Not Struck Again!

Storms off the coast.  Storms all up the coast.  Storms over the coast. 

We arrived back in the Chesapeake weaving our way through heavy black clouds, intense lightning, a couple of maydays and a wee bit of rain.  Fort Monroe too was being thrashed so our trusty Cap’n guided us up the Elizabeth River (at night and during 4^th July celebrations) to our Hospital Point anchorage, which is better for repairs and being deck potatoes anyway. 

That's IT!  Let me off at Hooters...now!

Next morning GS & BW sat, hardly awake, with early morning coffees as a neighbouring boat called out to see if we’d had much damage. “We saw the lightning hit your mast last night” he said, “didn’t you feel it?”  The Motleys were speechless…are you kidding?  “Quite spectacular really. Hit the mast and 2 forks split out from the top,” he continued. “Amazing your anchor light is still working!”  GS & BW debated who was going to break the news to the Cap’n.   Shute….

BW dashed below to check the electronics as GS shouted after them….”What time?”  “Oh, right when the fireworks were on - about 8.30 or 9pm.”  Big sigh – it couldn’t have been us then!  All sailboats look the same in the dark, obviously.

We were beginning to wonder how many superstitions (aka nautical theories) we had broken.

From:	Mill Creek off Hampton Flats	To:	Hospital Point, Norfolk
Lat/Long:	38:19.86N  76:19.80W	Lat/Long:	36:50.67N  76:17.92W
Date/Time:	3/7/11: 1440	Date/Time:	4/7/11: 2155
Time Taken:	182nm (32hrs)
Distance:	489nm (87.5hrs) (this year)	Dist Total	5867nm (since 2008)
Weather:	SW ; 10-20kts; 3-6’ seas;
Fastest Speed:	6kts (generally 4.8kts before the storm)