So we were prepared for a good blow and half expected to see some kind of storm surge. What we got was an overcast day with an occasional drizzle and winds as high as 3 knots. Not even good sailing weather.We spent Saturday clearing out our second storage shed in our attempt to downsize even more. This storage is about 20 minutes from the boat, not really convenient but it is dry. We've been using it for a backup until we could clear out some of the stuff left over from living in the house. Our primary storage shed is in Deale, about 2 minutes from the boat but it's located in a bug infested field with ticks and fleas and mice. And mud. We plan to reduce our stuff even more and move what's left into a temperature controlled spot near Annapolis. Convenient? Not at all but at this point I think we'll be down to seasonal things and won't be needing access to it so often.
We've been watching movies on our cool-man Mac mini in the main salon. We both felt the need for a little more comfort and thought a good ottoman would really fit the bill. We found a nice one at Bed, Bath and Beyond that's just the right height for propping up your feet and also provides good storage for Cheri's sewing machine with room to spare. The padded lid even flips over and turns into a coffee table top with fiddles (raised edges) to prevent stuff from sliding off. Perfect! This thing just might replace the table in the main salon. We didn't have room for the four folding boxes that came with it so we tossed two and will hang onto the others just in case we find a purpose for them. We plan to strap this baby down to one of the settees when we're underway. It weighs about 30 pounds empty and would make quite a projectile in a knockdown.Sunday we had our friends Anthony and Luzma join us for a sail. They arrived around 0930 and we sat around and talked until about 1100 before heading out. Once out on the Bay we found pretty good winds, about 12 knots out of the SSE. We decided to head up to Thomas Point Light so they could check it out. Along the way the wind varied from about 12 knots to zero point nada. It was odd, all or nothing. We'd be barreling along, having a great time and then all of a sudden it would just stop blowing and we'd coast for about 10 or 15 minutes. Then it would pick up again. Went like that all day. Luzma is from Peru and brought along some great food, stuff I couldn't pronounce but would definitely eat again. Mmm mmm mmmm. All in all we had a really nice visit and a decent day on the water. We got back to the dock around 1800 and had coffee and a shot of Amaretto di Amore liqueur. This is our new tradition to top off a good day of sailing. We met Anthony and Luzma when we were in the midst of selling everything we owned in preparation for moving aboard. They bought a chair we had advertised on Craigslist and then came back and helped us all day at the garage sale and continued to help us through the most frantic parts of moving out. They are wonderful people, true friends.
Monday we again had some friends come by for a sail. This time Sharon and Fred Carr joined us from Silver Spring. Sharon is Cheri's music teacher and Fred is the assistant Pastor at our church. They helped us out last month by letting us stay in their home while they were on vacation up in Canada during the final week our boat was being repaired. When we stayed at their place we noticed a buncha pictures of lighthouses so we thought it'd be good to run by Thomas Point Light (again) and Bloody Point Light on the other side of the Bay (the picture here is of Bloody Point Light before the 1960 fire and explosion that brought it's useful life to an end). Winds for this day were projected to be about 2 knots so we were planning to have to motor our way around. When we got past the breakwater though, we found that there was some good wind out there. It was blowing out of the SSE and we started out for Bloody Point. When got out into the middle of the Bay I gave it some thought and realized that if we returned from Thomas Point to Herring Bay we'd be tacking the whole way, making for a longer trip. 
With that in mind we changed our course and sailed on a "broad reach" up to the South River. Sailing with the wind coming from behind can be uncomfortable because you're traveling with the wind and not getting much cooling effect. You're also traveling with the waves and the boat tends to roll a lot. Sharon started feeling queezy shortly after we came to this new course and we sent her up on deck for some fresh air. This helped and she was feeling better before too long. As we got close enough to see the lighthouse we found about 3 different sailboat races going on in the area and decided not to interfere. We changed course to 115 degrees magnetic and headed East across the Bay. We were now sailing on a "close reach" on a "starboard tack" (aargh, sounds so nautical, can I hear ya say "lardy dar"?). The wind was holding nicely through the afternoon and had in fact increased to about 25 knots. Seas were getting a bit choppy. Fred tossed his cookies and we decided to reduce sail and try to make things more comfortable for our guests. We doused the genoa and ran under a full main and staysail. As we approached the Eastern Shore we crossed the original channel of the Susquehanna River with a depth of 175' (Chesapeake Bay Chart). Approaching the eastern side of this natural channel the depth quickly goes to about 9' so we came about and headed back across the Bay, this time "close hauled" on a "port tack". Now we were headed on a course of 240 degrees magnetic which should take us directly into Herring Bay but it also brings us about 45 degrees off the wind and the waves, which makes for some pretty lively sailing. The wind is now blowing a steady 30 knots and the waves were building up pretty big. We buried the bow at one point. We had wind howling and spray flying and poor Fred was puking on a regular basis. We rode like this for about two and a half hours with steadily worsening conditions. Things didn't let up until we rounded red #2 in Herring Bay which lines us up with the entrance to Herrington Harbour. By the time we got back to the slip Fred had lost about 25 pounds but he was feeling much better. We sat in the cockpit with coffee, Amaretto and cookies and talked about our day.
I gotta admit that I had mixed feelings about this day. Fred and Sharon are dear friends and we wanted this trip to be a "thank-you" gift for all they did for us so we really felt terrible that it was so rough on them, Fred especially. On the other hand, this was some really rockin' sailing, wild and woolly and I thoroughly enjoyed that part of it. No, I didn't prolong the trip and Fred's misery just so I could enjoy the day. When he first started feeling bad we were already at the farthest point from home. Should we have returned under power? It wouldn't have bought us anything. We would have been on the same course, at the same angle to the wind and waves and I seriously doubt we would have made better speed. I guess the real question is would I have prolonged it if I had the choice? Let me think on that for a while. Somewhere it's probably written down in some ancient book that if you make your Pastor puke then you're gonna go to Hell. I'm pretty sure about this.
On our sail home from Rock Hall on 8-29 we encountered a problem with the mainsail and were unable to unfurl it (click here to read the original entry). I resolved the furling problem a few days later. The main halyard isn’t supposed to be under tension. When I eased up on it I was able to slowly unfurl the sail all the way with my hand by turning the furling mechanism inside the mast at the bottom of the sail. The mainsail was rolled up loosely inside the mast and pockets of sail were being pulled out through the slot. As I saw this happening I would re-furl the sail just enough to get it back inside the slot and then continue unrolling it. Once I had the entire sail out I adjusted the topping lift a bit tighter to get the boom just above horizontal. With this done I was able to furl the sail using the line from the cockpit and it worked beautifully. I maintained just a bit of tension on the out-haul as I furled the sail and it went in very nicely.
John Hellwege of Gratitude Yachting clued me in on the mainsail halyard being over-tightened as the main cause of this problem. He said the second biggest cause is an aged sail which will stretch and sag at the outer edge (leech). Sails can be re-cut to correct this problem and extend their life.My other problem was the sump pump for the forward shower. I found a nice replacement for it from Jabsco (p/n 37202-2012). I put it in and found that the real problem was that the power line was shorted and the voltage was drifting between 2 - 13 VDC. This was causing the original pump motor, the old lump of rust, to overheat because it didn't have enough umph to crank the pump. I thought it was shorted windings and didn't bother to check things any further. My bad. I haven't had enough time to trace out the wire all the way but I do know the problem is under the forward bunk because I've traced it from the switch to the bunk on one side and the pump to the bunk on the other side. Hmmm. Let me see now. The most recent work done on the boat was also at the forward bunk. Coincidence? I don't think so.
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