How time flies when you're having fun....

Pas de Deux was docked at Willoughby Harbor Marina in Norfolk in May through June following our return from the Bahamas . During this period we spent some time getting reacquainted with our home in Arlington while Dave did routine maintenance chores on the boat. Donna spent a great deal of her spare time in New York City helping with a significant remodeling project of her sister's recently purchased apartment there.

Our long range focus for the summer was on preparing to spend the following winter season cruising the islands of the eastern Caribbean beginning in November. Our nearer term priorities were some significant boat projects, taking care of the home in Arlington, and tending to those hundreds of do-to list items that mount up after spending six months offshore. In addition, Dave found time to assist our friends John and Joan outfitting their new arrival, Alize, a Lagoon 421 sailing catamaran. Their goal was also to depart for the islands in November.

On July 5th, we departed Willoughby Harbor Marina and began our sail to Jaynes boatyard near Reedville, VA, off the Great Wicomico River . At Jaynes, Pas de Deux would be hauled out of the water to permit the more significant maintenance care on Dave’s agenda. We spent time first in Fishing Bay and Mill Creek buddy boating with friend Wally on Makaira. We remained in Mill Creek, just a few miles from the boatyard until July 9, having kept in touch with the folks at Jaynes to schedule our arrival based on their readiness to haul Pas de Deux. In the early morning of the 9th we motored the short distance to Jaynes and were surprised to find another catamaran ahead of us awaiting haulout, so we dropped the anchor and had to wait our turn (so much for advance planning). We watched with some concern as the catamaran being hauled became victim to the hauling trailer’s right side wheels getting stuck in the mud. It probably took a good hour or better to resolve that issue through laying additional gravel. So it was perhaps to our benefit that we were not "first in line" for haulout that morning. Our turn finally came after the trailer’s path had been reinspected and a maneuvering rehearsal performed. We were pulled out of the water without incident, then quickly secured the boat so that we could depart that afternoon for home in a car we had pre-positioned at the yard.

Pas de Deux remained high and dry at Jaynes until August 3. Dave spent most of this time living aboard and performing most of the maintenance items as do-it-yourself projects while Donna was away in Manhattan:

Cleaned and sanded hull bottoms, rudders, and daggerboards; repaired minor fiberglass dings in hull and rudders; applied anti-fouling bottom paint.

Performed a rudder bearing inspection and re-aligned rudders.

Replaced the main batteries.

Replaced oil and water seals in the sail drives.

Disassembled and serviced folding props. Applied anti-fouling paint to props.

Replaced saildrive/prop zincs.

Unclogged the port head overboard hose.

Inspected through hull fittings.

Replaced the genoa sheets.

Inspected dagger board trunks.

Inspected and cleaned hull mounted grounding plates and heat exchangers.

Removed and inspected anchor and anchor chain. Chain was re-galvanized, lengths re-marked, and reinstalled.

Not bad for a few week’s work!!

On August 3 Pas de Deux was re-launched and we began a passage to the Annapolis MD area. Dave had arranged to have Quantum Sails examine the mainsail purchased in the spring of 2009 to once and for all resolve the batten problems we continued to have and to perform whatever repairs were needed. To have this work done Dave agreed to bring the sail to the Annapolis area for removal. Immediately upon departing Jaynes, we discovered a problem with the Furuno navigation equipment – the electronic heading data was not indicating. This became another item to resolve in Annapolis where our Furuno representative was located.

On August 4, after an overnight stop in Solomons, MD, we arrived at the residence of Bruce and Alison on the Rhode River who graciously allowed us the use of their dock to off load the mainsail. (It was at this dock we first saw Pas de Deux in October 2006 during the boat search and purchase process.) The Quantum Sail guys removed the mainsail the next day.

Within just a few days the Quantum guys returned the mainsail after re-configuring the leech batten boxes and performing some minor repairs. They re-installed the sail and hopefully this resolves the continuing problem of the battens falling out.

While on the Rhode River, Dave performed troubleshooting on the Furuno electronic compass, concluding the compass was faulty. He took it to the Furuno dealer in Annapolis who bench tested it and concluded it was OK. Next step was to switch the two chart plotters, considering the nav station 12 inch plotter might be the problem (it had malfunctioned on the route to the Bahamas last November and during the return along the Florida coast in April). Indeed, after switching the outside (helm) 8 inch chart plotter to the inside position – removing the inside 12 inch plotter – the compass heading was restored! Hurray! Finally another verifiable 12 inch plotter failure that might lead to its real fix this time! Dave took the 12-inch plotter to the dealer to be shipped off to the Furuno repair facility for testing and replacement or repair.

On August 11 we departed the Rhode River bound for Carter Creek off the Rappahannock River. Friends Hank & Seale, owners of sistership FLASH, had offered their personal dock off Carter Creek for Pas de Deux while they would be away cruising in New England for several weeks. This was a very generous offer that permitted us great flexibility to continue our trying-to-be-in-two-places-at-once home and boat projects. A dock already configured for an identical boat was almost too good to be true! Thanks Hank & Seale!!

Only 30 minutes out from Rhode River the Furuno heading indication malfunctioned again. This meant the 12 inch plotter just sent off to Furuno for repair may not be the problem after all. The likely culprit again became Dave’s first suspect – the separate electronic compass. This time, Dave coordinated with the Furuno dealer in Annapolis to ship off the compass for testing and repair.

After stopping for a night at Mill Creek, we arrived at Carter Creek just after noon on the 12th – but not before some excitement. Despite a good forecast, soon after leaving Mill Creek at 0730, several thunderstorms rolled through and we had a dicey passage to the mouth of the Rappahannock River. Fortunately we sensed a sudden calm as an impending significant wind shift and dropped all sail just before being swallowed by a wall of wind and horizontal rain. As with most thunderstorms, this was short lived and by the time we passed under the Route 3 bridge the sun was out and the wind was calm.

Pas de Deux remained at FLASH’’s dock until September 13. During this period Dave continued to work on more boat maintenance projects (do they ever end??!!) while Donna returned to Manhattan. Both the 12-inch Furuno plotter and electronic compass were returned from the Furuno repair facility with no problems found. This meant that the Furuno repair facility considered the continuing problem to be a boat wiring problem. Of course, this was always considered a possibility and Dave and the Annapolis Furuno dealer had ruled this out early in the process. The Annapolis dealer agreed to perform more troubleshooting aboard if we would bring the boat back to the Annapolis area, so we started a trip back north on September 13 after Donna returned home from New York City. Shortly after departing Carter Creek and raising the mainsail, we noticed two battens had again come out of their pockets. So once again, we would combine electronic and mainsail activities at Bruce and Alison’s dock on Rhode River. We sailed overnight and arrived at Rhode River early on the 14th.

Dave had concluded the mainsail battens had not been tensioned enough, allowing two to come out. But this used up the remaining adjustment lengths that would be needed as the sail stretched over time. From the spare batten stock we had collected throughout this ordeal he was able to cut an extra number 1 batten, the longest, a few inches longer to have aboard as a spare, but needed a longer number 4 batten. Numbers 4, 5, and 6 are smaller diameter and no spares were in hand. Dave arranged for the Quantum guys to provide an additional small diameter batten long enough to cut a new number 4 batten while we were at Rhode River. With this and proper batten tensioning, Dave was confident he could manage any further batten problems.

After further troubleshooting of the Furuno electronics problem, the Annapolis dealer and Dave concluded the boat wiring was sound and everything pointed to a faulty electronic compass, which to this point had already been shipped off to Furuno for analysis and deemed OK. Dave concluded that he would communicate with Furuno technical representatives directly for further ideas. If this could not resolve the missing heading data, all was not lost. The electronic heading data is somewhat of a luxury to have and not essential for navigation.

We departed Rhode River for an overnight passage to Norfolk on Sept. 17 and arrived on Sept. 18. In Norfolk we would continue a few boat projects – including resolution of the Furuno issue – and make final plans for the early November passage to the Caribbean. We chose to dock in Willoughby Harbor Marina until Nov. 1 to make passage preparations easier.