2008 Raft Up

 

HOME

Home Page

2008 Raft-up  Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth, Va

To view photos, click on the blue underlined text.  This year the photos are larger so view with screen set to 1024x768 minimum.  Text by John Myers with photos by Terry Hunsicker, John & Cindi Myers, and John Peterson.

 

Day 1 – Saturday, May 24th   Day 1 Photos

· We arrived at Tidewater Marina by car at approximately 1:00 PM.  Lou and Deb on “Wu Sin”, their W25 are already docked in the marina, having traveled 500 miles by boat.  We call Petersons on their cell phone and find that they are about two hours out.  We visit with the Lou and Deb, on their boat, then went for a walk though Old Towne while we wait for the Petersons. 

· After John and Sharon Peterson arrived on “Dream Date” and we caught up on things, we went for a sail up river on the Peterson’s boat.  This gave us a good view of the waterfront of both cities, (Norfolk and Portsmouth) as well as the Naval shipyards.  In the evening we all went out to supper at a German restaurant in Portsmouth’s Old Towne.

Day 2– Sunday May 25th  Day 2 Photos

· The Petersons made eggs Benedict for everyone with some help with the toasted muffins from Lou and Deb.  We all ate in the cockpit of the Peterson’s boat.

· Later we all went for a walk through Old Towne and along the water front while we waited for more folks to arrive.  Terry arrived on his W27 “Do U Wuna” and his wife Lena arrives by car.

· Later in the afternoon we again went for a sail this time on “Do U Wunna”, and this time down river past the container port.  During the sail, we saw and photographed 3 or 4 dolphins playing.

· We returned to the docks in time to meet the early arrivals for the “Ice Breaker” supper.

· Jim and Susan, Carmine from Washington D.C., and Bill and Bren arrived by car in the afternoon.

· The supper was held at the marina’s second story restaurant overlooking the marina and the river front.

· After the meal Sharon Peterson passed out “Goody Bags”.

· Lou Spagna then got up and made a speech.  He proposed that the Watkins Owners Group present each year a “WATKINS OWNER OF THE YEAR award” and to start things off he paid for and had made three awards for 2005, 2006 and 2007.  The 2005 winner was Paul LaPoint for starting the Raft-ups.  The 2006 winner was Andre Spagna for his 6 month sail and commentary of the Bahamas in his W27.  The 2007 winner was yours truly John Myers for his helpful replies to Watkins Owners questions and for creating the www.watkinsowners.com website.

· Day 3 – Monday May 26th    Day 3 Photos

· Most of the group met for breakfast at the hotel restaurant.  Then everyone went back to packing and preparing to cast off.  We walked the docks to look at other boats and get some exercise.

· John Peterson has some family business he needs to attend to early Monday morning and had ask during the weekend for volunteers to help Sharon sail their boat home.  Cindi and I volunteer.  About 10:00 AM Monday everyone slipped their lines and headed out.  We sailed with Sharon Peterson down the Elizabeth river, out into Hampton Roads and back into Willoughby Bay to the Naval Yacht Marina.  We were accompanied by Terry Hunsicker single handing “Do U Wuna” his W27.  After securing Petersons boat we transferred our stuff to “Do U Wuna” and headed back out into the Roads.  The wind had been strong all morning and it seemed to continue to build.  We sailed around Willoughby Bay for an hour or so before anchoring in the South West corner for the Night.  Terry grilled some great chicken for supper, then we relaxed, read and talked and listened to music till bedtime.

 

· Day 4 – Tuesday May 27th  Day 4 Photos

· The wind blew all last night @ 20-25 knots out of the West which made for a lot of rocking and rolling. 

· After breakfast, we upped anchor and headed for Little Creek where Terry and Lena keep their boat.  With a double reefed main and a storm jib, we made the approximately twelve mile sail on a broad reach in about two hours.  My GPS said 7+ Knots most of the way. 

· Terry, always the gracious host, took us back to his house for a shower and Terry’s wife Lena served us lunch before he returned us to our hotel to get our car.

· We spent the rest of the day walking on Virginia beach.

· A storm arrived the next morning at about 6 AM so we packed up and headed home.