The News from Newport News

post-shakedown maintenance and repair. Security is tight as a tick here. You don’t even want to think about docking or losing headway. Nice doggy. Don’t worry. I’m just passing. At 3:30 p.m., a siren wails. A shift change, I hope. Miles farther and there’s still no place to stop, but that’s about to change. Just before the James River Bridge I come to the city-owned Leeward Municipal Marina. I’m fond of Leeward. It was where I found my first boat, a sweet little swing-keel Spirit 23, which I bought there and sailed home. Tucked in next to the bridge, the marina is surrounded by a white cement breakwater. I had stopped here by car a few days earlier to see if I could go anywhere on foot. And to my delight, I could. Just up from the marina a stoplight allowed me to safely walk across the approach to the James River Bridge. And right there on the western side of the bridge was a