Moving to D.C.

[c130king]

Well after a month and a half of agonizing as the USAF s----t----r----e----t----c----h----e----d out my assignment notification I finally got the word last night. Will be working in D.C. at USAF HQ annex in Rosslyn, VA. Looking for houses now either South along the I-95 corridor or West along the I-66 corridor...but most likely outside the beltway.

Considered living East of DC in Maryland but we decided the schools and commuting would be better/easier in VA. So my new sailing grounds will probably be the Potomac. But will have the trailer for some trips out of area. Making a house hunting trip in a couple of weeks...planning to check out Fort Belvoir's marina and other marinas in that area. Maybe I will get lucky and find a marina with mast-up dry storage.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

[wccorder]

Jim.
Try checking out the Occucuan (sp) Marinas. Years ago when I was there they had mast up storage available. About 20 miles from DC/Roslyn area rightc off 95.. Also I believe the Marina just south of Regan airport used to have on the hard parking for sails. Good luck on the transfer.
Wally

[pokerrick1]

Congratulations -- - this is a wonderful historic area in which to live and learn - - - unfortunately, they also have something called winter

Good Luck

Rick Less

[c130king]

Jim.
Try checking out the Occucuan (sp) Marinas. Years ago when I was there they had mast up storage available. About 20 miles from DC/Roslyn area rightc off 95.. Also I believe the Marina just south of Regan airport used to have on the hard parking for sails. Good luck on the transfer.
Wally

Wally,

Definitely will be checking out the marinas around Woodbridge (Occuquan). And also a little further South towards Ft Belvoir. Activecaptain.com has a lot of good info on marinas.

The other key for me is to find a house with a big enough driveway that I can park the boat there every now and then for some quality "at home" time.

Cheers,
Jim

[fishheadbarandgrill]

Jim,
Too bad about your orders to DC (I spent 4 lovely years there on two assignments; Pentagon, Crystal City, then National Defense University and lived in Centreville, VA). Working in Rossyln won't be too bad. I'd recommend looking east along the I-66 route. When you go TDY, You'll want to fly out of IAD. It may sound like you''re going further from the water but if you're smart, you'll land in Manassas/Centrreville area and use 234 to cut down to I-95 and you could be at a Potomac based marina in about 30-45 minutes. MCB Quantico also has a marina.

Good Luck,
Bob

[Catigale]

Thanks for your service, Jim...and welcome home. See you on the water..

[Doug W]

Excellent news, Jim! Congratulations on the assignment! Konig will get to swim regularly again!

Good luck on the house hunting and mast-up storage quest!

...Doug

[Love MACs]

Congrats on your assignment! Should be a great area for sailing and all the history you can stand Going to be a change from Florida but has to be better to be back in the States


Allan

[Uncle Jim]

Congrats on the new orders. While most everything (contractors and support) will be moving south on the I95 route. Traffic along 95 is not for the faint of heart. 66 at times is only slightly better. I'm out along the toll roads just past Dulles and the commute is not too bad, jut $5 each way $1.75 if I jump on at rt28 instead of by the house. But I drive a company car and they pay tolls

Marinas along the potomac are nice but shallow water and very narrow channels up this way and low bridges south of Woodbridge. We opted for the Chesapeke, great sailing, good marinas, lots of small coves to duck into for the night or weekend.

I believe Rick (Bosa Nova) Westlake sailed out of Ft Belvoir for a while, you may want to check with him. Also there's Bolling AFB with a marinia. Best of luck and maybe we can get all the board members to throw a welcome home raft up when you get in.

Jim

[c130king]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Definitely looking forward to getting back to the U.S. ... and of course back to my boat. Still have to figure out when I will be heading down to Jacksonville to pick up my truck and boat and trailer it back up to Virginia.

But now I am also considering some Maryland marinas to the East of DC. I think the sailing and cruising opportunities/locations would be much better. It would be only about a 1 hour drive over to the Maryland coast. I was doing 2.5 hours to Jacksonville every weekend when I lived in Georgia...did that for about 5 months.

A friend of mine said that living and working in the D.C. area is a delicate balancing act that has to consider housing quality/costs, commute distance and school quality for the kids. I will add a fourth dimension to his formula...sailing grounds.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

[c130king]

I believe Rick (Bosa Nova) Westlake sailed out of Ft Belvoir for a while, you may want to check with him. Also there's Bolling AFB with a marinia. Best of luck and maybe we can get all the board members to throw a welcome home raft up when you get in.

Uncle Jim,

I have done some checking with Rick. I think he is on the Chesapeake side right now...he gave me some thoughts about Maryland marinas.

Definitely let me know about any raft up's. I enjoy getting together with other Mac's and their owners.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

[Chinook]

If you end up living on the south side of DC you might want to check out the Point Patience marina, which is operated by Patuxent River Naval Air Station. While visiting our son, who is currently stationed there, we were able to launch and tie up there. Nice facilities and an excellent location, right next door to Solomons Island.