Wye Me Lord?

To see a chart of where we were click here

This past Friday (11-25-11) we got super organized and got underway early in the day, clearing the breakwater into Herring Bay at 1230.  I think that's a record for us.  We had a beautiful day with a light breeze out of the SE, maybe 10 to 15 knots, scattered clouds and temperatures in the high 50's.  Perfect sailing weather.  Our destination was the Wye River in Eastern Bay which put us on a beam reach across the Chesapeake.  Unfortunately we had to motor our way across Herring Bay while Tom put in the new cotter pins for the rigging turnbuckles that he had forgotten to take care of last weekend.  Yikes!  With that taken care of we ran out the sails and had a wonderful sail across the Bay at 4.5 to 5.5 knots.  Around 1430 we were inside Eastern Bay and the wind was dwindling down to nothing.  I calculated we still had 10 miles to go and at our current speed of 2.5 knots we wouldn't get there until after dark.  We fired up the engine and ran the rest of the way at 7 knots, getting to our anchorage just as the sun set.

As you enter the Wye River off the Miles River (which is off Eastern Bay) it branches off to the right into the Wye East River and around the first point is Shaw Bay.  This was our first night's anchorage, mostly because of convenience.  It's a large cove with 20' depth and with that in mind I let out over 100' on the anchor rode for a 5:1 ratio.  There are large McMansions  lining the shore but most were dark, apparently being summer cottages or something.  Our evening here was quiet with absolutely no wind.  I mean, the surface of the water was like a mirror providing for some interesting pictures of the surrounding area.  The first picture at the top is from this anchorage.  For dinner we had some of Cheri's incredible crab soup.  Mmm, mmm good.

In the morning I woke up to the sound of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Canadian Geese.  I went up on deck and couldn't see a single bird but the noise was deafening.  For breakfast we had oatmeal made with cranberries and cinnamon.  We normally do raisins but couldn't find any.  The flavor with the cranberries is incredible.  Never go back to raisins.  After breakfast Cheri threw together an apple pie, made from scratch.  I think I'll keep her.

Around 1100 we raised anchor and headed upstream on the Wye East River.  Leaving Shaw Bay I misread the shoreline and ran into Lloyd Creek, thinking that Gross Creek was the next leg of the river.  Boy was I surprised when we ran aground in what was supposed to be 47' of water!  The river is very twisty-windy and the entrance wasn't obvious to me until we turned around.  We proceeded kinda slowly after that but there's really no trick to this place, just stay in the middle and mind your charts.  Hmm, good advice, huh?

As we went along we saw several really nice spots to anchor, Dividing Creek being one of them.  We continued on though and after passing Pickering Creek the river does another loop-de-loop and we pulled into the next cove on the south shore.  This spot was absolutely beautiful.  No homes, no lights, no nothin'.  The closest house was half a mile further upstream and it was dark later that night.  We had the whole planet to ourselves.  Actually, we shared it with about 40,000,000 Canadian Geese and three Bald Eagles.  One of the Eagles was hanging out in a tree on shore directly in from our boat.  The other two we saw the next morning as we were headed out.  Such a beautiful place.  It's nice to know there's a spot like this so close to our marina, about a 4.5 hour sail.  It's all very natural along the shores on both sides with farmland beyond the trees on the south side.  There were homes built along the shore on the way in but once we got back in there we pretty much had it all to ourselves.  At night there wasn't a single light in sight.  Oh yeah, the sunset that night was pretty spectacular.

Cheri spent all day slaving away in the galley.  For dinner we had a 4 lb. Cornish Hen with stuffing, green beans, dinner rolls, some excellent white wine and that awesome apple pie with vanilla ice cream.  I've got lots to be thankful for, lemme tell ya.

For breakfast the next morning we had apple pie with coffee.  In bed.  Actually it was cappuccino but I'm already sounding pretty spoiled here so we'll just call it coffee.  Anyway, I was feeling so relaxed I felt like jello.  Or maybe that was from eating too much, I don't know.  We had a nice, slow-paced morning and finally headed out around 1100.  We saw the other two Eagles at Pickering Point.  Cheri took the wheel the whole way out to the Miles River, never ran aground once.  Totally put me to shame.  We ran out into the Miles River and put the sails up as we rounded R4 into Eastern Bay.  The wind was blowing out of the SW at maybe 15 knots and we sailed close hauled on course 245 degrees, which took us all the way out past Kent Point and into the Chesapeake.

Once past Poplar Island the wind swung around to the South and picked up force quite a bit.  Our wind speed indicator hadn't been working at all this trip but I'm guessing we saw 30 knots at this point and it built up to more as we got out into the center of the Bay.  We were heeled over about 25 degrees and making 7.5 knots when we decided to reef in the genoa about 30%.  That leveled us out to about 10 degrees and we picked up speed to 8.5 knots.  Woohooo!  Cheri thought the waves were about 4' but I'm guessing some were as much as 5'.  We didn't just have white caps, we had rolling breakers. We were cutting through the waves at an angle, spray flying everywhere.  Seeing anything at all was difficult because the Eisenglass in the dodger was covered with salt water and we were looking straight into the sun.  Nothing but glare.  Luckily, there wasn't much traffic out there.  My biggest concern was running into a channel marker or driving over one of those damned fish traps at the entrance to Herring Bay.

We held our course as best we could to 240 degrees, which should have taken us straight into Herring Bay.  We were running with paper charts and didn't have any markers sighted to verify our position.  As we got in close enough to shore to see anything I realized we had over-shot Herring Bay and we were headed for Chesapeake Beach.  Whoops.  As I glanced down at our depth gauge it went from 35' to 15' to 10'.  Just like that.  Yikes!  I threw the wheel over and turned us downwind so we were running with the waves.  Cheri let the Main out and we just kinda skipped across the shallows of Holland Point and found our way into Herring Bay.  Whew!  Never a dull moment with old Cap'n Tom at the helm.

Just outside of Herrington Harbour South we turned into the wind to drop the sails.  The "Tack" of our Mainsail has been giving me problems when it comes time to furl it and this time it was no different.  The "Tack" is the forward bottom corner of the sail and it's very heavily stitched for strength.  When I tried to roll up the sail into the mast the Tack jammed in the slot and wouldn't budge.  We're dancing around in the waves, the sails are flapping like crazy, lines are whipping around.  I tried three times and finally got the main in.  I was suddenly feeling very exhausted.  Way too much excitement for one day.  When we got back to our slip it took me three cappuccinos and two pieces of apple pie before I was feeling any better.

Driving by the seat of my pants is fun but I think I'm ready for a chartplotter and GPS.  I'm getting too old and too goofy to be doing this without some kinda help.  We've been saving up our pennies and I think we're just about ready to start working on that electronics package I was musing about over the Summer.  After this weekend I'd say this is something long past due.

Pre-Thanksgiving Update

Last Saturday, 11/12, we had our friends Pete and Gina over for the day.  We hadn't seen them for quite a while and it was nice to sit down and catch up with them.  Around noon we decided to take the boat out for a quick cruise across the Bay and back.

After motoring out into Herring Bay we put the sails up and shot out into the Chesapeake.  We had pretty good wind, 20 to 25 knots out of the SW, so we headed kinda SE towards Sharps Island Light at the mouth of the Choptank River.  Pete manned the helm for the better part of the day so I had a chance to play with the sails.  This is really the part I enjoy the most about sailing, trying to get the most out of the boat for the existing conditions.  Way better than any video game.  We really flew across the Bay, averaging 7 to 8 knots, and around 1430 I decided to head back to give us enough time to beat the sunset in case the wind died off.  We came about and sailed close hauled into about 25 to 30 knots winds.  We were heeled over 20 to 22 degrees and just crashing along, really great.  I glanced over at Gina and realized she had this deer-in-the-headlights kinda look and decided wed better calm things down a bit.  We reefed in the genoa about 30% and the boat settled out to 10 degrees.  Much more comfortable and I think the boat handled better too.  We shot back across the Bay and were outside Herring Bay by 1600.  I suggested we could maybe sail back across again but in the end we decided to call it a day and head back in.  We tacked our way back to R2 where we dropped the sails and headed back to our slip.  All in all it was a beautiful day, excellent sailing, and it felt really good to be back out on the Bay again and spend some time with our friends.

It's funny but living aboard doesn't really mean we get to go out sailing all the time.  This was only the second or third time we'd been out since July.  Ya work all week and when the weekend rolls around something always seems to come along to change your plans.   We are planning to spend Thanksgiving weekend, Friday through Sunday, anchored out.  We'll see how that one works out.

In the last installment I mentioned something about getting another boat.  We got all excited about a Moody 54 because it had all the things we were looking for in a boat and had the perfect layout down below.  Plus it was really, really big.  Well, we gave it some serious thought and decided it wasn't a good idea to take on such serious debt when we're so close to retirement.  That 54 woulda been pretty sweet but she woulda put quite a dent in our finances.  Of course, we still wanted to have more room and craved the perfect layout.  We searched the internet for something more affordable and came up with.........a Moody 46.  For about the same price as La Vida Dulce we could get a center cockpit boat with an aft cabin and two guest cabins.  It also has a sea berth (work bench) in the passageway to the aft cabin.  The layout is identical to the Moody 54 except it's been shortened in the Port side guest cabin, the engine room and the aft cabin, each loosing a few feet of floor space.  I think the port cabin might feel tight but the rest still look to have plenty of room.  The main salon is spacious and comfortable and the galley is very similar to the 54 with plenty of cabinets and counter space.  While the 54 is flat-out gorgeous and took our breath away it would really add to our yearly expenses.  The 46 can give us everything the 54 offered and keep us within our budget.  Sometimes ya just gotta be realistic.

So we're moving ahead with selling La Vida Dulce.  We stripped down the exterior teak, re-oiled the toe rail and bowsprit, and varnished the coaming in the cockpit.  Cheri's doing the varnish.  She used "Boat-Brite" soy stripper to clean off the old finish.   This stuff works great, lifts the finish quickly and then you just scrape it off with a putty knife.  Then she cleaned the teak with West Marine "Step 1 Teak Cleaner" which took out the black and gray stains.  After some sanding she applied five coats of natural high gloss Cetol finish.  It looks really beautiful.  Gonna be a bummer to sell the boat now.

I spent this past weekend repacking the chainplates.  This is an annual chore on Island Packets and I'm a little behind schedule.  We've been having problems with rain water getting into some of the storage areas and I'm pretty sure it was coming through the chainplates.  The last time I did this the mast was still down and it was a pretty easy job.  This time I had to remove one piece of the standing rigging at a time, loosening the turnbuckle and keeping track of how many turns it took so I could get it back to the correct tension.  There is a tool for adjusting your rigging that reads the tension on the shroud.  Check out this link to see how it works (click here).  Cool huh?  Gotta get one of those.  Anyway, as I started in on the chainplates I remembered I had sworn to myself two years ago that the next time I would chisel out the space around it to make more room for extra packing (silicone sealer) and to make it easier to clean.  This was the time to get it done right.  There's just three chainplates on each side and they poke up through the teak toe rail.  The factory didn't leave much room around them, just a 1/4" in some spots, which makes digging out the old gunk pretty difficult.  I chiseled out a good 1/2" all around and then filled it with Silpruf silicone sealant.  This is the stuff that's recommended by IP and now I know why.  I had used regular silicone goop on the starboard side and Silpruf on the port side last time.  When I went to dig out the old stuff the Silpruf came out in a solid block while the other junk was just a mess.  I'm told the Silpruf clings to stainless steel way better and provides a better seal.  Better is good.

Of course we're doing all this work to make the boat "pretty" for pictures so we can sell her.  We've been talking to some financial institutions about getting a loan pre-approved which'll take our heads out of the clouds when we're looking at boats to buy.  We got numbers all figured out and put in the paperwork and got turned down for the loan because we live on the boat (?).  We don't have any property that's firmly stuck in the dirt and that makes the banks very unhappy.  Despite the fact that we both have pretty good jobs and make oodles of money, have almost zero debt and pristine credit numbers, we are considered a bad risk because three hundred and fifty years ago some dude skipped out on his boat loan.  The loan officer said we needed to get a family member or friends to set up a lease showing that we rent from them and that would be good enough.  Of course we'd also have to change our driver's licenses too.  Does this sound ridiculous to you?  It does to me and I find it kinda insulting too.  But we're playing the game.  We couldn't get any family members to set up a lease with us because they think we're a bad risk, being live-aboards and all.  My friend at work, Gene, agreed to do it so now we're getting things in order.  I'll keep you informed.

So, not much more to report.  Work, eat and sleep for the most part.  Maybe we'll have something exciting to report the next time around.  Like how I gained fifteen pounds over the holiday.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

In Our "Spare" Time

 Over the month of October we didn't manage to get out at all and we certainly missed some of the best sailing of the entire season.  Bummer!  We have two excuses for not getting out but looking back, only the first carries any weight.

During our last excursion we spent three days on Broad Creek, the whole time at anchor.  I was disappointed to see how quickly our batteries were depleted but even more so to find that running the engine didn't charge them back up.  Houston we have a problem.

On La Vida Dulce we have two sets (banks) of batteries. The first bank, with one 100 a/hr AGM battery is reserved for the engine.  The second bank, with four 100a/hr AGM batteries, is for "the house", for things like lights and instruments and making coffee.  We have two 85w solar panels, a 400w wind turbine and a 110a alternator on the engine.  Normally all these combined are enough to keep things charged up.  Running the engine for a few hours while cruising to another anchorage should have been enough by itself but this last time it didn't seem to have any effect at all.  There's two obvious places to look first.  The batteries could be at the end of their life and need to be replaced.  They were new in 2007 so they should still have a few years in them and with the cost I'm not gonna rush it.  Let's look elsewhere first.  The second option is the alternator.

The following weekend I removed the alternator, thinking I could take it to a shop and have them check it.  While I was disconnecting the wires I found a general mess with loose studs and rust, most likely caused from the water leak on the heat exchanger (click here).  I took it into a local marina to have it serviced thinking even if it had to be rebuilt we'd be back in action for half the price.  This alternator is not your run-of-the-mill automobile alternator.  Of course not!  It's a special "marine" alternator made by Balmar.  That word "marine" means they can charge twice as much for it.  Cha-ching!  The shop told me the unit was a basket case, looked like it had been hit by lightning.  They could rebuild it but it would cost the same to get a new one and then I'd have a warranty.  It'll take a week to get the new one in.  OK, there goes one weekend of perfect sailing but we should have it in time to get out by next weekend.

I picked up the new alternator on Thursday evening and installed it Friday morning.  As I was putting it in I found that the dude who did the original installation did a Mickey Mouse job and the wiring harness was a rat's nest and the controller was mounted at the bottom of the door to the engine room.  To read the code on the controller I had to lay on my side on the floor.  What are people thinking when they do this kind of work?  Am I alone in questioning this?  Grrrr.  I decided to replace the wiring harness and move the controller to a better position.  Do I need to say "snowball"?  By the time I got it all installed and checked out it was Saturday evening and another beautiful sailing weekend had gone by.  On the upside I am now an expert on our 12 volt charging system.

OK, so that's one excuse for not getting out sailing and that's the good one.  The other excuse was that we started looking at boats for "sale", not "sail".  The word "snowball" doesn't even come close to covering this one.

When we went to the Boat Show this year we made the mistake of going aboard a Hylas 49.  The layout down below is just what we're looking for, would really suit us well.  The new Hylas 49's are ridiculously expensive but we found that the used ones, prior to 2005, are more within our price range.  So we called our friends/boat brokers, Jack and Sharon Malatich, to see if this was something we could really do.  They asked us what it was we liked about the Hylas and we gave them a list that was two pages long.  After going through it they suggested we take a look at some other boats too such as a Taswell, Moody and a few others.  OK.

The following Friday they came down to Herrington to take a look at our boat to get an idea what we could sell her for.  They also had arranged for us to check out some other makes of boats.  One of them was a Taswell 49 that was located right there at our marina.  I wasn't familiar with this boat but when we climbed out of the car we walked up to a boat that Cheri and I had been admiring just last week.  That's a good sign!  When we climbed aboard  (she was up on the hard) we found a boat that was very similar to the Hylas, maybe even better.  She had been sailed around the Atlantic and was set up for it, had all the safety gear, electronics, sails, everything we could want.  In the end we decided against her because she was built in 1996 and was showing her age through wear and tear down below.  A newer Taswell might just fit the bill though.

The next boat they took us to was a Moody, sitting on the hard up in Annapolis Harbor.  We pulled into the marina and parked next to this humongous boat.  Jack grabbed a ladder and put it up against this thing and we realized that we were looking at a Moody 54.  Yikes!  This thing is gigantic!  I checked with Jack and the price on this thing was in the same range as a used Hylas.  OK, let's take a look.  Once on deck it was all over for me.  This boat has recently been set up for sailing the Atlantic and cruising the Caribbean.  They just completed outfitting her with all new rigging and serviced everything.  Everything!  The boat is a 2001 but is basically brand new.  And she is truly beautiful.  We're looking at center cockpit boats because they have more room down below but I've always felt that the aft cockpit boats, such as our Island Packet, are much easier on the eye.  The center cockpit usually looks kinda dumpy to me.  Not this one.  The cabin sits low on the deck with easy access to the cockpit.  The lines on this thing are gorgeous.  Down below the layout provides an owners stateroom aft with a queen size bunk and tons of storage.  All the way forward is a guest cabin with another queen bunk and another guest cabin to starboard with two single bunks, over/under.  This second guest cabin is where we would set up an office for Cheri.  The salon has a nice table with "U" shaped settee to starboard and another settee to port.  The feeling here is comfortable, not too big (on the Island Packet 485 the salon is similar but it feels like a ballroom, too big).  The port side galley is "U" shaped with lotsa counter space done in Corian.  The fridge is front loading with a top loading freezer.  The nav station is starboard just aft of the salon.  Going aft from the nav station is a passageway to the rear stateroom.  In this passageway is a sea berth and storage to starboard and the engine room is to port.  The engine is a 110hp Yanmar diesel.  There's also a 11.5kw diesel generator in there.  Sweet.

 There are a few drawbacks to this boat.  I'd hafta install a diesel heater, maybe two.  I feel like I just finished doing that.  With the size of the engine room it wouldn't be as difficult as on the Island Packet though so I could get that done fairly quickly.  The other drawback is that the boat is set up for Euro power, 220v/50hz.  We'd need a converter to be able to hook up to shore power here in the States.  On the upside of that, almost the entire rest of the world is set up for 220v/50hz and pretty soon we plan to visit the rest of the world.  Perfect!

So, we decided this is the perfect boat for us, exactly what we need.  Cheri would have plenty of space for her sewing/quilting and office work.  The galley would get her back into cooking again.  Woohooo!  The sea berth by the engine room would make a great workbench and give me the space I need for projects around the boat.  I'd probably even have room for my hobbies; building cars and Japanese gardens.  OK, well maybe not.  We would have enough room to have guests stay aboard without having to rearrange the whole boat.  Plus, this boat has everything we'd need to do our circumnavigation, to go anywhere.  We wouldn't have to add anything (other than the heater).  I'm sold.  The perfect boat is out there and it's a center cockpit of all things.  Whodathunkit?

We both got really wound up about this and didn't even notice that another weekend of great sailing had passed us by.  We need to put on the brakes and give this some serious thought.  Money is the major issue here.  Retirement is just around the corner, less than three years away now.  We have to make intelligent decisions.  Is this really a good time to pawn Cheri's wedding ring?  We probably need to look into creative financing.  I'm thinking ski masks and automatic weapons.

The Other Side

This past weekend (9-31-11 through 10-3-11) we finally took some time for ourselves and had a relaxing weekend.  We started out on Friday by going to the Annapolis Boat Show.  Jack and Sharon Malatich had been the brokers out of Gratitude Yachts when we bought our boat two years ago.  We had such a good time with them and they treated us so well that we've kept in touch ever since.  I sent them a note last Thursday saying we planned to go to the boat show and hoped we might run into them.  They wrote back with a couple of comped tickets and asked us to stop by the Southerly 44 they were working on.  When we left Friday morning we stopped by the bakery and picked up a buncha goodies because we knew they wouldn't have much time for getting anything to eat.  Once we got to the show we hunted them down right away, found them to be totally swamped so we only stayed for a few minutes and dropped off the goods.  We'll try to connect with them later in the season when things have slowed down for them.

Last year at the boat show we had a list of things we wanted to see, mostly stuff we wanted to add to the boat such as life raft, water maker, electronics, etc, etc, etc.  This year was different for us.  We've pretty much made up our minds about the gear we wanna get so we spent all our time looking at cool-man boats and eating good food.  The good food was at Pusser's Grill where Cheri had a crab cake and I gorged on a turkey wrap.  Mmm mmmm good.

We've been living aboard La Vida Dulce for over a year now and have become pretty well acquainted with her.  Despite all the good things about an Island Packet there are some design compromises.  With the aft cockpit, usable interior space is a major issue for us.  Cheri has been saying for a while now that she needs a bigger boat.  She's a gal with many interests and two of them in particular, sewing/quilting and gourmet cooking, have been severely restricted by living aboard the boat.  She also works at home which requires office space of some sort.  My interests, building hot rods and Japanese gardens, are also on hiatus due to a lack of space.  Duh.  On our Island Packet 420 the only "extra" space is a guest cabin that's tucked under the cockpit and is limited in headroom so it doesn't serve very well for much other than sleeping and storage.  The galley is "U" shaped and small with limited cabinet space and storage.  Cheri has had her eye on an Island Packet 485 which is 52' total length, has a nice galley and a third cabin set up as an office.  The 485 is a center cockpit layout, which provides more space down below but in my opinion is kinda tubby looking and is difficult for an old geezer like me to get from the deck into the cockpit.

At the show we looked at boats in the 50' range.  Needless to say we could never afford one but they sure were fun to browse through.  Of course, this was a very bad idea.  In the end I decided we really needed a Hylas 49.  Man-oh-man, what a sweet boat.  This one has everything we're looking for, answers all the things that have been bugging Cheri about our 420.  The galley is a major issue, as I've mentioned before.  The Hylas has what's called an in-line galley running fore and aft.  It has a 7.5' isleway with counters and cabinets on either side.  The fridge/freezer is both top and front loading.  The stove has a flip-up splash guard that doubles as more counter space.  There are slits cut into the countertop that hold the knives.  There are handholds built into the side of the cabin over top of the counter, just at the right level, so you have something to hold onto when the boat is dancing around.  In the main salon the table has a removable leaf and plenty of seating.  There's a nice cabin forward for guests with a second guest cabin just aft of that, both sharing a head/shower on the starboard side.  We think the smaller cabin with the single berths would be the perfect place for a shop/office.  The aft cabin is large with good access to three sides of the center-line bunk, 6.5' headroom and lots of storage and hanging space.  Access to the cockpit is easier than the 485.  Plus it's a cutter rig which is important to us.  Nice boat.  Right now it's a pipe-dream but ya never know what tomorrow may bring.  Of course, the Hylas still wouldn't have room to build hot rods or Japanese gardens.

On Saturday we finally broke away from our slip and went across the Bay to visit other worlds.  Note that I didn't mention anything about sailing.  The Bay was as smooth as glass all the way across.  We motored our way to the Choptank River and turned up into Broad Creek (click here for a chart of the area).  Since it was getting close to sunset we drove into the nearest anchorage, Balls Creek.  The entrance here is kinda interesting because it does a little dog-leg around the first coupla markers.  A little further down there are no markers at all and the deep water just kinda peters out.  I figured that one out all by myself.  We're still navigating the old fashioned way, with paper charts, a depth gauge, a compass and the good Lord watching over us (not in that particular order).  I cruised past the final marker real slow.  The chart showed deep water (8') extending a ways beyond so I just drifted on until my gauge suddenly went to 4.5' and we sorta stopped right there.  We hit so softly Cheri didn't even know we were aground.  I backed down hard and got us back into deep water, circled around to verify there was plenty of depth around, and dropped anchor.

For dinner that night we had a great Porterhouse steak, cooked on the grill to perfection, along with some kind of yellow veggie.  After dinner we sat out in the cockpit with a glass of Amoretto and a coupla Davidoff cigars.  This might just be where the expression "Holy Smoke" comes from.  The night was crystal clear with a 3/4 moon lighting up the creek, geese honking and ducks quacking in the distance and a big old Blue Heron making his own bizarre sound (there's just no good description).  It was perfection, I'm telling ya.

We slept in late, around 0930, and had blueberry pancakes for breakfast with a cup of cappuccino from our new cool-man coffee maker.  A little after noon we packed up and motored up to the far end of Broad Creek and turned into San Domingo Creek.  This is the back-door entrance to the town of St. Michaels.  We went in as close as we could and anchored in about 8' of water, along with five other boats.  At 45' LOA we were the smallest boat there.  One of them was a big custom built trawler, about 70'.  There were a few other sailboats and a big stinkin' power boat.  We recognized this one right away as being from I dock back at Herrington Harbour North.  It's named "Got Girls" and is about 60' LOA (length over-all) with a black hull and super swoopy contemporary lines.  We anchored way over on the other side of the creek.

Once we got settled in we decided to take Bella ashore for a chance to run around.  She hadn't been off the boat in a few days and she gets pretty wiggy after a while.  We all piled into our 10', 6 hp RIB (rubber inflatable boat) and were just getting underway when this 18' RIB came flying up beside us.  It was Phylyp from "Got Girls" with a friendly greeting and a request for us to join them later on.  This so-called dinghy of his was pretty cool with cushioned seats and a console with a wheel for driving instead of hanging onto the arm of the outboard.  I asked him what kind of power this thing had and he modestly replied "100hp, inboard/outboard, top speed of about 40 knots".  Yikes!  Not your average dinghy.

We took Bella into St. Michaels and let her run around the park for a while before heading back to the boat.  We dropped her off and mixed up a batch of Sour Apple Martini's before heading over to "Got Girls".  This is a pretty awesome boat, high tech everything, luxury at it's finest.  The salon has a round table with several track-mounted quarter-round seats.  The seats can be positioned anywhere around the table to give the best views.  Sweet!  There's a full barbecue and galley on the upper deck and another full galley below.  There are five flat screen TV's and a 1000 watt stereo system.  The walk-in engine room has twin 800hp diesel engines and a 21kw diesel generator.  This is one of those boats you read about in those large format coffee table books about the rich and famous.  Easily a gazillion dollar boat. Despite (or maybe because of?) the ostentatious, in-your-face display of wealth, we had a nice time and enjoyed getting to know Phylyp and JoAnne.  Phyl even called his buddy Chad, the owner of the Big Pickle Foodbar in St. Michaels and ensured us a table for dinner later that evening.

After the "Got Girls" experience we drove our puny, incredibly slow dinghy into the town dock and walked a few blocks down to the restaurant.  The atmosphere is pretty laid back but the food was truly excellent, probably the best crabcake I've had anywhere.  After dinner we wandered around town window shopping before heading back to the boat.

The next morning, after a late breakfast we spent a few more hours checking out the shops in St. Michaels before it was time to head back across the Bay.  We managed to get the sails up for a few hours on the Choptank before the wind died down to nothing and we motored back to our slip, getting in just as the sun set behind the trees.

This was such a nice weekend!  We were so relaxed we both felt like Jello.  Only coulda been better if we had some more wind.  You know, to actually sail that sailboat.  Still, we had a great time.  Broad Creek has a number of good anchorages to explore and it's a straight shot across the Bay for us.  St. Michaels is a fun place to hang out with lotsa nice shops and places to eat.  We'll be going back that way, fer sure. 

Remodeling Plans

We've been living aboard for about a year now and have gotten to know the boat and our needs pretty well.  Looking around we can see places where changes could be made that would add storage or convenience for our particular situation.  I enjoy doing this kind of work, it saves money doing it yourself, but the reality is that I don't have a woodshop or the tools to do cabinetry.  I used to but I gave that all up when we moved on board.  So the next best thing is to hire out the work and hope that we can afford to pay someone else to do it for us.  We've been kicking this around for a while now and had actually talked to a woodworker person last winter but that didn't pan out.  Recently we were taking to a friend of ours and he mentioned that his custom home remodeling business was struggling in this economy.  Lightbulb!  We have work that needs to be done, he needs work and he does beautiful stuff too.  Perfect.  Hey Anthony, take a look at this idea of ours and see what you think.  The only real drawback to the whole thing is that he lives almost an hour away but we're not in any hurry on this stuff, got about three years to get it done.  We're pretty flexible and he could work on it when it's convenient for him.

One of these projects is in the forward head.  Behind the toilet is a shelf that wraps around between the sink and the wall for the shower.  There's a large open space underneath here that could be divided up and used for storing extra towels or TP or almost anything.  It just seems like a good spot for another shelf.  Of course it would need to be removable for servicing the toilet but that's just a matter of design.

Another spot is in the forward stateroom where we have the home theater stuff (check it out) sitting on top of the hanging locker.  The top has a fiddle, about a 2" lip around it to keep things from sliding off but the whole pile of stuff just looks unfinished.  We have a DVD player, hard drive and controller as well as a power strip and a bundle of wires.  I had pictured building a cabinet on top of the hanging locker that would hold all this stuff.  Anthony had a better idea.  He suggested recessing the top of the hanging locker so all the gear would sit down inside with just the DVD player showing.  He'll also route out a piece of teak to hide the wires going to the flat screen on the bulkhead.  Muy beuno!

This next one is going to be our first project.  Back in the aft head is all the heater and A/C ductwork underneath the cabinet.  I was thinking about making a grill that would cover it up.  He went one further and suggested a teak bullnose with slits cut into it to let the heat out.  The teak will be backed with aluminum to keep the heat from damaging the wood.  The bullnose will have a nice curve to it and match the cabinetry, better than what I had planned.  This dude is good!

The aft stateroom really needs help and is going to be a major project.  The ductwork from the heater comes through the aft bulkhead and runs along under the shelf on the port side.  The area above the shelf is a great spot for some cabinets to give us extra storage.  I had actually seen this done on an Island Packet 320 (this picture is of theirs) and it came out really nice.  Anthony made some suggestions for making it tie in to the existing look and I think what he's got in mind is really gonna look nice.  Kinda difficult to explain here but I'll post a picture or something as soon as possible.  This is definitely gonna be a nice addition to the boat and have a factory look to it too.

Finally we have the galley.  This is a sticking point for Cheri and it's understandable considering the kitchen she designed for herself in the house on Franwall Avenue.  We're talking gourmet here folks, top of the line everything.  So, she understands the limitations of a galley on the boat but she wants to push the envelope a bit.  I'm all for it because she's an excellent cook and enjoys playing with food.  If she's happy then I'm happy.  So we're looking at a bigger sink, Corian countertops, more cabinets, better layout for the fridge and freezer and probably more counterspace.  I think it's all do-able.  At least, as long as it falls within the 3 year timetable.

Beyond all this we're saving our pennies to buy some electronics for the boat.  We have a plan to get the boat ready for extended cruising when we retire in 2014.  Hmmm, that's about three years from now.  A major part of the plan is to get out away from the Chesapeake Bay and do some offshore sailing with some over-nighters, watch standing, food planning, water conservation - the works.  We want to do the DelMarVa circumnavigation which is about a ten day sail going north on the Bay, out the C+D canal into the Atlantic and re-entering the Bay at the southern end.  We're hoping to do this in May of 2012 which is coming up pretty soon now.  After that we want to take three weeks and sail to Bermuda, one week over, one week there and one week back.  That one is planned for the Spring of 2013.

To do these trips we want to have our electronics up and running.  We've picked out some gear for a pretty good system and based our choices on ease of use, world-wide serviceability and cost.  Originally I was going to mix and match pieces from different companies based on cost but it was pointed out to me that if we had a problem then one manufacturer would end up blaming another manufacturer and we'd just have a headache.  So we're gonna stick with just one manufacturer, Furuno.  A real popular thing right now is having touch screen control but I was concerned about it being difficult to use on a sailboat with things moving around all the time.  You'd end up putting in extra way-points or changing the display by accident.  Furuno seems to have designed their display for real world use and they don't offer touch screen control.  Plus, when you change scale on the screen to zoom in on a spot it's seamless, totally smooth, compared to some other displays we've seen that have to rescale over and over making the display very jerky as it zooms in.  Furuno also has a 3D display mode that is really nice.

So we're planning to get a 12" multi-function-display (MSD) which will be the heart of the system and controls and displays everything.  It provides charts for any region of the world and can display them in multiple formats as well as overlay them with satellite photos.  It can also overlay or split-screen information from the other units.  To this we'll add:

GPS - this will provide us with accurate position info to within 10'.

Radar - this will be mounted half-way up the mast and will provide surface information out to about 30 miles.  I expect it'll mostly be used when approaching land or in areas with a lot of traffic.

AIS - this is an automated ID system that can provide info about who we are and our course and receive the same from other ships.  This gets displayed and provides alarms for intersecting courses.  It'll help let the big guys know we're out there even if they can't see us.

Sonar - right now we're planning to use a fish finder (click here) to provide bottom information when we get into shallow water.  Inexpensive sonar is progressing by leaps and bounds right now so by the time we leave in 3 years we may actually have a system that provides a clear, detailed, 3D display of bottom features.  Cool!

Weather - this provides weather information through a satellite link for a fee.  We will also be able to get weather info through our single sideband radio.

So, it looks like the upcoming year is going to be a busy one.  There's a ton of stuff we want to do and time is becoming a major factor.  Tick, tick, tick.  I think maybe it's time for a priority list.

Irene

This past weekend, 8/28/11, we had a bit of a storm work it's way up the east coast.  On Thursday morning, 8/25, it hadn't made landfall in North Carolina yet and the projected storm track showed it hugging the coastline but staying in the Atlantic after crossing part of North Carolina.  The winds were a steady 110 knots, gusting higher.  If it stayed on this course I felt like we'd be OK at our marina because we'd be far enough from the storm that the winds would be less than 65 knots and the wind direction wouldn't cause serious flooding.

At noon that day I checked the National Hurricane Center's website and the update now showed Hurricane Irene coming inside the Chesapeake Bay with 100 knot winds.  Double Yikes!  I'm not kidding, my hair stood on end.  This was a whole different game.  Storm surge would be a serious problem with water being pushed into our creek from the Bay.  In 2003 Hurricane Isabel brought a storm surge of over 7.5' to our creek.  Once I got my hair back under control I left work early and headed home.  When I got to the marina I put our boat on a list to have her hauled and stored on the hard.  This costs about $700 but insurance pays for half so it's not too bad.  I was told we had about 100 boats ahead of us and chances were pretty slim of us getting hauled.  OK, it's worth a shot.

I figured I had about 48 hours to get ready for the worst.  I hadn't been through this drill before so I didn't know how much time I needed to get ready.  I started that afternoon by removing the Bimini and Dodger canvas.  This gave me access to the solar panels.  I felt it was a good idea to get them down because it was a good chance that they'd catch that 110 knot wind and rip the Bimini frame right off the boat.  Once I had all that removed I tied down the frame.  We removed the Genoa and Staysail and rolled the Main up (furled) inside the mast as tight as she would go.  The idea here was to reduce the area exposed to the wind as much as possible

By Friday morning we got another update on the storm and now they were saying it would track out to the Atlantic, just as they had said originally.  In addition to that they thought the winds would be reduced to about 85 knots.  If it holds to that then we'd be OK.  We had already done more than was necessary but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.  We doubled up all our dock lines and prepared things down below as if we were going out sailing.

On Saturday the marina informed us they'd be shutting off the water at noon and the power at 1700.  OK, guess we won't even have to consider sticking around.  At this point the storm was working it's way across North Carolina.  The sky was overcast but we had no rain yet and just a light breeze.  My sister and brother-in-law, Ellen and Ed, offered us refuge at their place, which we gladly accepted.  Thanks guys, we really appreciate it.  We got to their place around 1500 and the rain was just starting.  We all hunkered down in front of the TV and watched the news reports.  This was a big mistake because those reporters are more interested in drama than giving the real story so they tend to exaggerate like crazy.  I'm sitting there listening to these goons and by 2300 I couldn't take it anymore.  The storm was supposed to peak in our area around 0200 Sunday morning and I just had to get down to the boat and see how she was doing.  I mean, the wind was blowing straight across the Bay and the water could be high at the dock requiring an adjustment of the dock lines.  Or the bilge pump coulda failed and I needed to be down there to bail.  That boat is our home, has everything we own aboard and I just couldn't sit there and listen to those idiots on TV anymore.

The three of us, Cheri, me and Bella, piled into our car and cruised on down.  The rain was coming down in sheets and the windshield wipers were on full blast and could hardly keep up.  The wind was blowing pretty good too.  Luckily we were just about the only car on the road so I felt pretty comfortable driving 45 MPH on the the Baltimore Beltway and then down Rte 97 into Annapolis.  We got on Rte 2 and headed south and as soon as we got out of Edgewater we saw flashing lights.  Trees were down across the road.  There was a cop there but as we drove up he cut around the tree and headed south at 35 MPH.  Well what else could we do but follow?  We had a police escort all the way down to Deale.  Cool!  Along the way we had to drive around several more downed trees but it wasn't really dangerous or anything.  Just kinda surreal.  We got to the marina around 0030, grabbed a flashlight and walked down to the boat.  As we walked down the dock we were relieved to see that the water level was pretty normal.  This was a big relief for me because I figured as the storm went further north the wind would veer around out of the north and drive the water out of the Bay, meaning less chance of flooding as the storm progressed.  So we were already pretty much out of danger from storm surge.  I think the wind was blowing about 65 knots steady at this point and the rain was now coming down even harder.  When we got to the boat she was sitting in the center of the slip, heeling over with the wind but in absolutely no danger.  I shined the light up and down her length, didn't see anything wrong and decided to head back.  Three hours of driving, up and back, for a two minute visual confirmation.  In that two minutes we were totally soaked to the skin.  It was worth it, let me tell you, just for the peace of mind.  We got back safely around 0230 and climbed into bed and slept like babies.

Looking back on things now I can see that I totally over-reacted and did way more than I had to.  We could have left the sails and canvas on as well as the solar panels.  It was right to have doubled up on the dock lines and securing for sea down below was definitely a good idea too.  I don't regret having done too much because if I hadn't then the storm woulda come right up the Bay and clobbered us.  I'm pretty sure that's how that works.

Living With Doctor Dolittle

Monday evening I got home from work around 1830.  It had been raining on and off all day and I could see some pretty dark clouds approaching from the south-west as I walked down the dock.  When I get aboard I find that the holding tank needs to be pumped out.  We have contracted with a service to do this every other week and that's worked out real nice but this time we need to take care of it ourselves.  No problem, we just need to beat that storm that's drifting our way.

In record time we get the boat underway and head over to "C" dock.  As we pull up alongside we notice a commotion on the dock.  There's a big old bird dancing around with his wings spread out.  As we tie up the bird backs away and falls off the dock into the water.  We race over to see what he's doing and it's obvious this guy is gonna drown if we don't do something.  Cheri grabs a net from our boat and angles it down towards the bird who grabs onto the rim and hangs on for dear life.  We pull him back up on the dock and set the net down and back away real slowly.  This bird is an adult Osprey with a wingspan of about 5' and talons as long as my fingers.  Yowza!  The bird is pretty freaked out and screams and dances around, eventually falling back in the water.  We fish him out again and this time he just stands there, screeching with his wings spread out.

So now what do we do?  His movements make me think that his right wing is injured because he keeps holding the one wing out and folding up the other.  Cheri goes down below and starts making phone calls to see if she can get a Vet to come out and help.  No luck there but she eventually gets hold of the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources and they direct her to a raptor rescue lady (chick?) down in Solomons Island, about 40 miles away.  She can't come up tonight and asks us to put the bird in a box and keep it for her.  What?  Put this monster with 4" claws in a box?  Yikes!

Cheri wanders off looking for a box and I go back and take care of the boat.  The bird is only about 15' away while I'm working on the boat so I move around very slowly so I don't frighten him.  I still hafta get the holding tank pumped out before this storm hits and it's now getting dark too.  I finish up just as Cheri returns with a big box which she sets down beside the Osprey.  By now there's another boater, an old English dude with lots of suggestions and no intentions of assistance, and Miguel, the 6'6" security guard who also has no intention of going near the bird.  Cheri picks up the net, which the Osprey is still hanging onto and sets him down in the box.  I throw a towel over his head and he instantly goes quiet and stops moving around.  This is good but his gigantic wings are still sticking out.  Cheri takes one and gently folds it into the box and I do the same with the other.  As I push his wing into the box I picture his big old beak ripping the flesh off my hand but the bird just quietly sits there under the towel.  This is much easier than I ever woulda imagined.

We can't put the bird on our boat because Bella would just go nuts and then the Osprey would probably eat her.  There's already been enough excitement for one night.  We pick up the box and put it in a cart.  Miguel offers to take the cart down by the office for us so we could get La Vida Dulce back to her slip.  Cheri writes up a note and pins it to the towel: "Injured Osprey in box".  Yeah, that's a good idea.  Can you imagine finding a box on your doorstep, lifting the towel and finding this gigantic bird of prey right in your face?  She also included some info about it being picked up in the morning.  Miguel found a good safe place for the cart under the stairs where it'd be protected from the storm and out of the way of critters.

I checked on the bird the next morning and he was doing fine.  The rescue chick picked him up at 0900.  Turns out she's related to one of the gals in the marina office.  Small world.  Actually, out here in the sticks, probably everybody is related in one way or another.

So, this isn't the first time Cheri has been involved with big birds and strange animals.  She has a way with critters and they really respond to her.  She's turned Bella into a circus dog.  Down in Mexico she inched her way up to a Pelican on the beach and got within about 6" of it before it decided she was a nuisance.  Throughout her life she's had all sorts of unusual pets, including a 6' Boa that got away from her when she was living in an apartment building and didn't show up for six months.  During that time there were numerous reports of missing pets and small children.  She's also had horses, Mynah Birds, Hermit Crabs and Koi as well as cats and dogs.  Probably a lot more that I just can't remember right now.

I guess I might as well get used to this.

The Endless Project List

Our boat, an Island Packet 420, has some beautiful exterior teak trim.  On the side of the cabin, over the top of the ports, is a thin half-round strip called the "eyebrow" which runs on both sides all the way back to the cockpit.  There's more to be found in the cockpit across the top of the coaming.  Just in case you don't already know, the coaming is the raised wall around the cockpit that forms the back for the seats.  It's real purpose is to keep water out of the cockpit but it also serves as an equipment platform (for winches), additional seating (for wenches), and a convenient, but hazardous, place to set your tools (for wrenches).  The coaming on our boat is topped with a piece of teak about 1" thick, 4.5" wide and full length on either side of the cockpit.  The majority of the exterior teak is in the toe-rail at the outer edge of the deck.  This runs from the bowsprit (also teak) down both sides and across the stern.  The toe-rail serves to keep things, such as tools and crew members, from sliding off the side of the boat.  Ours also serves as a mounting surface for cleats and safety rails, as well as sealing the joint between the deck and the hull.

When we bought the boat the teak had just been refinished and looked really nice.  Until now I've never had a boat that had teak with a varnish-like finish on it.  My parents had a Dickerson ketch that had loads of teak but it was kept unfinished and we just scrubbed it all the time.  In fact, back then we used a teak cleaner that was like Ajax or Comet cleanser and you just sprinkled some on and scrubbed it with a handbrush.  Probably not considered environmentally friendly these days.  Our last boat had some teak but it too was unprotected and we thought it looked just fine in it's weathered state.  A good protective finish for exterior teak will have at least 6 coats.  Our neighbors have 15 coats on their teak.  It looks like ours had two, maybe three coats, just enough to make it look nice.  Over this past winter it completely deteriorated and by the Spring it was looking really shabby with blotches of gray and black stains.  Now our beautiful boat looked ratty and neglected.

While we were on vacation last month I finally decided to do something about the teak.  That's right, this is how I spent my vacation.  I can only sit around and relax for so long before I get bored and then I have to find something to do.  Restoring the teak seemed like an excellent little project to take on.  Got hold of some really cool stuff called Captain John's Boat Brite Soy Stripper.  Put on a heavy coat of this stuff with a brush, let it sit for a few minutes and scape it off with a paint scraper.  The finish lifts right off the wood with very little effort.  Pretty amazing stuff.  You want to work only on what you can do in about 45 minutes because the stripper will start to dry out after that and it makes things really difficult.  I figured this one out the hard way, coated about 40' of toe rail and went back and started to scrape it off.  I got through about 25' before it began to harden.  After that I worked on sections, maybe 15' at a time, and that worked out much better.

So, I got one side and about half the bowsprit stripped and then the weather got really hot and muggy and stayed like that for the rest of our vacation.  I went back to work and another week flew by before I got back to it.  Even then I only got sections of teak stripped between doing more important stuff like laundry and grocery shopping and going out for day-sails.

Now, three weeks have gone by and I finally got all the finish stripped off the toe-rail.  I then went over it with a two stage cleaner to get the gray and black stains out.  I used a medium bristle hand brush like you might use for scrubbing grout between tiles.  Using the Stage 1 cleaner with just a light scrubbing lifted the stains and the teak looked like new wood again.  Cool!  I tried the second stage cleaner and couldn't see any difference so I just skipped that part.  Once I had all the teak cleaned I went back over it again, rinsing it off every ten feet or so as I cleaned it.  The wood looked really nice at this point but I had to stop progress because it was Sunday night and I had to go back to work.

By the time I got back to it another week had gone by.  Yikes!  The wood was already turning gray again!  Cheri and I talked it over and decided we didn't want to go through the struggle of putting on 15 coats of finish and then maintaining that.  We both like the look of the varnished wood with multiple coats of clear but neither of us can picture keeping it up once we sail off into the sunset.  Instead we decided to go the traditional route and try oiling the teak.  It looks really sweet when it's all cleaned up and with teak oil, if you let it go the wood will turn a nice even gray.  This is opposed to the hard finish that wears off in spots and looks awful if you don't stay on top of it.  So we decided to try the oil for a few years and see if that works for us.

First I spent another day cleaning it (again) and in the process found some more spots that needed stripping.  Now this stuff looks really good.  We then put on two coats of oil and the color and grain came right out, looking really nice.  The color is kind of a golden, reddish, browney, orange and has a rich, antiquey look to it.  Now all we have to do is maintain it.  That means a light coat of oil now and then, less than an hour's worth of work.  Probably have to clean and brighten it again in the Spring but that still seems better than having to sand and brush on a hard finish.  We'll see how it goes.

We set up a maintenance cycle on our computer using the calendar program.  We scheduled stuff like cleaning air and water filters as well as oiling the teak.  Things that are done periodically.  One of the air filters needs cleaning every week.  Up until now we've waited until the A/C system freezes up before we realize it's time to clean the air filters.  There are also traps in the raw water lines for the engine, deck wash-down pump, A/C water pump, and the shower sumps.  These get pretty grotty over time too.  So, now with our cool-man scheduling program I'll be able to stay on top of this stuff, take better care of our gear and keep the teak looking sweet for many years to come.

I've been working on a "preventer" for the mainsail and the staysail.  A preventer is a line that attaches to the end of the boom and pulls the boom forward to keep tension on it.  When you're sailing with the wind coming from behind the boat the boom is out to one side, usually the downwind side.  In light winds the rocking of the boat can cause the boom to swing around and if the wind gets in behind it you have a situation called an unintentional gybe where the boom swings from one side of the boat to the other.  This is super dangerous and people have been seriously injured, clonked on the head, even knocked overboard.  You can also have an intentional gybe where you control the motion of the boom by pulling it in to centerline with the sheet and then letting it out the other side.  What I'm doing is using a line to "prevent" the boom from swinging unintentionally.  The line is attached to the end of the boom and leads forward to a block (pulley) halfway down the side of the boat (midships) and then back to a winch in the cockpit.  I can control the tension on the boom from where I sit and make adjustments between the main sheet and the preventer.  Simple, huh?

Have you priced gold recently?  This past weekend it was $1500 an ounce!  We traded in some necklaces and broken jewelry that had been sitting around collecting dust and walked away with a check for $3000.  Yowsa!  This'll cover a good portion of the cost for new electronics on the boat.  Unbelievable!  Sure wish I'd stashed away a few Krugerrands back when I was a yout.  We coulda paid off the boat.

Quick note: anodes are used on a boat to deal with electrolysis.  This happens when you place different types of metal in water.  With our boat we have stainless steel in the propeller shaft, bronze in the prop and brass or bronze in all the through-hull fittings.  This difference in metals sets up a "battery" condition and electric current flows from one piece to another.  The piece that the current flows from is eaten away and this can get expensive when it's your propeller or create other problems if it's your through-hulls.  Zinc anodes are bolted to the propeller shaft and are eaten away ,"sacrificed", first before damage occurs to any other parts.  Anodes need to be replaced about every year.

This past Spring we had planned to have the boat hauled to clean the bottom and replace the anodes. We had originally planned to have it done while Cheri was out of town on business but because of one thing or another it never happened.  Now here we are coming up on August and I'm planning again to have the boat hauled for a week while Cheri is down visiting her Mom in Florida.  Good plan.  Yesterday I came home from work and saw a young lady in a bikini doing calisthenics on the dock near our boat.  As I got closer I realized she was wiggling into a wetsuit.   She's a scuba diver and she was getting ready to clean the bottom of the boat next to ours.  I talked to her and found out she'd be able to do our boat this week for $175 plus the cost of the anodes.  Cool!  Let's do it!  This is compared to $585 plus storage to have the yard haul the boat, powerwash it and block it so I could scrape of the barnacles, repaint and replace the anodes.  Yeah, this diver is definitely the way to go.  Plus we won't have to deal with living on the boat while it's up on the hard for a week.

We've gotten some stuff done around the boat and still managed to get out on the water now and then.  Getting the teak done was a big deal, not the small job I first thought.  Getting the bottom cleaned is also a big deal.  And do you mind if I bring up the jewelry thing again?  Yes, big deal.  This Fall we'll take that cash and invest it in a chartplotter, radar, GPS, AIS and sonar.  That'll keep me busy for a while!

We Did A Bad, Bad Thing

 Chris Isaak - Bad, Bad Thing

Last weekend, 7-16, we had plans to sail over to the Choptank River and meet up with the local sailing association for a raft-up with hor d'oeuvres and drinks.  Wow!  Hoighty Toighty!

We were supposed to meet up at 1730 on Trippe Creek which is a good four hour sail from Herring Bay.  We planned to leave by noon and figured that would give us plenty of time.  Fired up the engine and discovered an electrical problem right away.  By the time I fixed that it was 1430 and we were finished before we even started.

We sailed out from R2 in Herring Bay with the wind out of the South at about 18 knots.  Beautiful sailing conditions even if it did require that we tack our way down the Bay.  By the time we got to the entrance to the Tred Avon River it was already 1800.  We pulled up to the party at 1830 and were greeted by semi-cold shoulders.  We mingled with the crowd which was a good size coming from 12 boats altogether.  Encountered comments like "Jeez, too bad you're so late, ya missed all the good food" or "Maybe next time you can get here a little earlier".

After the party broke up we crawled back to our boat and decided to celebrate our anniversary with a couple of nice cigars and a glass of Amaretto.  We sat out in the cockpit and figured with the breeze blowing across our bow that it would draw the smoke right out the back of the boat.  We figured wrong.  The folks sitting in the boat next to us got very quiet shortly after we lit up and moved their party down below.  Bummer.  We just can't seem to fit in with this crowd.

In the morning we got up early and watched the sunrise, went for a swim (probably shoulda worn swim trunks, huh?) and had some coffee.  As people emerged around us they said not a word to us, had a very nice breakfast amongst themselves and then informed us they were ready for us to cast off.  Uhm, OK, see ya later.  "Have a day".

I really don't think this "rafting up with the cocktail crowd" is our kind of thing.  We've always been lone wolves so I'm not really sure why we wandered down this social path.  I think I had been reading about how cruisers band together and party a lot so I thought we should try it out.  OK, got that out of the way, let's move on.

When I installed the wind generator I had trouble finding a good spot to mount the control panel for it.  I wanted it located at the Nav Station but the previous owners had taken up most of the space with "stuff" to make it look official or complete or something.  I knew I had to re-organize this mess but that would have to be a project for later on, like next winter maybe.  We have two VHF radios, one mounted in the panel at the Nav Station and the other, which we use all the time, being a hand-held up in the cockpit.  Of course I removed the panel mounted one so I could put in the control for the wind generator.  Where, you might wonder, am I going with this?

Sailing out of the Choptank River the wind was blowing out of the SW at 12 - 15 knots.  We were tacking back and forth down the river when the Coast Guard came on the radio with a warning about an overturned boat and at about the same time we were passed by a CG riverboat hauling buns towards Tilghman Island.  On our next tack we spotted the boat floating upside down, white hull with blue stripes.  No bodies.  We called it in on our hand-held but the response from the CG was unintelligible.  We tried several times to communicate with them but it was useless.  Finally another boater came on and told us it had already been reported and they were just calling it a navigation hazard.  OK.  We circled around several times thinking that riverboat might come out but they never did so we eventually took off.  I think if we had the other radio we could have had better communications with the CG because it has more power and the antenna is mounted at the top of the mast.  I believe the correct thing to do would have been to stay on station until they arrived but without the communications I couldn't see sitting out there all day hoping they'd show up.  Shortly after we took off we heard another boater go through exactly the same routine with poor coms.  He probably also had a hand-held radio.

We tacked out of the Choptank under full sail, Main, Staysail and Genoa.  We've been sailing La Vida Dulce for about a year now and this is my first experience with the cutter rig.  I haven't been too happy with her ability to "point up" into the wind and had found that we could do better when we weren't flying the Genoa.  Of course in light winds you want the Genoa up.  About halfway out the river it dawned on me that maybe the Staysail was fouling the air for the Genoa when the sails were close hauled.  We tried running with just the Main and Genoa and were able to point up an extra 5 degrees on either tack.  Cool!  So maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.  That extra five degrees helped us work out the final tack so we just barely cleared GC9 off Tilghman Island and were able to turn up the Bay without another tack.  We ran all the way up to Herring Bay on a beam reach, course of 312 degrees magnetic.

Aside from my inability to play nicely with others, I had a great weekend of sailing.  The weather was better than nice, it was uncharacteristically wonderful for July, with good wind and temperatures in the low 80's.  This was our first time sailing on the Choptank with La Vida Dulce (remind me sometime to tell you about our visit here in our last boat, "Delirious").  It's a beautiful river with a ton of great anchorages, over three centuries of history, quaint old towns to visit and some of the best boat yards on the Bay.  The Choptank was also the main focus for James Michener's book "Chesapeake".  I know most of it was based on a conglomeration of ideas taken from around the area but it's easy to picture the island with the plantation or the settlement on the shore.  When I'm sailing down the river I think about what it was like for those guys back in the 1600 and 1700's, sailing on this river, living at that farm over there or in that town. Out on the water it's easy to time-travel because you're removed from the traffic and powerlines and all those things that say "modern day".  Out on the water there are occasions when it could very well be 1735.  And then you get slapped back to reality when you run hard aground and have to get on your hand-held VHF radio and call TowBoat US for help.