Sunday, May 2, 2010

TRIANGULATING: Heading South Day Four

Deltaville  37°33.480N | 76°18.799W

Today's Chesapeake was not as user-friendly as yesterday's. Instead, we were barreling through 3-foot swells, practically launching off the top of them with a body-jarring landing on the other side. Sitting in the cockpit, this is not such a big deal. Going to the bathroom: BIG DEAL.

With the boat bucking around, I have to either pull up my pants with one hand (level of difficulty: EXTREME) or find a way to use two hands without toppling in a bruised heap (level of difficulty: IMPOSSIBLE). That's where triangle pose comes in.

I lean my butt against the wall with my legs at a 45° angle, making a triangle with the floor, pull my pants up to the top of my thighs. Then I push my butt away from the wall so that my weight is leaning on my shoulders, making a larger triangle, and pull my pants up the rest of the way. Even I find this amusing.

Our path today required a lot of triangulating above decks as well. On previous days, our destinations have been relatively easy to navigate, but since the time we left Rock Hall, I had been dreading two things: passing the mouth of the Potomac and navigating through Norfolk, both with their own complications. With the Potomac behind us, I was feeling pretty antsy about the dense Norfolk chart and the potential for heavy traffic from container ships and aircraft carriers.

But like the previous obstacles, it seemed less intimidating when we got there. With so many landmarks, triangulating was more obvious. In fact, when we passed through, I was surprised how relatively simple it was -- except for the 25-knot wind barreling across the channel, blowing us right toward the aquatic Death Stars:


And just as it was in passing the mouth of the Potomac, timing was in our favor. On a Sunday, there were no mega-ships moving about, just a lot of recreational boats zipping around, one pulling someone on an inner tube, weaving in and out of large power boats, the same type of people who would pull someone down the interstate on a skateboard.

We passed under lift bridges:

People sunning in inauspicious places:


Through a lock:

And after a 12-hour day, thanked Good Company for delivering us safely to Great Bridge.



Tied up behind:


Great Bridge  36°43.368N | 76°14.751W


**A special thanks to Debbie Miller for giving permission to this random blogger to use her beautiful Triangle Pose painting. See her work here.

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