What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part II

Click here to see an EarthNC chart of The Great Wicomico River

Click here to see pictures from our vacation


For a recount of Part I click here.


So, this picks up on Saturday, June 4th, just outside the mouth of the Potomac River.  From Smith Point Light we continued south to the Great Wicomico River.  Entering the river from the north is complicated by a profusion of fish traps that are difficult to see until you're almost on top of them.  These things are found all over the planet and have been used since the beginning of time.  Fish traps or weirs, also described as a labyrinth fish fence, can be found in every part of the Chesapeake Bay.  There are many different designs but the ones we're trying to avoid here are made with long stakes driven into the muddy bottom.  Nets are strung from these stakes and form barriers and funnels that use the natural currents to guide fish into the trap.  As they go from one section to another they pass through funnel shaped nets that prevent them from getting out.  The last several sections of the trap have netting on all six sides so the fish have no where to go.  The fisherman just have to pull this part of the net up and haul in their catch.  Simple and effective.

(Chart for Mill Creek)  To enter The Great Wicomico River you need to first travel south (beyond the fish traps) until you're past the light and then turn west into the river.  Once past the light we had difficulty finding the entrance to Mill Creek because of heavy haze.  We ended up picking up R4 on the north side of the river and then heading south on a compass course until we could see the red marker at the entrance to the creek.  The area around the creek is low lying grassland/marsh and the marker just disappeared in the background.  We used the navigation software, EarthNC, on Cheri's laptop to help us find our way in.  The entrance to Mill Creek has some serious twists and turns and halfway in we had to stop and try to locate the next marker before continuing on.  I was up on deck with the binoculars when Cheri says "I think we just ran aground".  Oops.  The water's fairly shallow, 2', on either side of the channel and the wind gently blew us into the mud.  Some high revs in reverse corrected that and after finding our marker we wound our way back into Mill Creek.

We got about half way down the creek and found a nice cove to anchor in.  Tried three times but couldn't get the anchor to bite.  This creek is surrounded by tree covered hills and the bottom must be layered with 10' of packed leaves.  We moved to another spot and had the same problem using our Danforth anchor so I switched over to our Bruce anchor and that dug right in.   I've been using the Danforth exclusively because it works so well in the muddy bottom of almost every place we've been on the Bay.  Up until now.

Mill Creek is a nice spot and the cove we were in is fairly secluded.  There are houses along the shore but they're mostly set back in the trees and you have a feeling of privacy.  We stayed in this spot for three days, kicked back and relaxed.  Cheri has been intent on fishing during this trip so we made a point of getting her out in the dinghy on our second day here.  While she fished I worked on stripping the finish off the exterior teak.  I kept looking over to see how she was doing but she was far enough away that I couldn't tell what was going on.  After a few hours I called her on the cell phone and asked for an update.  She said she couldn't get the engine started and she was ready to come back.  As she rowed closer she held up a string of ten fish, eight spots and two croakers.  Wow!  We filleted them and had fresh fish for dinner.  Awesome!


(Chart for Cockrell Creek)  The third day was miserably hot with no breeze.  We decided this would be the perfect time to spend the night in a marina, get out to a restaurant and stretch our legs on land for a while.  Change of scenery.  The closest place is Reedville, across the river and back up Cockrell Creek.  When we looked it up in our guidebook we found a reference to Reedville Marina which sounded real nice.  We called ahead and reserved a transient slip, explaining we needed 2- 30 amp connections and pump-out services for the holding tank.  "No problem".


Cockrell Creek is almost straight across the river from Mill Creek.  The first half of the waterway is lined with heavy industry, especially the Menhaden fish processing plant.  Once you get past this the creek bends around an immense old brick chimney and opens up to a beautiful old town with nicely kept Victorian homes and estates lining the shores.  As we motored past the industrial section we became engulfed in the unbreathable stench from the processing plant.  I'm talking puke-up-a-bucket-of-guts stink.  I was hoping the stench would disappear when we got closer to the town but it just followed us in.  As we rounded the bend we tried to contact the marina by radio but got no response.  We tried calling on the phone but no one answered.  As we cruised down a side creek we quickly realized that the charts had a misprint and showed the marina in the wrong location.  We ran aground here but were able to back out with no problem.  We back-tracked and continued down the creek looking for the Reedville Marina, continuously trying to raise them on the radio and the phone.  Further up the creek (without a paddle) we again ran aground.  Grrrr.  As I'm backing down out of the mud the phone rings and it's the dude from the marina.  "Ya went right by it, how could ya miss it, it's the place with the red roof".  When we pull up to the place with the red roof we realize that the "marina" is actually just a dock for the restaurant.  The smallish sign for the "marina" was out of sight behind a gigantic fishing boat that was unloading it's catch at the processing plant next door.  We pulled up alongside the pier, put out our bumpers and tied up.  The 2-30 amp power connections were supplied by splitting a single 50.  OK, we can get by on that.  Pump-out is right there behind us as is the fuel dock.  Cute little facility.  The guy running the "marina" disappeared and we never saw him again.

So, it's 1600, the restaurant doesn't open until 1730 and this place stinks to high heaven.  We got the A/C fired up but it didn't really take away the odor so I talked Cheri into going for a walk, figuring that we could walk perpendicular to the wind and get away from the green cloud.  About two blocks down the road the air became a little better.  We're walking down the main drag and it's lined with all these beautiful Victorian homes.  A little further down we find this great little museum with some restored wooden workboats out back.  The museum is closed but we have definitely found a real gem here.  We've blown enough time that the restaurant will be open by the time we get back so we head in that direction.  After dinner at the Crazy Crab, which was pretty good, we go back to the boat and call it a night.

The next morning we're anxious to get going.  It still stinks and we need to get the tank pumped out so we can spend the rest of our vacation on the hook.  Plus we need to pay our bill.  We need plenty of time to sail north and across the Bay to the Eastern Shore where we planned to check out the Honga and Nanticoke Rivers.  There's nobody around at the "marina" and no one answers the phone.  We wait three hours, 1000, and finally get a call from the marina dude.  He's not interested in coming around so we should just stick our payment in the box by the door.  What about pumping out, we ask.  "Oh, well, you'll hafta wait until someone comes into the restaurant.  Should be there around 1100 and they can give you a token".  Thanks for all your help.  We walk down to the museum to blow time and have a wonderful time there.  Walking through town we meet and talk with several of the locals and everyone is just as nice as can be.  At 1100 we wander back to the "marina" and there's still nobody there.  Grrrrrrrr.  Finally at 1300 I give up and make new plans.  It's too late to sail across the Bay but we can cruise up the river a little further where there's another marina and we can pump out there, then anchor out in a great little creek called Horn Harbor.  That's the plan.


(Chart for Horn Harbor)  We motored up the river since there's zero wind and it's already about 300 degrees F.  As we near the next marina we contact them by cell phone and find out that the dude who does the pump-outs just had an operation and the service isn't available.  Jeeze, I just can't get a break around here.  "Uhm, gee",says I.  "I hope he's gonna be OK.  Ya think he might be in tomorrow?"  "Not likely" says she.  We decided to anchor in Horn Harbor which was  just downstream from the marina.  I'd read about this spot and heard it was really sweet.  We headed in between these sticks in the water that served as channel markers.  Just when you think you're gonna run up on shore you turn to port and run along the shore and slide between two sandbars that form the entrance to this creek.  The entrance is just wide enough for one boat to get through, pretty narrow.  Just as we thought we were in safe we bumped across the sandbar and skidded into 12' of water.  That was fun!

This anchorage is written up as being deep all the way to the shoreline.  It's surrounded by steep tree-covered hills and I suspect there's plenty of water in there just from the looks of it.  This is probably the perfect "Hurricane Hole".  We ran back towards the end of the creek and ran aground, again.  I'm getting really good at this.  Got out no problem but we decided to turn around and anchor close to the entrance.  There are several homes along the western shore so we kept closer to the other side, up near the entrance.  This is a beautiful spot and it would have been the perfect anchorage if it wasn't 180 degrees out with no wind.  We could still smell the fish up here too.  Great.  We set in for the night, played dominoes and drank Bloody Marys.  Had a hot and steamy night, didn't sleep well at all.

We got up early the next morning, pulled anchor by 0730 and decided to head for home.  We were truly miserable and we still needed to pump out our holding tank and had no prospects of getting that accomplished on this river.  We decided just to call it quits and go home early.  The weather won this one.

So we head back out to the Bay and turn north.  There's a little bit of a breeze out of the SE now and then so we try out the new trolling gear.  We start out at about 2.5 knots but as we get farther north and the day wears on the wind starts to pick up.  We sailed past the Potomac River and by the time we get up near the Navy target area (listed as "Prohibited Area" on the charts) we're trying to hold the boat back to 6 knots so we can keep our line in the water.  We never did catch anything but we had a good time trying.


This is Thursday, 6/9, with 3 more days of vacation left and it strikes me that I'm being kind of a defeatist by calling it quits just because we're miserable.  I mean, I'm an American, proud and brave.  John Wayne wouldn't call it quits just because he was miserable.  George Washington stuck it out at Valley Forge and I'm pretty sure he was miserable.  Those Marines climbed that hill to raise the flag at Iwo Jima and I'm pretty sure they were miserable.  So who am I to darken the shining reputation of my fellow citizens by being a weenie and calling it quits?  I just can't do that, it's not in my nature.  I grit my teeth, take a deep breath and pick up the cell phone.  I call Spring Cove Marina in Solomons Island and reserve a transient slip for two nights.  I mean, DUH!  Let's do this right or not at all!

(Chart for Solomons Island)  The sailing was so nice out on the Bay that I just had to stretch it out for a few more hours.  We finally arrived at Spring Cove Marina around 1700.  Now this is a real marina!  It's got more than one dock and a swimming pool and fresh air and everything!  Woohoooo!  Staying here was definitely the way to end our trip on a high note.  Solomons Island is Disneyland for boaters.  You cruise in here and there's like 10,000 boats of every description, 8'dinghys to 80' yachts, all around you.  You weave your way into various creeks and every one is just packed with boats.  It's amazing!  It's like driving into the parking lot for the mall on Christmas Eve.  We stayed on Back Creek just past the Calvert Marine Museum (check it out).  The museum is very cool with some really excellent exhibits about the history of the area, a restored bugeye and the Drum Point screwpile lighthouse.  That alone would make a visit to Solomons Island worthwhile but there's also a bunch of excellent restaurants and nice shops too.  This is an interesting place.  If you drive your car in in for a visit you might be inclined to wonder what the attraction is.  Coming in from the river reveals a whole different character.  Solomons Island is a very cool place.

We stayed at Spring Cove marina for two nights and cleared out Saturday morning bound for home.  We had good wind, 12 to 15 knots out of the SE and sailed on a broad reach from inside the river up to RN2 outside the Little Choptank River.  It was very hazy out and difficult to see either shore.  As we sailed along enjoying the quiet we heard canon fire coming from the western shore.  A lot of it.  We looked over to see the source but could only see haze.  The canon fire continued at a rapid rate and while we listened my eyes drifted high up into the sky.  Above the haze was a humongous Cumulonimbus cloud, the source of the canon fire.  We got on the radio and heard that DC was getting pounded with rain, hail and 70 knot winds.  Trees were down everywhere and things were a mess.  There was a string of storms coming up from Virginia and we were seeing the northern end of them.  We secured the sails and ran under power, preparing ahead for the worst.  Joining us out in the middle of the Bay were 26 other boats, mostly power, just sitting and waiting to see what this storm was going to do.  We sat there for two hours while it stalled out over land but a second storm came up from the south and both of them pushed out into the Bay, headed directly for our little flotilla.  Boats scattered at high speed in all directions, leaving us behind cruising along at 8 knots.  As I watched the storms approaching I realized there was a small break between them so I headed directly for it.  As the two storms swept towards the NE we passed right between them with lightning and rain to either side and only high winds where we were.  Once the storms passed we continued north to Herring Bay and home, back in our slip by 1900.

My Summer Vacation was fun.  I got to see lotsa things and go lotsa places.  I ate fish and other stuff too.  I went swimming a lot and got a sunburn.  Best of all, I went sailing.  I can't wait to go again next year.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part I

click here for EarthNC charts to see where we went

The installation of the wind generator took much longer than I had anticipated and pushed back the start of our vacation from Friday, 5/27 (which was really wishful thinking anyway) to Sunday, 5/29.  Then we started thinking about all the crazy boaters out on the Bay over Memorial Day Weekend and decided it'd be smarter to leave on Monday when everyone else would be heading home.  By the time we'd get to Cuckold Creek on the Patuxent River we'd have the whole place to ourselves.  Good plan.

So Monday morning, 0730, we're ready to go.  I fire up the engine and go below to do our routine visual check to make sure it's behaving properly.  It's not.  I notice some coolant in the drip pan and as I look around I notice a fairly rapid drip coming from the hose on the thermostat.  When I take a closer look I find the hose is split just past the hose clamp and is leaking down the underside and dripping down to the pan.  I'm pretty sure this has been leaking ever since we bought the boat.  We've always found fluid in the pan after running the engine but could never find the source of the leak.  The only reason I found it this time was because I was looking in from the side at an odd angle and just happened to see the leak at the hose.

Because of the leak rate I felt that we needed to change this baby out before we went anywhere.  This was the one hose I didn't change when I replaced the heat exchanger.  Figures.  I had gotten a replacement for it from Yanmar but the hose they gave me was straight and I needed one with an 80 degree bend.  When I tried to put it on it kinked so badly I was concerned about flow restriction so I just put the old one back on.  Now I'm paying the price for that decision.  So, it's 0730 and the local Yanmar dude doesn't even get in until 0900 on Tuesday, this being a holiday.  I know it'll take at least three days to get a hose from the factory and even then it might not be the right one.  I decided to wait it out another day and see what he might suggest.  My brain works best in subconscious mode and overnight I came up with a better solution.  Instead of waiting until 0900 for the Yanmar dude I drove down to the local Auto Zone at 0800 and asked if I could hunt through their pre-formed radiator hoses for one that might work.  Found what I needed ($10), took it home and cut out the short bend that I needed to make the repair.  It looks like it was made for it.  Perfect.  Did I mention that the Yanmar hose cost $50?

(Chart of Hudson Creek)  By the time we took care of a few other things it was the middle of the afternoon.  I figured this was too late to attempt a trip to the Patuxent but we could still make it over to the Little Choptank and then have a short run over to the Patuxent the next day.  It's always good to be flexible.  So, on the hottest day so far this year, 96 in the shade, and with zero wind we motored across the Bay and anchored behind Casson Point on Hudson Creek.  This is a beautiful spot, secluded, well protected with good depth, 10', and good holding for the anchor.  We got there around 1930 and after we were settled in I went for a swim.  The water was slightly salty and felt like about 85 degrees, a bathtub.  About 45 minutes after the sun went down a nice breeze kicked up that kept us comfortable for the rest of the night.  After breakfast and a morning swim we took off and headed out towards the Bay for our next destination.

(Chart of Cuckold Creek)  We motored out the Little Choptank to G3 behind James Island before setting sail, heading up to G1 and then shooting out westward across the Bay.  The wind was out of the south at about 15 knots and we tacked our way down to the Patuxent.  We then ran under power past Solomons Island and after passing under the Rte 4 bridge turned into Cuckold Creek on the south side of the river.  As soon as we got to R4 we turned to port and entered a beautiful secluded little cove on the north side of Mill Creek.  There's no houses on this side of the creek and with no other boats we had the place to ourselves.  We anchored in 12' of water with good holding and settled in for the night.  I had an evening swim to cool off and took a brush to the waterline of the boat and scrubbed off the scumline that had built up over the winter.  We had a cool breeze that kept us comfortable throughout the night.  In the morning we headed out with a stiff 20 knot breeze out of the north.  After we passed under the Rte 4 bridge we ran under sail, main and staysail, for easy one man handling while Cheri was on a conference call.  By the time she got off the phone we were out in the Bay sailing wing and wing on a north breeze and had gotten as far south as the Navy target area.

We continued on past Point No Point but as we approached Point Lookout at the mouth of the Potomac River the wind veered around to the west and cranked up to 30 knots.  The river is quite wide here, over seven miles across, and as we turned into it we had to tack back and forth against the wind and what we estimated to be 6' waves, not to mention the natural outward flow.  "Mr. Toad's wild ride" pretty much sums it up.  In fact, after tacking for over two hours and making no progress at all we finally gave in, fired up the engine and secured the sails.  Even then, under power at 2500 rpm's we only made 3 knots at best.  We eventually made our way over to the northern shore where the waves weren't so bad and made good progress from there up to St. Mary's River.  Check out our videos (click here) and (then click here).

(Chart of St. Marys River)  St. Mary's River is probably the prettiest river on the Chesapeake Bay.  It winds back through wooded hillsides with occasional views of historic mansions.  The oldest estate in Maryland, built in 1644, is located here.   Once back into the protected shores of the river the wild winds were reduced to pleasant breezes.  We worked our way into St. Inigoes Creek and found a good anchorage back in Church Cove with 13' of water and good holding.  Despite being surrounded on all sides by large homes, the cove is large enough that we anchored out in the middle and felt totally secluded.  There's probably room in this cove for 20 boats but we were fortunate to share it with only one other for the night we were there.  I continued with my morning and evening swims here.

The next morning we decided to explore the rest of the river to see if we could find a more secluded anchorage.  We powered our way up the river past historic St. Marys City, the first capital of Maryland, and wound our way upriver to Tippity Wichity Island.  On the charts this looked like a really nice spot to anchor for the night plus that island just has a really cool name.  Once we got up to the area though, we found the banks to be shorn of trees and lined with houses and farmland.  The river really widens out at this spot and I felt that as an anchorage it didn't provide the kind of protection I was looking for.  We headed back downriver and Cheri went below to bake cookies and cook up some bacon for use in later meals.  As we approached Horseshoe Bend I decided we needed to spend some time ashore in the old city for a chance to stretch our legs.  We were the only boat within sight and took advantage of that by pulling up to the College dock where we were assisted by a smiling student.  We walked into the reconstructed town, wandered through the graveyard reading old headstones and gave Bella a chance to run loose in the large grassy area by the boathouse.  We hiked down to Church Point and wandered around the village too.  There's a big herb garden behind one of the houses and the nice lady in the gift shop allowed us to fill a bag with fresh cuttings.  The big attraction for me was the Dove, a reproduction of one of the ships that brought the first colonists to this area.  This thing is only 10' longer than La Vida Dulce.  Back at the dock we rinsed the boat off with fresh water, emptied our trash and continued on our way.

(Chart of Price Cove)  St. Marys River offers a number of excellent spots to anchor but we chose to head back out to the mouth of the river to get a quicker start in the morning.  We were looking for an anchorage that would be fairly secluded and safe.  On the north shore of the river right at the entrance is Saint Georges Creek and just inside that to starboard is Price Cove.  The wind was still blowing 25 knots out in the open river and we were really hoping for a nice peaceful spot for the night.  Price Cove is tucked back out of the way surrounded by flat grassy areas and occasional stands of tall trees.  There isn't much protection from the wind but the water is calm being almost totally enclosed by land and, best of all, there are no houses at all.  We anchored way back there by the duck blind and had a good breeze to keep us comfortable and the boat hardly moved at all.  Swimming was good here too.  This is a really nice anchorage.

The next morning (Saturday, 6/4) we headed out around 0930, early for us.  The wind had died down to almost nothing so we ran under power out to the mouth of the Potomac.  Here we encountered what's called the Potomac Swim (click here), where a large group of crazy people swim 7.5 miles across the widest part of the river.  When we arrived there were swimmers and kayaks and small boats stretched all the way across the Potomac.  I spotted a pretty good gap and headed for it.  Cheri stood up in the bow and kept watch for potential targets.  I got a call on the radio from the Coast Guard and responded to them but another boat stepped on my response so I don't think they got it.  All of a sudden this high speed USCG river boat comes flying up beside us.  I throttled back and they pulled up right next to us and I'm thinking "whew, got all that safety stuff just in time".  They asked if I knew there were swimmers in the water and I pointed out that we had posted a safety watch for that very reason.  They were duly impressed and told us to carry on and enjoy our voyage.  Nice fellas.

Once past the line of swimmers we headed out to Smith Point Light.  It was here that we passed fairly close to the presidential yacht U.S.S. Sequoia (click here).  This is a 104' motor yacht built in 1925 and is a historic national landmark.  She was used exclusively as a presidential yacht until 1977 when Jimmy Carter had her decommissioned, just one of the many unforgettable things he accomplished during his presidency.  Hey, let's give away the Panama Canal!  But I digress.  This beautiful yacht is available for charter in DC for about a gazillion $/hour and I'm wondering what she was doing way out at Smith Point Light.  Didn't look like there were any guests aboard but  I did see a tall, skinny, black dude at the wheel.  I wonder.....

Because of the length of our trip I'm going to divide this up into several parts.  It's taken me forever to get this far on it and there's still another week to go.  Look for part II coming soon.  I swear.

Lucky Strikes

This past weekend, 5-13, we went sailing.  I mean all weekend.  On Friday (the 13th!!!) we had our good friends, Anthony and Luzma, join us for a day-sail.  They showed up around 1130 with dishes of Peruvian food that Luzma had put together so we sat down for an early dinner.  We hadn't seen these guys since last October so there was a lot of catching up to do.  Around 1400 we cast off and headed out across the Bay, getting as far as R84A at the mouth of Eastern Bay.  The wind was out of the SE at 15 to 20 kts, beautiful day.  Anthony manned the helm for most of the way and we returned home by 1900.  Good company, easy chit-chat, nice day for a sail.

The next day, Saturday, started out with heavy overcast skies and temps in the 60's.  Cheri's nephew, Brian, and his wife, Katie, and their two year old daughter Kaitlyn joined us for a two day sail up to Osprey Point Marina in Rock Hall and back again.  There's a really nice B+B there as well as a 5 star restaurant.  Brian's parents had reserved a room for them at the B+B to celebrate their three year anniversary and we had volunteered to take care of Kaitlyn on the boat.  Yikes!

We got the boat loaded up and headed out around 1100 in the middle of a torrential downpour with lightning flashing overhead.  We had reservations for dinner at 1900 so we didn't really have time to wait it out.  The rain continued until we cleared G83A just outside of Herring Bay.  The sail up to Rock Hall took all of 7 hours with light winds out of the SE for most of the trip.  We pulled into Osprey Point Marina at 1810 with little time to spare in getting ready for dinner.  Cheri pushed our reservations back to 1945 so we'd all have a chance to get settled in.

Dinner was fantastic, a true gourmet delight.  We checked out the kids' room before turning in for the night.  They had two rooms overlooking the marina, a closet and a flushing toilet.  Pretty swank!  Back at the boat the three of us sat up and watched Finding Nemo.  For the rest of the weekend Kaitlyn was searching the Bay for Nemo.  The next morning, after a quick breakfast we headed out for the return trip to HHN.  Winds were 15 kts out of the SSE which gave us a challenge all the way home, requiring tacking all the way down the Bay.  The voyage started with our departure from Osprey Point.  Motoring out of Swan Creek I misread the channel markers and turned at the wrong place and ran aground.  Hitting the side of the dredged channel was like running into a brick wall, almost knocked Cheri overboard.  I backed down hard, dragged the keel out of the mud and continued down the creek like nothing had ever happened.  We ran down to GC#3 (green can #3) under power because the wind was right on our nose.  Once we turned out into the Bay we unfurled the sails and cruised out in light but steady winds at 5 to 6 knots.  Unable to pass straight under the Bay Bridge because the wind was blowing from directly behind it we began a series of tacking maneuvers that would last throughout most of the day.  We tacked four times approaching the Bay Bridge and probably six more times just trying to get down to Thomas Point Light.  Grrr.  Every time I tried to overcompensate to get us additional room to maneuver the wind would shift just enough to throw everything off and we'd end up having to tack again to clear an obstacle. There were about six tankers parked out in the mooring field outside of Annapolis and on our final tack around Thomas Point we were interrupted by four loud blasts from behind us.  One of the tankers was getting underway and we were directly in front of him.  We made a quick turn to port and circled around behind him before continuing on our way.

At this point the wind was still coming directly out of where we wanted to go and a quick glance at my watch revealed that we had wasted the better part of the day tacking all over the place.  It was 1700 and we were still about three hours from home as the crow flies.  We fired up the engine and headed for Herring Bay at 7 kts.  The weather was perfect, mid 70's, clear skies, and we had removed part of the cockpit enclosure to get some fresh air blowing through.  As the day wore on everyone stretched out and took a nap.  Well, everyone but the guy at the helm.

After we passed West River the wind shifted around to the SE and we were able to break out the sails and shut off the engine.  The wind picked up to about 25 kts and we were having a great sail home, heeled over and crashing into the waves.  That's what I'm talkin' about!  This was when I noticed a really humongous cumulonimbus cloud building up to the south of us and some pretty dark grey, almost blue/black, areas directly below it.  I woke everyone up and suggested we get the enclosure back in place because it looked like we might get some rain.  We were able to sail for about an hour more before finally giving in to the need to get home quickly and once again fired up the engine and put the sails away.  At this point it was about 1915.  We were still over an hour from our slip, it was getting pretty late, and the kids had a 90 minute drive home once we got in.

We'd gotten about halfway across Herring Bay when some fairly large rain drops began to pelt the boat.  We were headed straight for Herrington Harbour South which we always do when coming in because they have a really huge white tent set up in the marina that you can see from a hundred miles away.  Now though, as I watched that tent it disappeared behind a wall of rain.  Not two minutes later we were blasted by this tremendous force of wind that came screaming through the bare rigging and spun the boat 90 degrees in a matter of seconds.  There were bolts of lightning hitting all around us (I saw four strike the water) and I couldn't help but think about that 59' tall aluminum mast sticking up in front of us.  I suggested to Cheri that she might get the fire extinguishers out, make 'em handy just in case.  By now the rain was coming down so hard we couldn't see anything beyond the boat and the wind was still howling.  The last thing I saw before the rain hit was the #1 marker out at the entrance to the Bay so I knew vaguely where we were.  I didn't want to drift in too close to shore and we had shallow water on three sides of us so I eyeballed the compass and steered around for 090 to get us headed towards that #1 marker and deeper water.  I kept the engine at 2000 rpm's which was enough to make some headway against the wind and felt like we'd be OK as long as we didn't get hit by lightning.  Said my prayers for help with that.

After a few minutes (seemed like an eternity) the rain slackened and the wind died down.  The sun peaked out from under the clouds just as it began to settle down behind the trees on the western shore.  To the south of us was another wall of rain approaching so I decided to take the break in weather and head for home.  I set our course for R2 where we make our turn for Herrington Harbour North.  As the rain started up again I asked Brian and Cheri to search ahead for the channel marker.  Brian was the first to see it and pointed the way home.  We motored home on a compass course and passed through the harbor entrance just as the marker lights came on.  It was pretty near dark by the time we got into the slip.

The whole weekend was really great.  We visited with some friends we hadn't seen in a while.  We really enjoyed our time with Brian and Katie.  We got to play with Kaitlyn.  I think what'll really mark this trip though is that incredible storm at the end of the day.  Wow!

Done With Pride

Last weekend, 4-30-11, we picked up the hatch screens from Glebe Creek.  These are teak framed screens and they're just beautiful.  Really nice work.  The guy who makes them works out of his home in Edgewater, Maryland.  Interesting guy.  Cheri wanted to take his picture for the blog and he was really, really against it.  She asked if she could take a shot of just his hands with the screens and he wouldn't go for that either.  Dude must be on the FBI's Most Wanted List or something.  Aside from being quirky, he does really nice work.  He even lent me a special drill bit for doing the hinge screws.  Putting them up only took about two hours for all eight screens.  Easy peazy lemon squeezy.  I told Cheri that out of all our projects so far this one had the highest satisfaction quotient.  For the cost of the screens we got easy installation and added value to the boat.  The extra teak in the overhead adds warmth and a rich wood look.  I like 'em!  Plus, they keep the flies out.  What more could you ask for?

We ordered the doors for the companionway but they won't be in for about four weeks.  They're being made in Texas by Zarcor.  I don't expect the installation to be too tough on these either and they'll add security and value.  We're excited about this one.

We also ordered a wind generator and that's on it's way, should be here in about a week.  I spent some time researching this one since there's a handfull of similar products out there.  Several stood out among the rest.  Superwind (click here) was my first choice.  They're made in Germany and the build quality is at the top of the heap.  They are the Mercedes Benz of wind generators.  Unfortunately, the price is also similar to a Mercedes Benz so I ended up going with my second choice, the AIR-X (click here).  We got a package deal on the generator, a mast and a controller.  Pretty much everything we need to install it.  I also ordered an extra set of carbon fiber blades that are tuned to reduce noise by 50%.  Wind generators are notorious for being noisy so I thought this might be a good investment.  It's also a good idea to have the extra blades in case a flying fish decides to make sushi.  I hear that's not unusual.  So, we're taking a major step towards being self sufficient, energy-wise.  Now all I need is some time to get this thing installed.

Right now I'm working on putting the engine back together.  This was one of those "total snowball" kinda jobs.  It started out as just replacing some hoses, then advanced to removing the heat exchanger to get it cleaned.  When I realized the heat exchanger was totally corroded into one solid, useless mass I decided to replace the entire housing/core assembly.  I bought a shop manual and ordered a new heat exchanger (cha ching).  While I was waiting for the new parts to come in I went ahead and started taking apart the old housing.  How bad could it be, only has twelve bolts?  My new shop manual turned out to be useless for this because it's 99% about rebuilding the engine and only has one paragraph about the cooling system with no info on how to take that apart.  I quickly realized that to get the heat exchanger out the alternator and it's bracket had to be removed at the front of the engine and the turbo charger and exhaust taken off at the back.  I guess the next step was to rebuild the entire engine but I decided to keep things simple this weekend.

My parts came in and man-oh-man are they ever nice.  The end caps are all brass as well as a few of the fittings.  It came completely assembled so all I had to do was paint it and put it in.  Simple.  I masked off the brass pieces and set up a paint booth in, uhm, the back of my car.  I needed some place to block the wind.  Shhh.  Don't tell Cheri.  I set up a paint box, draped a tarp over the rear hatch-back door and primed the housing with zinc chromate, this really ugly yellowish green primer used for aluminum.  It took three coats to get good coverage.  I then hit it with three coats of "official" Yanmar grey which is kind of a metallic silvery grey and gives it a nice finish.  With the brass pieces showing it looks pretty slick....for a heat exchanger.

I spent the entire weekend working on this.  I replaced almost all the hoses on the engine and in doing this found four broken hose clamps.  Yikes!  I've never encountered this before and I've been playing with engines for 30 years.  Somebody musta really cranked on those poor little hose clamps.  I went through and replaced all the old ones with some heavy duty ($) ones at West Marine.  I also went over the engine and really cleaned it up, got rid of any rust, corrosion and dirt.  Repainted about half the engine with the rest of my "official" Yanmar grey.  Once I got the heat exchanger bolted in I realized it was missing one hose barb.  I guess I was supposed to grab the one from the old casting but it was totally corroded in place.  I ended up making one from a brass pipe nipple with the threads cut off from one end.  Better than new!

So, I got everything bolted up and was getting the alternator bolted back in place when I found two broken wires, both black "grounds".  I had to get out the schematic to find out what they were for and discovered that one of them was for the tachometer.  This is where the music reaches a crescendo, clouds part and the sun shines through.  Over the last few months I had been having trouble with our tach not reading correctly, kinda erratic and sometimes not at all.  It all makes sense now.  This broken wire has got to be the culprit.  I reattached the wires and finished bolting down the alternator.

I'm feeling fairly excited at this point because I've been working on this thing non-stop since breakfast and it's now 2030.  It's a good chance that I've found the problem with the tach in addition to all the work on the engine.  I give it the once-over and find a bag with some bolts and washers.  Spare parts?  I don't think so.  Looking around I find that I had forgotten to finish bolting down the turbo all the way, only had two bolts holding it on.  This is what happens when you stretch out a job over three days.  Got that taken care of so now I'm pretty sure I've got it all back together.  I mixed up a gallon of coolant, 50/50 mix of anti-freeze with demineralized water, and put that in the fresh water side of the heat exchanger.  I'm now ready to fire this baby up.

I asked my neighbor, Gayle, to give me a hand so I could watch for water leaks and other problems while he starts the engine from up in the cockpit.  He turns the key and hits the start button and nothing happens.  Huh?  Checked to make sure it's in neutral and tried again.  Nothing.  We got a multi-meter out and started checking voltages.  When he hit the start button we had 13.2 volts on one side of the starter relay but not the other.  Gayle is pointing out the circuit to me on the schematic and I see the coil for the relay.  Pow! It was like I got hit with a brick!  I instantly realized the problem was caused by that little relay coil not being grounded because I had just painted the bracket that holds it to the side of the engine.  No metal-to-metal contact for the ground.  I removed the bracket, scraped off some paint where the bolt goes through and bolted it back up.  Gayle goes up and turns the key, hits the start button and the engine starts right up.  Woohooo!  It took about 15 seconds for the raw water to pump through the engine and dump out the exhaust (it's supposed to do that) because I had drained the engine dry to replace the hoses and install a new impeller.  I looked everything over while the engine idled and there were zero leaks, no problems at all.  I was amazed!  I mean, I removed a lot of stuff, heat exchanger, hoses, turbo, alternator, exhaust.  It all looked good.  What a relief.  And just in time too.  This was Sunday night, I was exhausted and had to go to work the next day.  We have plans to go sailing next weekend so this was really my last shot at getting this pig fixed.

While I was running back and forth between the boat and the car on Saturday I noticed something pretty cool just outside the breakwater at the entrance to our harbor.  There sat a beautiful wooden topsail schooner.  She's named "The Pride of Baltimore" and is a replica of an 1812 privateer.  She had been running down the Bay under full sail and ran aground right outside of our harbor.  She was moving along at a pretty good clip and came to an abrupt halt, pretty much like she slammed on the brakes.  I'll bet that knocked their wigs loose!  The crew quickly dropped her sails, all but the mainsail and sat there for two hours waiting for the tide to turn.  Finally she floated free and ran off under power with her tail between her legs.  How embarrassing.  It's hard to figure what really happened but it's my guess that somebody wasn't watching the charts.  Either they thought they were somewhere else, maybe entering West River, or they just plain weren't paying attention.  I guess it doesn't matter who you are.  If you sail on the Chesapeake Bay, sooner or later you're gonna run aground.

Cruisin' Plans

I think I mentioned I was having a little trouble with the heat exchanger on the engine.  I'd been cleaning up the cooling system, replacing the hoses and the impeller, and decided to remove the exchanger core so it could be soaked in a caustic solution to remove any deposits that might have built up.  The core is a bundle of copper tubes suspended inside a water-filled cast iron housing and functions just like the radiator in your car except that it uses water for cooling instead of air.  The fresh water engine coolant flows through the tube bundle and transfers heat to the brackish Bay water that is flowing through the housing.  The core sticks out both ends of the housing and is held in place with "O" rings and end-plates.

The end-plate at the back of the heat exchanger is the one I'm having trouble with.  When we first looked at the boat before we bought it I noticed a lot of corrosion where this plate bolts up.  I mentioned it to the broker and the next time we looked at the boat it had been cleaned up.  I was told they had "fixed" it.  What they did was clean away the obvious corrosion and putty up the end-plate with about 28 ounces of gasket sealer.  When I took it apart a year later I found the back of the housing had been eaten away by the corrosion, destroying the gasket surface.  I was unable to find the "O" ring back there and suspect this might be the original problem, that someone had forgotten to put in the "O" ring when they reassembled it, causing a water leak.  It's in a spot that's hard to see so it probably went unnoticed for quite a while, thus the extensive corrosion and damage.

I've been soaking this area with penetrating oil for five days now and still can't get the core out of the housing.  It's like it's welded in there.  Even if I could get it out I'd still hafta deal with the ruined gasket surface.  I talked to Brian at Conlyn Marine, the local Yanmar engine pro, and asked him about replacing the housing, which in my mind is the only real way to deal with this.  He didn't want to tell me what it would cost to replace the housing because I wasn't sitting down with a drink in my hand.  Uhm, that can't be good.  So I went home and decided to just goop up the end-plate as best I could and let it go for a few more years until it was time to rebuild the engine, something we'll need to do before we head out on our cruise.

The next day I called Brian and asked him again what it would cost, just being curious.  When he told me it came out to be less than the cost of the wind generator we were going to get.  I decided on the spot that getting the engine repaired correctly was a higher priority than the wind generator.  I just can't stand the idea of doing Mickey Mouse repairs.  The parts will be delivered tomorrow and hopefully we'll be back in business by the end of the weekend.  This works out really well.  We'll still have time to get the wind generator installed before we go on our trip in June.  That'll give us the whole month of May to make sure the engine is behaving nicely.

On May 13th (FRIDAY the 13th!!!) Cheri's nephew and his wife, Brian and Katie, and their 3 year old daughter, Kaitlyn, will be joining us for a sail up to Rock Hall.  We'll be staying at the Osprey Point marina and there's a really nice B+B and restaurant there.  Brian's Mom and Dad have made reservations at the B+B for Brian and Katie and Cheri and I will take care of Kaitlyn for the night.  It's a full day sail from Herring Bay to Rock Hall, 6 or 7 hours.  We have reservations for dinner at 1930 so we'll hafta get an early start.  Brian is an avid fisherman and is hoping to get some time out on the Bay.  Maybe trolling at 8 knots.

We're putting plans together for our vacation in June.  We're taking two weeks off, May 27th to June 12th.  We're planning to sail down to the Patuxent River (map) and stay in Cuckold Creek ( just past Solomans Island) the first night.  From there we'll sail up the Potomac River to St. Marys City for a night and maybe up to Breton Bay (map).  Our next destination is Mill Creek off The Great Wicomico River (map).  This is supposed to be a really beautiful spot and we may spend several days here.  Further up the river is Horn Harbor and we've heard that it's also a good spot, well protected, quiet.  From there we'll head south.  There are several good creeks but I think we'll go to Antipoisen Creek (map).  This is where Captain John Smith almost died from a sting ray barb wound.  History is interesting but doesn't need to repeat itself so we'll avoid the sting rays here.  We haven't decided if we'll explore the Rappahannock River to the south or head across the Bay and check out Tangier Island (map).  Once on the eastern side of the Bay we'll look into the Nanticoke and Honga Rivers (map).  I suspect we'll run out of time somewhere around here, especially if we find some good spots to explore with the dinghy.  We want to spend as much time at anchor as we can but will look for a marina every 5 or 6 days as a break.  I think the main attractions will be Mill Creek and the Nanticoke River.  These are both reported to be mostly undeveloped and much the same as they were 400 years ago when first seen by Europeans.

A few years ago my sister and brother-in-law, Ellen and Ed, gave us several books about Captain John Smith and the two voyages of discovery he made around the Chesapeake Bay (check this out).  Almost all of the places we're planning to go to on this vacation were on Smith's 1st voyage. I've been wanting to do this ever since we got those books.  I want to sit at anchor in Mill Creek and read about what they did there and try to imagine what it was like.  Of course most of the areas they went to are way different now with farmland and developments at the river's edge but there are still places that look very much the same.  I think this is gonna be cool.

Memory Loss

Today is April 20th, 4-20.  This is significant because our boat is a 420.  This day is also recognized by dopers around the planet as a special time to celebrate their smoke-hazed lives seen through bloodshot eyes.  Everybody fires up a fatty on 4-20 at 4:20.  This goes back a while, at least to the 1990's, to high school doper days and 4:20pm was supposed to be "the time" to meet up after school to get stoned.  I know this because I had teenagers in the 1990's.  Nuff said.  Now, the radio station I listen to, WRNR out of Annapolis, is celebrating today by having the Doobie Brothers do a concert and giving away prizes to callers when they hear songs played that have anything to do with "doobies".  I just find this interesting because back in my high school days this kind of thing was all kept hush-hush and underground in a secret society kinda way.  That in itself made it special.  I think that's all gone now, become pretty much an everyday, out-in-the-open kinda thing.  Society has certainly gone downhill.

But the hubbub about 420 got me thinking about our boat, the Island Packet 420, and now I'm wondering if there was some subconscious thing going on when we bought the boat, that attraction to "420".  I'm thinking the Island Packet people intentionally named it 420 for this very reason.  They knew the people buying it came from a generation pretty much founded (foundered?) on marijuana.  The boat itself is actually 44' 7" in length, not 42' as the name implies.  Of course, who in their stoned-out mind would pick up on that?  I think there's something subliminal going on here and we got sucked right into it.  I mean, why did we buy this boat?  I had no previous knowledge of it.  We simply had a list of ideas, things we were looking for in a boat.  I suspect the subliminal image of a Main Salon filled with pillows and thick shag carpet with a 4 hose hookah and a box of Stoned Wheat Thins on the table would make this boat stand out above the rest for some people.  All those other boats are really intended for the straight-laced Yuppies and lawyer types.  Pretty sneaky of those Island Packet folks.

Of course, this is all just subconscious gobbledygook.  We don't even have a hookah.  We sold pretty much everything we owned when we moved onto the boat.  And our carpet is more of a sculpted Berber.  We do have a buncha pillows though.

We actually chose this boat because it fit our list of needs better than anything else out there.  The Island Packet is designed and built with the notion that it will be sailed across oceans, perform well in all kinds of conditions with a limited crew and, above all else, keep that crew safe and secure.  It's recognized as being one of the best designs out there for serious extended cruising.

We're moving forward with our plans to get the boat ready for our own extended cruising in 2014.  We got a nice tax return this year and will be putting that back into the boat.  There's three items we want to get this month that will make anchoring out more enjoyable.

1.)  Hatch screens - Since we don't have a diesel generator yet we won't be able to run the air conditioner when we're away from the dock.  Summers on the Chesapeake Bay can get pretty toasty (and buggy) so we're gonna need to have airflow through the boat while we're at anchor.  We already have a screen enclosure for the cockpit and screens for all the ports but that's only part of it.  This boat has seven hatches that can be opened up and really get the air flowing through.  There's a company, Glebe Creek (click here) that makes nice teak framed screens that hang on hinges from the inside of the hatch.  We just placed the order for these and should have them by next week.  That'll be nice!

2.)  Companionway doors - Cheri spends more time aboard than I do because she works from home two days each week.  For a better sense of security she wants to have locking doors on the companionway.  Zarcor (click here) makes really nice doors out of Starboard which is low maintenance compared to teak.  They also have removable panels so you can put in screens or clear Lexan if you want.

3.)  Wind generator - Our two 85 watt solar panels provide some charge for the batteries but not much, and only when the sun is up (duh).  We plan to take two weeks in June and cruise around the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay, spending the majority of our time at anchor.  To be able to pull this off we're gonna need a better way to charge the batteries so we can have our coffee in the morning and play on the computer all day and watch movies at night.  Oh yeah, and have hot water for showers and an icy cold freezer so our ice cream doesn't melt.  I've been eye-balling several different makes of generators and I'm kinda leaning towards the Sunforce 600, which is a 600 watt model (makes sense, huh?).  It's available through West Marine and they stand behind their stuff pretty well.  Plus their store is like 200 yards from our boat.

So, I'm getting this stuff ordered and installed.  We also need to have the boat pulled to inspect the bottom, see how the paint is holding up and replace the anodes.  I'm thinking about raising the waterline since we've added about 5000 pounds of stuff to the boat in the last 6 months and she's sitting a little lower in the water.  While the boat is out of the water I plan to polish and wax the hull which should be a real fun job since all I have is a 3' stepladder.

Last weekend we worked on cleaning up the topsides.  Cheri polished out the windows in the dodger and the lenses in the hatches.  I polished and waxed the cabin, which turned into an all day job and there's still a lot to do there.

We finally got the water turned back on at the dock.  Woohoooo!  All winter long we've had a 250' length of hose stretched out along the dock to get water to the boat.  Whenever we had to fill the tank it required walking back and forth to the end of the dock to turn it on and off.  Pain in the you know what.  When the tank was filled we had to make sure the hose was emptied out, otherwise it would freeze and then we'd have no water.  This was all about a 45 minute process, all done in sub-freezing weather.  Glad to see that over with for a while.

I started replacing the hoses on the engine.  This was part of a bigger project, removing the heat exchanger.  "They" say all you have to do is remove the hoses, pull off the front and back covers and pop it out.  Uh huh.  The back cover was really, really corroded.  I scraped the corrosion away and found that the engine block was eaten away and the gasket surface is gone.  Not just pitted but completely gone.  Yikes!  How am I gonna get this thing to seal up again?  The rear cover had so much silicone sealer on it they must have used an entire tube.  Quality work there.  I think I'll try this stuff called J-B Weld and try to build the surface back up so the gasket has something to seal to.  Another Mickey Mouse job.  Not mine, theirs.  I honestly don't know why people do things half-assed like this.  It only creates problems down the road for people like me.  In the end I was unable to get the heat exchanger out and had to ask the local Yanmar dude to come out and give it a try.  More on that later.

So this is a pretty busy time of year for us, as it is for most boat owners.  We have lotsa stuff to do on the boat just to get her ready for the sailing season plus we have a vacation coming up and we have stuff to get ready for that too.  Guess I had better get on it.

On a more personal note, Cheri's Dad passed away on March 30, 2011.  He was quite an individual.  Cheri's younger brother, Scott, wrote a beautiful obituary which tells more about the man than I could ever hope to.  I've included it here in remembrance of a special human being.

JACK B. HEBNER

25 September 1923 - 30 March 2011

At high noon, 30 March - Jack Hebner, a USN Retired Master Chief Petty Officer, went to join Heaven's Chief Petty Officer Mess.  We lost an honored patriot, an upstanding citizen, and a cherished husband and father.  Our loss is Heaven's gain.

Jack joined the Navy during WW II.  Over the next 30 years - from the shores of Africa and Bermuda, the decks of Aircraft Carriers like USS FORRESTAL, USS SHANGRI LA, USS SARATOGA and USS ENTERPRISE, and countless bases in the United States - he served with distinction.  He served with Honor, Courage and Commitment.  As an Air Crewman and Flight Engineer - he gallantly contributed to combat in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters during WWII.  He also participated in the famous Berlin airlift.  As a squadron maintenance Chief - he made numerous extended deployments to Vietnam from 1963-1965.  Jack was a Sailor's Sailor.  After retiring from active service in 1975, Jack and his family spent the next 10 years living and cruising the Caribbean on a 45ft sailboat named POR FIN.  After that, he spent 20 years traveling the country in his Air Streamer trailer - catching up with a lifetime of Navy and family friends.  

Jack loved life and lived it to the fullest.  He said what he meant and did what he said - accomplishing every life goal he set for himself and his family.  A man of many interests and talents - he was a scratch golfer, rebuilt car engines, operated HAM radios, painted, played the harmonica, and perfected such delicacies as Beer-Can Chicken, and Trash-Can Turkey.   Keen wit, an infectious personality, and a beaming smile made Jack a truly adored and likable soul.  He was the brightest of stars all the days of his life.

More than anything, Jack loved his family.  He loved with all his being.  He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Audrey Kline Hebner, his two daughters Cheri Ward and Holly Olsen, his two sons Jack Hebner, Jr and Scott Hebner, his sister Jane Hebner Kiger, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.  We'll miss you Jack - God Speed and Open Water to you always.

Have a Day!

In my last entry, Warehouse Creek, I mentioned some prehistoric fish that surrounded our boat Friday night as the sun went down.  We looked them up and are pretty sure they were striped bass and they were spawning.  We were surrounded by these incredible fish that some folks will spend a lot of time and money trying to catch.  We were feeding them wads of bread.  We probably coulda just dipped our net in and snagged a couple without even trying.  It was quite a sight and even better now that we know what they were.  Some of them were that big too, I'm not kidding.  That's my fish story and I'm stickin' to it.

Back in February I came across an ad that was placed by a guy named Vince who has the same model boat as La Vida Dulce, an Island Packet 420. He had ordered some really nice leather cushions to replace the ones he had in the Main Salon.  He was trying to find an owner for the old ones before he got stuck with two sets of cushions.  I wrote to him and asked for pictures and more info.  He didn't have any pictures and the boat was under a layer of snow up in New York state.  He did say they were dark blue and in "like new" condition.  I told him we weren't in a big hurry and could wait until he found time to get down to the boat.  March rolled around and he sent some pictures.  Wow!  They looked really great.  Our cushions are in good shape but they still look worn from service in the charter fleet despite our best efforts to restore them.  Truth is, they look downright shabby next to these.  So we wrote back and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.  I've been waiting 39 years to say that.

Last Friday we loaded up the car and headed out on a five hour roadtrip to Haverstraw Marina on the Hudson River, about 30 minutes up from New York City.  We camped out overnight in a hotel and met Vince bright and early the next morning at the marina.  It was something like 20 degrees out with patches of snow on the ground.  His boat is on the hard until the icebreaker gets that far upstream, probably some time in July.  He welcomed us aboard and we got our first sight of the cushions.  They were just as described and in near perfect condition.  We formed a chain and loaded them all up in our Ford Escape, a pint sized mini-SUV.  He even gave us the mattress from the forward cabin since he had ordered an innerspring mattress to replace it.  We didn't need it but figured we could keep the extra fabric and dump the foam when we got home.  This turned out to be the deal of the century.  I think we cut a fair deal on the price and we all felt pretty pleased.  Vince turned out to be a really nice guy.  We enjoyed meeting him, talking about our boats, and discussed trying to get together some time in the future.  I'm thinking this would be a really nice sail, up through the C+D canal, up the coast to the Hudson River and then up the river to his marina.  Probably be something like a week or 10 days round trip if we really took our time.  Cool!

So, we're driving home with the inside of the car stacked to the roof with cushions.  I missed my turn going into New Jersey and ended up going across the George Washington Bridge into New York.  Cost me $9.00 to make a u-turn!  Driving back through NJ we stopped to pay the toll and the chick in the booth had a mighty nasty attitude, kinda like she had no time for whitey.  After we paid I said "have a good one" and she says "have a day".  Not "have a nice day", couldn't make that much effort.  Great representative for the State of New Jersey.  So now Cheri and my favoritest saying is"have a day".

We got the cushions home and they look great!  The difference is really incredible.  I told Cheri we just added $10,000 in value to the boat.  The darker color really adds some pizzaz, makes the interior look richer, colors deeper.  Really brings out the color in the teak.  Sweet.

So, we thought it was nuts up in New York with snow on the ground when only a week ago we were sailing in 70 degree weather.  Sunday we woke up to an inch of snow on the dock.  Gadzukes!  Never take anything for granted.