We stayed for 2 nights in Jackson Creek. Day 2 was just spent on the boat, doing school work, and completing a bunch of boat projects. Installed a new bilge pump (automatic switch wasn't working on the old one anymore), finally found the issue with water in the bilge after heavy sailing, which ended up being the bilge pump hose. It had got knocked down at some point and so any water hitting the transom where the exit hole was, was making it's way back down the hose to the bilge. There is a vertical loop to prevent this, but it got knocked down at some point. There is also a little one way valve in the bilge pump, but it only does so much. Secured the hose properly and that shouldn't be a problem anymore. Replaced all the screws on the stanchions, as the old ones had been getting rusty. Also serviced the starboard genoa winch which I hadn't had time to do when I did the port one a few weeks back. Setup a few more storage hooks and things which we needed. And finally, adjusted the steering cables. They had been getting a bit loose and just needed a slight adjustment. Ultimately a lot of little projects that I never seem to find the time to do. Nice to get those done and out of the way.
The next morning was a cold one, I think it went down to 8C overnight. Got all layered up and weighed anchor first thing, even before coffee. We had plans to make a big hop maybe all the way, or at least close to all the way, to Hampton just before Norfolk. We've been anchoring in these really shallow, less than 10 feet, areas lately, and it sure makes pulling up anchor feel easy. Breaking an anchor free while holding 30+ feet of chain requires all my might, but in 8 feet of water it seems pretty easy... We motored out of the super narrow channel and then found a light wind to sail on.
It was kind of a funny sailing day, super light, and only 3 to 4 knots through the water, but we seemed to always have 4 to 5 knots overground thanks to the current. It was a super calm and easy sail, but a long day. 40.5 NM from 09:30 to 17:30. We ended up deciding to stop at Back Creek. It's a large open creek, probably not great in any strong winds, but we knew we had next to zero winds overnight. It's a giant spot with no shortage of places to anchor. It's right beside Langly Air Force Base, which depending on how you look at it, is either very cool or super annoying I guess. Lots of fighter jets taking of and landing here, and as you can imagine it does get very loud. If you've ever been to an air show, it's basically like that (super cool). Thankfully not all night, but it is a wake up call early in the morning.
Also kind of neat, if anyone remembers the Chinese balloon incident, it was shot down by a F22 Raptor that took off from Langly AFB. The jets first ever combat air kill.
