Mike
10/10/2009, Annapolis, MD

October 9th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
I made ham and eggs for breakfast this morning and fired up the Honda to heat some water for showers. At about 10 we dinghied to Conduit Street and walked to the boat show. It was a perfect day, actually almost too hot in the afternoon, with full sun and just enough breeze to make the flags fly.
We spent some time looking at boats, but the docks were moving and Kathy really doesn't like moving docks so we began the process of checking out all the vendors. After a couple of hours we met Jim, Nancy and Christy for lunch at the Fleet Reserve Club and then headed back out to check out the rest of the boat show.
Before long we met Ken and Randy. It was their first trip, so we led them back to the Fleet Reserve Club to a beef sandwich and sat around while they ate. Craig and Pat, more friends from our old dock in Michigan, joined us after a while. It was really nice to see all these folks.
By this time we had seen everything in the boat show and done very well at not spending any money. However, we had seen a two items that needed further examination. Steps for our dinghy and a hand held anemometer. So we headed back out to check them out, promising to meet Craig and Pat at Pussers around 4pm.
We wandered around and bumped into Tom and Cathy from "Perseverance II" and talked to them for a while. Greg who is working at the show was standing there and gave Kathy a flier from the local liquor store advertizing a Scotch tasting this afternoon. Having never developed a taste, we didn't think about it.
After purchasing the two above mentioned items, we went back to Pussers for pain killers and to meet Craig and Pat. While there we were approached by a guy who was drumming up business for Hendricks Gin, which has started a major marketing campaign here in the states. My three companions were all for it so we headed over to the boat, which was a large dinner excursion thing, and had some free (very tiny) gin drinks.
After 30 minutes or so Kathy made the mistake of mentioning the Scotch tasting and we were offto Mill's Wine and Spirits. Having learned about Scotch a long time ago, I stayed outside on the street while the other three sipped really good (expensive) scotch.
Pat was set on Cantlers for a dinner of crabs, but I convinced Craig that McGarvey's Oyster Bar might be a lot easier since it was about a block away and took no driving. It was still early so we were seated quickly and had a great meal. Pat's seared tuna looked excellent, but McGarvey's has the best oysters in town and Craig and I took advantage of the fact. Kathy, still full from lunch, had a salad that was tasty as well.
After dinner we made our way back to the dinghy and motored back to the boat at dusk. It was the warmest evening we've had in a long time so we sat in the cockpit and watched traffic on Spa Creek. Two large sail boats came in after dark and attempted to anchor near us, but were unsuccessful and eventually headed back down stream.
All in all we had a great day. The weather was perfect and seeing friends from all over the country was nice. We'll see them all tomorrow night at the party at the Eastport Yacht Club.

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Mike
10/10/2009, Annapolis, MD

October 8th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
The wind was down and sun was out this morning, a much nicer day. I worked mostly on finishing up little jobs this morning. The dinghy lifting bracket needed some fine tuning as did the new latch on the head door. I dug out the printer and printed us some boat show tickets for tomorrow. It saves waiting in line.
I tied some lines on the davits to serve as cross braces. Last week in the hardware store I found some very simple line tighteners that should work well to keep thing from swaying. Then cut away the lines on our outboard motor that had served as lifting harness and tied on a new one out of much smaller line.
At some point David called and invited us over to their condo for snacks this evening. They will be following us south in a month, making the trip for the first time and are attempting to pick up as many pointers as they can from those of us who have made the trip before.
Kathy worked on cleaning most of the morning.
After lunch we loaded up our garbage and took off for a dinghy ride to check out the boat show by water. Things were quite festive looking with all the flags and banners. We didn't go ashore there, but did tie up near the hospital and walked to the post office on Church Circle. Then we stopped at the Rams Head for a beer.
Back at the boat we wasted some time and then I made some pesto pizza to take along to David and Peg's place. We arrived a little after 6 and had a very nice time, and some great snacks, with them.

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Mike
10/10/2009, Annapolis, MD

October 7th,2009 Annapolis, MD
It was windy this morning with gusts to 25 knots so we hoisted the Windbugger to see if it was in working order. The shaft didn't turn all that well, but there was enough wind to keep it going. I will have to take it apart and check the bearings.... maybe some grease is needed.
I built new lazy jacks with new shock cord and then had some lunch.
In the afternoon I transferred fuel to the main tank ...almost filling it, and will refill the gerry cans before we leave. Then I changed the fuel filter and tried to track down an air leak in the fuel system that has been bugging us all summer. I tightened the both alternator belts ... which is a pain because the lower one is almost impossible to get a wrench on, and generally went over the engine.

The wind gusted to 35 in the afternoon and we really didn't want to leave the boat for fear that we might drag into one of the nearby docks. I did go into Shearwater later and picked up a load of water. We should be about full.
For dinner we had baked ham, sweet potato, and corn..... simple but it hit the spot.

October 6th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
This morning I took the dinghy into town to be fitted for a new foul weather jacket. I can use a friend's discount to get the price down to 10% below cost, which is better than Boat Show Prices. I wasted some time talking to friends before heading back to the boat.
Then it was off to West Marine in the other direction. It is about a five mile round trip. We haven't been walking as much lately and it was good to get out and stretch our legs. We picked up a new dinghy light and a few items at CVS before walking back.
Later in the afternoon I got the mast steps out and with Kathy's help, went up about half way to retrieve one of my lazy jack lines that had gotten away. I took metal polish to work on the stays on the way down. In places there was rust spiraling down which needed some attention.
We listened to the Tigers for the last time this season....it sounded like they really didn't want to play any more this year.



October 5th, 2009 Annapolis, MD
We have made up our minds to stick around for the boat show and leave on Sunday, weather permitting. There are just too many people coming to town that we'd like to see. There are certainly enough jobs on Sapphire to keep us busy.
Yesterday, shopping at Walmart we picked up a ham and so the first thing this morning was to slice it up and bag it in meal sized portions. I was left with a nice looking ham bone that I couldn't throw away....bean soup was on the menu. The morning was cool, so a pot simmering on the stove would be welcome.
We were planning to go to town this afternoon, so I attempted to figure out all the fittings that would be needed to install our cockpit shower. I ordered a Blue Sky controller for our solar panels, called the Doctor's office with Steve and Kim's address to send some pills and took care of some other business via email.
I called the pumpout boat, which showed up around noon, and after some lunch we headed to town.
The waterfront of Annapolis is in transition. Moorings are being removed and pilings pounded into the mouth of Spa Creek . The pilings will eventually support docks to view the new sailboats on display. Tents and fences were going up as we walked by. There were high-lows everywhere moving equipment and unloading semis. Boats were milling around in the Creek waiting for their scheduled time to enter Ego Alley and take their place.
We did some shopping and spent a couple of hours in town before returning to the boat. By then, the day was mostly finished, so we baked some chicken with a baked potato and had a nice meal.
Later, we dinghied down to Alibi Two to help them finish off some opened boxes of wine.

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