Rough day! Pounded all the way from Deltaville to Norfolk. Ugg. So much motion that the rear tanks started shipping air to the engine. It wasn't fun hearing the engine's RPM change while pounding through waves. Shutting the rear tanks' supply and return valves did the trick. It doesn't help that the average fuel level in all four tanks was down to 1-1/2". I guess that's why it's important to know not only the 'total fuel aboard', but also the tanks' 'useable capacity'. Based on today's experience, Nellie's effectively out of fuel when there's still 28 gallons aboard (that's 7 gallons in each of the four tanks). Of course, the range could be extended by transferring the remaining fuel into one tank.
After six or seven hours of weather which had seawater continuously splashing over the pilothouse windows, we called it a day at 3:30 PM. The turning basin at the end of Portsmith's high street offers free mooring and is close to a great German restaurant and the wonderful, old Commodore theatre. We rewarded ourselves with dinner and a movie.
Side tied in Portsmith, VA after making 48nm today and 109nm for the journey.
