Norfolk for a night

We scheduled a quick haul out at a yard in Norfolk for Monday the 23rd, to take a look at our rudder and have the bottom of the boat power washed. Monday morning we set off from Put In Creek to head down there.

We pulled into Norfolk in the early afternoon for the haul out.

While the boat got moved, Cecelia and I hunted down some cribbing to put under the rudder so we could drop it.

Once the boat was in the slings, the powerwashing commenced. She cleaned up great.

We then got to work on the rudder – the plan had been to drop it and replace some parts, then put it back. However, the rudder had other plans. It would only budge about an inch and there was no way we were getting it out in the time we had available (and with only ourselves to do the work). We gave up after a few hours and just put it back in, then headed to a hotel for the night (sleeping on the boat while it was in the slings didn’t seem like a great idea).

The next morning we were there at 8 am to get back in the water.

We had hoped to sneak over to Safe Harbor Bluewater in Hampton a day earlier than we had reserved a slip, but they didn’t have room, so we went to Willoughby Marina instead for the night. Nearby was a stretch of beach where we went for a walk late in the day. We were looking forward to getting to Hampton the next day to connect with many of the other Salty Dawg rally participants and make final preparations for our departure to the Bahamas.