I haven't updated my page in a while. The past several weeks I only made it out to my boat once and I hadn't even sailed my boat. I went out on Dave's a couple weeks ago, but other than that I had been busy with other things or the weather wasn't very good. So, here is my latest update from this past Memorial Day weekend, Sunday and Monday.

Brian joined me for this trip. We got out there around noon on Sunday, had lunch, scrubbed the bird droppings off the deck, and then headed out to the bay. This was the first time I had left my bulkhead slip with both a boat in front and behind me. So, it's like parallel parking a boat. Ideally I should have attached a spring line to my port bow cleat and motored forward to bring the stern out from the wall, but instead I think I put my stern line around my forward winch. I forgot exactly what I did, but it did not go as planned and my bow came out instead of the stern. It worked out perfectly though and I ended up turning 180 degrees and motored out. We motored out the Rhode River and started up the channel to the bay. It was calm out, but since we had no destination in mind or any time frame, I figured we would set the sails and see how the wind was. We tacked back and fourth out towards the bay, very slowly and once we got near the green buoy marking we were in the open bay, the wind just completely died. We furled up the genoa and just floated out there for 10-15 minutes. The wind never picked up and the sun was baking us so we decided to head back to port even though it was only around 3pm. I stowed the main sail and turned on the outboard to cruise back to the marina. There just wasn't much wind even though they predicted 10 knot winds Sunday and Monday was forecasted to be calmer, 5-10 knots.

We got back to the marina and I just worked on some projects. I created a boom tent using my tarp and some spare bungee cords. It works great and provides some nice shade in the cockpit and over the cabin top. Here are some photos with Brian just laying back and relaxing in the cockpit under the tent:



I then started some projects. I used my Dremel to polish the contacts on the bow navigation lights. Now they work, I just need to get some new lenses. Someday I will install the pulpit bow navigation light I bought in February, but that will be a big project. I looked into my mast light connection and will polish it next time I'm out and test the voltages again. Here is a photo of my connector.


It's a four pin with only three wires being used. I need to get my anchor light working and install a steaming light sometime.

I then hung several CDs from some string in several places near the mast and boom to hopefully deter some of the birds. I tied two sandwiched together so that both sides are shiny and will hopefully work. I took some measurements for my bimini top and looked at my mounting options. It will nice to have the bimini during these hot summer days. I didn't work on much else after that. Some ducks were swimming near my boat and I snapped some photos, here is one:


I didn't get a photo of the snake I saw swimming by earlier. I see them every so often as well. Brian and I then went to get some dinner and came back around 8pm to just relax on the boat. I took out my citronella candles and placed them in the cockpit to provide some light and to help with the annoying bugs, but they weren't that bad. I then brought out my laptop and we watched "Master and Commander", a good nautical themed movie I had not seen in a long time. Here is a photo of our little set up:


Here is a photo of the marina at night. You can see how calm Cadle Creek is at night:


We then got some sleep and I got up around 8am. I had some breakfast and just read through some catalogs. One concern I have is my keel is clunking back and fourth in chop while we were sailing. When I bought the boat, I was told it did not have any clunk and I thought he said the previous owner installed the shims, but I guess I'll see when I take her out at the end of the season. That will be another project to add to my list in addition to replacing most of the retractable keel hardware.

One project I wanted to get done before we sailed was to clean my knot meter. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I was imagining the water pressure to be higher when I pulled the knot meter plug out of the bottom of the hull. It turned out, the water slowly came in and I inserted the plug while only taking on a cup or two of water. I should have taken a picture of the growth and the tiny critters making the meter home. I took out the magnetic paddle wheel and scraped off the growth with a screw driver and scrubbed it all with a brush. Then I just swapped out the plug with the meter, sponged up the small amount of water and I was good to go.

I noticed there was actually a breeze that morning, even though they forecasted it to be calm. I tuned to the weather channel on the radio and it was still forecasted 5-10 knots, but also fog out on the bay. I decided we would go ahead and head out in the morning and work on projects afterward. This time before leaving my slip, I made some extra preparations. I used a spare dock line to make a spring attached near the stern on a piling and to my port bow cleat. This will allow me to give motor thrust forward and swing my stern out into the open without moving forward. I then also tied a bowline knot in the extra length of my stern line that lines up with my forward winch. This will assist me when coming in, where I can grab the line with my boat hook and place the loop on my winch. That will then stop me in the correct position and prevent me from hitting the boat in front of me.

I departed my slip and it all went as planned. As I was heading out of Cadle Creek, a power boater warned me about the fog on the bay. I decided we would just motor up the Rhode River and explore the islands I had heard about. I got out my chart to make sure I navigated there properly, it was very simple. We came around the bend and saw all the boats anchored out. I can't wait to set anchor out there overnight some time soon once I get my lights all working. Here are a few photos of the islands:




Some very nice sailboats we saw rafted up:




Here's Brian out on deck:


The water was only 6 feet deep here and with my keel down I have a draft of 5'. Next time I plan to crank up the keel and get very close to the island so I can get out and scrub the bottom sides of the boat. The beach appears to be sandy where the boat is beached. Also, the water temperature was 76 F, so it's warming up compared to the 60 F temperature when I sailed across the bay in April.

So we just leisurely motored around, exploring the area and seeing all the other boats anchored. I forgot to take a photo of the one island that was actually about 1' submerged. Under low tide it is probably exposed slightly, but there is just one small sign sticking up out of the water and you can see the waves cresting on the submerged island. Some boaters beach themselves on it and they are out in the middle of the river. After we finished exploring I decided we would head out to the West River and to the bay. The wind was coming straight towards us down the river, so we just motored the way. Once we got to the West River, Brian raised the main sail and we set sail. There was actually a very nice breeze. We cruised 4-6.25 knots easily and comfortably for maybe 30 minutes as I held that nice course south on the West River. I then tacked north to head toward the bay. As we passed the Rhode River and began getting closer to the bay, the wind was really beginning to pick up. We were sailing close hauled to make our way north towards the bay. I actually caught up to a beautiful, probably around 35-40' sailboat and they were from Leesburg, VA as well. I came close, but not enough that they would probably be able to hear me if I were to say we're from the same area. They changed their course and were gone shortly there after.

We made it up to the red buoy which is close to the being out in the open bay. This was Brian's first time experiencing the boat heel 20-30 degrees and with the addition of some chop, he was beginning to get a head ache and not feel so great. I really did not want him to get sea sick either, so we turned back to port. It had also been a while since I had the boat heeling and I'm still not used to it. With practice I will become more comfortable I'm sure, but it does take some getting used to. As we were heading back towards the Rhode River, Brian's hat flew off. This was our first practice of retrieving something from overboard. I had Brian furl the genoa and I made a tack 180 degrees back towards his hat. Since there was plenty of wind, the main sail was provided enough power. Brian extended the boat hook and got ready to fish it out as I approached. As I came along side of it and also trying to avoid all the crab pot buoys scattered around, Brian was unable to hook onto the hat. I made three tries under sail without any luck. The fourth and final time, I started the outboard to provide some extra control and this time Brian got it! It's not that easy to fish something small out of the water, especially on a sailboat where you cannot just stop right on the spot. Each time I tried to approach it coming directly into the wind, but it's difficult. So we got his hat and continued our journey back to port. We unfurled the genoa and started cruising in the 4-6 knot range towards the Rhode River. Then since we would be sailing exactly downwind on the Rhode River, I lowered the main sail and cruised with my genoa 135% just pulling us along at a relaxing, leisurely 2-2.5 knots. I made it to Cadle Creek and even sailed partially up the creek. I then furled the genoa, cranked up the keel, and turned on the outboard as I got closer to my marina. I had another successful docking when I came in. I used the bowline I tied on my stern line for my winch and it stopped me in the perfect spot while Brian just watched the bow and side from hitting the pilings.

It was about 2:30pm when we got back to my marina and we had a late lunch. My mom called me up to see what our plans were and to invite us to come over and do some yard work and be rewarded for a delicious dinner. I didn't have any immediate projects to complete, so we left early for the 1.25 hour drive home around 3:30pm. I got to my parents' place around 5pm and helped with some yard work in the hot weather. Afterwards I took a nice shower after two days of being outside, although being by the water was quite cooler than inland. Then I enjoyed some delicious food and a good time with my family that evening. That's about it for this past weekend. We'll see how it goes next weekend.