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The Latest From Capt Schultz with "Tug Restless"

Departure from Norfolk into Chesapeake Bay, initially takes you on a near easterly course in order to clear the Newport News, Hampton Roads Peninsula.

Departing Norfolk the morning of April 11th turns into one of those days when NOAA is suffering from a major sense of direction; as if having placed a beer can too close to their compass. Wind direction that was forecast from the west is actually blowing from the east, and the full affect of a wave pattern that formed in the Azores is rolling into the entrance of the Chesapeake.

Having successfully evaded all of the Navy Patrol Boats guarding the entrance to the Naval Base to starboard, I am puzzled by an odd shaped vessel approaching from dead ahead. By the time I recognize it as a Nuclear Submarine, I am surrounded by Naval Escorts, which herd me out of the channel.

The ride and conditions grows worse as I plow straight into a head sea, and with the rogue wave that lifts my custom rope Collision Mat from the bow and deposits it on the foredeck, I decide that better days lie ahead and come about, making for Hampton Roads.

When seawater temperatures get down into the lower 40’s, Reverse Cycle Air Conditioners are pretty hard pressed to deliver any kind of real heat. In the early morning hours of April 12th, its cold, raining, and blowing hard when all electrical power on the City Docks fails. Under such conditions, it’s rather easy to throw on another blanket when your trying to sleep, but eventually there comes a time when you have shake yourself out of the rack, and begin a new day. Things are miserable as hell aboard, with the dampness penetrating. My bunker of firewood is empty, and I begin a search throughout the boat for some unnecessary plank or combustible that I can use to stoke my cast iron stove. Even though I am surrounded with it, the price of producing such warmth from Mahogany makes today’s fuel prices look like a bargain.

My survey finally ends with two “Director Style” deck chairs astern. While not exactly new, they are still functional, and serve a purpose, however under the present circumstances, I now view them in terms of BTU’s.

In relationship to the evolution of mankind; perhaps I have regressed during this voyage to the, “Hunter/Gatherer Instinct,” as my actions seemed perfectly rational while smashing the chairs against the cement of the parking lot to make kindling wood. To the casual observer however, I’m certain they figured the guy aboard the blue & white tugboat had ‘Slipped his Moorings,” and was suffering from an acute case of having breathed too much sawdust in his life.

The entire Norfolk, Hampton area is a great place to be weathered in for several days. Yorktown and Williamsburg are nearby, and for even the least interested sailor, a trip to the Mariners Museum is a must.

As of March 2007, an entirely new exhibit dedicated to the Monitor & the Merrimac have been opened. In addition to the actual turret, anchor, propeller, and one of the cannon’s from the Monitor being on display, a full-scale steel mock-up of the ship has been constructed, that you can walk on, around and beneath.

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