Capt. Larry and I met for our three days of training. The weather was great and the wind filled in nicely on our second day.

First day - docking, docking and more docking. We reviewed the boat and I got comfortable as to the mechanical, safety items, and other systems were on the boat. That took up most of the morning. We broke for lunch and then went out on the water... We practiced the required maneuvers for exam and we started docking. We docked 6-7 times in the afternoon and I was able to get pretty comfortable with the boat. Coming from twin screws and power, it was a world of difference with several thousand pounds of ballast and only one screw.

Second day - Sailing. We made our way out down the 5 mile channel to the head of the bay. The wind was blowing at about 11-12 kts and that made for some great training. Also the crab pot buoys and a working fisherman out tending to their traps also made for some good tests. I apologize for not bearing off the wind and interrupting the fisherman out working hard as I cut across the line of pots they were working and had to wait for us to pass.

Third day - My last day with Capt. Larry and all I can say is he is a wonderful instructor. I learned a lot from him and he is just a very nice and knowledgeable fellow. I took the exam and passed with a 98%. We then went on to get checked out. My oldest daughter and wife were on board as crew. We did some light sailing in the harbor then went in for some docking. We docked about 5 more times that day. I feel pretty confident with the boat now. One snag we did run into was getting the spring line. It was a rainy day and the spring line was wet. It must have turned and cinched on itself and my wife had trouble getting it off the piling. Now mind you she is only 5'4", not a good swimmer, and standing on the bow of the sailboat on her tip toes trying like crazy to get the line. Capt Larry went forward to help her out, but did not have any luck. As this was going on our stern started to drift out into the fairway and the boat did a complete 180. While fending off the stern from the other boats anchors I pushed my hand out and the anchor on the boat next to the slip didn't like that and took a chunk out of my hand! Ouch, with blood gushing from my hand and Capt. Larry and my wife getting a line to get us docked, well I have a nice big blood stain on my jeans. I christened the first aid kit on the boat. Needless to say we got the boat in and practiced 2 more times with no issues. That was the only mistake on the day. Lesson learned. No powering your way out and secure the stern and wait until the line is free.

Well we took the plunge and joined Sailtime for some sailing experience. Since we are new to sailing now as a family we thought that would be the best thing to do. Gauge the family accepting it and also gain some experience back from our past boating experiences.

My oldest is thrilled and the two little ones like it for the most part.

We shall see how it goes.

The base in Havre de Grace is great and the base owners are very nice and attentive to the boats and the members experiences.

We are on a very nice and very new Hunter 36. We are set for boating next summer. Can't wait!!

Best of all I get my 103 certification so I am thrilled with that.

Well we saw the weather for Friday and knew that with our up coming family vacation to Disney that the month of August would be quite void of sailing. So we packed up the kids and got the Hunter 23.5 again. It is big enough for the kids and the transom ladder is nice and open making it easy for the kids to get in and out of.

We got to the boat around 10:30a and loaded the gear on the tender for the ride out. Man we packed a lot of stuff this time. We took the larger cooler packed with water and drinks for the kids. Sandwiches and lunchables. Chips and of course this time a radio and our portable XM receiver. The radio saved the day, well radio Disney helped there.

We cruised for about 3 hours, the winds were gusting in the 12's with some nice white caps so that gave us all a new sailing experience. I still need to figure out sail trim as even when I though I had the sails trimmed out far enought it still felt like there was too much resistance at the helm and the boat wanted to pull up into the wind. I let out the jib, let in the jib, mainsail and just could not get the angle I wanted to the wind and maintain speed. Oh well that's sailing!!

We then headed over to the flats, anchored and let the kids test out their new PFD's they got earlier in the week. Gabby enjoyed the water and got in and let me hold her with minimal screaming. Nick floated on his back, but still needed a hand on the ladder to feel safe. It won't be long before they are jumping off... I was surprised at how comfortable Gabby was on the boat around the water.

We had a pretty good heel in the gusts this time. We were at a comfortable 10 degrees and went up to 15 at times. I thought the kids would freak out but they did not mind, Mom and Dad were more freaked out!!!! Gladys did a great job manning the helm even in the gusts she kept her cool in the heeling and held on and held course or steered up into the wind to bring us down a bit.

Overall a wonderful day on the bay!!