Winter Pics

Had a light snowfall last night, got about 3" at our dock.

Colder Than a What?!!

 This winter, 2013 to 2014, has been kinda chilly.  Back in August 2013 we noticed it was an uncommonly cool month and predicted a cold Winter coming up.  Shoulda gone to Vegas on that one.  We had to fire up our diesel heater about two weeks earlier than usual and it's been running 24/7 ever since then, December 2nd.  I think when we first turned it on we only had about 5/8 of a tank for fuel.  That lasted until this past Friday, January 24.  That's not too bad, 53 days of constant use.  I discovered it was getting low when the heater shut off a few times caused, I believe, by the fuel line sucking air when the boat heeled over in 40 knot winds.  Just the other day I told Cheri we'd have to take the boat over and get her fueled up.  Too bad I didn't do it then.  Ever since we've had temperatures down in the teens and single digits and the ice is about 4" thick around the boat.  Our creek is frozen over completely all the way out to the breakwater.  For a while they were keeping the main channel open for the work boats but it looks like they've given up on that.  Probably not too much charter boat action these days anyway.

For entertainment I've been trying to keep the ice clear around our boat.  I use the boat hook, minus the rubber tip, to punch holes in the ice.  I outline blocks about 18" x 36" and then break them loose and push them under the ice away from the boat.  This leaves a clear channel around the boat which usually lasts about 24 hours.  The other day it was a little colder though, about 6 degrees F, and as soon as I finished clearing the ice around the boat it was already skimmed over again.  Fortunately the wind was blowing really hard so the boat was moving around a lot which kept the ice from forming right next to it.  Some people use bubblers to keep the ice away from their boats.  A bubbler is a high volume pump, like you'd use in a large fountain, which keeps the water moving around the boat.  It's most effective if it's hung from the dock so it sits pretty deep and stirs up the warmer water down below.  My neighbor has one and it does a nice job of keeping the ice away from his boat.  I haven't opted for one of these because they cost about $600 and we just don't get that much ice.  At least not in a normal Winter.

On Friday I decided to add some diesel to the nearly empty fuel tank.  Since we are ice-bound this job had to be done five gallons at a time by hand.  I calculated we'd need another 5/8 of a tank to get through the middle of March.  That's about 100 gallons.  I have five Jerry cans, five gallons each, used just for diesel.  I spent all day running back and forth between the boat and the gas station.  Currently diesel is going for $3.97/gallon but we have a local place that sells "off road diesel" for $0.20/gallon less.  That adds up to a lot of beer.  I ended up putting in 140 gallons.  About half way through, my feet got so cold I couldn't feel my toes and I had to take a break.  Life on a boat, nothing but fun.

Our diesel heater is rated at 1/10 gallon per hour when it's just maintaining the temperature.  When it's trying to warm up a cold boat it takes more.  So over the course of an average winter we run it constantly for about 2500 hours.  Figure 250 gallons of fuel at $3.77 per gallon.  That comes out to $942 to stay warm from December 2nd through March 15th.  That's about $0.38 per hour.  Not cheap but I think some folks who have their homes stuck in the dirt are paying much more than that.  At least I feel better when I say that even if it's not true.

Other fun things we do in the Winter include keeping the water tank full.  The marina shuts off the water on the dock around the end of November so we have about 300' of hose that we keep laid out until the following Spring.  Every time we use it we have to hook up all the connections and then walk down to the end of the dock and turn on the water.  It takes about 45 minutes to fill our 250 gallon tank.  Once it's full I walk back to the end of the dock and turn it off.  Then I open all the connections and drain out each length of hose.  If you don't do this then water will freeze and plug the hose and you won't get any flow the next time you go to use it.  One of our neighbors keeps forgetting to do this so every time I see that he's filled his tank I take the time to empty out the hose.  He told me the other day he can't figure out why his 50' section of hose always freezes.  Go figure.

In the forward cabin my side of the bunk is against the starboard side of the boat.  With the temperatures down into single digits I can feel the cold air pouring over me like water.  Cheri got a roll of foil faced bubblewrap and covered it with some quilted cotton cloth that's used for batting in quilts.  She taped this over the inside of the hull.  She then took some more of the bubblewrap and cut it to fit in the ports and hatches.  She also made a larger panel that hangs inside the doors of the companionway.  These fixes have made a huge difference in the warmth of the boat and completely stopped the cold airflow on my side of the bed.  This cheap insulation is laughed at by the R-value experts but on our boat it's working very well.


I took some pictures this morning.  Yesterday we had a heat wave with temperatures up into the low 40's.  For the rest of this week we're back into the 20's and lower.  This is cold for this area and it's lasting much longer than usual.  We feel fortunate that we've managed to stay warm and comfortable.  There are four other live-aboards on our dock.  The guy next to us is using a kerosine space heater which keeps one compartment in his boat liveable.  A couple from Canada have only electric space heaters and said parts of their boat have been in the 40's!  No thanks.

BTW - this is hopefully our last cold Winter for a while.  259 days until we sail away.  Woohooo!

Store It and Forget It

Our boat, an Island Packet 420, was designed with some serious off-shore cruising in mind.  This boat has so much storage you could probably be out at sea for 90 days before getting concerned about running low on supplies.  I'm not kidding.  I went through and listed all the storage compartments and came up with 54.  We also installed 16 baskets in two of them for keeping dry and canned goods.  That makes 68 areas on our boat to keep stuff.  Some of these spaces are located beneath one or sometimes even two other levels of storage.  After living aboard for over three years we've realized that things get lost fairly easily around here.  You put something away and forget about it.  Six months later you go looking for it and it's nowhere to be found.  You know it's on the boat somewhere but it may take another six months of digging to find it.

Two of the storage areas are bins beneath the port side settee in the Main Salon.  Each one is approximately 24" x 24" x 30" Deep.  Because of the size and depth of these bins we decided to use these cool-man plastic baskets and we can fit two layers of baskets, four to each layer, for a total of eight baskets per bin.  In one bin we store dry goods like sugar, flour, rice, pasta, etc.  In the other we store canned goods and jars.  The bottom of these bins is sloped because it's the inside surface of the hull.  We had to put in a level floor in the bottom of the bins so the baskets would sit flat and it also keeps them dry if any water gets in there.  Which it can.  It's a boat.  (Note: we use plastic and don't allow cardboard on the boat because it has a reputation, especially in other countries, for bringing bugs and little critters on board.  That's bad enough in a house but it's a disaster on a boat.  Aside from affecting the living conditions, a bug infestation can prevent you from getting into the next port.)

So we've got these great baskets for storing food but we found that we kept buying duplicates of stuff because we had no idea what was actually in the baskets, especially the ones on the bottom of the bins.  We'd end up with five jars of pizza sauce or 15 pounds of sugar or something like that.  We really needed a way of keeping track of what we had in storage on the boat.  For the boat's computer we use a Mac mini and we each have iPads and they all share info back and forth.  There's got to be a program or an App that can keep track of our stuff and make it easier for us to find something when we need it.

What we found was an App for the iPads called Stock Control.  This is something really intended for keeping a running inventory in a small store but with our 68 storage areas it's just what we needed.  It took a while to get familiar with the program but once we had the storage inventory uploaded we knew we had the answer to our problems.

Last Sunday we spent all day going through the storage areas in the Main Salon.  The real reason for this was our semi-annual deep cleaning but I used it as an excuse to get the inventory done.  When we emptied out the storage areas behind and beneath the settees we found water intrusion, most likely from the chainplates.  The water we found was old salt water; thick, brown brine with salt crystals.  This was obviously left over from our trip to Bermuda.  Fortunately, we installed those level floors in the lower storage areas and that kept our stuff high and dry.  There was some mildew in there but it all cleaned up nicely with bleach and fresh water.  Guess it's time to re-seal those chainplates.

We tackled one side of the Salon at a time, pulled everything out, cleaned and then wrote down everything as it went back in.  We also weeded out a lot of stuff we really didn't need or that was duplicated or had gone bad over time.  In the end we had a list of everything stored in that part of the boat.  This is the biggest part of the storage but is by no means all of it.  We still have a lot more to do but this was a good start and it showed us how nice this App really is.  We now have everything divided up by location; "Main Salon, Starboard Side, Settee Back, Center Upper".  You can go to that group and click on "items" and it lists everything in that area.  Better yet, click on "Overview" and you can search by "group", "all groups", "subsets" or "barcodes".  We mostly use "search all groups".  You get a simple info bar to type in.  You begin entering what you're looking for and it lists everything that applies.  The more info you put in the more it narrows it down.  Let's say we're looking for egg noodles.  If you type in "noodles" you get a list of all the different noodles in dry storage with the appropriate location for each one.  If you type in "egg" you get a short list of stuff in the fridge and dry storage.  Type in just "e" and you get everything on the boat that has the letter "e" in it.  This is really cool.  You don't have to have the exact description of something, you just have to come close.  And now when I'm looking for 1" 1/4-20 stainless steel machine screws I'll be able to go directly to them without searching through half the boat.  This is awesome!

An unexpected benefit of all this cleaning was the realization that we still have a ton of available storage space.  Some of it will require putting in a flat floor like the dry goods bin.  No big deal.  But we now have less than ten months before we head out on our adventure.  We still have stuff in a rented storage place up in Annapolis.  Now that we know what we have for storage space on the boat we can begin getting stuff stored aboard in an organized manner and know where to find it later on.  That is a big deal.

Derrick and the Dominoes

We haven't done any sailing for almost two months now.  I think we missed the best part of the year for being out on the water but life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes.  So it goes.

I have found time to get some work done on the dinghy hoist though.  We used the rig several times and I came up with some ways to improve the operation.  It's slowly but surely evolving into a workable system.  My neighbor at the dock has seen me playing with it and thinks it's overly cumbersome but each time I use it I work out the kinks a little more, the launch and retrieve times shorten a bit more and the whole operation gets a little easier.  Besides all that, I'm having fun with it.

These two shots show the first and second iterations of the derrick.  In the first picture above you can see the basics; the spare halyard pulling up on the end of the pole and the 6:1 block and tackle.  The point where they meet at the end of the pole I have what I call a "double D" ring.  The pole clips onto the bar in the center and now the fitting takes all the pressure of lifting and the pole simply serves to hold the line out from the mast.  The second shot shows the improvements.  A third line, the tether, now connects to the Double D ring at the center bar and acts to pull the end of the pole side to side, directing  the location of the dangling dinghy.  This also adds some stability on a windy day.  In addition, the line coming off the block and tackle  now runs along the pole back to the mast.  Now every action for operating the derrick is done from one spot at the mast pulpit.  Sweet!

One of the biggest problems I had was using the mast mounted winch to hoist the derrick with the spare halyard, especially under load.  The halyard exits the mast below the winch, runs down to a block at the base of the mast and then runs up to the winch at a bad angle.  As you crank the winch the line wrapped over itself on the drum, got knotted and everything ground to a halt.  I added a fairlead (picture at left) on the mast between the block and the winch so now the line feeds onto the winch at a better angle and wraps as it should.  That's one headache out of the way.



The tether runs from the double D ring to a block at the base of one of the life line stanchions just forward of the shrouds (the standing rigging on the side of the boat).  From this block it leads up to the mast pulpit and I can swing the derrick back and forth from there.  I can raise and lower the pole using the spare halyard or I can raise and lower just the dinghy using the block and tackle.  I've found that if I raise the derrick to a 45 degree angle I can use the block and tackle to do all the lifting by hand (much easier) instead of cranking on the winch.  The line for the block and tackle is 100' of 7/16" double braid Sta-Set.  I use a snap shackle at each end of the block and tackle and also on the end of each line where it connects to the derrick to make set-up and take-down a....uhm....well...a snap.  I also added two cleats on the mast to tie off the hoisting lines and I use the mast pulpit railing as an additional spot for tying off the tether.  One other line I use is attached to the hand rail on top of the cabin on the port side.  I run it from there to the ring on the bow of the dinghy and then back to the rail, giving me a 2:1 advantage.  This line is used to pull the dinghy onto the cradle located beneath the boom.

The whole operation really flows with two people but if Cheri's busy mixing up Tequila Sunrises then I can usually manage by myself.

The final part of this game is the cradle where the dinghy is stored when not in use.  Most folks use davits and hang the dinghy fully inflated off the back of their boat.  I didn't want to do this for two reasons; it blocks your view out the back of the boat and it's not a safe storage spot when you're under way in following seas.  I chose instead to store it in a cradle just aft of the mast.  It can't be stored here inflated because it'll block your view looking forward so we have to pump it up when we want to use it.  That's the one big trade-off with not using davits.  It's also a good excuse to buy an electric pump.  Or maybe an air compressor we could also use to fill the scuba tanks.  Oh yeah!  Now we're onto something!

When we went to Bermuda I simply used a couple of 4x4's laid on either side of the main salon hatch and tied the dinghy down on top of that.  This works well but you can't open the hatch and it blocks all the light coming through to the salon.  I needed to raise it up so we could use the hatch.  I also needed to make a frame the dinghy could slide onto when being pulled onto the cradle.  I looked around at different designs and ended up combining several that I thought were kinda nifty.

I usually work up the design on paper first to get a feel for how well it will work.  The final look is important too since it'll be sitting out in the open for all to see.  Next I make full scale templates in cardboard to get a better feel how it'll look in place and to make sure the final version won't interfere with anything.  Once all the bugs are worked out I use the cardboard template to mark the wood for cutting.

Last Saturday I cut out all the pieces for the cradle.  I used 5' long 1"x 2"s and glued and screwed them together to form a "T" when looked at from the end.  These will be the skids that the tender will slide on when being launched or loaded from either side of the boat.  They'll eventually be covered with bunk carpet which is a soft, rug-like material to prevent scratching up the fiberglass on the dinghy.  The skids are mounted on two end pieces made from 4' long 2"x 10"s, forming a rectangular frame.  I cut the end pieces out with the profile of the bottom of the tender so it'll sit down level and snug and be lower to the deck.  I had wanted the cradle to sit high enough to be able to raise the hatch to the main salon to give us more light and air down below.  I tried putting feet under the frames to allow water and air to flow freely underneath but when everything was assembled I found the whole thing sits too high for my liking.  Need to give this some more thought.

Plan B.   I came up with some real convoluted ideas on how to accomplish what I wanted here.  Stainless steel tubing and fittings, airbags and compressors.  In the end I went with "simple".  To lower the frame down a few inches I recessed the feet into the frame using a 4" hole saw.  It now fits down nice and snug but still allows the hatch to open enough for some light and airflow.  I used 1"x 2"'s down low on the sides for stability and to provide a place to tie things down to.  I have some ratchet straps attached to the hand rail on top of the cabin and they do a nice job of holding the thing in place.  They're kinda chintzy though, not exactly what I want but they'll do until I come up with something better.

When I loaded the dinghy onto the cradle the whole operation went so smoothly I couldn't believe it.  It just slid right into place.  I think I've gotten most of the bugs out of this system now and I'm finding it to be a pretty simple operation.  Probably more involved than simply hanging the dinghy off some davits but this is a better way for us all around.  Our view won't be blocked, fore or aft.  We won't be tempted to keep the dinghy hanging off the stern and have to deal with it in bad weather or high seas.  It might even turn into a good spot to take a nap up on deck.  Looks pretty inviting to me.

So now I need to find some decent weather to sand and paint this thing and she'll be done.  Well, almost.  In this older picture with the 4x4's the dinghy is in a storage bag that came with it when we bought it.  That bag did not survive the salt water test of our trip to Bermuda. Even though I washed it thoroughly it slowly disintegrated over a few months.  I'd like to make something similar using a good sturdy canvas and run a zipper around three sides.  Probably make it green to match the Dodger and Bimini.  Add some heavy duty loops for handles and tie downs.  And, uhm, maybe waterproof it too.

This has been quite a project.  Total cost was about one fourth of what I would have paid for davits with most of the expense being for the used spinnaker pole, the double D ring and the 6:1 block and tackle.  It's taken some time to work out the bugs and make it a workable operation.  But I think we've got it figured out now and have something that'll work for us very nicely.

An Aptitude for the Appropriate Application Applied Apprehensively

An Island Packet is known for having a lot of storage.  This can be good or it can be bad.  If you're really, really organized then this is great.  For someone like me who comes home with a bag full of stuff and just stashes it away where ever it'll fit it's a problem.  Three months later I'll go looking for what I stashed and can't find it anywhere.  I might have a project that'll take 15 minutes and I'll spend three hours looking for the parts.  There's gotta be a better way.

Cheri and I both have iPads and we use them for pretty much everything.  We have a Mac Mini which is our desk-top computer and was originally intended to be the boat's main brain.  We also have several iPods which supply all our music on the boat.  All these cool things are tied together and share files and Apps and photos and all the weird thoughts that shoot through our brains.  Well, maybe not the last one but that's probably coming soon.  They are all tied into the boat's instruments too so we can monitor our location, weather and other cool stuff from pretty much anywhere on the boat.

It's the "Apps" which hold the answer to my storage frustration.  I recently downloaded an App called "Stock Control" (click here) which allows you to set up "groups" and insert "items" into each "group".  I went through and set up a "group" name for each storage area on the boat (63 groups. Yikes!) and then added items that were stored in each area. I can now have a running inventory of practically everything on the boat.  It can get complicated with that many storage areas so I had to be very anal in naming them.  We use the storage bins under the port side settee in the main salon for dry storage and canned goods. These two areas have a really large number of "items" so it would be helpful to be able to break it down even further.  Since we stack eight baskets in each bin I was able make each basket a "group" ("Main Salon, Port Side, Settee Base, Fwd, #7"). BTW - #7 is a basket that holds cans of tomato based stuff. Basket #6 is for canned veggies, etc. The only other places we have large numbers of items are the fridge/freezer and the cockpit lockers. I also made each shelf in each area a separate "group" ("Main Salon, Port Side, Settee Back, Fwd, Upper").  This might all be Greek to you but I can understand it completely.  I'll explain it better next time you're aboard.

The app has a search function which will make it easy to find stuff. This will be the cure for one of our biggest headaches. We end up buying multiples of certain things because we forget where we stored them. Or I'll spend way too much time looking for something, which is even more frustrating. Our fridge and freezer are immense!  They're so big we use them when we play hide and seek. The down side is that stuff gets put in there and then we never see it again. Having a searchable list of what's hidden away in the freezer and fridge will be fantastic. Having it on the iPad will make it easier to keep the lists up-to-date because we can have it sitting right there as we load stuff in or take it out. Having the recipes on there too will make it a one-stop operation in the galley where you can switch back and forth between the menu app and the storage app.  It also has detailed descriptions for items including use-by dates, weight, quantity, price, color and more. You can also bar-code things and add pictures. And you can convert your inventory to a PDF. file so you can share it with others or maybe even send it to PeaPod as a grocery list. Or whatever.

I've just started using this app but it looks pretty promising. It'll be nice to be able to put a shopping list together for groceries or just hunt down ingredients for a meal. I like the idea of using the search function for finding that box of #8 screws that I can never find. I figure my project time will be cut in half and now only take twice as long as I planned.

If It Wasn't For Bad Luck.....

My daughter and son-in-law came out to visit last week and we decided to go out for a day-sail on Friday.  It just happened to be Friday the 13th but I don't give credence to those kinda things.  At least, I didn't used to.

You see, it all started out good and went downhill quickly.  We departed the marina around 1330 and sailed out to the Bay under really great conditions.  Wind was blowing 12 to 18 knots out of the NNW so we cut across the Bay under full main and genoa, 6 to 7.5 knots the entire way on pretty much a broad reach.  We made such good time we decided to run to the end of Eastern Bay and then figure out what we wanted to do beyond that.  Anchor out?  Head home?

As we approached the entrance to Crab Alley Bay Cheri mentioned something about a loose line flapping around the mainsail.  Huh?  I looked up and saw the topping lift had parted from the end of the boom.  Again.  This happened once or twice before and I was really, really sure I had fixed it.  Guess not.  One time the line had actually parted, broken, so we replaced it with new stuff.  Another time the shackle came loose.

I had a snap shackle on there and thought that would work fine but I guess with the variety of stresses at this point it's not really a good place for a snap shackle.  I need to give this some thought and research a better fitting.  Duh.

We turned up into the wind, furled the genoa and fired up the engine to keep the boat pointed into the wind without making too much headway.  So the line is flying around about 15' off the deck.  I tried to snag it with a boat hook and with my arm fully extended it was about 2" short.  Chris, our son-in-law is about 6" taller than me so he got the next shot at it.  Still no go because with the wind and the waves the line was moving around too much.  We tried wrapping duct tape around the end of the pole with the sticky side out but that didn't work either.  It finally dawned on me to let the topping lift all the way out and pull the line up against the mast to stabilize it.  I climbed up onto the mast pulpit, held the snap shackle against the mast and finally slipped the boat hook through the end and pulled the line down to the deck.  Chris then reached up through the zipper in the Bimini and re-attached the topping lift to the end of the boom.  I think this whole operation took about an hour.  Seemed like a whole lot more though.

Since we wasted so much time playing around we decided to head back to the marina.  Had a wonderful return run, 8.3 knots heeled over at 15 degrees.  Flying!  By the time we got back to Herring Bay it was dark and the wind was blowing a steady 20 knots NNW.  Pulling into the slip required more use of the bow thruster than usual and just as we were about half way in it quit on a thermal overload.  Worse yet, all the lights and instruments started flashing on and off.  What the...?  I ran down below and shut off the breakers to prevent any damage and then resumed parking the boat.

Once we were in and got shore power connected I discovered we had no AC or DC power.  Huh?  We had power on one 30 amp circuit for the air conditioning but no power at the outlets.  When I checked the inverter controller I found a message saying the charger was dead.  It actually said that, that it was dead.  It was now going on 2200 so we broke out the flashlights and called it quits for the night.

The next day, Saturday, we had obligations to get together with family so I didn't get to work on this until later on Sunday.  I got out my DVM (digital volt meter) and started hunting down the problem.  No power at the DC panel.  No power at the main breaker.  I finally found 13 volts going into the big shut off switch for the house bank but nothing coming out.  That's gotta be the problem but it just doesn't make sense.  That switch is very simple, just a set of contacts on a rotating paddle.  What could go wrong?  I suspected this was the source of all our power problems but I wasn't sure about the "dead" inverter so I decided to have the dudes from MTS come take a look at it.  On Monday morning they called me and verified that the switch was bad but more importantly, they let me know that the inverter was OK.  Once they replaced the switch all power was restored with no other damage.  They didn't have an explanation for why the switch would have died but said they'd enjoy tearing it apart to find out.  Have at it.  Hopefully we'll have an answer next time I see them.

So my Friday the 13th was actually good and bad.  We had a great day of sailing with family and I truly enjoyed that.  The topping lift problem was a challenge but we all had fun trying to grab it and we enjoyed working on it together.  The power problem was a pain in the butt though.  We ended up going through the whole weekend without power, which also meant we had no water either.  Grrrrr.

Do I believe in good luck and bad luck?  No, not really.  It's more about about challenges I think, good or bad.  Of course, next time Friday the 13th rolls around I'll probably hide in a closet for the day and try to avoid some of those challenges.

Labor Day Weekend

 Map of Eastern Bay (click here).

At the beginning of September we had four days off, Friday through Monday.  Something to do with Labor Day.  I wanted to take all four days and head south to Tangier Island to do some exploring.  As it worked out that didn't work out.

We had things to take care of on Friday and by the time we got our act together it was 1630.  Knowing we were getting low on fuel I checked the tank and found it was down to 1/8.  If this was my car I'd be pulling into a gas station.  Our boat has a slightly larger tank, 160 gallons, which meant that we probably still had about 20 gallons which could reasonably last us until late February.  Thinking we were gonna take a long trip I would feel better with more so we added that to the list of things to do prior to leaving.  We departed from our slip and headed to Herrington Harbour South for fuel.  Cheri and I had heard separate weather reports neither of which agreed or supported our going south in any kind of hurry.

We motored over to the fuel dock to fill up.  I glanced at the wind sock as we approached and it indicated the wind coming out of the east.  I decided to get a line onto the bow and then drive the stern around to the dock.  As I made my move the wind shifted around to the south and caught me with the nose straight into the dock and the stern sticking out in the channel.  Cute.  I quickly used prop walk to bring the stern around the other way and we tied up properly at the dock.  Transferring 120 gallons of diesel takes a while and the hose didn't have a clip to hold it on so I sat there the entire time.  Final bill came to $419.06.  Yikes!

We cruised back out into Herring Bay at 1830.  We had maybe 1.5 hours of good light left and the wind was still blowing 15 knots out of the south.  Our new destination became the Rhoade River, about 2.5 hours to the north off the West River.  We thought we could anchor overnight and figure out where wanted to go from there.  Maybe north of the Bay Bridge to the Sassafrass River, home to my ancestors on the Eastern Shore.  That'd be cool.

We set our sails, main and genoa, as soon as we got out of Herrington South.  We settled onto a course of about 030 magnetic to keep us clear of the shallows off Shady Side.  We were zipping across Herring Bay at about 7 knots running on a broad reach.  Waves were low and lumpy about 3' to 4' coming from behind on our starboard quarter.  Sweet ride!  We were enjoying it so much Cheri suggested we can our plans and head across the Bay to the Wye River, our not-so-secret hide out.

I brought the boat around to 075 and we headed across the Bay on a beam reach.  Waves were hitting us on the side now but we were running at 8.3 knots.  Flying!  We made it across the Bay in no time, less than an hour, and continued up Eastern Bay at 7 to 7.5 knots.  Once past Kent Island the sun set and we continued on in darkness.  We sailed on in the moonless night, heeled over at about 10 degrees, quietly cutting through the water.  The shore lights mingled with other lights around us and we occasionally turned on the radar to confirm there were no other boats on the water.  We turned up into the wind as we came into the Miles River, furled the sails and continued on under power.  We arrived in Shaw Bay on the East Wye at 2130.  We shined the radar one last time to verify positions of boats already at anchor and wound our way through to a good location closer into shore.

This was a dark night with the moon not up yet (waning) and just the stars all around.  The lights on the shoreline were far enough away that they didn't provide any illumination.  The moon was waning, only 25.8718720226389% full that night.  Waxing?  Waning?  Yeah, we had to look it up.  If you can see the moon in the evening it's waxing (getting bigger).  If you see it at dawn or in the early morning it's waning (getting smaller).  Here's more...if the shadow is on the left side then it's waxing, on the right it's waning.  BTW - the shadow is not caused by the Earth, which would instead be an eclipse.  The moon is always lit up 50% by the Sun and the "phases" are due to the angle we see the moon from as it rotates around our rotating Earth.

With the anchor set I shined the flashlight down on the water around us.  I was greeted by 10,000 jelly fish.  Wave after wave of jelly fish.  It was incredible!  In a cubic foot of water there had to have been 100 jelly fish.  I've never seen anything like it.  Musta been a jelly fish convention. I googled it and found that there can be jelly fish "blooms" when the conditions are just right.  Usually in the Spring though.  I'm still thinking this was some kind of a convention.  Republican jelly fish or something.

Saturday we motored further up the river to our cove.  What to my wondering eyes did appear?  Three other boats already anchored here.  Bummer.  I think this is the first time we've come here and not had the place to ourselves.  I gotta admit, it is a fairly large cove and three or four boats are not going to get in each other's way.  I'd just come to think of it as my private get-away.  Guess it's time to search for another spot.

We settled in for the rest of the weekend.  Quiet, decent weather but no swimming with all the jelly fish.  Caught up on my reading and spent some time in the tender rowing around the shoreline.  Very relaxing.  On Monday we headed home around 1400 with a nice breeze out of the NNW which took us all the way home on a single tack once we rounded Tilghman Point into Eastern Bay.  All in all this was a mighty nice weekend.  The weather is cooling off with daytime temps in the 70's.  Good wind, 15 to 20 knots.  Excellent sailing (with some night sailing!) and quiet time at anchor.  Cigars too!  Who could ask for more?