Mike
10/10/2009, Annapolis, MD

October 3rd, 2009 Annapolis MD, to Primehook Beach DE
We have been watching the weather closely this week because we'd like to leave the boat overnight tonight and visit Jack and Debbie Dilts in Delaware. Scott gave us the use of his car, but there were thunderstorms in the forecast and Sapphire is at anchor...granted two anchors, but still it seems a little risky.
The forecast this morning called for no severe weather and just a slight chance of thunderstorms so we packed up and headed east over the Bay Bridge.
We arrived about noon. Jack was working but Kris was there to watch the MSU/Michigan game. He has always been for the Blue team and as a kid always called me when the Spartans lost to the Wolves. We had a great time.
Meanwhile in the kitchen Bernie, Debbie, Kathy and two neighbor ladies were preparing for this evening's dinner. (for 22) Bernie is the wine expert at the local wine shop and has, for years, had a Friday afternoon wine tasting there. He will generally have 5 or 6 wines, as well as food and snacks to go along with the particular wine. Bernie has developed the deserved reputation as a wonderful chef and has authored a cookbook that we happen to use aboard Sapphire.
Anyway, the folks that live on Prime Hook Beach have a fund raising picnic every summer with an auction. Bernie offered to cook dinner, in your home, has one of the prizes to be auctioned off and Jack and Debbie won. Tonight was that dinner.
When the game was over and the kitchen crew was finished with their preparations, Bernie broke out the first bottle of wind and poured seven glasses. It tasted a little different than the wines we were used to, much deeper with flavors that were subtle and blended. (googled later, it sells for $250)
With the tables set and everything ready, I watched some more football while the others got cleaned up and dressed for dinner.
Bernie started the grill about 5pm and began that portion of the meal. When the meat came off the grill it went under the salamander to keep things warm until served.
Guests arrived promptly at 7 and were treated to the first course, which consisted of steamed clams, crab cakes, and Lobster thermidor cheesecake. Champagne was served with this course.
The second course consisted of pumpkin / curry soup with what appeared to be shaved truffles and crème fraiche as garnish.
Course three was a mixed grill consisting of duck breast, pork loin, lamb and filet mignon.
Next was a came a cheese course served on thin slices of baguette.
Lastly came the desert course with and apple cheesecake with caramel and whipped cream.

Each course was served with a complementing bottle of wine.
Dinner lasted from 7 to about 11. We picked up and chatted until about 1 am and then went to bed. I could still hear Debbie working in the kitchen until about 3, washing wine glasses and putting things back to normal.






October 2nd, 2009 Annapolis, MD
Bob, the surveyor that was assigned to us by the insurance company, had said that he would call in the morning to set up an appointment. We puttered around the boat most of the day; Kathy cleaned the ports and finished up below decks. I installed a new plug for the windbugger and ran the appropriate wire. It has never been quite right since our mast was pulled more that two years ago.
I made a trip to town to check for packages and picked up our new wash down pump and cockpit shower.
Bob finally called about 3pm and came over shortly later. He went through all our receipts and my hours, took some photos of our work and recommended that I charge $50 and hour for my labor.
He will fax in all the paperwork, make his recommendations and in a week or so we should get a check.
We took an evening dinghy ride, ate some supper, and watched some video.

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Mike
10/02/2009, Annapolis, MD

October 1st, 2009 Annapolis, MD
Kathy cleaned in the morning while I did little or nothing. Around 10 am we walked up to Scott's condo and borrowed his car. Our first stop was to put some air in a tire and then we drove over to West Marine for some supplies on our list. Then we headed out to the Mall to find a place for Kathy to get a hiarcut. We had lunch there and stopped at a Safeway on the way back to the boat.
Gerry gave us permission to park Scott's car in their lot which is much safer than on the street.
We were expecting the marine surveyor who had been assigned to our insurance claim at three, but he called to say that is boat had stopped on his way so he'd come over in the morning.
At about 6pm Bill and Donna called to be picked up at the end of the street. They are fellow Bayfield 40 owners whom we had never met. Friends of ours had given them our name and email and they contacted us a few days ago asking to come aboard to see the boat and how we did things... they brought pizza, desert and wine.
We had a nice chat with them in the evening and then watched some video before bed.

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Mike
10/02/2009, Annapolis, MD

September 27th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
It rained most of the night and was still cloudy in the morning. The forecast called for clearing so we were hoping that we'd see the sun eventually. After some coffee I ordered a cockpit shower that we've been talking about for a few months even though we don't have the money.
Then I made a pot of chile to heat up the cabin a little. Mornings are cool here but as soon as the sun comes out it warms up nicely.
With the chile simmering I attacked the manual bilge pump that hasn't worked since I rebuilt it last year. First I had to empty the gararge to get to the hatch at the foot of the berth that leads to the lazarette. Then I had to empty the Lazarette enouth to crawl in behind the pump mounting. With Kathy in the cockpit with a screwdriver on the other end, I used my new ratchating end wrenches to remove the nuts.
With the pump assembly out I looked it over and could find nothing amiss. I opened the ends and sprayed the diaphram with WD -40 but could see nothing at all out of place. After an hour we lowered the dinghy and I took it over to "Simpatico" to see it Greg could see anything wrong. It is really a simple machine. On the up-stroke water enters the chamber though a flapper valve, and on the down-stroke it is pushed out a joker valve as the back presure forces the flapper shut.
The problem, which Greg discovered, was that the flapper valves were installed backwards so that they didn't ever close all the way. It would pump water when the lift was 3 feet but couldn't create enouth vacuum to lift water from the bottom of our bilge. It took about 30 minutes to open the chambers, switch the valves around and screw the the thing back together. One more project off the list.
I had a bowl of chile and then Greg and I went over to visit Dave and check out his wiring porject. Dave and Peg are going to travel south as soon as the boat is ready... they are shooting for sometime in November. Greg had promised to show him how to clean his winches but before they started, I returned to Sapphire to reinstall the bilge pump and put the boat back together.
The sun peeked through occasionally in the afteroon and it was pleasant. We took a dinghy ride up Spa Creek at dusk to check out the boats. Our end of the creek is about full with anchored and moored boats, although as the boat show nears the number will probably double again.
On our way back we found Scott at the dock and stopped to talk. He is going fishing up north this week and offered us his car in his absence. It will work out great.
Being exceptionally lazy... we had chile for the second time today. In the cool night air, it was just as good as it was in the morning.

September 26th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
We continue to make steady progress toward putting things in crusing order. This morning I put a patch on the dinghy where it had rubbed on our davits. The rubbing problem has been solved with some closed cell foam pads covered in fabric, lashed to the uprights. There is another small rubbing spot that I will deal with another day.
There has been some interest expressed by a few of our new friends that they would like to have a boat tour of Sapphire so we invited Greg, Jo, David, Peg and Stan over for snacks at 4:30. Having done so... we had some cleaning to do.
I deployed a secondary anchor which will limit our swing a little and will hopefully prevent dragging in this soft mud as the cold front passes in the next couple days and brings some wind. It was rainy in the afternoon as we listened to MSU lose again. At half time I went to town to check for packages, pick up some gasoline and grab a bag of ice.
We read a little before our guests arrived and I made some salsa.
Everyone had a good time and professed to "love the boat".
The Tigers were on at 8 pm so we listened to them awhile and then watched some video before bed. It rained steadily most of the night but we were warm and dry ...


September 25th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
It was rainy early in the day but began to clear by 9am. After some great French toast, I dug out a piece of starboard and some tools to make a mounting bracket for our new strobe. After sawing and sanding it into shape I drilled two holes to mount between the two stern rails on the starboard side. With a couple of small bungies for safety, it looks professional.
After cleaning up and vacuuming, I glued up the a cutting board that we use as a spacer between the stove and it's top.
By then we decided to head to town to stop at Fawcetts and CVS. We also walked through the Market at the end of Ego Alley which we hadn't done this year. Walking up Main Street, we had a late lunch and a beer at the Acme before heading back to the boat.
We read for a while in the afternoon and listened to the Tigers in the evening.

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