Steph the Sailor (kind of... with oysters...)

So in the last days of October, I left on the Godspeed from Jamestown, sailing with her to Urbanna for the 50th Oyster Festival. Urbanna annually has its big oyster hullabaloo, the official oyster hullabaloo of the commonwealth. We left on a Monday morning bright and early to sail down the James River to Hampton at the mouth of the James before heading the next day up the Chesapeake Bay to Deltaville near the mouth of the Rappahanock River and on Wednesday just a smidge up the Rappahanock to Urbanna. I'd never been sailing and was a bit nervous, since my little bit of sail training had been months earlier, but the crew all helped me extensively, and before being more than a few miles from Jamestown, I was climibing the rigging for the first time getting the sails ready to be set.

Being on the ship, we were split into two watches and assigned to one of the two larger masts. When my watch was on duty, we all rotated keeping lookout for little boats that might forget to not hit us (and other things in the river that might be dangerous to us), taking our turn at the helm, and generally being useful on deck. Also, when we were setting, taking in, or adjusting sail, my watch was assigned to the fore mast and spritsal (the front half of the ship, essentially). Also, we had our basic duties of helping to come into port, clean the ship both above and below decks, etc. On the way, it was really neat to have all the bits of info that I'd only been slightly exposed to be put into such practice, helping me to understand and remember the setting of sails and function of a ship more than ever. When at the helm, I got to steer the ship past the Elizabeth River and Norfolk on the first day, into a small fleet of sailboats in the bay on the second day, and into the Rappahanock (under the direct center of a bridge! that one got me the first beverage of the evening) while doing sailing maneuvers that the captain had me order. In all, it was a lot of fun and I'm quite hooked! (photos: The view up the main mast of the sails and the King's Colors; Little John keeping watch on the bowsprit; Gene and Little John at the helm; the compass (and some cool reflections); and John and Julie in the galley.)





(photos: Doug, Julie, and Todd relaxing while our watch was off duty; the captain and me steering the ship; the view from the quarterdeck; Jack as he looked on Halloween, ready to scare kids at a haunted house; and the hold of the ship where most of the crew stayed for during the sail.)





Coming into Urbanna, while trying to quickly furl a sail but furl it well, I jammed my thumb pretty well. Jack of course made fun of me to no end for that one, only a couple of months or so after having bruised my finger on the same hand. That night we went up into town looking for a place to celebrate Halloween, but apparently everything closes down around 8pm on a Wednesday night in Urbanna. Bummer. The next day, we had a few hundred school kids come through for programming, and in the afternoon went on a short promotional sail (which I was determined to go on, injured hand or not) before going out on the town that evening for dinner and live music. Jack was staying on a boat in the middle of the river, but the owners had taken the dinghy and Jack had to sleep in the tent on a pile of blankets (I was staying on the ship, so no problem there). (photos: Dan the Man awaiting the school kids; Mike giving a group of kids an orientation to the ship after I taught them all about navigation and exploration; the Northern Neck Chantey Singers; the view from my bunk on the ship in the morning; and Jack in the morning after having spent the night in the tent.)





Friday started the public programs for the Oyster Festival, so it was pretty busy with about 1500 people coming to the ship that day, though it was mighty cold and windy from the Noreaster blowing off the coast. We saw their massive fire engine parade that eveneing (over 80 firetrucks from all over the state) before again going out that evening. Saturday was the last day of the festival and I actually got to go out to explore and try some of the oysters. It was super crowded, especially with the big parade (a 45-minute parade, half consisting of shriners in every kind of mini automobile possible). After the day with over 2000 visitors, we waited until they opened the streets to traffic so that we could go to a big post-festival party where I slurped my first oysters (both raw and scalded) and Jack showed me how to eat my first crab (which parts to eat, which parts to pick off). Finally, after the next day cleaning up, it was back home to completely unwind and take sleep -- a lot. (photos: The giant oyster from the parade on the final day of the festival; hillbilly shriners; and a shriner in his mini semi.)



I was home for a few days, a couple of which were spent at work, before prepping to go back out to another festival in Charles City (between Williamsburg and Richmond). The first day there was more ridiculous amounts of school kids followed by a day of public visitation on Saturday (albeit pretty darn cold). Friday night was Steph's birthday, so some of us went out for a late night BBQ and bowling. Regardless, when I got back Saturday evening, I fell asleep almost immediately. (photos: A really excited David for a rather massive banana pudding at Steph's birthday dinner; Steph, Lindsay, and David at dinner; Lindsay bowling; and David feeling a bit nerdy.)




Fall has indeed arrived at last with leaves falling and frost advisories abounding. My tomatoes are still trying to pull through a bit longer and the interpretive staff in the Indian Village are decked out in furs too. Sally and I have been using our wood stove a TON and have even spent an evening making curtains to better insulate our house (my motivation, at least). I've been also trying to plan where I want to go work-wise, etc., as well as organizing my plans for the holidays. Again, busy, but when is that new? I'm loving the cold though!