small boats, small buses

I was out sailing yesterday, a guest of the new Sail Nauticus program on the downtown Norfolk waterfront.  My captain was Daniela, a young woman from Germany who is one of the sail instructors for the program.  Sail Nauticus will off sail training during summer camps, then after-school programs starting this fall that teach sailing with an emphasis in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concepts.  Sounds pretty cool.  Above you see us sailing out from the new small boat dock at Nauticus with the Battleship Wisconsin on the left and the Schooner Virginia (love the giant flag) on the right.

Sail Nauticus has six Harbor 30 sailboats, great little boats (I shouldn't say "little" as their length on deck is three feet longer than Spartina) with a 3 1/2 foot, 900 lb bulb keel.  Talk about stable (makes me think I was right to put that 100 lb steel centerboard on my boat).

What I like is that I'll be seeing a lot more small sailboats on the river this summer and fall.  With the six Harbor 20's and the Schooner Virginia tied up nearby, I think it will be a great summer on the water.

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While I was in Onancock the other day I picked up a brochure form a STAR transit bus.  I had heard of this service but was never, until now, able to track down information about it.  This is the transit system for all the small towns on the Eastern Shore.  Some of the stops caught my eye - Chincoteague, Onancock and Cape Charles.  This opens up the possibility of sailing from one port - say Cape Charles - to  another - say Onancock, then catching the STAR Transit bus back to the ramp to retrieve the jeep and trailer.  Cost of that bus trip, if I'm reading the brochure correctly, would be $1.00.  This really opens up some opportunities for short, one way cruises.  Or even our next attempt at the last leg of the circumnavigation - Chincoteague to Onancock - then catching the bus back to Chincoteague.  A buck is a lot less than the cost of a rental car.

steve