have them hit me side ways… i would turn around ever so often to make sure he was still back there - he had climbed completely into the dinghy as was tying down the straps more securely.  Finally, he’s back at the wheel and i’m madder than fire that i had to do that and now i’m shaking more so…but back at my post, holding tight, with my head down.

Then Harry tells me that the clip/post/screw that was holding the anchor in place on the bow had shook loose and the anchor was dangling…  I said, ‘don’t worry about it’.  But Harry did and said, ‘take the wheel, I have to go secure it.’ i said, NO!!!  and took the wheel.  what happened next is recalled in slow motion in my mind.  Harry gets to the bow (finally) and he grabs the anchor chain just as we hit a huge wave that sends Harry to the deck, hard.  I start to scream (he cannot possibly hear me), ‘get back here, get back here, come back!’  i try to look over him to concentrate on how to maneuver through the waves but another hits and he pounded flat again.  it’s an absolute horrifying sight.  Like a huge fish flopping around after being brought into the boat.  Even the grill seems to be screaming with fear, each time we come up on a wave the lid of the grill comes open….the larger the wave the bigger it opens.  Like a mouth screaming, oh, OH, OHHH!! He can’t seem to do what he intended cause it’s taking too long…but i see that he’s pulled out the anchor chain a bit, i know this because i can see the blue plastic tubing that Pat suggested he apply to the anchor, and then we hit again and he goes flying toward the port side but i can see the blue chain in his hands.  up and down, up and down, he is thrown and at one point he looks straight at me and tries to tell me something.  He looks like he’s scared, which terrifies me, his nose is bleeding, he’s soaking wet. i do not know what he wants me to do! so i keep driving through the waves. I am shaking all over and cold.  all i can think of is that he’s going to be thrown overboard and i will not know how to turn the boat around to retrieve him.  I am trying to concentrate on my driving so that i won’t succumb to the fainting symptoms.  I am petrified and mad as hell!!  (when i get scared i get mad).  what seems like an eternity is probably 15 minutes and he gets back to the wheel where he belongs.  I fall back to my position of holding tight to the fly bridge ladder and cry.  I’m shaking like crazy, cold and really crying. Everything runs through my mind, boating sucks, who enjoys this shit?, i am not prepared, if we make it I can rent a car and drive to KY, stay with my Dad, get Don to come with Harry…why do people do this?  this is horrible…. Harry turns around at some point and says, ‘I”m sorry’…..

I barely recall coming in but i do remember telling the dock hands we’ve had a rough day and they helped tie up and put fenders out while i sat in a lump on top of the dock box, in shock.   All i wanted was a hot bath and to curl up on the bed.

Harry was fine, a bit later he wanted to know if I wanted to walk in to see the town, get a bite to eat.  I said, ‘no, don’t think so, I’m just gonna stay right here curled up in the fetal position and suck my thumb.’  

Jan, i thought of not writing about this day because i didn't want you to freak out - but maybe it would be a good idea to skip this day if you print this out for Buddy Dink.